Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Numbers and Genealogies

It must be said that in Sacred Scripture, according to the truth, nothing is contrary. But if some things appear to be contrary, either they are not understood or they are corrupted by the fault of the scribes, which is clear especially in numbers and genealogies. And so those things which cannot be determined the Apostle wills to be shunned.

Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to Titus, sect. 99 [in Commentaries on St. Paul's Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, Baer, tr. St. Augustine's Press (South Bend, IN: 2007)]. The reference is to Titus 3:9.