NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TEN

Part IV

Verse 26: So don’t be afraid of those people. Everything that is hidden will be shown. Everything that is secret will be made known.

After Jesus warns His disciples about those who would have no respect for them because they had no respect for Him, He gives them a message of peace. But this message contains some important information that helps us understand the situation. By saying that everything concealed or coded would be brought to light, our Lord is either talking about the works of the opposition or the power of the disciples

Early Church Bishop Hilary tells us: “This refers to the day of judgment, which will make known the hidden conscience of our will and reveal to public knowledge those things that now seem obscure. Jesus is admonishing us, therefore, that we are not to fear our persecutors’ threats or stratagems or power, because the day of judgment will reveal that these all were nothing and empty.”¹

However, what Jesus says next seems to point in another direction. The disciples’ fear of these people will be unwarranted because what He has something to tell them. So here our Lord is basically saying that when a believer or group of believers confront those who are denouncing them and speaking against their message, what He gives them will allow them to set the record straight. It will also show the strength of the individual or congregation in that they were not frightened into seeking help from men, but expecting help from God.

Verse 27: What I tell you privately, but I want you to declare openly. What you hear me saying to you in a low tone, I want you to shout it from the rooftops.

We can conclude from Jesus’ words here that He was not insinuating that He gathered His disciples behind closed doors and whispered secrets in their ears. Rather, that what He shared with them in out on the hillside would soon be openly declared in the public square and what He said to them as a small group gathered around Him, would be announced to larger crowds outside. Anyone who is a reader of the Psalms will notice that the way Jesus says this is a form of Hebrew poetry which is called a “synonymous parallelism.” This is where the same thought is repeated in different words but having the same meaning.²

The Jews were already anticipating such a revelation. They said: “Sing to God, sing praises to His name; extol Him who rides on the clouds by His name, Yah.”³ From the word ‘riding’, which occurs in two Biblical passages we derive that they are speaking of heaven. Here, and: “…there is no one like God, riding through the heavens to help you.”⁴ And darkness and cloud and thick darkness surround Him, for it is said: “He made darkness His hiding-place, His canopy thick clouds dark with water.”⁵ But is there any darkness before Heaven? For behold it is written: “He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what lies in the darkness; and light dwells with Him.’⁶”⁷ So what Jesus is saying to His disciples was clearly a fulfillment of God’s Word.

Chrysostom gives us this exposition: “The point is not that Jesus was literally whispering into their ears or speaking in physical darkness. Rather, He was here pressing a strong figure of speech. He was conversing with them quietly and alone in a small corner of Palestine. In contrast with this tone of voice, they would soon be preaching with a boldness of speech that would in due time be conferred upon them. The metaphor of whispering in the ear in a dark place, in this present quietness, is contrasted with what is to come. For they were soon to be commissioned to speak not to one or two or three cities but to the whole world. They would soon be traversing land and sea, amid inhabited countries and across deserts, addressing both princes and tribes, philosophers and orators, telling it like it is with an open face and with all boldness of speech.”⁸

In my mind I can see Jesus huddled with His followers, instructing them before they are sent out. He wants them to know that as one man with one voice, it is not possible for Him to spread the Word as fast and as far as it needs to go on His own. So He needs their voices to repeat everything He’s been teaching and telling them. This spirit to broadcast what the Holy Spirit gives us through study, preaching and teaching of God’s Word, should motivate every believer to go and tell what has been revealed to them.

So why just sit in the pew and then when the service is over go home for the rest of the week and say nothing to anyone about what you heard. Thus the Gospel was not meant to be preached only inside a church building, but whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself, be it sitting in a person’s home, or in the boardroom of a company; in front of a Bible study class, or in front of a TV camera. The Holy Spirit is always there to inspire us through what we’ve learned, and then to interpret what we say into the spiritual language of each listener.

I once wrote an article for a denominational magazine that I titled, “Where’s the Church on Monday Morning?” Many who go to work on Monday will hear their workmates and friends tell about what they did over the weekend. How they partied on Saturday night, slept in on Sunday, then went to the park or a ball game and later went out to drink and dance with their buddies. But what did they say about their weekend? Did they tell their friends about a Bible Study they went to and how exciting it was to learn new truths about the God’s Word? Did they talk about the church service they attended on Sunday and how the pastor preached a powerful message and the Lord blessed and the Holy Spirit moved and people were healed and brought to salvation?

A student of Eusebius, who wrote Ecclesiastical History, had this to say on this text: “But someone may ask, ‘If it is good to speak in the light, why did He Himself speak in darkness? And if it is good to preach from the housetops, why did He himself quietly speak into their ears?’ He keeps quiet because it is timely, but He instructs the disciples to proclaim and preach His words. He is not afraid—it is, rather, for ignorant people to fear the Lord Jesus. He is carefully managing His speech, much like a steward manages money. At times He keeps silent and at other appropriate times He speaks openly.”⁹ We might liken what this student of Eusebius is saying here in today’s world to someone sitting in a small Bible study class or in a pew listening to God’s Word being preached. They may not be inspired to go out on the street corner to wave their Bible and try to interest the people going by in what they have to say, but for the next six days the Holy Spirit will give them opportunities to share what they have learned to those who were not there. Sometimes it will be to a group, at other times it may be to an individual.

The Jews had an interesting story that embodies this concept. They say: “A Master Rabbi came to the place where Rabbi Shila spoke, when there happened to be no interpreter to stand next to Rabbi Shila, so Master Rabbi stood next to him and interpreted what he said.”¹⁰ The footnotes say that the Rabbi taught in Hebrew (which was the language of the scholars) while the interpreter translated it into Aramaic (which was the language of the people).

This is an illustration of what Jesus was talking about. There are many in this world who would not understand a sermon because they have no knowledge of the Bible or the teachings of Jesus. Especially when it is repeated in the language of the King James Version. So as in this case, the world needs an interpreter because they speak the language of the world while the Bible speaks the language of heaven. So begin to see yourself as an interpreter when you go out and the subject of God or the Bible comes up in a conversation.

The anonymous writer of an early church commentary on Matthew gives us this to consider: “Jesus now reveals to them what will be the outcome of their preaching, because their preaching was going to have a glorious result. ‘Here I am,’ He says. ‘I am the light hidden in the shadows, God concealed in a man, exaltation in humility. So although this mystery was hidden from the ages, it will now be made manifest to all through you, so that the prophecy I spoke will be fulfilled: “Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and there is nothing hid from its heat.” ‘¹¹ For there is no place where the sun is not seen and its heat is not felt. In the same way there will be no place where Christ is not known and his divine nature is not understood. In this way all humankind will be divided into two groups: the unbelievers who will have no excuse and will be punished, and believers.”¹²

Even though Jesus did not say anything about the blowing of the ram’s horn, it may have been implied with the preaching from the rooftop, since that was an excellent way to attract attention. So Jesus was not asking His disciples to do what was already being done, but to take what was being done and transform it into a platform for the Gospel. If Jewish people were accustomed to responding to the sound of a ram’s horn and gather and listen to a speaker, then do the same only now they will hear what the Messiah had to say.

Verse 28a: Don’t be afraid of people. They can only kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul.

In an Early Church anonymous work on Matthew, we find this commentary: “The essence of the human is not the body, but the soul. It is the soul alone that God made in His own image and the soul that He loves. For the sake of the soul He even created the world. Our enemies are jealous of the soul and persecute the soul. For the sake of the soul even the Son of God came into the world. But the body is the garment of the soul, as the apostle says: ‘For while we are still in this body, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.’¹³ If a madman destroyed someone’s garment that is worn over the body, his victim would think of him as the inflicter of an injury, but there would be no harm to the victim’s nature. In the same way if unbelievers murder the body that is worn over the soul, the soul is grieved by the murder, but there is no harm to the soul’s nature.”¹⁴ Then our Lord goes on to say:

Verse 28b: The only One you should fear is God…

By using the word “fear,” our Lord does not mean to be afraid of and therefore to avoid by all means possible, but in the sense of revering and respecting God as the Almighty One, and that He means what He says. Augustine gives us this exposition: “The gospel is life. Impiety and infidelity are the death of the soul. So then, if the soul can die, how then is it yet immortal? Because there is always a dimension of life in the soul that can never be extinguished. And how does it die? Not in ceasing to be life but by losing its proper life. For the soul is both life to something else, and it has it own proper life. Consider the order of the creatures. The soul is the life of the body. God is the life of the soul. As the life that is the soul is present with the body, that the body may not die, so the life of the soul (God) ought to be with the soul that it may not die.”¹⁵

Then Augustine continues: “How does the body die? By the departure of the soul. I say, by the departure of the soul the body dies, and it lies there as a mere carcass, what was a little before a lively, not a contemptible, object. There are in it still its several members, the eyes and ears. But these are merely the windows of the house; its inhabitant is gone. Those who bewail the dead cry in vain at the windows of the house. There is no one there within it to hear.… Why is the body dead? Because the soul, its life, is gone. But at what point is the soul itself dead? When God, its life, has forsaken it.… This then we can know and hold for certain: the body is dead without the soul, and the soul is dead without God. Every one without God has a dead soul. You who bewail the dead rather should bewail sin. Bewail ungodliness. Bewail disbelief.”¹⁶

The bottom line here is that Jesus wants His disciples to know that they can expect persecution and rejection as they carry out the mission He has given them. But the one thing they need to always keep in mind is this: no matter what the consequences may be when they are interfered with or prohibited from completing their task by those who oppose them, it is not as vital as the consequences that can be imposed by the One who sent them if they fail to give their all in carrying out their mission. This was not intended to put them under the bondage of fear, but to let them know that God in His mercy will do what is right and just in their case, so be glad He won’t do what He could do.