Lange Commentary - Matthew 10:23 - 10:23

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Lange Commentary - Matthew 10:23 - 10:23


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

7. Flight in Persecution, the means of spreading Christianity.

First warning and comfort. Mat_10:23

23But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another [the other, åἰò ôὴí ἅëëçí ]: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come [shall have come].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_10:23. For verily, ἀìὴíãÜñ .—The ãÜñ here is of the greatest importance. The flight of an Apostle from a city where general persecution had arisen, was in reality not flight, but removal to a larger sphere of usefulness. This duty may be deduced from the fundamental principle formerly enjoined, of turning away from those who were hardened, and addressing themselves more and more to those who were impressible.—“Shake off the dust of your feet.” But, on the other hand, this alone must be the motive for their flight. Subordinate considerations (such as employment, home, etc.) must not retain, nor fear of suffering drive them away. Their flight must be determined by concern for the best means of spreading the name of Christ, that so the natural instinct of self-preservation may be transformed into a spiritual principle.

Ye shall not have gone over, ended, finished, completed, ïὐ ìὴ ôåëÝóçôå .—Scarcely equivalent to, “Ye shall not have been in all the cities.” Meyer.—“To bring them to Christian perfection.” Maldonatus, Hoffmann, etc. The expression implies an active finishing of their mission. Hence the interpretation of Meyer is too narrow; that of Maldonatus, too wide. The meaning is: ye shall have abundant room for your labors.

Shall have come, ἕëèῃ .—1. Until the victory of the cause of Christ (Baumgarten-Crusius); 2. to the destruction of Jerusalem (Michaelis, etc.); 3. to the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit (Calvin and others); 4. till help shall have been afforded by the Son of Man (Chrysostom); 5. till the second coming of Christ (Meyer). But the commentators forget that the Apostles only preceded Christ, and that this passage refers in the first place to that particular mission. Hence we explain it: till the Son of Man shall overtake you. (So also Heubner.) The expression is, however, also symbolical, and applies to the Church generally. In this sense, it points forward to the second coming of Christ; including at the same time the idea, that their apostolic labors in Judæa would be cut short by the judgment impending upon Jerusalem.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Having set before the disciples the sufferings and dangers of their work, the Lord now encourages and comforts them. The verse under consideration furnishes the first consolation. Their sufferings would be diminished from the higher obligation incumbent on them to spread the gospel, whereby flight became a sacred duty.

2. “But what constitutes their highest comfort in this respect, is the promise, that the witnesses of Christ shall always find new spheres of labor, and that the Lord shall ever follow them, both with the baptism of the Spirit and of grace, and with that of fire and of judgment.” The fundamental idea of this statement, so far as the kingdom of heaven is concerned, is, that the work of Christ shall not be completed by quiet and calm progress, until the last place and the last individual shall have been converted, but by great contests between light and darkness, and amid great catastrophes which shall usher in the judgment.

3. If it be asked, how this direction can be reconciled with the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, where, as He knew, death awaited Him; we reply, that Christ left Galilee, where, from the hostility of the Jewish priesthood, every door was shut against Him, and went to Jerusalem, where a multitude was prepared to receive Him. In His care for the people, the Messiah readily encountered every danger, which, indeed, required to be met in the accomplishment of His work. He went to keep the feast at Jerusalem, in order to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel in the midst of wolves. This may serve to furnish a rule and a precedent for our conduct under persecution. If we are bound by promise, by duty, by our ministry, or by the prospect of carrying out our calling, we must not flee from danger, nay, if necessary, go to meet it. But if these very motives point beyond the reach of danger, it is our duty to flee. To labor, is the object; to suffer, only the means toward it. It was an error of the Montanists to regard the obligation to suffer as paramount to that of working. Thus Tertullian (De fuga in persecutione) disapproved of flight under any circumstances, and regarded this commandment only local and temporary. In this respect, however, the Apostle Paul, and, at later periods, St. Athanasius (Apologia pro juga sua), Luther (on the Wartburg), and Calvin [who fled twice from France, and was once expelled from Geneva], may serve as our models.

[Flight in persecution, from selfish regard to personal safety and comfort, is an act of cowardice and sin; but flight from conscientious conviction of duty to God and to the Church, is right, and commanded by Christ, and sanctioned by the conduct of the Apostles and martyrs (as Polycarp and Cyprian). The ancient Church rejected the fanatical and Montanistic view of Tertullian, which condemned the flight in persecution without qualification. Augustine says, a minister may flee if his flock is scattered by flight, or if he can do more good by fleeing than by remaining (quandocumque plus fugiendo quam manendo juvare potest). Chrysostom thinks, we may flee, provided we do not thereby deny Christ, or endanger the faith; otherwise, we must risk our life for the sheep, which the hireling will not do. Maldonatus ad loc.: “Cum Evangelium ipsum, propter quod fugiendum non est, postulat ut fugiamus, fugiendum est. Tunc fugere non metus, sed pietas: non fugere non fortitudo, sed pertinacia est. Hoc de causa D. Paulum fugisse legimus. Major gloria Dei et Ecclesiœ utilitas regula nobis esse debet; cum aut utraque, aut alterutra ut fugiamus a nobis exigit, non fugere peccatum est.” Wordsworth on öåýãåôå , Mat_10:23 : “It was a question discussed in early times, whether fuga in persecutione was under any circumstances allowable. Tertullian (De fuga in persecutione) argues that our Lord’s permission was only temporary; but this is contravened by St. Jerome (Catal. Script. in Tertullian). See also Gregory Nazian. (Orat. i. in Julian.), and the excellent directions on the subject in St. Athanasius (Apol. de fuga sua, p. 258–266; cp. à Lapide). The answer seems to be given in our Lord’s words: ‘The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep’ (Joh_10:13). ‘The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep’ (Joh_10:11). If a person has a flock committed to his care, and that flock will be scattered or torn by wolves, if he flies, then he must not fly.”—Comp. Mat_24:15-20; Php_1:20-25; 2Ti_4:6-8; Act_8:1; Act_9:25; Act_14:6; Act_15:38; 2Co_11:33; and Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, vol. i., p. 179.—P. S.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

In how far flight in persecution is not only lawful, but duty.—When a Christian has to flee with his Master, he may likewise flee by himself.—Holy flight: 1. Its motive; 2. its conduct; 3. its aim.—All Christianity a flight, to the end of the world: 1. From city to city; 2. from country to country; 3. from world to world (from the old to the new).—Flight an act of faith: 1. An act of Wisdom 2. an act of sparing love; 3. an act of faithfulness; 4. an act of enduring hope.—The flight of the Church, its spread.—The flight of the fearful and that of the courageous.—When the disciples are expelled from a place, they are succeeded by the judgments of the Lord.—The witnesses of Christ shall never want new spheres of usefulness, if they leave at the right time such as have been closed to their labors.—Whether to stay or to go, must in every instance be learned from the Lord.—Whithersoever we go with the gospel, Christ will follow us.—The laborers of Christ shall neither want a field nor a blessing, till the Lord comes. [Similarly Wordsworth: the missionary work of the Church will not cease till the second coming of Christ. Comp. Mat_24:14.—P. S.]

Footnotes:

Mat_10:23.—Griesbach with many Codd. minusc.: åἰò ôὴí ἑôÝñáí , êἄí ἐê ôáýôçò äéþêùóéí ὑìᾶò , öåßëåôå åἰò ôἡ ἄëëçí . A later amplification. [Lachmann reads: åἰò ôὴí ἑôÝñáí , and puts the words from êἄí to ἅëëçí in brackets. Tischendorf, Alford, Wordsworth read simply: åἰò ôὴí ἅëëçí . The Cod. Sinait.: ἑôÝñáí . The def. art. before ἅëëçí or ÝôÝñáí denotes the next city in order which had not yet been visited, and shows that there will be always some other city to fly to.—P. S.]