Matthew 11:25-30

Christ's relation to the Father and to mankind (Luke 10:21). A sublime utterance, this 'pearl of the sayings of Jesus' (Keim), 'one of the purest and most genuine,' 'one of Johannean splendour' (Meyer), 'an aërolite from the Johannean heaven' (Hase). As a rule in the synoptists the relation of Jesus to mankind is the theme of the discourses, but here the divine Sonship of Jesus is affirmed in terms which cover the whole doctrine of the Fourth Gospel. 'This passage,' says Prof. Sanday, 'is one of the best authenticated in the Synoptic Gospels. It is.. part of that “collection of discourses,” in all probability the composition of the apostle St. Matthew, which many critics believe to be the oldest of all the Evangelical documents. And yet once grant the authenticity of this passage, and there is nothing in the Johannean Christology that it does not cover. Even the doctrine of preëxistence seems to be implicitly contained in it.'