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Mat_19:28. This part of the promise is omitted in Mark, but comp. Luk_22:30.
In answer to the question concerning the reward, Jesus, in the first place, promises a special recompense to His disciples, namely, that they should have the honour of being associated with Him in judging the nation at the second coming; then, in Mat_19:29 (comp. Mar_10:29; Luk_18:29), He adds the general promise of a reward to be given to those who for His sake have sacrificed their worldly interests; and finally, in Mat_19:30, He makes a statement calculated to rebuke everything in the shape of false pretensions, and which is further illustrated by the parable in Mat_20:1 ff.
There is no touch of irony throughout this reply of Jesus (in answer to Liebe in Winer’s exeget. Stud. I. p. 73). Comp. Fleck, de regno div. p. 436 ff.
ἐν τῇ παλιγγενεσίᾳ ] in the regeneration, does not belong to ἀκολουθήσαντές μοι (Hilary, explaining the words by baptismal regeneration (Tit_3:5); also Calvin, who understands by παλιγγενεσία the renovation of the world begun in Christ’s earthly ministry), for the disciples could only have conceived of the renovation of the world as something that was to take place contemporaneously with the actual setting up of the kingdom; the ἀποκατάστασις , Act_3:21, does not represent quite the same idea as the one at present in question. Neither are we, with Paulus, to insert a point after παλιγγεν ., and supply ἐστε (“you are already in the position of those who have been regenerated,” spiritually transformed), which would have the effect of introducing a somewhat feeble and irrelevant idea, besides being incompatible with the abruptness that would thus be imparted to the ὅταν (otherwise one should have expected ὅταν δέ ). The words belong to καθίσεσθε , and signify that change by which the whole world is to be restored to that original state of perfection in which it existed before the fall, which renewal, restitutio in integrum, is to be brought about by the coming Messiah ( çãåù äòåìí ). See Buxtorf, Lex Talm. p. 712; Bertholdt, Christol. p. 214 f.; Gfrörer, Jahrh. d. Heils, II. p. 272 ff. Comp. Rom_8:19 ff; 2Pe_3:13. When the resurrection is over, and the last judgment is going on (and it is to this part of the scene that the Lord is here referring), this renovation will have already begun, and will be in the course of development, so that Jesus can say with all propriety: ἐν τῇ παλιγγ . “Nova erit genesis, cui præerit Adamus secundus,” Bengel. Comp. παλιγγενεσία τῆς πατρίδος in Joseph. Antt. xi. 3. 9; παλιγγεν . τῶν ὅλων in Anton. xi. 1. Philo, de mund. p. 1165 C.; leg. ad Caj. p. 1037 B. Augustine, Theophylact, Euthymius Zigabenus, Fritzsche, interpret the expression of the resurrection, in favour of which such passages might be quoted as Long. iii. 4; Lucian, Musc. enc. 7; but this would be to understand it in too restricted a sense, besides being contrary to regular New Testament usage ( ἀνάστασις ).
ὅταν καθίσῃ , κ . τ . λ .] as judge.
δόξης αὐτοῦ ] the throne, that is, on which the Messiah shows Himself in His glory, Mat_25:31.
καὶ αὐτοί (see critical notes): likewise, just as the Messiah will sit on His throne.
καθίσεσθε ] you will take your seats upon. Christ, then, is to be understood as already sitting. Moreover, though the promise applies, in a general way, to the twelve disciples, it does not preclude the possibility of one of them failing, through his apostasy, to participate in the fulfilment of the promise; “thronum Judae sumsit alius, Act_1:20,” Bengel.
κρίνοντες ] not: ruling over (Grotius, Kuinoel, Neander, Bleek), but, as the word means and the context requires: judging. As believers generally are to be partakers of the glory and sovereignty of Christ (Rom_8:17; 2Ti_2:12), and are to be associated with Him in judging the non-Christian κόσμος (1Co_6:2), so here it is specially promised to the disciples as such that they shall have the peculiar privilege of taking part with Him in judging the people of Israel. But it is evident from 1Co_6:2 that the people of Israel is conceived of as still forming part of the κόσμος , therefore it will be so far still unconverted, which coincides with the view that the second coming is near at hand, Mat_10:23. It is a mistake, therefore, to take the people of Israel as intended to represent the people of God in the Christian sense (de Wette, Bleek); but it is no less so to suppose that the judging in question is merely of an indirect character, such as that which in Mat_12:41 is ascribed to the queen of the south and the Ninevites (Chrysostom, Euthymius Zigabenus, Erasmus, Maldonatus),—a view which does not at all correspond with the picture of the judgment given in the text, although those expositors correctly saw that it is the unbelieving Israel that is meant. This sitting upon twelve thrones belongs to the accidental, Apocalyptic form in which the promise is embodied, though it is not so with regard either to the judging itself or its special reference to the δωδεκάφυλον of Israel (Act_26:7), to which latter the number of the apostles expressly corresponds; for the second coming, instead of subverting the order of things here indicated, will only have the effect of exhibiting it in its perfection, and for the apostles themselves in its glory. It is therefore too rash to infer, as has been done by Hilgenfeld, that this passage bears traces of having been based upon an original document of a strictly Judaeo-Christian character. Even the Pauline Luke (Mat_22:30) does not omit this promise, although he gives it in connection with a different occasion,—a circumstance which by Schneckenburger, without sufficient reason, and by Volkmar, in the most arbitrary way possible, is interpreted to the disadvantage of Matthew. It is not the case that Mat_19:28 interferes with the connection (Holtzmann), although Weizsäcker also is disposed to regard it as “a manifest interpolation.”