NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Part VI

Verses 18-19: The man asked, “Which ones?” Jesus answered, “You must not murder anyone, you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not tell lies about others, you must respect your father and mother, and love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.”¹

Apparently, this gentleman had heard Jesus teach about receiving eternal life, but he had not heard enough to understand how it was achieved under this new agreement. But what is obvious, is that he believed in salvation by works because his first question was, “What can I do that’s good enough to warrant eternal life?” I’m sure that the answer Jesus gave him was totally unexpected. It would be like someone asking how they could get rid of their hunger and were told to eat. Then they asked, “What type of food?” They were then given a list of foods that was already part of their diet.

In response to the man’s question, Jesus goes on and elucidates all the laws this man must obey if he wants to earn his way into heaven. It is obvious that this man felt pretty good about his record, so he asks Jesus what specific laws He had in mind. So our Lord refers to the Ten Commandments. But the gentleman was not impressed. It is interesting to see the order in which our Lord quotes the commandments. He cites numbers five, six, seven, and eight then goes back to number four before finishing with one that is not included in the Ten Commandments in Exodus, but was included by Moses later on.²

Early church Bishop Cyril gives us his impression of what happened here. He writes: “Christ did not answer him as he expected but simply pointed him to the law. This is not because the law is perfection, for ‘no one is justified by the law,’³ as it is written, but because the life lived according to law is a kind of introduction to the eternal life, briefly acquainting trainees to the things above. ‘For the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ.’⁴ The law is the starting point for social justice. Christ is the perfection. For the beginning of good is to act justly, he says. Proper action then is shown by the law, but goodness is shown by Christ. The law taught us to repay those who wish to harm us, as in ‘eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’⁵ But Christ taught us to let go such balanced vengeance with a view to the greater good, teaching that ‘if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if anyone would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well.’⁶”⁷

As far as the Jews were concerned, these commandments had no order of priority. Since they were all equal, they never referred to them as the first, third, or seventh commandment. It is quite interesting that a Jewish Rabbi from Spain when talking about these commandments, started in the same order as Jesus gives us here.⁸ This tells us that the Jews considered this section of the Torah Jesus used as pertaining to one’s attitude and interaction with others, whereas the first portion relates to one’s attitude and interaction with God. In response, the young man gave Jesus the following answer:

Verses 20-21: I have obeyed all these commands. What else do I need? Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, then go and sell all that you own. Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me!”

Now this young erstwhile disciple acts somewhat incredulous that he should be reminded to keep all the commandments. How could Jesus expect him to believe that he had failed in some way to measure up to the law’s demands? He had worked so hard all his life to get to where he was, and now was being told to go back and start all over just in case he may have missed one or two. This young man’s quest was to go further, to go above and beyond anything he had accomplished. He wanted to climb higher and higher in his dedication to doing righteous deeds.

Too many who come to Christ for salvation come thinking that it will cost them nothing; that grace is free and salvation is a gift from God, so it is like winning the spiritual lottery. But Jesus had made it clear that if anyone was not willing to forsake all to follow Him, they were not worthy to be His disciple.⁹ Of course, we must understand what it is that He was asking them to give up. And that became clear when He said that if you decide to live your life the way you want to, you’ll lose all that you accomplish. But if you decided to live for His sake and God’s glory, you will save all that He accomplishes through you for eternity.¹⁰

As we look back, we can see that this person was already on his way to a disappointing answer because of the way he phrased the question. He may have been looking for an avenue to work his way into the kingdom of God. You will notice he asked, “What good ‘thing’ can I do.” In other words, “Tell me what I need to produce, construct, obtain, form, acquire, or accomplish to earn eternal life on my own, without anybody’s help. Just name it and I’m sure I can do it.” Within the Law, the route that Jesus showed him was very simple – be perfect!

Early church teacher Augustine had this to say: “The rich young man claimed to have kept the commandments. Then he heard the greater commandment: ‘If you wish to be perfect, you still lack one thing: sell all that you have and give it to the poor;’ you will not lose it, but ‘you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ What good does it do you if you follow the law and do not follow me? He went away sad and sorrowful, as you have heard, for he had great wealth.”¹¹

What the Master has offered to the young man was a real challenge. Noah was willing to do nothing but build the ark so that he and his family could be saved from the flood. Abraham was asked by God to leave everything in Ur and go where He would direct Him and then was asked later to sacrificed his only son, which he set out to do without complaint. And Moses left his privileged position in Egypt to lead the children of Israel to the promised land. Now this young man was shown how high up the bar was in order for him to give everything away that he had down here, in order to climb up there to where he could have everything God had ready to offer him. It immediately became clear where the young man’s heart really was focused.

Then Augustine applies this principle to all believers. He continues: “What he heard, we too have heard. The Word of Christ is the gospel. He sits in heaven, but He does not cease to speak on earth. Let us not be deaf, for He shouts. Let us not be dead, for He thunders. If you are not willing to do the greater commandments, do the lesser ones. If the burden of the greater is too much for you, take up the lesser. Why are you slow to do either? Why do you oppose both? The greater commandments are ‘Sell everything that you have and give to the poor and follow me.’ The lesser are ‘You shall not commit murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not steal; honor your father and mother; love your neighbor as yourself.’¹² So do these things.”¹³

Now Augustine the teacher, becomes Augustine the preacher: “Why do I shout to you that you must sell your possessions when I cannot get you to admit that you should not take someone else’s? You have heard, ‘You shall not steal.’ You rob. Before the eyes of so great a judge, I now define you not as a thief but a robber. Spare yourself; pity yourself. This life still gives you time. Don’t reject reproof. Yesterday you were a thief; do not also be one today. Perhaps you have also been one today? Do not be one tomorrow. Sometimes end your sin and expect a good reward. You want to have your goods, but you are unwilling to be good. Your life is contrary to your hopes. If it is a great good to have a good house, how great an evil is it to have an evil soul?”¹⁴

This was not contrary to Jewish verbal law to give to the poor. As one Rabbi said: “Surely it was taught: If one declares, ‘This selah¹⁵ be for charity in order that my son may live,’ or, ‘that I may merit the future world,’ he is completely righteous.’”¹⁶ If this was what this man was looking for, then Jesus was telling him how to find it. All the Master did was ask him to abide by the teaching of his own Rabbis who encouraged acts of: “lovingkindness” and “tender mercies.” In this case, such acts referred to giving in charity”¹⁷

In a small Jewish tract we find an exposition on acts of kindness and tender mercies to charity. It reads: “A good thought is turned by God into an action (i.e. God makes sure to turn it into an action). A bad thought is not turned by God into an action (i.e. God makes sure that it does not become an action), as it is said, ‘If I had considered doing wrong in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.’¹⁸ If so how is it true when it says the following: ‘Hear Earth, I bring evil to this nation, the fruit of their thoughts …’?¹⁹ But rather, it should be stated as follows: A good thought is combined by God with an action (i.e. God counts it as if it was done, even though it was not) and when a good [thought] is not combined by God with an action (i.e. God does not count it as if it was done).”²⁰

This is also reflected in a Jewish book that tells the story of a righteous Israelite named Tobit of the Tribe of Naphtali living in Nineveh. This manuscript was also adopted by the early church as part of its Old Testament Canon. It reads: “Revere the Lord all your days, my son, and refuse to sin or to transgress His commandments. Live uprightly all the days of your life, and do not walk in the ways of wrongdoing; for those who act in accordance with truth will prosper in all their activities. To all those who practice righteousness give alms from your possessions, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it. Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor, and the face of God will not be turned away from you. If you have many possessions, make your gift from them in proportion; if few, do not be afraid to give according to the little you have. So you will be laying up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity. For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps you from going into the Darkness. Indeed, almsgiving, for all who practice it, is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High.”²¹

Early church teacher Origen rightly points out that we must take this answer by Jesus to sell everything in order to follow Him as being to this young man alone, not as a general commandment. Nowhere else do we find our Lord giving the same instructions to His other disciples. In the case of Peter, James, and John, He only asked them to leave their fishing business and join Him in becoming fishers of men. And Matthew was asked to leave his tax assessing business and follow the Lord in assessing souls.

In my case, it was not a matter of giving up riches for I had none at the time. But I was willing to give up returning to live in my own country and forfeiting a free trip back to the USA for my family and me, as well as taking a large reduction salary that barely paid for our daily necessities. But I can say with unequivocal certainty, that it was one of the best decision I ever made. Like the apostle Paul, I now look back on all that I supposedly missed out on and count it as trash in comparison to what I received from my God, and my Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.