CHAPTER 18. MORAL TRAINING OF THE DISCIPLES. In this and the next two Chapter s the centre of interest is the spiritual condition of the Twelve, and the necessity thereby imposed on their Master to subject them to a stern moral discipline. The day of Caesarea had inaugurated a spiritual crisis in t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν ἐκ. τ. ὥρᾳ, in that hour; the expression connects what follows very closely with the tax incident, and shows that the two things were intimately associated in the mind of the evangelist. τίς ἄρα μείζων : who then is greater, etc.? The ἄρα may be taken as pointing back to the tax incident as sugge... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ambition rebuked_ (Mark 9:33-50; Luke 9:46-50; Luke 15:3-7; Luke 17:1-4).... [ Continue Reading ]
παιδίον : the task of Jesus is not merely to communicate instruction but to rebuke and exorcise an evil spirit, therefore He does not trust to words alone, but for the greater impressiveness uses a child who happens to be present as a vehicle of instruction. The legendary spirit which dearly loves c... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐὰν μὴ στραφῆτε : unless ye turn round so as to go in an opposite direction. “Conversion” needed and demanded, even in the case of these men who have left all to follow Jesus! How many who pass for converted, regenerate persons have need to be converted over again, more radically! Chrys. remarks: “W... [ Continue Reading ]
ταπεινώσει ἑαυτὸν : the most difficult thing in the world for saint as for sinner. Raphel (_Annot._ in S. S.) distinguishes three forms of self-humiliation: in mind (Philippians 2:3), by words, and by acts, giving classical examples of the latter two. It is easy to humble oneself by self-disparaging... [ Continue Reading ]
δέξηται : the discourse passes at this point from being child-like to gracious treatment of a child and what it represents. ἓν παιδίον τοιοῦτο : the real child present in the room passes into an _ideal_ child, representing all that the spirit of ambition in its struggle for place and power is apt to... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:5-7.... [ Continue Reading ]
σκανδαλίσῃ : the opposite of receiving; treating harshly and contemptuously, so as to tempt to unbelief and apostasy. The pride and selfish ambition of those who pass for eminent Christians make many infidels. ἕνα τ. μ. τ.: one of the large class of little ones; not merely child believers surely, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐαὶ τῶ κόσμῳ, woe to the world, an exclamation of pity at thought of the miseries that come upon mankind through ambitious passions. Some (Bleek, Weiss, etc.) take κόσμος in the sense of the ungodly world, as in later apostolic usage, and therefore as causing, not suffering from, the offences deplo... [ Continue Reading ]
χείρ, πούς : mentioned together as instruments of violence. καλόν … ἢ : the positive for the comparative, or ἢ used in sense of _magis quam_. Raphel and Kypke cite instances of this use from classics. It may be an imitation of Hebrew usage, in which the comparative is expressed by the positive, foll... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses are one of Mt.'s dualities, being found with some variations in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 18:29-30). Repetition perhaps due to use of two sources, but in sympathy with the connection of thought in both places. Since the offender is the greater loser in the end, it is worth his wh... [ Continue Reading ]
ὀφθαλμός, the eye, referred to as the means of expressing _contempt_; in chap. Matthew 5:29 as inciting to _lust_. μονόφθαλμον, properly should mean having only one eye by nature, but here = wanting an eye, for which the more exact term is ἑτερόφθαλμος, _vide_ Lobeck, Phryn., p. 136.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁρᾶτε μὴ καταφ.: μὴ with the subj. in an object clause after a verb meaning to take heed; common N. T. usage; _vide_ Matthew 24:4; Acts 13:40, etc. ἑνὸς, _one_, again. λέγω γὰρ : something solemn to be said. οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν, etc. In general abstract language, the truth Jesus solemnly declares is th... [ Continue Reading ]
Still the subject is the child as the ideal representative of the insignificant, apt to be despised by the ambitious. From this point onwards Mt. goes pretty much his own way, giving _logia_ of Jesus in general sympathy with the preceding discourse, serving the purpose of moral discipline for discip... [ Continue Reading ]
an interpolation from Luke 19:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
τί ὑ. δοκεῖ as in Matthew 17:25. ἐὰν γένηταί τ. ἀ. ἐ. πρόβατα : if a man happen to have as _large_ a number, yet, etc. καὶ π. ἓν : only _one_ wanderer, out of so many. πορευθεὶς ζητεῖ : does he not go and seek the one?... [ Continue Reading ]
_Parable of straying sheep_ (Luke 15:4-7); may seem less appropriate here than in Lk., but has even here a good setting, amounting to a climax = God cares not only for the lowly and little but even for the low the morally erring. In both places the parable teaches the precious characteristically Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ … αὐτό : if it _happen_ that he finds it. In Lk. he searches till he finds it. ἀμὴν λέγω : specially solemn, with a view to the application to the moral sphere of what in the natural sphere is self-evident.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:14, pplication of the parable less emphatic than in Lk. θέλημα, a will, for an object of will. ἔμπροσθεν τ. π. μ.: before the face of = for, etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἁμαρτήσῃ : apart from the doubtful εἰς σὲ following, the reference appears to be to private personal offences, not to sin against the Christian name, which every brother in the community has a right to challenge, especially those closely connected with the offender. Yet perhaps we ought not too rigi... [ Continue Reading ]
_How to deal with an erring brother_. The transition here is easy from warning against giving, to counsel how to receive, offences. The terms are changed: μικρὸς becomes ἀδελφός, giving offence not suiting the idea of the former, and for σκανδαλίζειν we have the more general ἁμαρτάνειν.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:16-17 have something answering to them in Luke 17:3, oming in there after the group of parables in chaps. 15 and 16, in which that of the Shepherd has its place; whence Wendt recognises these verses as an authentic _logion_ probably closely connected with the parable in the common source.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀ. After a first failure try again, with added influence. παράλαβε … ἕνα ἢ δύο. This bears a juridical aspect (Schanz), but it does not really pass out of the moral sphere: ethical influence alone contemplated; consensus in moral judgment carries weight with the conscience. ἵνα ἐπὶ στόματο... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐὰν δὲ π. α. Try first a minimum of social pressure and publicity, and if that fail have recourse to the maximum. εἰπὲ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ : speak to the “Church” the brotherhood of believers in the Christ. This to be the widest limit for the ultimate sphere of moral influence, as _ex hypothesi_ the judgmen... [ Continue Reading ]
enewed promise of power to bind and loose, this time not to Peter alone, as in Matthew 16:19, but to all the Twelve, not _qua_ apostles, with ecclesiastical authority, but _qua_ disciples, with the ethical power of morally disciplined men. The Twelve for the moment are for Jesus = the _ecclesia_ : t... [ Continue Reading ]
πάλιν ἀμὴν : a second _amen_, introducing a new thought of parallel importance to the former, in Matthew 18:18. ἐὰν δύο : two; not the measure of Christ's expectation of agreement among His disciples, but of the moral power that lies in the sincere consent of even two minds. It outweighs the _nomina... [ Continue Reading ]
_Promise of the power and presence of God to encourage concord_.... [ Continue Reading ]
δύο ἢ τρεῖς. Jesus deals in small numbers, not from modesty in His anticipations, but because they suit the present condition, and in jealousy for the moral quality of the new society. συνηγμένοι εἰς, etc., not gathered to confess or worship my name, but gathered as believers in me. It is a synonym... [ Continue Reading ]
ποσάκις, etc.: the question naturally arose out of the directions for dealing with an offending brother, which could only be carried out by one of placable disposition. Their presupposition is that a fault confessed is to be forgiven. But how far is this to go? In Luke 17:3 the case is put of seven... [ Continue Reading ]
_Peter's question about forgiving_. The second of two interpellations in the course of Christ's discourse (_vide_ Mark 9:38-41; Luke 9:49-50). Such words touch sensitive consciences, and the interruptions would be welcomed by Jesus as proof that He had not spoken in vain.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐ : emphatic “no” to be connected with ἕως ἑπτάκις. Its force may be brought out by translating: no, I tell you, not till, etc. ἀλλὰ ἑ. ἑ. ἑ.: Christ's reply lifts the subject out of the legal sphere, where even Peter's suggestion left it (seven times and no more a hard rule), into the evangelic, a... [ Continue Reading ]
διὰ τοῦτο suggests that the aim of the parable is to justify the apparently unreasonable demand in Matthew 18:22 : unlimited forgiveness of injuries. After all, says Jesus, suppose ye comply with the demand, what do your remissions amount to compared to what has been remitted to you by God? ἀνθρώπῳ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Parable of unmerciful servant_.... [ Continue Reading ]
εἷς : _one_ stood out above all the rest for the magnitude of his debt, who, therefore, becomes the subject of the story. ὀφειλέτης μ. τ.: a debtor of, or to the extent of, a thousand talents an immense sum, say millions sterling; payment hopeless; that the point; exact calculations idle or pedantic... [ Continue Reading ]
πραθῆναι … ἔχει : the order is given that the debtor be sold, with all he has, _including his wife and children_; hard lines, but according to ancient law, in the view of which wife and children were simply _property_. Think of their fate in those barbarous times! But parables are not scrupulous on... [ Continue Reading ]
μακροθύμησον : a Hellenistic word, sometimes used in the sense of deferring anger (Proverbs 19:11 (Sept [106]), the corresponding adjective in Psalms 86:15; _cf._ 1 Corinthians 13:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:14). That sense is suitable here, but the prominent idea is: give me time; wrath comes in at a late... [ Continue Reading ]
σπλαγχνισθεὶς : touched with pity, not unmixed perhaps with contempt, and associated possibly with rapid reflection as to the best course, the king decides on a magnanimous policy. ἀπέλυσεν, τὸ δάνειον ἀφῆκεν : two benefits conferred; set free from imprisonment, debt absolutely cancelled, not merely... [ Continue Reading ]
ἕνα τ. συνδούλων ἀ.: a _fellow_ -slave though a humble one, which he should have remembered, but did not. ἑκατὸν δηνάρια : some fifty shillings; an utterly insignificant debt, which, coming out from the presence of a king, who had remitted so much to him, he should not even have remembered, far less... [ Continue Reading ]
_The other side of the picture_.... [ Continue Reading ]
μακροθύμησον, etc.: the identical words he used himself just a few minutes ago, reminding him surely of his position as a pardoned debtor, and moving him to like conduct.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἤθελεν : no pity awakened by the words which echoed his own petition. “He would not.” Is such conduct credible? Two remarks may be made on this. In parabolic narrations the improbable has sometimes to be resorted to, to illustrate the unnatural behaviour of men in the spiritual sphere, _e.g._, i... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδόντες οἱ σ. ἐλυπήθησαν : the other fellow-servants were greatly vexed or grieved. At what? the fate of the poor debtor? Why then not pay the debt? (Koetsveld). Not sympathy so much as annoyance at the unbecoming conduct of the merciless one who had obtained mercy was the feeling. διεσάφησαν : repo... [ Continue Reading ]
δ. πονηρέ : the king could understand and overlook dishonesty in money matters, but not such inhumanity and villainy. π. τ. ὀφειλὴν. ἐ.: huge, uncountable. ἐπεὶ παρεκάλεσάς με, when you entreated me. In point of fact he had not, at least in words, asked remission but only time to pay. Ungenerous him... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἔδει; was it not your duty? an appeal to the sense of decency and gratitude. καὶ σὲ … ἠλέησα. There was condescension in putting the two cases together as parallel. Ten thousand acts of forgiveness such as the culprit was asked to perform would not have equalled in amount one act such as he had... [ Continue Reading ]
ὀργισθεὶς : roused to just and extreme anger. βασανισταῖς : not merely to the gaolers, but to the tormentors, with instructions not merely to keep him safe in prison till the debt was paid, but still more to make the life of the wretch as miserable as possible, by place of imprisonment, position of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Application_. οὕτως : so, _mutatis mutandis_, for feelings, motives, methods rise in the moral scale when we pass to the spiritual sphere. So in general, not in all details, on the same principle; merciless to the merciless. ὁ πατήρ μ. ὁ οὐρ.: Jesus is not afraid to bring the Father in in such a co... [ Continue Reading ]