A Treatise in Disguise: Eschatological Themes in Aquinas’s Commentary on the Parables of Matthew’s Gospel

This article argues that Thomas Aquinas’s exegesis of the parables in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew contains—if only in skeletal form, with certain aspects more fully developed than others—the outline of a comprehensive treatise on Christian eschatology. Aquinas approaches parables with a nuanced perspective, acknowledging their inherent obscurity while also emphasizing their capacity to guide minds toward the truth. He understands their dual purpose as both concealing divine mysteries from the ill-intentioned and revealing them to the receptive. Distinguishing his approach from Albert the Great’s, Aquinas’s commentary features substantial eschatological components. Drawing on primary sources, this article examines these elements, starting with the unknowability of the end of time, which serves to promote vigilance. This article then treats death and particular judgment, the damned’s twofold punishment (the poena damni and the poena sensus), and the righteous’s varied, eternal reward, concluding with the Parousia, inseparably linked to the general resurrection, the final judgment, and the renewal of the world. Finally, this article shows how Aquinas’s engagement with these parables provides a robust, biblically-rooted exploration of the Last Things.