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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 12:46 - 12:50
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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_12:46-50
46While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. 47Someone said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You." 48But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" 49And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! 50For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."
Mat_12:46 "His mother and brothers were standing outside" Apparently they thought Jesus was working too hard or was becoming too untraditional (cf. Mar_3:20-21).
Mat_12:47 This verse is not included in the Greek manuscripts à , B, and L or in some Old Latin, Syrian, and Coptic manuscripts. It is included in the manuscripts à c, C, and D and the Vulgate and the Diatessaron. It is also found in Mar_3:32 and Luk_8:20. It seems that scribes added it to this verse to make the three parallel. It is included in NASB, NKJV, NRSV, and TEV translations. The United Bible Societies Fourth Edition Greek New Testament translation committee believes that it was inadvertently left out of the text because of a slip of the eye (homoloteleuton) between two similar words (" speak") in the Greek text at the end of Mat_12:46-47. The verse is required to make sense of the paragraph.
Mat_12:50 "For whoever does the will of My Father" The will of God is to repent and to believe on Him whom He has sent (cf. Joh_6:39-40). Once one is saved, God also has a will of Christlikeness for every believer, (cf. Rom_8:28-29; Gal_4:19). See Special Topic: The Will of God at Mat_7:21.
The NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 488, has such a good statement about Jesus' call to be a disciple.
1. the unconditional sacrifice of one's whole life (cf. Mat_10:37; Luk_9:59-62; Luk_14:26-27)
2. the unconditional sacrifice of one's life for the whole life (cf. Mat_16:24-25; Joh_11:16)
3. bound to Jesus and to do God's will (cf. Mat_12:46-50; Mar_3:31-35)
Jesus' call to follow Him is a radical call to selflessness which demonstrates that the effects of the Fall are reversed! This is a life-long, life-inclusive call!
▣ "who is in heaven" This is a recurrent theme in Matthew (cf. Mat_5:16; Mat_5:45; Mat_6:1; Mat_6:9; Mat_7:11; Mat_7:21; Mat_10:32-33; Mat_12:50).
▣ "He is my brother and sister and mother" Faith in Christ supercedes earthly family ties (parallel in Mar_3:31-35). Christianity is a family based on the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of Jesus (cf. Rom_8:15-17).
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