Matthew 19

Matthew 19:6

And therefore thus are they to be thought of, as two by God united into one; and then sure that which hath been thus instituted by God must not by man be altered; it ought still to continue among you, as it was first instituted; it is utterly unlawful (unless in case of falseness to the husband’s bed, Matt. v. 32.) to put the wife away.

Matthew 19:7

To this the Pharisees objected, saying, What account then is to be given of that precept in the law wherein Moses appointed the husband (in some cases mentioned by him, Deut. xxiv. 1.) to give a bill of divorce unto the wife, in this manner permitting him to put her away?

d God in the Mosaical economy knowing you Jews to be so impersuasible and obstinately bent to your own lusts and rages, that in case you were obliged to live with hated wives, and not permitted divorces, it would probably cause in you some greater sin, for the preventing hereof allowed a dispensation in this point, tolerated divorces, and took so much pity and care of the oppressed hated wife as to provide this kind of relief for her, commanding to give a bill of divorce, thereby, as by an act of manumission, to restore her liberty to her, withal decently to send her out of the family and in some sort endow her: but this you see (ver. 4, 5.) was very distant from the appointment of God in the first institution of marriage.

Matthew 19:9

And accordingly I now define, that whosoever shall use that liberty so frequent among you, to put away his wife, for any lesser cause than that of fornication, and then think it free for him to marry again, that man by marrying another, whilst his wife is alive, (from the obligation to whom he is not nor can be freed,) is consequently guilty of adultery; and so likewise he that marrieth her that is divorced taketh another man’s wife, which is adultery also.

Matthew 19:10

Hereupon his own disciples began to object, that if marriage brought such an inseparable conjunction with it, then sure the inconveniences and hazards of

Matthew 19:12

[a] eunuchs] The word εὐνοῦχοι and εὐνουχίζεσθαι have a vulgar ordinary signification, which is known by the English use of the word eunuch, that is, in the expressions of the grammarians, σπάζων, τομίας, &c. And accordingly three sorts of them are ordinarily set down: 1. ἐκτομίαι, castrati; οἱ διὰ σιδήρου ἀκρωτηριασθέντες; 2. σπάζωνες, οἱ ἐκ γενετῆς διδύμους μὴ ἔχοντες; and, 3. θλιβίαι and θλαδίαι, οἱ νηπιόθεν ἀποβιλλόντες τὰ παιδόγονα μόρια ὑπὸ τῶν γονίων θλιβίντα, καὶ ἀχρηστευθέντα. But here the context, which sets it in opposition to marrying, makes it clear, that eunuchism is taken for the chastity of a single life, howsoever acquired, whether, 1, by natural temper, or, 2, by some outward accidental weakening, or debilitating of nature, as was frequent among the Gentiles, in order to some offices and services, to which men, that were thereby secured from desires, were designed; such, if it were done by themselves, are called by the Apostles’ Canons, αὐτοφονευταί, self-murderers, ἐχθροὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δημιουργίας, enemies of God’s workmanship, can. 22, 23: or 3dly, by firm purpose or resolution of mind, assisted by God’s grace, in order to his service; such were the ascetæ, σκληραγωγοὶ τῇ ἰδίᾳ καρδίᾳ ἀγωνιζόμενοι, “those that imposed hardships on themselves,” and “combated with their own desires.” Thus in Phavorinus, the word being deduced according to some grammarians from εὖ νοῦν ἔχειν, “to have the mind well or wisely disposed,” it signifies, saith he, ἀπηλλάχθαι τῶν ἀφροδισίων, “to have nothing to do with any thing of venery or carnality;” for, saith he, the ancients ἀφροδίσια ἀνόητα ἐκάλουν, “called all things of that kind, follies;” thus we know the scripture hath expressed any such unlawful commission, the doing folly in Israel, and so it is cited out of Aristophanes, ὕπνου τε ἀπέχεσθαι καὶ τῶν ἀνοήτων πάντων, “to abstain from sleep and all foolish things,” where yet Aristophanes hath only, Οἴνουτ’ ἄπεχε καὶ γυμνασίων, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνοήτων, which the Scholiast expounds by τῶν ἀφροδισίων, τὸ γὰρ ἀνοηταίνειν, μωραίνειν, διὰ τὸ ἀφροδισιάζειν ἔλεγον, saith he. But it is possible that the place in Aristophanes is to be read ὕπνου τε instead of οἴνου, and then there is no question, but that ὕπνος, sleep, might be a civil word for things of that nature, as in the wise man, ἡδογὴ δι’ ὕπνου signifies.

Matthew 19:21

[b] perfect] What is the notion of τελειότης, perfection, here, must be defined by considering what is meant by entering into the kingdom of heaven, v. 23. For it appeareth that the not undertaking the condition required of the young man by Christ, to his being perfect, doth also exclude him from entering into this kingdom, or render him incapable of it. Now that kingdom of heaven, signifying that crown of eternal life and bliss, which was this man’s aim, ver. 16, the entering into that kingdom is the undertaking the condition now required by Christ, or the attaining that bliss by performing that condition; and therefore his going away, ver. 22, that is, forsaking of Christ, caused by the greatness of his riches, is all one with the rich man’s not being able to enter into that kingdom, v. 23. This again appeareth by the question and answer ensuing, v. 25, where, when the disciples ask, Who then can be saved? (whatsoever they mean by that, whether, Who can be a Christian? as the word rendered escaping or being saved often signifies, (see note [h] Matt. x., note [b] Luke xiii., and note [a] Rom. x.) or whether, Who can come to heaven?) Christ’s answer is, by looking upon them, &c. intimating them to

Matthew 19:22

When the young man heard Christ say this he was much grieved, because he had a very great estate, and therefore seeing he could not be a Christian at any cheaper rate, he forsook or departed from Christ, would not pay so dear for that perfection.

Matthew 19:24

[c] camel] It was an ordinary proverb among the Jews that “an elephant cannot pass through the eye of a needle,” to signify the most impossible thing. Thus in the Babyl. Talmud. Perek Haroc Baruchoth, “You perhaps are one of Pombeditha,” (an academy of Jews in Babylon,) “where they can make an elephant pass through a needle’s eye;” signifying them a vainglorious people, that would boast of doing impossibilities; and in Gemara, לֹא מִיָּא דְעִיל בְּקוֹמָא דְמַחְסָא, “There is no elephant that enters by the hole of a needle.” This proverb Christ was willing to change from the elephant, which was a beast that few had seen, to a camel, which was very ordinary in Syria, and whose bunch on his back is apt to hinder his passage through any narrow entrance. This being thus premised, as the full account of the place, it is yet further observable that Phavorinus on the word καμήλος saith, that it is not only the name of that beast, but καὶ τὸ παχὺ σχοινίον, ἂν ᾧ δυσμεύουσι τὰς ἀγκύρας οἱ ναῦται, it signifies “also a cable with which the mariners bind the anchors,” and cites this place of the Gospel, as belonging to that signification of the word; and so Theophylact, that it is παχὺ σχοινίον ᾧ χρῶνται ναῦται πρὸς τὸ ῥίπτειν τὰς ἀγκύρας, “a cable with which mariners use to cast their anchors.” Were the word to be found in that sense in other authors, it would be an ingenious conjecture; but this word for a cable, (from which the English probably

Matthew 19:28

[d] regeneration] The word παλιγγενεσία signifies properly a new or second state, τὸ ἐκ δευτέρον γεννηθῆναι, καὶ ἀναπλασθῆναι, say the grammarians. It is used among the Pythagoreans for the return of the soul, εἰς γένεσιν, when that soul which was once in him that is dead comes back to life again in another body. In sacred writers it is used agreeably for the resurrection, whether that of the future being of body and soul, or that which Christ is pleased to make preparative to it, the spiritual proselytism, expressed by that phrase, Tit. iii. 5, the change and renovation of the soul and affections in this life, and as a token and sign of that work of Christ’s, it is used for baptism, that being born of water and the Holy Ghost, John iii. And so hath Phavorinus observed, παλιγγενεσία, τὸ ἅγιον βάπτισμα λέγεται, it is set to signify holy baptism, (see note [a] Matt. iii. and note [a] John iii. Further yet, and by the same analogy, it may signify that second or new state, that μέλλων αἰών, in Isaiah, that age to come, that is, the state of the church under Christ, or his spiritual kingdom, beginning at the resurrection of Christ; and this, either in respect of the beginning of it, Christ’s resurrection, which is fitly styled παλιγγενεσία the new birth of Christ, or else in regard that all other things (that is, the general disposal of all things in the church) are become new, 2 Cor. v. 27, the Gentiles received into the church, the Jewish priesthood and ceremonies abolished, &c. If this last sense be here made use of, then it will be most agreeable to the ordinary punctuation of our printed copies, which set a comma after ἀκολουθήσαντίς μοι, ye that have followed me, and another again after ἐν τῇ παλιγγενεσίᾳ, in the regeneration, severing the latter from the former, and joining it so with καθίσεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς, ye shall also sit, &c. that what is betwixt ὅταν καθίση &c. when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, shall be as in a parenthesis, to explicate what is meant by that time, and what that in the regeneration signifies, viz. when Christ shall be gone to heaven, and all power in the church

Matthew 19:33

Was it not then reasonable for thee that hadst received pardon of so vast a debt from thy master, or superior, to have (in like manner as I gave thee example) shewed pity to thy fellowservant, to whom thou wert so much more obliged than I to thee, and to have remitted him so small a sum, when I forgave thee six hundred thousand times as much!

Matthew 19:34

Upon this the master was most justly enraged against him, and used him as he had done his fellow, ver. 30, and though he had before remitted him, yet upon this unworthy impious behaviour he revoked his designed mercy and cast him into prison, till—

Matthew 19:35

By this resemblance ye see what measure ye must expect from God in this matter, for just so shall God deal with you, remit nothing of that rigour against you which you use against others, deal most severely with you, if ye do not clearly, plenarily, and sincerely (without any reservation, or design to have God execute any vengeance for you, or the like) forgive all injuries, how great soever, (being certainly far below the proportion of yours against God,) that are done to you by any man living. ### CHAP. XIX. AND it came to pass, that ‘when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judæa beyond Jordan: