Selections from Robert Witham’s Annotations on the New Testament on the Jews

Robert Witham (1667–1738) was an English Catholic biblical scholar and President of Douay College. His Annotations on the New Testament (1730) is a learned Catholic commentary covering all four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles. Like many Catholic exegetes of the patristic and scholastic traditions, Witham freely transmitted the classical adversus Judaeos teaching of the Fathers—including the themes of Jewish deicide, the divine rejection and punishment of the Jewish people, supersessionism, the condemnation of Jewish traditions and Pharisaic hypocrisy, and the transfer of the Kingdom of God to the Gentile Church.

The passages below are drawn from both volumes and are presented in canonical order. All quoted text is from Witham’s Annotations exactly as printed, with original spelling, ligatures, and punctuation preserved. Latin footnote text is included where it is part of Witham’s annotation. Bracketed editorial clarifications appear only where the original long-s (s) or damaged scan requires it.

I. The Jews‘ Obstinate Blindness and Wilful Rejection of the Messiah

On the Pharisees (Matthew 3 Annotation)

“Brood of Vipers S. John the Baptist , and also our Saviour himself, Matt. 23. 33., made use of this sharp Reprehension, to such as came to them full of Hypocrisy — The wrath to come : meaning punishments for the wicked after death. Or as some expound it , the destruction that was shortly to fall on the City of Jerusalem, on the Temple, and the whole nation of the Jews.”

On the Obstinate Blindness of the Jews Foretold by Isaiah (Matthew 13 Annotation)

“This Passage, by which the Prophet Isaias 6. 9. was order’d to foretell the obstinate Blindness of the Jews in refusing to receive, and believe in their Messias, is cited six times in the New Testament.”

“The Heart of this People. (V. 15.) is become Stupid. And they have shut their Eyes, &c. The Jews therefore shut their own Eyes, harden’d their own Hearts, which God only permitted.”

On the Parable of the Two Sons: the Jewish People Rejecting the Gospel (Matthew 21 Annotation)

“The Ancient Interpreters by the first son, generally understand the Gentils, as also Publicans, and Scandalous sinners: and by the second, the Jewish People. The Gentils, &c. who at the first did not, would not worship, and serve God; yet afterwards they, as also Publicans, and many sinners, receiv’d the Faith, and being converted, became faithful servants of God, and Saints: the Jews, or the greatest part of them, who pretended to be God’s servants, and his People, rejected the Gospel, and their Messias: therefore this commination follows, the Publicans, &c. Shall go before you into the Kingdom of God.”

On 1 Corinthians 1:22–23: The Jews Demand Signs and Are Scandalized by the Cross

“The Jews in the mean time ast for miracles, such as God formerly wrought in their favour, and the Greeks, or the Gentils, to be converted, expect from us, what they would look upon the highest points of human wisdom and knowledge.”

(Text:) “But we preach Christ crucify’d: a scandal indeed to the Jews, and a folly to the Gentils.”

On Romans 9–10: The Jews Who Sought Justice by the Law Did Not Find It

“They who sought for justice or sanctification found it not, and they who did not seek it, found it, i, e, the Jews, who sought for this justice by the works of their Law, which they magnify’d so much, have not attained to that Law that could make them just, whereas the Gentils, who had no such written law to confide in, have only sought to be justify’d by the Faith and Law of Christ, by which they have met with justice and Sanctification.”

“Why then have not the Jews been justify’d? because they stumbl’d against the stumbling stone: i, e, the doctrine of Christ crucify’d has been a scandal to the Jews, at which being offended, they would not own him for their Messias.”

“And by his answer shews the Jews are inexcusable in not believing, since the Gospel has been preach’d all the world over, and in places where the Jews were, as it was foretold: and also because the Gentils every where have believ’d: which even excites you Jews to jealousy against them, as Moyses foretold Deut. 32. 21. that is, when you now see, that the Gentils, which you despised so much, by believing in Christ, have receiv’d the Gifts of the H. Ghost.”

On 2 Corinthians 3: The Veil Over the Minds of the Jews

“But the senses and minds of the Jews have been dull’d, harden’d; and blinded, so that to this day, we may say the veil remains over their eyes and minds, and hearts, that is, the greatest part of them understand not Moyses’s books, Prophecies, and those things, that were figures of Christ. [But they shall understand them, and the veil shall be taken off, when they shall be converted before the end of the world.]”

On the Holy Ghost Condemning the Jews (John 16 Annotation)

“The H. Ghost will condemn the Jews, and all obstinate unbelievers of their sin in not believing after so many miracles, and so many pregnant motives, that ought to induce them to submit to the Christian Faith.”

II. Deicide: The Jews as the Killers of Christ

On Matthew 27:25: The Blood-Guilt of the Jewish People

(Text:) “And all the People answer’d, and said: his Blood be upon us, and upon our Children.”

“All the People answer’d: his blood be upon us, and upon our children, which continues, faith S. Jerom, to this day.”

On Matthew 27:62–63: The Chief Priests Call Christ a Seducer and Impostor

“This seducer, this Impostor, this cheat: so they call’d our Blessed Redeemer; from whence says S. Aug: Christians may learn to be patient under the greatest Injuries.”

On Matthew 28:11–15: The Jews Bribe Soldiers to Spread a Lie About the Resurrection

“The chief Priests, after a consult upon the Matter, order’d them to say, that when they were asleep, the Disciples came, and stole away Jesus’s Body. This report was spread about — S. Augustin laughs at them for their blindness, and folly, in bringing men in for witnesses of a fact, which they themselves own was done whilst they were asleep.”

On Acts 2:23, 36: Peter Charges the Jews with the Crucifixion

(Text:) “This same being delivered up by the determinate Council, and fore-knowledge of God, you have crucify’d, and put to death by the hands of wicked men.”

(Text:) “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain, that God hath made him Lord and Christ, even this Jesus, whom you have crucify’d.”

On Acts 4:10: Peter Again Accuses the Jews Before the Sanhedrin

(Text:) “Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel: that in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucify’d, and whom God raisd from the dead, even by him this man stands sound before you.”

“S. Peter without fear or apprehension, openly and boldly tells them of their hainous crime.”

On Acts 7:51–52: Stephen’s Condemnation of the Jews as Betrayers and Murderers of Christ

(Text:) “With a stiff neck, and uncircumcised hearts, and ears, always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the Prophets did not your Fathers persecute? and put to death those, who foretold the coming of the just one, of whom you have now been the betrayers, and the murderers.”

“S. Stephen inspir’d by the H. Ghost, knowing he should dye a Martyr, boldly reproach’d them for persecuting the Prophets, for putting to death the Just one, the Messias.”

On Acts 13:27–29: The Chief of the Jews at Jerusalem Obtained the Sentence of Crucifixion

“He tells them that Salvation was offer’d and sent them by Jesus, against whom the Chief of the Jews at Jerusalem obtain’d of Pilate a sentence, that he shoud be crucify’d, but that God rais’d him up from the dead the third day.”

On 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16: The Jews Who Killed the Lord Jesus Are Adversaries to All Men

(Text:) “Who both kill’d the Lord Jesus, and the prophets, and have persecuted us, and please not God, and are adversaries to all men. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentils, that they may be saved, thus to fill up their sins always; for the wrath of God is come upon them unto the end.”

“To fill up the measure of their sins, after which God’s justice would punish them. For the wrath of God is come upon them to the End. It seems a foretelling of their entire destruction, which happen’d not long after under Vespasian, and Adrian.”

III. The Divine Punishment and Rejection of the Jewish Nation

On the Destruction of Jerusalem as Punishment for Killing the Messiah (Matthew 24 Annotation)

“The Jews from that Time, shall be no more the People of God for denying their Messias: and that they shall put the Christ to death.”

On the Fruitless Fig Tree as a Figure of the Jews (Matthew 21 Annotation)

“This fruitless Tree was a Figure of the Jews, who at this Time, brought not forth the Fruits of Faith, and good works.”

On Matthew 21:43: The Kingdom of God Taken from the Jews

(Text:) “Therefore I say to you, that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a Nation yielding the Fruits thereof.”

“By this dreadful conclusion he tells them in plain Terms, that they shall be forsaken, and punish’d for their Blindness, and Obstinacy.”

On the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (Matthew 21 Annotation)

“This master, is God: The vineyard, the Jews: the Husbandmen, the Jewish Priests: The servants, God’s Prophets, sent from time to Time. The Son (call’d Mark 12. 6. his only, and most dear Son) is our Saviour Christ, whom they persecuted to Death.”

On Euthymius: The Jews to Perish by the Sword (Matthew 26 Annotation)

“Euthymius looks upon it, as a Prophecy, that the Jews shoud perish by the sword of the Romans.”

On Matthew 23:34–36: All Innocent Blood to Come Upon This Generation

(Text:) “That upon you may come all the Innocent Blood that hath been shed upon the Earth, from the Blood of Abel the Just, even unto the Blood of Zachary, the son of Barachias, whom you kill’d between the Temple, and the Altar. Amen I say to you, all these things shall come upon this Generation.”

“He speaks of the Jewish People which, by putting to death their Messias, shoud shortly fill up the number of their sins, so that God would destroy their whole Nation, as if the blood of Abel, and of the Prophets unjustly murder’d, came upon them at once.”

On Acts 18:6: Your Blood Be Upon Your Own Heads

(Text:) “But they contradicting, and blaspheming, shaking his garments, he said to them: your blood be upon your own heads: I am clear of it, from hence forward, I will address myself to the Gentils.”

“Your blood be upon your own heads, i, e, you are guilty of your own perdition — we have discharg’d our duty by preaching to you.”

On Acts 28:25–28: The Final Rejection — Salvation Sent to the Gentiles

(Text:) “Go to this people, and tell them: with the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people is become stupid, and their ears dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand in their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Be it therefore known to you, that this salvation of God is sent to the Gentils, and they will hear.”

IV. Supersessionism: The Old Law Abolished, the Church Supplanting the Synagogue

On the Veil of the Temple Rent at Christ’s Death (Matthew 27 Annotation)

“Both these veils seem to have been rent at Christ’s Death: and by their being broken down, we signifie first, that the Ceremonies of the ancient Law were to be abolish’d by the Law of Christ: and also that Heaven shoud be open to all.”

On the New Testament Succeeding to the Old (2 Corinthians 5 Annotation)

“If by believing in Christ, we are become as it were new creatures, rescu’d by his grace, and his Spirit, the old things are pass’d away, we must renounce all former carnal affections, all sin, and all errors; in which either Jews or Gentils liv’d. Behold all things are made new, the new Testament succeeds to the old. The law and Doctrine of Christ, to the law of Moyses, the Christian Church to the Jewish Synagogue, Truth and Grace, to Types and figures.”

On Ephesians 2:14–15: The Enmity Between Jews and Gentiles Abolished in Christ

“He hath brought peace to all men, breaking down by his Incarnation and death, that wall of partition, that enmity betwixt the Jews and Gentils, making them but one. Abolishing that former law, of so many ordinances, precepts, and Ceremonies, by decrees — abolishing the old Law and it’s precepts by the precepts and doctrine of the new Law: that he might reconcile to God both the Jews and Gentils, that now they might be one mystical body, to wit the Church of Christ, of which he is the Head.”

“Remember then that you are no longer strangers and foreigners, as you were, when the Jews were the only elect people of God, now by Faith and hope, you are fellow Citizens with the Saints.”

On the Jewish Synagogue Versus the Church of Christ (Romans 11 Annotation)

“There’s a wide difference betwixt the Jewish Synagogue, which brought nothing to perfection, and the Church of Christ, which he built upon a rock, with which he has promised to be, to the end of the world, and guide them by the spirit of Truth.”

On Hebrews 7:18–19: The Law Brought Nothing to Perfection

(Text:) “For the precedent commandment is indeed reproov’d, because of the weakness, and unprofitableness thereof: For the law brought nothing to perfection; but was an introduction of a better hope, by which we approach to God.”

V. The Gospel Transferred to the Gentiles; Jews Cast Off

On the First Mission: Apostles Sent to the Jews Only (Matthew 10 Annotation)

“In this first Mission the Apostles were order’d to preach to the Jews only, or to the Children of the Kingdom, Matt. 8. 12. see also Matt. 15. 24. and Acts 13. 46.”

On Acts 13:46–48: Paul and Barnabas Turn to the Gentiles

(Text:) “Then Paul and Barnabas said boldly: to you it behov’d us to speak first the word of God: but because you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn ourselves to the Gentils. For so the Lord commanded us: I have set thee to be a light to the Gentils, that thou may’st bring Salvation to the utmost bounds of the Earth. Now the Gentils hearing this, rejoic’d, and glorify’d the word of the Lord.”

“S. Paul here also proves Christ’s Resurrection — He tells them that Salvation was offer’d and sent them by Jesus, against whom the Chief of the Jews at Jerusalem obtain’d of Pilate a sentence, that he shoud be crucify’d.”

“The Prophet by these words, foretold to the Jews in his time the evils that would come upon them in their captivity in Chaldea, but S. Paul here apply’s them at least, to the miseries that the incredulous Jews would incur, if they obstinately refus’d to believe in Christ.”

On Romans 11: The Blindness of Israel, Their Rejection, and Future Conversion

“S. Paul in this Chapter endeavours to comfort the Jews, tho the greatest part of them were rejected for their blindness, and to admonish the converted Gentils, not to boast for being call’d and converted, but to persevere with humility, and the fear of God.”

“God hath given them (rage them, says S. Chrys. to fall into) the Spirit of insensibility — the spiritual food of the word of God, and of the Scriptures which by the blindness of this people, have serv’d to their greater condemnation.”

“As if he should say: if the obstinacy of so many Jews, seem’d to be an occasion, upon which God, whose mercy calls whom he pleas’d, hath bestow’d the riches of his Graces on other Nations, and while the glory of the Jews, the elect people of God, has been diminish’d, the Gentils have been made happy, how much more glorious will be their fulness, that is, according to the common Interpretation, will be the reestablishment and conversion of the Jews hereafter, before the end of the world.”

“According to the Gospel for your sake they are become enemies, i, e, enemies both to you, because they see the Gospel preach’d and receiv’d by you, and enemies to God, because he has rejected them at present for their wilful blindness.”

“God hath shut up all, i, e, has permitted at different times, both Gentils and Jews, to fall into a state of unbelief, that the Salvation of all may be known to come, not from themselves, but as an effect of his mercy and Grace.”

VI. Condemnation of Jewish Traditions and the Pharisees

On the Woes Against the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23 Annotation)

(Text:) “Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites: for you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men: and you neither enter yourselves, nor suffer those to enter, who are going in.”

(Text:) “Wo unto you Scribes, and Pharisees, Hypocrites: for you compass sea, and Land, to make one Proselyte; and when he is become one, you make him the child of Hell doubly more than yourselves.”

(Text:) “Wo unto you Scribes, and Pharisees Hypocrites; for you are like to whitened Sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful to men, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all corruption.”

(Text:) “Ye Serpents, ye Brood of Vipers, how can you fly from the condemnation of Hell?”

“Here our B. Saviour severely reprehends the Hypocrisy, and other vices of the Scribes, and Pharisees, a little before his Death, to make them enter into themselves, and to hinder them from seducing others.”

“They are not reprehended, says S. Chrys., for this Action, but for the Hypocrisy with which they did it: and for pretending to be averse from the Wicked dispositions of those, who put the Prophets to Death, when at the same Time, they were contriving, and had resolved to do the like to Jesus Christ, their Messias, the Lord of all the Prophets.”

“Serpents, Brood of Vipers, wicked Children, of wicked Fathers.”

On the Jewish Traditions as Contrary to the Law of God (Matthew 15 Annotation)

“The Tradition of the Elders. They do not say the written Law, which did not prescribe these washings of Hands, Cups, Pots, Beds. These Traditions came only from the Doctors of their Law, who are call’d Elders.”

“It is evident that Christ here speaks of such Doctrines, Precepts, or Traditions, as were contrary to the Law of God, or of Nature: or such at least, as were vain, and frivolous.”

On Titus 1:14: Jewish Fables and Precepts of Men

(Text:) “Not attending to Jewish fables, and to the precepts of men, that turn away themselves from the truth.”

“Jewish Fables, and the Precepts of men. false Traditions of the Jewish Doctors, which were multiplied at that Time.”

On Philippians 3:2: Beware of the Mutilation

(Text:) “Beware of Dogs.”

“The Jews call’d so the Gentils, and S. Paul now applies it to those among the Jews, who spread false Doctrine, who privately snarl’d, and many barked against the true Apostles. None deserve sharp reprehensions more than heretical Preachers.”

“S. Paul by derision makes use of this word, which signifies a cutting to pieces, or destruction.”

VII. The Jews as Enemies and Persecutors

On Matthew 23:29–32: The Jews Bear Witness Against Themselves as Children of the Killers of the Prophets

(Text:) “Wherefore you bear witness against yourselves, that you are the Children of them, who Kill’d the Prophets. And do you also fill up the measure of your Fathers.”

“You bear witness, by your carriage, and malice against me, that you are Children, who imitate the malicious Proceedings of your Fore-fathers, and consent to their works.”

On Acts 13:45, 50: The Jews Stirred Up Persecution Against Paul and Barnabas

(Text:) “But the Jews seeing the multitudes, were fill’d with envy, and with blasphemies contradicted the things, which were spoken by Paul.”

(Text:) “But the Jews stirr’d up religious, and honourable women, and the Chief men of the City, and rais’d a persecution against Paul and Barnabas: and cast them out of their territories.”

On Acts 22:22: The Jews Cry Out for Paul’s Death When He Mentions the Gentiles

(Text:) “Now they hearken’d to him till these words, and rais’d their voices saying: away with such a man as this from the Earth: for it is not fitting he should live.”

On Romans 2:17: The Jews Who Rest on the Law and Boast of It

“S. Paul here turns his discourse particularly to the Jews, who valued themselves so much upon their Law, their Temple, and their Ceremonies; and therefore are said to rest on the Law, as if it were enough to be by protestion a Jew.”

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