Matthew 11:7-14
11:7 a a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind: An unstable person. The implied answer to Jesus’ rhetorical question is no.11:11 b John the Baptist was the greatest person ever to have lived. Yet the least of Jesus’ followers are greater than John because they live in the new covenant of salvation through Christ (see 4:17 c).
11:12 d the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing: Or the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered from violence. These alternatives reflect either a positive or negative nuance of the Greek verb. In Luke 16:16 e, a different verb (“preached”) makes it a clearly positive statement.
• violent people are attacking it: This phrase may also have a positive or negative sense. If negative, it might refer to those who imprisoned John (see Matt 11:2 f; 14:1-12 g), and attacking might mean either that they were trying to attack the Kingdom but were unable to thwart God’s sovereign plans, or that they were attacking it by persecuting its members. In Luke 16:16 h this statement has the positive sense that they were “eager to get in” and were forcefully laying claim to the Kingdom through radical trust and obedience.
Summary for Matt 11:14-15: 11:14-15 i Elijah, the one the prophets said would come: John is the fulfillment of Old Testament expectations of Elijah’s return (17:10-13 j; see Mal 4:5 k).
Copyright information for
TNotes