NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TEN

Part III

Verse 20: But it will not really be you speaking; the Spirit of your heavenly Father will be speaking through you.

And another Early Church writer on Matthew gives us this exposition: “For the greater consolation of the apostles, He did not say, ‘The Spirit of your Father who speaks in you’ but ‘who speaks.’ He meant that neither then nor now can they do or speak anything without the Spirit of God. It is as though He said to them, ‘You see me hungry, and you believe that I am the heavenly bread. You see me thirsty, and you believe that I am the spring of water welling up to eternal life.¹ You believe in me and declare that I speak the truth. How are we to understand this human faculty that sees one thing and believes another and then professes that belief? So, if now at a time when there is no danger, my grace is at work in you, how much more will it be in you when persecution comes? For He who sustains you in peace will help you all the more in war.”²

So in other words, early church scholars believed that Jesus is really saying that whenever a believer is confronted by those who ask them why they preach or teach what they do, the Spirit will not speak for them, but God through the Spirit will speak through them. That means that whatever testimony we may be forced to give, it will have the added anointing and unction of the Holy Spirit so as to convict and convince those who may desire to prosecute us for preaching the true gospel of Jesus the Christ. We certainly can see that when the apostle Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, and the apostle Paul stood before king Agrippa.

When we compare this concept to a radio, first it must be plugged in so it can operate. So imagine the Bible as the source to be plugged into, and the Holy Spirit as the electricity that flows through the cord that connects you, and you are the speaker. Not only that, but you must be tuned into the right station in order to broadcast the best programming, and that station is JESUS! That’s why we are not here to argue or advise the world, but to advertise the good news of the Kingdom of God. That’s why the apostle Paul was unapologetic when he said: “I am proud of the Good News, because it is the power God uses to save everyone who believes.”³

And now our Master adds another factor that behooves us to be aware of the conditions around us and what may be driving all this opposition to the Gospel we preach, so that we can be ready:

Verse 21: Brothers will turn against their own brothers and hand them over to be killed. Fathers will hand over their own children to be killed. Children will fight against their own parents and will have them killed.

These words must have come as a shocker to Jesus’ disciples. Whatever their expectations were, this was probably not on their list. Nevertheless, even the Jews themselves had announced that this would occur in the time of the Messiah. They said: “The wisdom of the Scribes will decay and those who fear sin will be utterly despised. Truth will be absent, the youth will make the faces of the elders turn pale, elders will rise in to give their seat to the young, the son will deride his father, the daughter will stand up against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. The enemies of one are members in his own household. The face of the generation is like the face of a dog, bearing no shame for anything.”⁴ This is not a description of the congregation of believers, but of society as a whole.

This warning about the deterioration of respect and authority is also outlined by Jewish scholars. They said:

“In the period preceding the coming of Messiah, insolence will increase and prices will soar. The vineyard will produce, yet wine will be expensive, since constant partying will cause excessive demand. And government will turn to away from the truth and there will be no admonishment for sins, since all are sinners. The wisdom of the Scribes will decay and those who fear sin will be utterly despised. Truth will be absent, the youth will turn the faces of the elders pale, but elders will support their youth’s actions, the son will deride his father, the daughter will stand up against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. One’s enemies are members of his own household. The face of the generation is like the face of a dog, bearing no shame for anything. The son is not embarrassed in front of his father and upon whom, can we rely on?”⁵

Rabbi Eliezer the Great put it this way:

“From the day the temple was destroyed, the sages began to be like school teachers, school teachers like synagogue attendants, synagogue attendants like common people, and the common people became more and more debased; and there was none to ask, none to inquire. upon whom is it for us to rely? Upon our father who is in heaven. in the footsteps of the Messiah? Insolence will increase and honor dwindle; the vine will yield its fruit abundantly but wine will be expensive; the government will turn to falsehood and there will be none to rebut them; the meeting-place of scholars will be used for immoral purposes…and the dwellers on the frontier will go about [begging] from place to place without anyone to take pity on them”.⁶

Scholars tell us that the reason wine will become scarce is because of widespread drunkenness due to such persecution. Also, the government turning to heresy is a reference to the Roman Empire going over from paganism to Christianity.⁷ Again, in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles we find nothing of this magnitude faced by the disciples or their descendants. It would be 200 years before the church would begin to suffer such persecution. Some scholars believe that this message was in reference to what the Jews experienced during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. In that case, it was the survival of the early church that Jesus was speaking of.

Yet many scholars see this as part of the eschatological ending as displayed in John’s Apocalypse. Then again, it may not point to any specific period or event, but was to be accepted as a tide of persecution that would go on and off as long as the Church is here on earth. The prophet Isaiah foresaw something similar, “You who obey the Lord’s commands, listen to what He says: ‘Your brothers hated you. They turned against you because you followed Me. Your brothers said, ‘When the Lord shows His glory, then we will rejoice with you.’ But they will be punished.”⁸ This could certainly point to the end days just before the rapture, when Christians will be persecuted the hardest. Then our Lord brings in a qualifier, in that if all of this was going to happen to Him, then why should His followers be exempt. They would simply be on the same mission as He was.

Early Church Bishop Hilary sees this entire saying of the Lord as referring to the Orthodox Jews and the Messianic Jews following our Lord’s ascension. That among the believing Jews, the family in a single house will disagree among themselves. This means that whereas the people were formerly united (for the ‘people’ is meant under the names of parents and relatives), the believing Jews will now be exposed to vicious hatred. They will be turned over to earthly judges and kings, who attempt to secure either their silence or their cooperation. For they are to bear testimony to their own people and to the Gentiles, and after that testimony has been borne, their persecutors will be deprived of the excuse that they are ignorant of divine things. When Christ has been prophesied by the words of the martyrs amid the tortures of savage persecutors, the way will be open for the Gentiles to believe in Him, though they remain stubborn.⁹

Other Christian scholars, however, take these word of Jesus as only applying to the End Times. But church history has shown that over the centuries this hideous phenomenon has occurred many times. One need only read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs to see what happened over the last 400 years in Europe. But again, Jesus now gives the underlying reason for this hatred:

Verse 22: Everyone will dislike you because you follow Me. But the one who remains faithful to the end will be saved.

These words by Jesus gives us a clear definition of what “being saved” really means. Too often believers use the words “redeemed” and “saved” interchangeably. But look at them this way: we are “redeemed” from the bondage of sin, and we are thereby “saved” from the penalty of sin which is death. However, our Lord states clearly, that salvation will come only to those who remain faithful in their redemption from sin to the end. That is to the end of one’s life, whether it comes by death or at the rapture. In this case, our Lord gives His disciples a specific time frame in which to reference their task. One thing to focus on is that Jesus did not say that the good news would reach every city in Israel and then the Son of Man would come, but that they would all hear the gospel before He returned.

One early church writer has this to say about enduring to the end. He writes: “This is said because many begin but few reach the end. There is always pleasure in the beginning, but the end is the time of testing. For no one can endure with God to the end without becoming a person who belongs to God by means of grace. Everything done because of the flesh is mortal. The body is itself impermanent. But what is done because of God is eternal, just as God is eternal. What is glorious is not to begin something good but to reach the end in a good way. Hence the very essence of a good life is a good death. Firmness of heart can reach the end. Fleshly desire often starts some good thing but cannot reach the end except by the grace of God. So then, now that you have turned to God and begun to serve God and do the works of righteousness, never think back on your previous deeds. Think about your end. The contemplation of our previous good service leads to pride, but the contemplation of our end leads to holy reverence.”¹⁰

Verse 23: When you are treated badly in one city, go to another city. I promise you that you will not finish going to all the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes again.

One of the early 4^th century church theologians made this comment: “His coming is not described as a manifest one at the end of our life. His coming will appear as spiritual guidance and help for those who are persecuted from time to time for the sake of God.”¹¹ In other words, Jesus was telling them that the mission He was sending them out on and their continued ministry in bringing the good news to all the cites throughout Israel would not be completed before they would see the Anointed One in all His glory.

But some scholars take into account that here Jesus is talking to His disciples, and especially the 70 followers He is about to send out on their mission in the area of Galilee where they were at the time. So this implies that even though He may be gone from their sight for a while, His absence will not be long enough for them to finish what He is now sending them out to do. This may have been His reference to the time between His crucifixion and His resurrection. I can imagine that what Jesus really said in Aramaic and how it was written down in Hebrew and then translated into Greek may have blurred the original meaning. But we need not be concerned because the message was primarily directed at those who followed Him at the time.

Early Church scholar Cyril of Alexandria sees it in this light: “Jesus commands His disciples to flee from one town to the next, and from that one to another. In saying this He is not telling His disciples to be cowardly. He is telling them not to cast themselves into dangers and die at once, for that would be a loss to those who otherwise will benefit from the teaching.”¹² It is clear that Cyril saw this with respect to his day and the days to come for all of Christ’s followers.

This is why those who are teachers and preachers should diligently examine God’s Word before going out to preach or teach what Jesus really said. One thing I’ve always used as a guide to determine the priority of how exact my exegesis should be in relationship to the original text, is that some verses do not affect or impact God’s plan or the teachings of Jesus on salvation, but are more or less historical and are not as critical as those that do. But I still endeavor to give the most accurate meaning as possible so that the listeners can gain a better understanding of what Jesus really said. Handling God’s Word is a serious matter, and we should be cautious in preparation before presenting what we say as fact.