Lange Commentary - Matthew 24:45 - 24:51

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Lange Commentary - Matthew 24:45 - 24:51


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SECOND SECTION

JUDGMENT ON THE RULERS OF THE CHURCH

Mat_24:45-51

(Luk_12:35-46—The Gospelfor the 27th Sunday after Trinity, Mat_24:37-51)

45Who then is a [the, ὁ ] faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler the lord set, êáôÝóôçóåí over his household, to give them meat [food, ôὴí ôñïöÞí ] in 46due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler [set him] over all his goods. 48But and if [But if, ἐὰí äÝ ] that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49And shall begin to smite [beat] his fellow servants, and to eat and drink [and shall eat and drink]with the drunken; 50The lord of that servant shall [will] come in a day when he looketh not for him [it], and in an hour that he is not aware of 51[when he is not aware, ἡ ïὐ ãéíὠóêåé ], And shall [will] cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_24:45. Who then is?—That is, in conformity with the previous instructions. The Lord shows in a parable that the judgment will begin upon those in office in the Church. He shows the contrast between the faithful and the unfaithful servant, but dwelling finally upon the latter. The ôßò is not instead of åß ̔ ôéò . According to Bengel and de Wette, it is encouraging: May every one be such a servant. According to Meyer, there is a change of construction: the characteristics of the servant ought to follow; but in the vivacity of the discourse the commendation and the characteristics go together. But the description of the servant which has gone before—faithful and wise—is in favor of de Wette.

Whom the lord hath made ruler.—This being appointed of the Lord has stress laid upon it in the case of the faithful servant. In the case of êáêὸò äïῦëïò ἐêåῖíïò it is omitted, and the óýíäïõëïé are made prominent.—Over his household.—We read èåñáðåéá , which makes it more definite that the office of rulership has for its end only to provide nourishment for the house. The office is the office of ruler, only so far as it actually imparts spiritual food in the office of teacher. Watching is here indicated in its concrete form, as fidelity to the calling. It is connected with faith, as not watching is connected with unbelief.

Mat_24:47. Verily I say unto you, ... ruler over all.—The description of the perfect êëçñïíïìßá . Comp. Rom_8:17.

Mat_24:48. But and if that evil servant shall say.—The ἐêåῖíïò is not only äåéêôéêῶò , but also prophetically significant. The faithful servant was hypothetically mentioned in the form of exhortation; the wicked servant is exhibited as a very definite form in the future, and brought near to present view. The evil conduct of the wicked servant springs from unbelief, which, however, in his official position, he can utter only in his heart. But his unbelief is specifically unbelief in regard to the coming of the Lord and His award.—My lord delayeth.—The expression marks an internal mocking frivolity. But his bad conduct is evidently exhibited in two aspects: first, as a despotic and proud bearing to his fellow- servants, whom he abuses instead of giving them nourishment; and secondly, as laxity of conduct toward the wicked members of the household and the uninvited guests, with whom he commits all kinds of riot and debauchery. Meyer: First, we have his conduct toward his fellow-servants, and then his conduct outside the ïὶêåôåßá ; and, under the rule of such a steward, the household generally is to some extent given over to wickedness. Such a dissolute hospitality, also, is signified, as makes all drunkards from without welcome. The fellow-servants here must be understood of such as are faithful servants of their absent master.—The great historical contrast between the Inquisition and Indulgences will easily occur to the reader.

Mat_24:51. And cut him asunder: äé÷ïôïìÞóåé .—The expression is so significant that Meyer properly holds fast the literal rendering, “to cut into two parts,” and rejects all generalizing interpretations, such as scourging (Paulus, de Wette, etc.), mutilation (Michaelis), exclusion from service (Beza), and extreme punishment (Chrysostom). It is emphatically the punishment of the theocracy, cutting in two, sawing asunder,—1Sa_15:33; 2Sa_12:31 (Heb_11:37),—which here figuratively expresses a sudden and annihilating destruction, and possibly not without reference to the double-mindedness of the condemned, or even to the duplicity of the Anti-Christianity which will finally bring spiritual despotism to its doom (see Rev_13:1; Rev_13:11).

With the hypocrites.—The further doom of the wicked servant after the judgment of the great day of Christ’s coming. “Even the Rabbins send the hypocrites to Gehenna.” The wicked servant is a hypocrite, not only because he thinks to present himself at last under the guise of fidelity, and must have showed false colors from the beginning (Meyer), but especially because, in his ill-treatment of the fellow-servants, he assumes the semblance of official zeal.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The parable of the good and wicked servants applies specially to the disciples, and with them to spiritual officers in the Church, although not without application to Christians generally. It is to be observed, that, according to Luke, Peter gave the Lord occasion to utter it. Yet the whole context shows that it belongs to the general eschatological instruction which we find in Matthew; that is, it naturally connects itself with the discourse concerning the last things, and opens the series of parables and declarations which introduce the judgment of the end of the world, the day that winds up the present age. This connection makes the contrast between the good and wicked servant more than a mere exhortation; it assumes a prophetic aspect, as indeed is seen in the definite expressions which pervade it.

2. In regard to the rulership of the two servants, it is observable that he who humbly serves his fellow servants, faithfully giving them their food (the word and spiritual nourishment generally), is represented as being set over the household by his lord, and that it is promised that he should be set over all his lord’s goods. But the wicked servant, who despotically set himself over the household and house, is not represented as having been appointed; in his supposed official correction of his subordinates, he appears to be a reckless injurer of his equal fellow servants.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The faithful servant and the wicked servant in the Church: 1. Their opposite spirit: the one waits for the coming of the Lord, the other puts no faith in that coming. 2. Their acts: the one takes care of the household’s nourishment, the other makes himself a despotic lord, who abuses the faithful, and wastes the goods of the house in riotous living. 3. Their recompense: blessed and miserable surprise at the advent of the Lord. The one is elevated to the highest dignity, the other is condemned and destroyed on the spot.—The faithful servant waits for his Lord, while he waits upon the Church with the Lord’s word.—The contradiction in the life of the wicked servant: 1. In his spirit: mocking unbelief of the self deception, which supposes that in his lord’s long absence he must take the whole government, instead of the mere provision of food. 2. In his deportment: fearful severity against the better of the household; perfect laxity toward the wicked, and fellowship with their wickedness.—That servant who assumes the highest place in hypocrisy will encounter the sharpest doom.—The divided heart will be punished by a perfect dividing asunder of the life.—The great schism of the Greek and Latin Church, an earn est sign of judgment.—The great schisms in the Occidental, and in the Protestant Church, and their bearing upon the end of ecclesiasticism on earth.—The twofold judgment over perfected unfaithfulness: 1. A sudden surprise; 2. an endless punishment.—The punishment of unfaithfulness in office the punishment of the hypocrite.

Footnotes:

Mat_24:45.— Áὑôïῦ is missing In B., D, L., at, [Cod. Sinait], and thrown out by Lachmann and Tischendorf.

Mat_24:45.—[Cod. Sinait. reads here: êáôáóôçóåé , shall set, for êáôÝóôçóåí . Anticipated from Mat_24:47.—P. S.]

Mat_24:45 —Lachmann and Tischendorf: ïἰêåôåßá , following B., L., al. It likewise means household, the body of servants. But for internal reasons the text, rec: èåñáðåßá , which has sufficient witnesses, is preferable. [Cod. sinait. reads: ïéêéá .—P.S]

Mat_24:49.—Codd. B., C.,D [and the critical editions], read: ἐóèßῃ äὲ êáὶ ðßíῃ [instead of the infinitives ἐóèßåéí êáὶ ðßíåéí , depending on ἄñîçôáé .—P.S.]

[The Edinb. trsl. has just the reverse: within. The servants constitute the household, the guests are the outsiders.—P. S.]