Lange Commentary - Matthew 10:21 - 10:22

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Lange Commentary - Matthew 10:21 - 10:22


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6. Severity of the impending Persecution, to the extent of breaking the bonds of Natural Relationship. Greatness of the Persecution, its measure, and glorious end. Mat_10:21-22

21And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22And ye shall be hated of [by] all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_10:21. Will rise up, ἐð áíáóôÞ óïíôáé .—The verb means insurrection in the strictest sense,—being in this case equally directed against parental authority and the Spirit of Christ. This inward rebellion leads to the corresponding outward sin of parricide, either by delivering up parents to the magistrates, or by inciting fanatical vengeance. Again, the brother and the father show their hatred to their brother or child by the ðáñáäéäüíáé , or delivering them up to death—a term which also implies treason and vileness.

Mat_10:22. Ye shall be hated by all.—This strong expression (though without the article) indicates the generality of the hatred toward Christ. It will spread over the world like an infectious fever, or a pestilence, and furnish the material with which, on any given occasion, the fire of persecution may be lit up.

For My name’s sake;—i. e., purely on account of their Christian profession, and not on account of the personal blemishes and errors which may mingle with it.

But he that endureth—viz., faithful to his profession—to the end.—To the individual, the end is martyrdom by death, or else deliverance; to the Church as a whole, the end is the complete victory of its distinctive confession of Christ over the hatred of the world. In both these respects sufferings shall have an end. There are different interpretations of the expression åἰòôÝëïò (the end of these sufferings; of life; the destruction of Jerusalem, etc.).—Shall be saved.—Here very emphatically, absolutely óùèÞóåôáé . The end of this way is salvation (Luk_21:19), while every side-path leads to destruction.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

Christianity is based on a new spiritual relationship, and its effects—of love or of hatred—are much stronger and wider than the natural bonds which connect human society. Hence hatred of the gospel assumes a demoniac shape, and wickedly dissolves all the sacred bonds of nature. But even this fearful outburst must not shake the confidence of believers in the holy Name which they profess. It only serves to convince them of the depth of human corruption. In the name of Christ they shall ultimately succeed in transforming the natural bonds which connect man to man, and by the love of Christ shall they overcome the hatred of the world. Not that Christianity itself endangers the bonds of natural relationship, but that it becomes the innocent occasion of such hatred. But here also the name of Christ shall prevail, and a higher bond of unity shall bind together His own.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Hatred of Christ is necessarily murderous in its character,—1. because Christ is life; 2. because sin is real death.—The two great forms in which hatred of Christ appears, are betrayal and rebellion.—Profession of Christ revealing the deep ruin of the world, as apparent in the hatred of Jesus and His people.—The hatred and persecution of the gospel an evidence of its power and loftiness.—Fanaticism in its relation to faith: 1. It dissolves all the bonds of life and of love, but imputes the blame of it to faith; 2. it leads a man to acts of betrayal, of rebellion, and of murder, while he imagines that he is offering services acceptable to God; 3. it institutes a community of hatred in opposition to the community of love, and mistakes the fire of hell for a sacred flame of heaven; 4. it appears in the guise of religion, but for the purpose of banishing Christ and His religion from the earth.—Final preservation of all things in Christ, despite the enmity of the world. 1. The family and friendship shall be preserved, though dissolved in various ways; 2. humanity, despite its enmity; 3. our own life, although we surrender it.—“But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”—Faithfulness to the Lord the condition of safety.

Starke:—There is no hatred in the world so great as that against Christ and His members.—The world imputes every evil to Christians, although itself is the sole cause of it.—God has put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

Lisco:—In measure as these sufferings are painful, the reward is glorious. 1. The sufferings: a. persecution by our nearest relatives; b. general hatred. 2. The reward: deliverance, blessedness.

Heubner:—It is evidence of the highest love to renounce love for the sake of Christ.

Footnotes:

Mat_10:19.—[Dr. Lange reads with Codd. B., E., Sinait., etc., and Lachmann ðáñáäῶóéí , tradiderint, instead of ðáñáäéäῶóéí , tradent.—P. S.]

Mat_10:19.—[ Ìὴ ìåñéìíÞóçôå . Comp. the exegetical note on Mat_6:25, p. 133, and the remark of Maldonatus in loc.: “Non omnem prœcedentem meditationem vetat; sed eam quœ diffldentiam divinœ providentiœ et opis habeat, quœque nimio metu ac sollicitudine liberam Evangelii prœdicutionem impediat” Bengel: “Una, non Scurandi, cura sit. Non omnis prœparatio ex eo nobis prohibetur. 1Ti_4:15; coll. Luk_21:14; 1Co_14:26.”—P. S.]

Mat_10:19.—Some Codd., D., L., al., omit the words from äïèÞóåôáé to ëáëÞóåôå , probably misled by the similarity of sound with the preceding.

[In German: Geistliche Schönrednerei, for which know no English equivalent.—P. S.]

Mat_10:21.—[Dr. Conant omits the art. as in Greek, and renders: “And brother will (for shall) deliver up brother to death, and father child.” But the latter clause shows that it will not do in English. The N. T. of the Am. Bible Union has restored the article before every noun. Lange also gives the art.—P. S. ]

Mat_10:21.—[Here where the plural is used, it is better to omit the art.: children will rise up against parents ôÝêíá ἐðὶ ãïíåῖò . So Conant, N. T. of the A. B. U., Lange (Kinder gegen Eltern).—P. S.]

Mat_10:22.—[The interpolated men of the C. V. is quite unnecessary.—P. S.]

[“Enduring to the end” is the proper evidence of the reality and solidity of the Christian profession, “drawing back unto perdition” exposes the want of foundation. It often occurs in connection with similar warnings, Mat_24:13 (he that shall endure unto the end); 1Co_1:8 (confirm you unto the end); Heb_3:6 (firm unto the end); Mat_3:14 (steadfast unto the end); Mat_6:11; Mat_10:23; Mat_10:26-29; Rev_2:26 (who keepeth my works unto the end). The phrase has therefore obviously a universal applicability to all believers, and to the end of individual life ( ôÝëïò = finis vitœ) But this does not exclude a special reference to great future epochs in a prophetical discourse like this (comp. Mat_10:23). Hence ôÝëïò may be referred directly to the destruction of Jerusalem (comp. Mat_10:23; Mat_24:13), and indirectly to the final judgment which was foreshadowed and typified by the former. So óùèÞóåôáé , likewise, was literally fulfilled in the timely escape of the Christians from the doomed city by Divine admonition, and will be absolutely fulfilled in the everlasting salvation. Compare the prophetic discourses of the Saviour in Matthew 24 and Commentary.—P. S.]