Table of Contents
Matthew 19
Matthew 19
1 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan;
2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.
3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
13 Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.
14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
15 And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, “Why do you call me good? For there is none good but one, that is, God: but if you will enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Notes
Cross Reference
Commentary
Keeping the Law (Part 4)
- Matthew 19:17-19
- And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Then he *said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Thus we see that Jesus himself discusses keeping the law, directly. For a detailed verse analysis please see Deuteronomy 4 (part 1), Leviticus 18 (part 2) and Deuteronomy 5 (part 3). This is part 4.
- Luke 11:28
- But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
- 1 John 5:3
- For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
- James 1:22
- But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
Luke also seems to agree with this, as does John, as does James.
Controversy over the Law in Acts
- Acts 15:5
- But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”
- Acts 21:24
- take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.
In acts we begin to see controversy over the keeping of the law. There are multiple reasons for this (which will be added to the discussion later, perhaps as they are brought up in discussion later).
Paul: By Faith and not by Works
- 1 Corinthians 7:19
- Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.
This surprising statement is a redefenition of the verses in Parts 1-3, and an apparent violation of the words of Jesus. What else does Paul say about the law?
- Galatians 3:24-26
- 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
- 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
- 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Here Paul makes the direct statement that because of the faith Christians have in Jesus, they do not need to keep the law, because they are no longer under it – and that they are (still?) children of God (but not by the Law) but by their faith in Jesus. This is, of course, antiscriptural compared to the previous ~70 verses.
Paul confirms his statement elsewhere;
- Romans 6:14
- For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Paul's misunderstanding of scripture could not be laid more bare;
- Hebrews 7:11-19
- 11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?
- 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
- 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.
- 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
- 15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,
- 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.
- 17 For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
- 18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness
- 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
There are several problems with Paul's prooftexting; among them in “what further need” which implies that the priest after Melchezidek occurred after Aaron; in fact, Abraham came before Aaron; the text should read “If perfection came with Abraham… what further need for Aaron…” but, we see that in fact life and death was reset for Israel (thus implying the righteousness, or 'perfection' that Paul speaks of) was in fact given to Israel.
Secondly, the misunderstanding of “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” The word 'order' is in fact the word 'word', or 'speech', or 'speaking'. From “Priests and Kings”:
Further, Christians will bring Hebrews 7:3 and say that Melchizedek was Jesus, or that he always remained a priest. We know this is not true and the priesthood passed to Abraham. This is shown in Psalms 110 but it is also common sense as there can only be one High Priest at a time anyways. The problem with this is Melchizedek wasn't Jesus, he was Shem – Psalm 110 verifies the Midrash in the same way that Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18 verify the book of Jasher, which is also Midrash i.e. non-canon). Chronicles brings several now-lost books as well, such as Gad and Iddo. Were these books around today, given that Chronicles (supposedly divinely inspired) vouches for these books as containing information overflow from Chronicles, it would be reasonable to accept the information in those books at least in the absence of any other information. Thus there is no reason to assume Melchizedek was ageless, that he didn't have a father, etc.
Paul is clear in his error:
- Hebrews 5:6
- And in another passage God says: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
- Hebrews 5:10
- and was designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
- Hebrews 6:17
- So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath.
- Hebrews 6:20
- where Jesus our forerunner has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
- Hebrews 7:21
- but Jesus became a priest with an oath by the One who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: 'You are a priest forever.'”
(needs hebrew word analysis)
Misc, or Other
- 1 Timothy 6:14
- that you keep this commandment s without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
This is discussing a specific charge earlier in the chapter and is not about the law of Israel.