Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish: and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures.9 Who is he, and we will praise him? for he hath done wonderful things in his life.10 Who hath been tried thereby, and made perfect, he shall have glory everlasting. He that could have transgressed, and hath not transgressed: and could do evil things, and hath not done them:11 Therefore are his goods established in the Lord, and all the church of the saints shall declare his alms.
How can one approve those who seem to dominate in this world, if they do less than they can? The Scripture praises precisely the one "who could have sinned but did not, who did not run after gold." Gold must follow you, and not you gold. In fact, gold is a good thing—certainly God created nothing evil. Don't you be evil, then, and the gold good. See here, I place some gold between an upright person and a dishonest one. If the dishonest person takes it, the poor are oppressed, magistrates corrupted, laws broken, social life upset. Why? Because a dishonest person took the gold. If the upright person were to have it, the poor would be sustained, the naked clothed, the oppressed liberated, prisoners redeemed. How much good is derived from the gold the honest person has, and how many evils from the gold of the dishonest person! To what end, therefore, do you say in disgust, "And what if gold did not exist at all?" You should not love gold. If you are dishonest, you will follow gold. If you are upright, it will follow you. What does "it will follow you" mean? That you will rule it and not be made its servant, because you will possess it, rather than being possessed by it.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:†2 Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judas and his brethren.†3 And Judas begot Phares and Zara of Thamar. And Phares begot Esron. And Esron begot Aram.4 And Aram begot Aminadab. And Aminadab begot Naasson. And Naasson begot Salmon.5 And Salmon begot Booz of Rahab. And Booz begot Obed of Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse.6 And Jesse begot David the king. And David the king begot Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Urias.7 And Solomon begot Roboam. And Roboam begot Abia. And Abia begot Asa.8 And Asa begot Josaphat. And Josaphat begot Joram. And Joram begot Ozias.9 And Ozias begot Joatham. And Joatham begot Achaz. And Achaz begot Ezechias.10 And Ezechias begot Manasses. And Manesses begot Amon. And Amon begot Josias.11 And Josias begot Jechonias and his brethren in the transmigration of Babylon.12 And after the transmigration of Babylon, Jechonias begot Salathiel. And Salathiel begot Zorobabel.13 And Zorobabel begot Abiud. And Abiud begot Eliacim. And Eliacim begot Azor.14 And Azor begot Sadoc. And Sadoc begot Achim. And Achim begot Eliud.15 And Eliud begot Eleazar. And Eleazar begot Mathan. And Mathan begot Jacob.16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.†
(Hist. Eccles. 1.7.) For Matthan and Melchi at different periods had each a son by one and the same wife Jesca. Matthan, who traced through Solomon, first had her, and died leaving one son, Jacob by name. As the Law forbade not a widow, either dismissed from her husband, or after the death of her husband, to be married to another, so Melchi, who traced through Matthan, being of the same tribe but of another race, took this widow to his wife, and begat Heli his son. Thus shall we find Jacob and Heli, though of a different race, yet by the same mother, to have been brethren. One of whom, namely Jacob, after Heli his brother was deceased without issue, married his wife, and begat on her the third, Joseph, by nature indeed and reason his own son; whereupon also it is written, And Jacob begat Joseph. But by the Law, he was the son of Heli; for Jacob, being his brother, raised up seed to him. Thus the genealogy, both as recited by Matthew, and by Luke, stands right and true; Matthew saying, And Jacob begot Joseph; Luke saying, Which was the son, as it was supposed, (for he adds this withal,) of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, which was the son of Melchi. Nor could he have more significantly or properly expressed that way of generation according to the Law, which was made by a certain adoption that had respect to the dead, carefully leaving out the word begetting throughout even to the end.
(ubi sup.) Neither does this lack good authority; nor has it been suddenly devised by us for this purpose. For the kinsmen of our Saviour according to the flesh, either out of desire to shew forth this their so great nobility of stock, or simply for the truth’s sake, have delivered it unto us.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)