Matthew 10
Mat 10:1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
Mt 10:2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Apostles – The word apostle means “one sent forth” as an ambassador who bears a message and who represents the one who sent him. The qualifications included (1) seeing the Lord and being an eyewitness to his resurrection, {Ac 1:22 1Co 9:1} (2) being invested with miraculous sign-gifts, {Ac 5:15-16 Heb 2:3-4} and (3) being chosen by the Lord or the Holy Spirit.’ {Mt 10:1-2 Ac 1:26} (Ryrie)
Mat 10:3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
Mat 10:4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.
Mat 10:6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.
Mat 10:7 As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’
Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
Mat 10:9 Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts;
Mt 10:10 take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
No bag for the journey – They are to travel light; perhaps it was a quick journey. They could count on traditional hospitality at the hands of many devout Jewish householders. Notice the later change of instructions in Lu 22:36.’ (Ryrie)
Mat 10:11 “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave.
Mat 10:12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting.
Mat 10:13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you.
Mat 10:14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.
Mat 10:15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
Mat 10:16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Mat 10:17 ”Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues.
Mat 10:18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.
Mat 10:19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say,
Mat 10:20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Mat 10:21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.
Mat 10:22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Mat 10:23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
Mt 10:24 “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.”
Mt 10:25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!
Beelzebub means “lord of flies,” a guardian deity of the Ekronites, {2Ki 1:2} but used by the Jews as an epithet for Satan. The name may have been a mocking Hebrew alteration of Baal-Zebul, a local archdemon of northern Palestine and Syria. For Jesus’ enemies to allege that he was possessed by Beelzebub was the worst kind of blasphemy.’ {Mr 3:22} (Ryrie)
Mat 10:26 “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.
Mat 10:27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.
Mt 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Be afraid – On fear as a motive, See JEM “Heb 4:1″
“Destroy” – The word signifies, not extinction, but ruin; not loss of being, but loss of well-being.
Barclay (DSB) thinks that ‘something very like’ conditional immortality is taught by Jesus here. ‘This belief holds that the reward of goodness is that the soul climbs up and up until it is one with all the immortality, the bliss and the blessedness of God; and that the punishment of the evil man, who will not mend his ways in spite of all God’s appeals to him, is that his soul goes down and down and down until it is finally obliterated and ceases to be.’
‘”Kill,” like “destroy,” does not imply annihilation but eternal suffering, as the qualification “in hell” makes clear.’ (Blomberg)
See JEM “Lk 12:4″; See JEM “Lk 12:5″
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny ? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
Mt 10:30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
“Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered” – ‘That is, each one has exercised the care and attention of God. He has fixed the number; and though of small importance, yet he does not think it beneath him to determine how few, or how many, they shall be. He will, therefore, take care of you.’ (Barnes)
Mat 10:31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Mt 10:32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.”
‘Now confession of Christ, though it is regarded by the greater part of men as a trifling matter, is here represented to be a main part of divine worship, and a distinguished exercise of godliness.’ (Calvin)
Mat 10:33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
Mt 10:34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
‘The form of the statement not to expect Jesus to bring peace (“do not imagine;” cf. Mt 5:17) suggests that this would have been the natural inclination of the disciples. Was not the gospel a message of peace (cf. 5:9; 10:13)? Would not the age of the kingdom of God bring peace with it? {cf. Lu 1:79 Isa 9:6 11:9} The answer must clearly be yes in its final realization and even in some sense in the present. {cf. Joh 14:27} But in the peculiar and unexpected interim period of the proclamation of the kingdom, as has already been shown, strange things may be expected by the disciples and later messengers of the kingdom.’ (WBC)
The next verse will make clear in what sense Jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword.
Mt 10:35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-”
“I have come to turn…” – Although such an expression ‘would ordinarily be taken in the sense of purpose, here it is more a way of describing the effect of the coming of Jesus and the proclamation of the kingdom. Response to the message of Jesus and his disciples will be mixed and hence cause dissension among members of the same household.’ (WBC)
Mat 10:36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
Mat 10:37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
Mt 10:38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
As commonly applied, ‘taking up the cross’ refers to some aspect of health, circumstance, or relationship which is incongenial – ‘a cross I have to bear’. But as originally intended, the saying is much more radical.
Crucifixion was not unusual in Roman Palestine. The picture here is of the convicted criminal carrying his cross through the crowded streets to the place of execution: a picture of shame as well as pain.
Of those who heard Jesus on this occasion, some, if not most, lived out his teaching literally. Peter was crucified; James the Son of Zebedee was beheaded. {Ac 12:2}
If this was not to be the disciples’ literal fate, as it was their Master’s, it is an indication, firstly, of the kind of treatment they could expect; if they followed the Master, they could expect ridicule, rejection, and even death. It is an illustration, secondly, of the attitude they should show, v39 etc. This attitude is one of abandoning all earthly hopes and ambitions, and of steadfastly following Christ, wherever the path might lead.
We might compare this costly discipleship with the no-strings-attached-God-loves-you-anyway approach of some modern types of evangelism.
“Take the cross” – this is the cost of discipleship; “follow me” – this assures ample compensation. Cf Ro 8:18 2Co 4:17.
‘This reference to a cross needed no explanation, for the Jews had seen thousands of their countrymen crucified by the Romans. Allegiance even to death is demanded of Christ’s followers.’ (Ryrie)
‘This reference to taking up one’s cross in following Jesus is anachronistic since it becomes understandable only after the initial announcement of Jesus’ passion (if then!). {Mt 16:21} The exhortation to take up one’s cross and follow Jesus is found again, more reasonably, in Mt 16:24, although Mt 20:19 is the first reference to the cross or to crucifixion. The important saying about losing and finding one’s life {Mt 16:25} is also conjoined to Mt 16:24 (as in the present passage). This anachronism points again to Matthew’s redactional activity and to the pertinence of this material to the post-resurrection Church. Taking up one’s cross refers not to the personal problems or difficulties of life that one must bear, as it is sometimes used in common parlance, but to a radical obedience that entails self-denial and, indeed, a dying to self. To take up one’s cross is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who is the model of such radical obedience and self-denial (cf.Mt 4:1-11).’ (WBC)
Mat 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Mt 10:40 “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.”
‘In all these three illustrations Christ meant to teach substantially the same thing, that he that would entertain kindly, or treat with hospitality himself, his disciples, a prophet, or a righteous man, would show that he approved their character, and should not fail of proper reward. To receive in the name of a prophet, is to receive as a prophet; to do proper honour to his character; and to evince attachment to the cause in which he was engaged.’ (Barnes)
Mat 10:41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.
Mt 10:42 “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
