John Bengel Commentary - Matthew 5:17 - 5:17

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

John Bengel Commentary - Matthew 5:17 - 5:17


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Mat 5:17. Μὴ νομίσητε, Do not think) An elliptical mode of speech by Metonomy of the Consequent.[182] Do not think, fear, hope, that I am a teacher like those teachers to whom you have been accustomed, and that I, like them, shall set aside the law. He who thinks the former, thinks also the latter.-ἦλθον, I have come) Our Lord, therefore, existed before He came upon earth, which is implied also in ch. Mat 8:10, by εὖρον, I have found.-καταλῦσαι, to destroy, to abrogate) To the compound verb, καταλύειν, to unloose or dissolve, is opposed πληροῦν, to fulfil; to the simple verb λύειν, to loose, combined with διδάσκειν, to teach, is opposed ποιεῖν, to do, or perform, joined with the same verb διδάσκειν: from which the relative force of the words appears; those are said of the whole law, these of the separate precepts. καταλύειν, to unloose, and λύειν, to loose, both signify to render void.[183]-τὸν νόμον ἤ τοὺς προφήτας, the law or the prophets) Many of the Jews esteemed the prophets less than the law. They are joined also in ch. Mat 7:12.-πληρῶσαι, to fulfil) By My deeds and words, to effect that all things should be fulfilled which the law requires. See the conclusion of the next verse.[184] The Rabbins acknowledge that it is a sign of the Messiah to fulfil the whole law.

[182] The consequent-that I, like them, shall set aside the law: the antecedent-that I am a teacher like those to whom you are accustomed.-(I. B.)

[183] The Latin verb solvo, which is used in this passage, represents the Greek λύω far more fully and accurately than any English word can. καταλύω is also more adequately rendered by dissolvo than by any English word.-(I. B.)

[184] He was not the founder of a new law; but, by His own obedience, Himself fulfilled the law, and showed how it should be fulfilled by His disciples.-Vers. Germ.