Mat 20:24-28 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 24 When the ten heard it, they were moved - The ambition which leads to spiritual lordship is one great cause of murmurings and animosities in religious societies, and has proved the ruin of the most flourishing Churches in the universe.

‏ Matthew 20:24-28

Verse 24

When the ten heard it, they were moved - The ambition which leads to spiritual lordship is one great cause of murmurings and animosities in religious societies, and has proved the ruin of the most flourishing Churches in the universe. Verse 25

Exercise dominion - and - exercise authority upon them - They tyrannized and exercised arbitrary power over the people. This was certainly true of the governments in our Lord's time, both in the east and in the west. I have endeavored to express, as nearly as possible, the meaning of the two Greek verbs, κατακυριευουσιν, and κατεξουσιαζουσιν; and those who understand the genius of the language will perceive that I have not exhausted their sense, however some may think that no emphasis was intended, and that these compound verbs are used for the simple κυριευειν, and εξουσιαζειν. See Wakefield and Rosenmuller.

The government of the Church of Christ is widely different from secular governments. It is founded in humility and brotherly love: it is derived from Christ, the great Head of the Church, and is ever conducted by his maxims and spirit. When political matters are brought into the Church of Christ, both are ruined. The Church has more than once ruined the State; the State has often corrupted the Church: it is certainly for the interests of both to be kept separate. This has already been abundantly exemplified in both cases, and will continue so to be, over the whole world, wherever the Church and State are united in secular matters. Verse 26

It shall not be so among you - Every kind of lordship and spiritual domination over the Church of Christ, like that exercised by the Church of Rome, is destructive and anti-christian.

Your minister - Or, deacon, διακονος. I know no other word which could at once convey the meaning of the original, and make a proper distinction between it and δουλος, or servant, in Mat 20:27. The office of a deacon, in the primitive Church, was to serve in the agapae, or love feasts, to distribute the bread and wine to the communicants; to proclaim different parts and times of worship in the churches; and to take care of the widows, orphans, prisoners, and sick, who were provided for out of the revenues of the Church. Thus we find it was the very lowest ecclesiastical office. Deacons were first appointed by the apostles, Act 6:1-6; they had the care of the poor, and preached occasionally. Verse 27

Your servant - Δουλος the lowest secular office, as deacon was the lowest ecclesiastical office: δουλος is often put for slave.

From these directions of our Lord, we may easily discern what sort of a spirit his ministers should be of.

1. A minister of Christ is not to consider himself a lord over Christ's flock.

2. He is not to conduct the concerns of the Church with an imperious spirit.

3. He is to reform the weak, after Christ's example, more by loving instruction than by reproof or censure.

4. He should consider that true apostolic greatness consists in serving the followers of Christ with all the powers and talents he possesses.

5. That he should be ready, if required, to give up his life unto death, to promote the salvation of men. Verse 28

A ransom for many - Λυτρον αντι πολλων, or a ransom instead of many, - one ransom, or atonement, instead of the many prescribed in the Jewish law. Mr. Wakefield contends for the above translation, and with considerable show of reason and probability.

The word λυτρον is used by the Septuagint for the Hebrew פדיו, pidion, the ransom paid for a man's life: see Exo 21:30; Num 3:49-51; and λυτρα is used Num 35:31, where a satisfaction (Hebrew כפר copher, an atonement) for the life of a murderer is refused. The original word is used by Lucian in exactly the same sense, who represents Ganymede promising to sacrifice a ram to Jupiter, λυτρον υπερ εμου, as a ransom for himself, provided he would dismiss him.

The whole Gentile world, as well as the Jews, believed in vicarious sacrifices. Virgil, Aen. v. 85, has nearly the same words as those in the text. "Unum Pro Multis dabitur Caput," - One man must be given for many. Jesus Christ laid down his life as a ransom for the lives and souls of the children of men. In the Codex Bezae, and in most of the Itala, the Saxon, and one of the Syriac, Hilary, Leo Magnus, and Juvencus, the following remarkable addition is found; "But seek ye to increase from a little, and to be lessened from that which is great. Moreover, when ye enter into a house, and are invited to sup, do not recline in the most eminent places, lest a more honorable than thou come after, and he who invited thee to supper come up to thee and say, Get down yet lower; and thou be put to confusion. But if thou sit down in the lowest place, and one inferior to thee come after, he who invited thee to supper will say unto thee, Go and sit higher: now this will be advantageous to thee." This is the largest addition found in any of the MSS., and contains not less than sixty words In the original, and eighty-three in the Anglo-Saxon. It may be necessary to remark, that Mr. Marshall, in his edition of the Gothic and Saxon Gospels, does not insert these words in the text, but gives them, p. 496 of his observations. This addition is at least as ancient as the fourth century, for it is quoted by Hilary, who did not die till about a.d. 367.