Matthew 19

I beyond Jordan. The evangelist here mentions only the two extremities of a period which He passes over. Our Lord appears to have “departed from Galilee,” through Samaria, to Jerusalem; where He attended the Feasts of Tabernacles and of the Dedication; and then to have gone “beyond Jordan,” where we now find Him.

3 tempting Him. Whatever answer our Lord might give to this question would displease some: for the Jewish teachers were divided in opinion;

11 this saying. That is, “this saying of yours,” that “it is not good to marry.” Our Lord’s remarks in vers. 11, 12 plainly show that celibacy is so far from being superior to the married state, that it is rather an exceptional condition, commendable only when maintained from a desire to devote all the energies of life uninterruptedly to God’s active service; cp. 1 Cor. vii. 25-28; ix. 5.

13-15. See Mark x. 13-16, and notes.

16. Good Master. This young ruler appears to have regarded Jesus as being merely a man of most eminent virtue; and he asks how he, too, may attain that unusual goodness which shall ensure to him eternal life. Hence our Lord first teaches him that absolute goodness belongs not to man, but to God; and then shows him that, moral (20) and amiable (Mark x. 21) as he was, there was a fatal flaw in his righteousness.

17. Why callest thou me good? The R.V. and Weymouth, following some MSS., read, “Why askest thou me concerning that which is good?” But this is extremely doubtful. It does not harmonise with the next sentence, ‘One there is who is good.’ And both Mark x. 18 and Luke xviii. 19, unquestionably read, “Why callest thou me good?” as though Christ would say, Your ideas of human goodness are wrong. If I am not much more than a “Teacher” according to the sense in which you use that title, I am not entitled to be called “good.”

20. The young man. Peculiar to Matthew. It is from Luke that it appears he was a “ruler,” i.e., of the synagogue; an ecclesiastical office.

21. Jesus said. Mark has, “Jesus beholding him loved him, and said.”

go [and] sell that thou hast. This test was not intended as a universal rule, but was perfectly adapted to the young ruler’s case.

22 he went away sorrowful. Feeling that the demand was right, yet wanting courage to comply with it, he had all the unhappiness of one who does not act up to his convictions, added to the bitter disappointment of finding the virtues in which he trusted fatally deficient.

23 shall hardly (with difficulty) enter the kingdom of heaven. Wealth, as usually procuring comfort and respect, frequently produces self-sufficiency and self-indulgence; which are inconsistent with the self-denial needed in order to follow Christ.

24 the eye of a needle. The words are to be taken in their simple and obvious meaning, and form a strong hyperbole, similar to some still in use, and signifying the greatest human impossibility (see vers. 25, 26). Some have supposed our

Lord to refer to a narrow gate called “a needle’s eye”; but this is unnecessary.

25 exceedingly amazed. They took the ordinary worldly view that riches give a man a moral and spiritual advantage.

26 with God all things are possible. God alone can make a man truly humble, heavenly-minded, and self-denying; and He can make any man such, whether he be rich or poor.

27 we have forsaken all. Although the apostles were not rich men, they all had much to give up, in leaving their homes and friends, and the occupations from which they derived their subsistence, to follow their Lord. The sons of Zebedee had hired servants; and Matthew appears to have been a man of some property (see Luke v. 29). Peter’s question, “What shall we have therefore?” still shows a failure to apprehend Christ’s requirement of self-renunciation.

28 in the regeneration. “Ye, who have followed me in this life, shall, at the completion of the new creation,” etc. The reference is to the kingdom of God which Christ was about to establish (cp. Isa. lxv. 17; lxvi. 22; Matt. iii. 2; Rev. xxi. 1, and notes), and in which His apostles should be His chief ministers; whilst every one who should forsake all for Him should share its glory and blessedness, both “in this present time” and “in the world to come” (Luke xviii. 30).