PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1
Arthur Lukyn Williams [1853-1943] · 499,653 words · 546 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 421
In these verses the disoourse returns to the reoeive a prophet'• reward; ,.e. shall share lm.medi11te OCOflBiou, the mission of the dis• in the reward of tbe.t work in which by hia oiplee. Christ shows hie persona.I interest kindness to the prophet he so fe.r te.kes pa.rt. Thus the widow of Se.repta shared in their wo…
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HOMILETICS. Vers. 1---4.-The mission of the twelve. I. TnE CALL. 1. The number. He callco. unto him his twelve disciples. He had many more, He called these twelve. 'fhere seems to be a symbolical meaning in the number. We see plainly in the Book of the Revelation that twelve is the number of the Church. Three is th…
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great agonr of Gethsemane. Of the thr~, John was the most loved of the Lord, yeti Peter was m some sense first; perhaps bis character, perhaps the Lord's choice, brings him again and again to the front. There must, for the sake of order, be some sub- ordination among the servants of Christ, but the truest distinction i…
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first in his own immediate circle, then let him enlarge his efforts. There are lost sheep at home, in our own households, among our own friends and neighbours. God's provi- dence has placed them nearest to us; our first duty is to them. 2. Their preaching. "1'he kingdom of heaven is at hand." It had been first the a…
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Vers. 16-23.-The futwe mission of the apostles. I. THE OOMING PERSECUTIO:ll'S. 1. The Lwd warns his apostles befwehand. "Behold, I send you forth." He loob forward to their future work in the world when they should have received the full apostolic commission ; he prepares them for the dangers of their office; he remin…
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world. Households would be divided; natural affection would be overpowered by fana.ticism. Christians would be the objects of universal hatred, and that for his Na.ma's 1!8.ke. The teaching of Christ-holy, heavenly, severe-would excite the intense hatred of the worldly and the self-indulgent. The presence of Christ upo…
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every kind will be exposed. "Therefore," the Lord says, "be real; be true to your God and to yourselves; speak out, and fear not." The Lord had prepared them for their_ work in private, in a little corner of,Pales~ine. They were~ make his ~eacbing public. He was to ten.eh them secretly, m their hearts, by the gu1dnnce …
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who gave himself for us. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart." It is the first of all the commandments, the deepest and the holiest. 6. The cros& For the first time we meet with that great word-that word once so hateful, now so sweet and holy. The Lord looks forward in prophetic vision ; he sees h…
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I. GoD WORKS THROUGH HUMAN AGENTII. The Old Testament had its prophets the New its apostles. The sheep are scattered if true pastors are wanting; the harv:sl is unreaped if labourers are not forthcoming. Even the Incarnation did not dispense with a various human agency. Although the Word was now made flesh and dwelt am…
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Ill. CHRIST SEEKS THE RECOVERY OF THOSE WRO HAVE FALLEN AWAY FROM EARLY PIETY. They are lost sheep to whom the apostles are sent. The most degraded Israelites are to be the chief objects of the mission. In the past God showed wonderful patience with Israel; even now at the eleventh hour he yearns over the nation, h…
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is an awful ideal if it is selected by itself. Its prophet is Machiavelli, and its hero Mephistopheles. But the dove alone will not suggest the most perfect saint; its gentleness may be feeble, Yet too often people choose one or the other as their ideal of perfection. Christ blends the two in himself; he is skilful in …
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I. HISTORICALLY, THE ADVE:NT OF OBRIST PROVOKES OPPOSITION. We know that swords were drawn against the disciples of Christ. James the son or Zebedee heard a warning in these words of Christ that was subsequently verified in his own person- though as yet be knew it not-when Herod slew him with the sword, and he becam…
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Vera. 1-42 (see also Mark vi. 7-13; Luke ix. 1-6).-The "commanding" of the twelve. This was a grand historic occasion indeed. The honoured but ever-com- paratively feeble and now dimmed, dying, or dead schools of the prophets are to be succeeded by a scion of Christianity that marks at one and the same time its nobl…
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THOSE HE OOMMISSIONS ARE TO FULFIL THEIR ALLOTTED WORK. These are such as follow: Firstly, absolute independence of any supposed dictation on the part of those to whom their mission is. Secondly, absolute undoubting reliance on himself for guidance and protection, and in the la.st resort for all that is necessary fo…
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other. Bevwnthly, the principle distinctly laid down that spiritual work is worthy of its reward. St. Paul (1 Cor. ix. 11-18) enlarges on this very principle. The ministers of Christ were to hold that it was the duty of the people to support them. What must be the deeper departure from right of those who rob, or would …
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been mentioned; neither had he e.ny authority over the Church in which his brethren did not share. Ja.mes the son of Alphmus presided in the council at Jerusalem (see Acts xv. 19). The New Testament gives no countenance to the papal cl1Lims. (2) In the groups we find brothers together. Peter and Andrew ; James and John…
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(2) "Brother shall deliver up brother," etc. (ver. 21). U nn.tt:1rnl was the treachery of Judas. Yet was he the type of the nation whose name he bure. And men, disguising the venom of the serpent and the rapacity of the wolf under the blessed name of Christ, have been the treacherous foes of his true sheep. (3) This tr…
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(ver. 8). Moral miracles are the "greater works" which still attend the Word. 3, They are enlXJU'raged 1Yy the promise of reward. (1) The Sou of man she.II come (ver. 23). He shall come in judgment upon the nation. He shall come in judgment upo:n the world. The former is e. presage of the latter. (2) He shall come q…
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hie saints. Man, in the estimation of hie fellow, le of more value than many sparrowa. But how enormous is the contrast between the farthing that will purchase two sparrows and the price paid by God for the redemption of one human soul I (2) But amongst men the believer engages a peculiar loving care of God, and most o…
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converted son, the unconverted mother is against her converted daughter, o.nd so the mother-in-law against her da.ughter--in-la.w. The battle of principles comes into closest quarters in the house; so e. man's bitterest foes e.re those of his own household. (3) The hostility rages there even when it is not intended. "T…
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Ver. 1.-The power to impan-t power. "He gave them power." It does not strike us as remarkable tbat, being what Jesus was, be should have power over sickness disease, disability, and even death. B~t it c_ertainly is unusual, remarkable, and most suggestive, that our Lord was able to give his power to others, and enable …
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III. THE BORN WORKERS. James, Thaddams, Simon the Canaanite, Judas Iscariot. These were good "seconds;" men who could carry out, in all practical detail, what was arranged by the leaders. Not thinkers, and so not doubters; men who wanted BOmething to do, and found themselves satisfied with the doing. Suoh men are still…
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the products of the trading should be such spiritae.l things a.s honoUI' him, " What he.et thou the.t thou he.et not received?" II. Oua GIFTS COST ue NOTHING. Reference is to spiritual gifts. God distributeth to every me.n severally as he will. One talent, two, or ten, according as he pleases, No man can purche.se, or…
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Ver, 21.-The mission of 'l'eligious penecution. In warning the apostles that their mission would involve persecution, our Lord clearly showed that such persecution was in the Divine pla.n, and, if in the Divine plan, it had its mission ; it would prove to be a blessing; it wa.s indeed a "blessing in disguise." The c…
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,d life in the light in which Christ loolred at te. It is not for self, it is not for any earth-ends. It is for God, and for God as the Father-God. The true imitation ol Christ is the sway in our Jives of those principles that ruled his. Wherever we may be, the Christly spirit may be in us, and may be glorifying all ou…
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I. IN WHAT WAYS DOES CHRIST EXPECT YOU TO FULFlL THIS DUTY? 1. Whatever form or order Christ's Church may take, it always has eome way in which open .nnd public confession can be made. In that way the duty comes homo to ue, according to the Church to which we belong. Somehow Christ must be openly and publicly ackno…
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sources of the Gospel.) Of oommanding Ver. 8.-And said onto him. The ques- his twelve disoiplea, he departed thenoe. tion we.a brought from John; the answer is Whence? We have no knowledge. Perhaps sent back to him (vcr. 4). This points to the the place had been named in the original cause of the question lying ultimat…
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order of the verbs is reversed ; (2) the tense bably to suggest to English readers the is not the present, as here, but the aorist, reference to Isa. lxi. 1). the miracles being regarded from the point Ver. 6.-And blessed la he, whosoever of time when the disciples had returned ahall not be offended (oh. v. 29, note…
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eide of the Dee.d Se11 (cf. Tristre.m, 'N1ttural Luke (vii. 27), save for the omission of l-yrf,, History of the Bible,' p. f37, edit. 1889). is the same; Mark (i. 2) only omits /-yrf, IIDd To our Lord's question no a.newer we.s "before thee." Christ does not hesitate to needed. John ha.d rejected the overtures apply t…
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he had B!lid we.s at hand. The kingdom of " the hum an will has e. nature.I disinolina- heaven. The realm ruled over by Messiah, tion to cultivate and sharpen the oonscienoe of which the then community of believers in combination with the knowledge of the w11.11 the ea.rneat(mde Introduction, p. xxv.). le.w, has no …
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usual interpretation is prefere.ble. For (a) OJ (l&,r4) may be used of a.gents (comp. Jae. l in nn illustrntive saying one has chiefly to 13; v. 4; Luke vi. 18, almost ae thongh it regnrd its genere.l sense; (b) in vers. 18, 19 were vr/,), but it ie more na.tnral to under- the notion of John and of our Lord in ste.nd i…
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used by him did not care to interrupt the Shalt thou be e=lted unto keaven f (Revised subject of eh. x. by inserting more of these Version); M¾, f.,s oilpavou ~1/,o,6firrr, 1 i.e. Bbalt verses there, even though that place more thou be raised high in publio estimo.tion, nearly represented their original position. as…
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early date thus indicated for Johannine BeaaUBe;,t7~ (~evi~ Version), perhaps phro.eeology eoggcets th11t the lo.nguage and as more 1d1ome.tic with u tliank." But 3n form of the Fourth Gospel nnclerwent a long here gives, not the contents of the "thanks- ~ving," bu~ the reason for it. Thou hast process of development …
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Ter. 25, note.) vcr. 25) stmng i, but I alone h0.ve thnt know- Ver. 27.-All things. Not in the widest lerlgo of God which ennbles me to under- sense, for this wonld forestall eh. xxviii. 18; stand hie ways; I alone, yet others o.lso, if but e.11 things the.t e.re required for my work I rcvenl him to them. As St. Luk…
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to Ohriet·will ho.ve, no more work, but tha.t ongbt to dovelop. I am. Observe the ·Ohl"iat will give them o.t once such reet e.nd claim. It is aimed greater than tha.t of refreshment of soul that they mny be fit for ver. 27. Meek. Primarily, a.s rego.rds God work, ehould Ood have any in store for them. (eh. v. 5, not…
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Mcssiahship? Probably he was not the man he bad been. The long Imprisonment had told upon him. It must have been especially irksome to one who had been so long accuet-0med to the free open life of the wilderness. Confinement, enforced inactivity, with no work, no employment for bis ardent energies, tamed the spirit …
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tme prophets. They proved that Jesus WM the Christ; they were signs, evidences of his Divine origin, of his sacred office. John's disciples had now seen some of these great works with their own eyes; they were to report to their master the things which they had seen and heard. There is no evidence like that of an eye-w…
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But he w:i.s more than a prophet, for he himself w11s the subject of prophecy, and he, was (what no other pro1 1het had been) the .immediate forerunner of the ,Christ. lie was the messenger of whom that prophet, whose name signifies "My messenger," had spoken. He was the messcni:er of God, and he prepared tho way of…
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Jewe-expected, in their literal interpretation of the prophecy-the actual Elijah of the Old Tcatament, whom Elisha beheld as he went up by a whirlwind into heaven. But he waa the Elijah of whom Malachi had apoken; Elijah's second self, his representative· a reproduction of his character, filled and animated with his…
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2. Take the Lord's estimate of true greatness, not the world's. The world thought Tiberius great; the Lord, John the Baptist. 3. Try to live up to the responsibilities of the Christian life; it is a high dignity to be lea.at in the kingdom of God. 4. Hate slanderous gossip; you may be speaking ill of one whom God wi…
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of this great Eumple? Some were; but not the most of them-not the town as a whole. "Shalt thou be exalted unto heaven?" the Lord asks sorrowfully. "No," was the solemn answer; "thou ehalt be cast down unto Hades." For the light of God's presence and love had shone in all ite glory on Capernaum; and, in the midst of lig…
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us that he rejoices, by a deeper repentance, by an increasing ·hatred of sin, by a closer walk with Christ, by earnest e~orts t.o draw the wanderers into the fold of the good. Shepherd, to feed the sheep which the good Shepherd loved. (3) The cause of his joy. These things, the deep spiritual truths of his kingdom, …
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Paradise of-God; where the holy dead rest from their labours; where the wieked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. -· LEBBONB. :, -L ·The Lord ,rejoiced in the salvation of souls; so shall we, if we are truly-his." •!2,,,Let us come·to Christ as little children; to such be revealeth the deep truths of-reli…
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learner. Yet the pulpit is not a place in which to air one's doubts. If the teacher is in serious uncertainty as to his message, is he not a blind leader of the blind? III. THE CAUSES OF TJIE DOUBT. How dared the black thought venture to roost in the mind of the great prophet? 1. In disappointment. Jesus had not dev…
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baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Wl)rld waited for that in waiting for the advent of Christ. Christiana live under the new dispensation of the Spirit. John belonged to the servitude of the Law; Christiana enjoy the sonship of the gospel.-W. F. A. Vera. 16-19.-0hildren in the market-place. Our Lord must have watched the…
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They who dwell in Christian lands have privileges denied to the heathen.' Still more have the children of a Christian home. If we have kn:>wn Christ from our childhood, have been trained in Christian truth, have reen the work of Christ in the society in which we have lirnd, ours is the condition of Chorazin, Bethsai…
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Christ mther referred to tboso who accounted themselves wisE or who.had a reputation for wisdom, such as the scribes. II. How THE REVELATION IS REVEALED TO BABES. 1. We nustremember that it" ci revelation. The truth of Christ is not a product of human thinking, nor is it a dis- ,covery that men have to make for thems…
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was during the period of absence of the twelve, after they had been "commanded " that John was beheaded. The entire current of this chapter, that seems so excepti~nal iu, its character in some respects, is blown upon and troubled, as it were, by that presence, an ever-disturbing one, the phenomenal one, of unbelief. …
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habitat of which was the eandy or rocky wind-blown waste. It was equally impossible for them to plead that they had gone there to eee the luxury, wealth, show of social life-the diametrical oppoeite of the deeert ; this every one knew was not there, and had not been there by any accident now. No, they could not deny …
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close it seemed to bring heaven down to earth, and what absolute and real inter- communion I VI. THE K:t.LlING OF ALL TilE ARGUllENT AND EXPOSTULATION WI'l'R ONDELIEII' BY THAT ONSORPAl'SED INVITATION AND OFFER, OF SURPASBtNG GBACE 1 "Colllll ONTO 111!:1 ALL THAT LA.DOUB," ETC. Fir6t, note the covering, forgiving love…
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look those whom all other governors overlooked. This was equivalent. to sayin" tha\ no !rnman necessities were beyond the relief he. brought. He was to bring in a r;ligion available for all men-for those who bad notbrng but humanity to recommend, aid, or support them. Until bis kingdom was fully established this cou…
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Vers. 7-19.--John and Jesus: children in the market-place. After dismissing the messengers of John, there appeared to our Lord urgent need of indicating with pre- cision the merits and defects of the Baptist's work, so that the people might under- st.and how it was the Baptist was disappointed in the Messiah he had …
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·of God, but his whole aLtitucle towards men, ond wbose nature it was to be every man's Fellow, the Son of man. If Jesus is not only to convince of sin, but to save his people from their sins, how can he do so save by loving them and moving among them, and ~iving them his hand to help them? 2. Goodness may manifest …
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the unedu-cated is happily exempt. When we are Introduced to truths which the intellect fs too small to comprehend, we are tempted to reject them because the ordi- nary methods of inquiry fail us. Few men of intellect escape the mental perplexity and euffering which this entails. There are truths which we must accep…
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"the friend of ,the Bridegroom." 2. Aa to the ma,tter. (1) H had respect to the Cominrr One. This-was on~ o! the_ titles of Messiah (see Ps. cxviii. 26; _eh. xx:i. 9; xxiii. 39). (2)- It concerned bis identity. Jesus met. the general expectat10n as to his lineage. He was " of the house and lineage of David" ( cf. Ps…
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trespasses and sins." 5. It was a11 appeal to experien~. (1) To be offended in Christ, after appea.ling to us with such convincing evidence, would be a great unhappiness. How melancholy has been the history of the unbelieving Jew I That many should be offended is an actual mark of Messiah (see Isa.. Iii. 14). (2) Happy…
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forerunner to Messiah; (b) appearing before the destruction of the aecona temple to which Messiah was to come; (c) 118 preaching repentance to turn the hearts of 'the wayward children to the faith of the fathers; (d) all this before the coming of the day of judgment upon the nation. (4) Elijah in person, however, will …
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become the worst of their accusations with the wicked (see Ps. lxix. 10). But truth searches the conscience. (3) 'l'hey rejected likewise the ministry of Jesus, whose habit was rncial, affable, and familiar, in keeping with that grace which distinguished his, gospel from the message of John. Note: The true minister wil…
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mined infidelity, the re!JU!t of perverse false reasoning and self-righteous pride, was not the sin of the heathen cities, 3. There will be a righteom apportionment of punish- ment to the degree of guilt. (1) Those who, like Capernaum, are exalted to heaven in opportunity, and still cleave to the earth, then they shall…
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-Son by the Father (John vi. 44). The Son reveals himself by peroonal manifoetation to the believer. This is a hi~her evidence than that of the miraculous works of the Father (see John xiv. 11). (4) The happiness of man lies in his knowledge of God. It is" life eternal" (see John xvii. 1-3). There is no comfortable …
908 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.