Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 4:19
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
19. fishers of men ] A condensed parable explicitly drawn out, ch. Mat 13:47-50.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fishers of men – Ministers or preachers of the gospel, whose business it shall be to win souls to Christ.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 4:19
Follow Me.
Follow Me
1.Follow Christ as your Teacher.
2. As your Example.
3. As your Friend.
4. If you see to the following what will Christ do? (D. B. Hooke.)
1. These heavenly fishermen follow Christ personally.
2. They follow Him circumstantially.
3. They follow Him singly, with a single eye. (H. Cole.)
The great lesson of the text may be summed up in this-that successful work for Jesus must spring out of a devout imitation of Him. Follow Me, etc. In the example of Christ there are two points which it is important to look at.
I. The estimate Jesus Christ gave to humanity in contrast with all the other objects that engaged His attention. In comparison with the claims of man, everything else was regarded as subsidiary.
II. His whole career was evolved from this central conception in regard to humanity. To save men-that was His mission. I must work-that was His motto. These thoughts were always present to His mind. Our grand central controlling purpose must be the imitation of the Master, in striving to become the servant of all.
1. Christian work must so far resemble Christs work as to be inspired with the soul of earnestness.
2. The possession of yearning pity and interest in humanity.
3. The cultivation of a spirit of large self-denial.
4. Persistency in effort.
5. Prayer. Does this command stir your soul to nobler work and better service, etc.? What is your response? (W. Kelynack.)
Follow Me
I. Whom? Not simply a human teacher, but Jesus, who qualified Himself by His earthly life, with its temptations, toil, and suffering, to be the efficient leader of men.
II. How? We cannot follow His person as the disciples did; but we may-Obey His precepts and copy His example.
III. Why? We cannot direct our own course-there is no leader equal to Christ-if we follow Him we shall be in good company. Only thus can we escape spiritual danger and eternal death.
IV. Whither? To God: I am the way, etc. To heaven: In My:Fathers house, etc.
V. When? Now. Always. (Seeds and Saplings.)
The attractive face of Jesus
In lower human forms this magnetic attraction of man on man is not unknown. It is the orators power. The orators of revolutions-men like Mirabeau-are full charged with it; they are like jars laden with electric fire; there is that in their words which flashes out, and stirs, sways, and rules mankind. Christ constitutes in a still higher form the great Captains power. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)
Fishers of men.–
Ministers fishers of men
I. The appropriateness of the figure. The world is the sea, the scene of their labours.
II. The duty to be discharged. This net must be employed-constantly, diligently, skilfully.
1. Let the Christian fisherman rightly understand his net, and the appointed way of using it.
2. Let success be the grand object of attention.
3. Be cheerfully devoted to the work.
4. Our resources are infinite and exhaustless. (Dr. Burns.)
Fishers of men
1. To fish well, it is necessary to study the peculiarities of fish.
2. You must go to the fish. (Beecher.)
Scientific knowledge not enough for the preacher
It is necessary to know more than the science of ichthyology. What a book can tell a man about fishing is worth knowing, but it is little that a book can do towards making a man a true fisherman. If a man is going to fish for fish, he must become their scholar before he becomes their master; he must go to school in the brook, to learn its ways. And to fish for men, a man must learn their nature, their prejudices, their tendencies, and their courses. A man, to catch fish, must not only know their habits, but their tastes and their resorts; he must humour them according to their different natures, and adapt his instruments according to their peculiarities-providing a spear for some, a hook for others, a net for others, and baits for each one, as each one will. To sit on a bank or deck, and say to the fishes, Here I am, authorized to command you to come to me and to bite what I give you, is just as ridiculous as it can be, even though it does resemble some ways of preaching. The Christians business is not to stand in an appointed place and say to men, Here am I; come up and take what I give you as you should. The Christians business is to find out what men are, and to take them by that which they will bite at. (Beecher.)
Fishers of men
Christ came upon these men when they were busy at their everyday work. He saw them casting net into the sea. His eye is upon us in all the work we do in the world. And as:He looks upon us, so He calls us. It is true we may be so absorbed in other pursuits as not to hear the call.
I. What was His call? They were to leave their work that they might engage in higher work.
II. How shall we hope to be successful?
1. We must follow Christ.
2. We must submit to His teaching and influence.
3. Christ only can qualify us for the work. (A. Thomas.)
Industry an indication of worth
Whether, as He watched them putting out the net, He saw signs, which were indications to His penetrating and prophetic eye of fitness for the higher work to which they were to be called, we cannot tell. It is possible. For a very small thing will serve as a revelation of character to those who are keen-sighted, and who understand how the little is allied to the great. Just as a student like Owen will construct the entire skeleton if you give him a single bone, so the master, in the study of the human nature, will often be able to give a fair judgment of the whole character if he sees only what many would regard as casual and meaningless acts. (A. Thomas.)
Men miss the call of Christ through over occupation
You cannot attend to many things at once. There may be a glow of heavenly light on the mountain-top, but it will be nothing to the man whose eyes are fixed on the path along which he is painfully toiling. There may be the sound of sweet music carried on the night breezes; but it will be lost upon those who are disputing loudly and striving angrily with each other. (A. Thomas.)
1. A fisherman must be acquainted with the sea-we must know the locality in which we have to work.
2. A fisherman must also know how to allure fish.
3. The fisherman must be a man who can wait with patience.
4. A fisherman is one who must run hazards.
5. The fisherman must be one who has learned both how to persevere and how to expect. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A fisherman must also know how to allure the fish.
I saw on Lake Come, when we visited Bellagio, some men fishing. They had torches burning in their boats, and the fish were attracted to them by the glare of the light. You must know how to get the fish together. You know there is such a thing as the ground-bait for the fishes. You must know how to allure men. The preacher does this by using images, symbols, and illustrations. You must know how to catch the fish, throwing out first. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Church enriched from the ranks of poverty.-
A few years ago, on a wintry morning, a boy in the habiliments of poverty entered an old schoolhouse among our western mountains, and avowed to the master his desire for an education. There was poverty laying one of her richest gifts on the altar of religion, for that boy was Jonas King. On his humble shoemakers bench, Carey laid the foundation of British Baptist Missions. John Newton found in his congregation an unfriended Scotch bey, whose soul was then glowing with new-born love to Christ. He took him to John Thornton, one of those noble merchants whose wealth, whose piety, and whose beneficence increased together. They educated him, and that boy became Claudius Buchanan, whose name India will bless when the names of Clive and Hastings are forgotten. John Bunyan was a gift of poverty to the Church. Zwingle came forth from an Alpine shepherds cabin; Melanethon from an armourers workshop; Luther from a miners cottage; the apostles, some of them, from fishermens huts. These are the gifts of poverty to the Church. (Dr. d. Harris.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. Follow me] Come after me, . Receive my doctrines, imitate me in my conduct – in every respect be my disciples. We may observe that most of the calls of God to man are expressed in a few solemn words, which alarm, the conscience, and deeply impress the heart.
I will make you fishers of men.] Ezekiel Eze 47:8-10, casts much light on this place; and to this prophet our Lord probably alludes. To follow Christ, and be admitted into a partnership of his ministry, is a great honour; but those only who are by himself fitted for it, God calls. Miserable are those who do not wait for this call – who presume to take the name of fishers of men, and know not how to cast the net of the Divine word, because not brought to an acquaintance with the saving power of the God who bought them. Such persons, having only their secular interest in view, study not to catch men, but to catch money: and though, for charity’s sake, it may be said of a pastor of this spirit, he does not enter the sheepfold as a thief, yet he certainly lives as a hireling. See Quesnel.
Some teach to work, but have no hands to row;
Some will be eyes, but have no light to see;
Some will be guides, but have no feet to go;
Some deaf, yet ears, some dumb, yet tongues will be;
Dumb, deaf, lame, blind, and maimed, yet fishers all!
Fit for no use but store an hospital.
Fletcher’s Piscatory Eclogues. Ec. iv. 5, 18.
Following a person, in the Jewish phrase, signifies being his disciple or scholar. See a similar mode of speech, 2Kg 6:19.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Here was their call to the office of apostles. It is observable that Gods calls of men to places of dignity and honour, and his appearances of favour to them, have ordinarily been when they have been busied in the honest employments of their callings. Saul was seeking his fathers asses, David keeping his fathers sheep, when the Lord called them to the kingdom. The shepherds were feeding their flocks when they had the revelation of Christ. He calleth four apostles from their fishery; Amos from amongst the herdmen of Tekoa; Matthew from the receipt of custom; Moses when keeping Jethros flock, Exo 3:1,2; Gideon from the threshing floor, Jdg 6:11. God never encourages idleness, but despiseth not persons in meanest employments.
Follow me, that is, to return no more to your employment.
I will make you fishers of men: here is the work of ministers set out, to gain souls to God; they are not to fish merely for a livelihood, much less for honour and applause to themselves, but to win souls to God, and are to bait their hooks and order their nets to this end, which they will never serve, if either by general discourses they make the meshes so wide that all will dart through them, or if by their wit and learning they make their discourses so fine and curious that few or none of their hearers can understand them. Nor will all our art make us fishers of men: I will make you, saith Christ. Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, God must give the increase. But yet we must order our nets rationally and probably in order to our end, and without that cannot expect Gods blessings. Nor were the apostles presently to enter upon the work of the ministry, but first to follow him. And indeed such should all gospel ministers be. In the choice of Matthias, Peter limited the people in their election to those that had accompanied with them all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst them, Act 1:21. Other ministers commonly prove fishers for something else, not for the souls of men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. And he saith unto them, Followmerather, as the same expression is rendered in Mark, “Comeye after Me” (Mr 1:17).
and I will make you fishersof menraising them from a lower to a higher fishing, asDavid was from a lower to a higher feeding (Ps78:70-72).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he saith unto them, follow me,…. These two brethren had been the disciples of John, as Theophylact thinks, and which seems agreeable to Joh 1:35 and though through John’s pointing out Christ unto them, they had some knowledge of him, and conversation with him, yet they abode with him but for that day, Joh 1:37 and afterwards returned to their master; and upon his imprisonment, betook themselves to their former employment: from whence Christ now calls them to be his disciples, saying “follow me”, or “come after me”: that is, be a disciple of mine; see
Lu 14:27. And to encourage them to it, makes use of this argument; “and”, or “for”, I “will make you fishers of men”: you shall be fishers still, but in a higher sense; and in a far more noble employment, and to much better purpose. The net they were to spread and cast was the Gospel, see Mt 13:47 for Christ made them not
, “fishers of the law”, to use the words of Maimonides g, but fishers of the Gospel. The sea into which they were to cast the net was first Judea, and then the whole world; the fish they were to catch were the souls of men, both among Jews and Gentiles; of whose conversion and faith they were to be the happy instruments: now none could make them fishers in this sense, or fit them for such service, and succeed them in it, but Christ; and who here promises it unto them.
g Hilcot. Talmud. Torah, c. 1. sect. 12. so Dr. Lightfoot cites the phrase, but in Ed. Amsterd. it is , “the judgments of the law”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Fishers of men ( ). Andrew and Simon were fishers by trade. They had already become disciples of Jesus (Joh 1:35-42), but now they are called upon to leave their business and to follow Jesus in his travels and work. These two brothers promptly () accepted the call and challenge of Jesus.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And he saith unto them, (kai legei autois), “And. he directly called to, challenged them , ” in a personal call, Mr 1:18,19. Mark uses the clause “come ye after me,”
2) “Follow me,” (deute apiso mou) “You two come to follow (after) me,” to be my disciples, as I now choose you to help institute a new covenant fellowship of worship and Divine service, Joh 15:16; Joh 15:27; Act 1:21-22.
3) “And I will make you fishers of men.” (kai poieso humas halelis anthropon) “And I will cause you to become (make you to be) fishers of men,” Luk 5:2-10. These fishermen left a lawful calling, which they knew and had been industriously following, to become disciples of Jesus Christ and apostles in His church. This was a call to service. They were already disciples, Joh 1:35-42.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(19) Follow me.The command came, as we have seen, to those who were not unprepared. Short as it was, it was in some sense the first parable in our Lords teaching, the germ of an actual parable (Mat. 13:47). It suggested a whole circle of thoughts. The sea is the troubled and evil world (Isa. 57:20), and the souls of men are the fish that have to be caught and taken from it, and the net is the Church of Christ. The figure had been used before (Jer. 16:16), but then it had presented its darker aspect, and the fishers of men were their captors and enslavers. The earliest extant hymn of the Church, by Clement of Alexandria, dwells on the image with a rich and suggestive playfulness. Christ is thus addressed:
Fisher of men, the blest,
Out of the worlds unrest,
Out of sins troubled sea
Taking us, Lord, to Thee;
Out of the waves of strife,
With bait of blissful life,
Drawing Thy nets to shore
With choicest fish, good store.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Fishers of men The comparison of the preacher to the fisherman, as derived from this passage, was a favourite idea with the early writers of the Christian Church. Fish in the waters are as sinners in the world. It is the preacher’s art so to bait the hook of divine truth as that, with ready appetite, the sinner will receive it and be captured for salvation. Hence there was a striking accordance, and perhaps even an intended typeism, between the early engagements of these men and their subsequent profession as apostles.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he says to them, “You come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ’
So Jesus approached them and called them to leave everything and follow Him. Once they had done so, He promised, He would make them ‘fishers of men’. All knew what He meant. He was calling them to a long term commitment. They were to learn from Him and then become evangelists and teachers, themselves calling men to follow Him, and passing judgment on those who refused to do so (Mat 10:14). By this He was making clear His own unique authority, and His right to call men to do His bidding without question. Only Someone very conscious of God’s authority would have felt able to behave in this way, for we note that the only reward was to be that they would be fishers of men, in His Name (Mat 5:11).
The call for them to become fishers of men may be seen as connecting with Jer 16:16, which were words spoken concerning ‘the last days’ (and therefore, to the Gospel writers, the days of Jesus). ‘Behold I will send for many fishermen, says the Lord, and they will fish them’. However, the words of Jeremiah primarily had judgment in mind, and while that would certainly be one of the responsibilities of the disciples (Mat 10:14) it was only the darker side. For Jesus had now come with a more positive message as well. Before judgment must come the offer of salvation (Isa 61:2 a, compare its use by Jesus in Luk 4:19-20). In contrast to Jeremiah we have the prophecy in Eze 47:10 where the outflowing of the river of life from the Temple results in many fish which will be fished by the Lord’s people who will spread their nets to take them. So the acceptable year of the Lord and of salvation is to precede the Day of vengeance (Luk 4:19). And as always when God is about to judge men, some are also to be won to righteousness by His judgments. Thus these Apostles will have a twofold ministry, being called to win men to righteousness, while also consigning those who refuse their words to judgment. Even while taking men alive for Christ, they would necessarily become the cause of judgment on those who refused (Mat 10:14). For they are drenched not only with the Holy Spirit but with fire (Mat 3:11).
We can also compare here the parable of the casting of the net in Mat 13:47-50. That too has fishers of men in mind. But there those who cast the net are the angels at the end of the age. Nevertheless the same principles apply. The net catches both good and bad, and those caught are judged by how they have responded to the Good News of the Kingly Rule of Heaven. By this it is made clear that what the people of God will begin and continue, the angels will finalise.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
But the Lord had need of them:
v. 19. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, I will make you fishers of men.
v. 20. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. This was not a request for mere companionship, but an authoritative, though genial call to apostleship, couched in language which would appeal to their unlearned minds. They had been His disciples, but without special obligation as to attending Him; they were now chosen as His steady followers, to be trained for their great and high calling. “That was the beginning and the first call, namely, to hear the Gospel of Christ the Lord. For should they preach to others, they must first hear and learn it. Afterward, when they should preach to others, the Lord calls them by another call and gives them command how and wherein they should comport themselves. Mat 10:1-42. ” Jesus calls them, most appropriately, “fishers of men,” since He wanted to train them to gain immortal souls for heaven, though they were but simple, unlearned men, “in order that the power and strength of God be indicated in this that He began such a great work with such lowly, simple people, and also performs it; in order that everyone should understand that this is not done out of human power, but out of divine power and might. ” In this way their secular employment served as the emblem of their spiritual calling. How deeply the presence and teaching of Christ had impressed these poor Galilean fishermen appears from the fact that there was no hesitation, no conferring with flesh and blood. At once they left their nets, gave up their earthly calling, forsook all, and followed Him, became His disciples and theological students.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 4:19-20 . ] come here after me! (2Ki 6:19 ; 1Ki 11:5 ), be my pupils. The disciples were in constant attendance on their teacher; Schoettgen, Hor. in loc.
] I will put you in a position to gain men, that they may become members of the kingdom of the Messiah. Words borrowed from the domain of hunting and fishing (Jer 16:16 ) often denote the winning over of souls for themselves or others. Wetstein and Loesner, Hemsterhusius, ad Lucian. Dial. Mort. viii.; Burmann, ad Phaedr. iv. 4. Comp. on 2Co 11:20 . Here the typical phraseology suggested itself from the circumstances.
] belongs to , not to .
.] as disciples.
., either arranging (Bengel) or repairing (Vulgate and most commentators). We cannot determine which; Luke has .
REMARK.
The want of harmony between Mat 4:18 ff. and Joh 1:35 ff. is to be recognised, and is not (as the Fathers of the church, Kuinoel, Gratz, Olshausen, Hoffmann, Krabbe, Neander, Ebrard, Arnoldi, Luthardt, Bleek, Riggenbach, Lange, Ewald, Hausrath, Mrcker, have attempted) to be removed by supposing that in Matthew it is a second calling of the apostles in question that is recorded, viz. that they had already been at an earlier date (Joh 1:35 ff.) disciples of Jesus in the wider sense of the word, but that now for the first time they had become so in the narrower sense that is, had become apostles. Comp. on John , remark after ch. 1. Matthew does not even agree with Luk 5:4 ff. See remarks on the passage, and Keim, Gesch. J . II. p. 215. We must in any case (in answer to Baur, Hilgenfeld) seek the true history of the occurrence in John, in whose account a merely preliminary adherence to Jesus is the less to be thought of, that immediately afterwards go with Him to Cana (ii. 2), to Capernaum (ii. 12), and to Jerusalem (ii. 17, 22). This also in, answer to Liicke on John , I. p. 466 f., and to Wieseler, who distinguishes a threefold act in the selection of the disciples: the preliminary calling in Joh 1:35 ff.; the setting apart to be constant attendants, Mat 4:18 ff; Mat 9:9 ff.; and the selection of the Twelve to be apostles, Mat 10:2-4 . Wieseler ( chronol. Synopse , p. 278) lays especial weight on the circumstance that John names for the first time in Joh 6:67 . But John in general, with the exception of this passage (and the Joh 6:70 and Joh 6:71 belonging to it), only once again expressly mentions the (viz. in Joh 20:21 ), which is determined by the antithetic interest in the context. Especially in Joh 6:67 are the Twelve opposed to those others, many of whom had deserted Him. Previously, however, John had no opportunity, where this or any other antithetical relation might give him occasion, to give prominence to the number of the Twelve.
Besides, the history of the calling in Matthew, if it were not in contradiction to John, would by no means bear in itself a mythical character (Strauss finds in it a copy of the call of Elisha by Elijah, 1Ki 19:19 ff.), but is to be explained from the great, directly overwhelming impression made by the appearance of Jesus on minds prepared for it, which Matthew himself experienced (Mat 9:9 ); and this also is to be applied to the Johannine account. This narrative, which Schenkel and Keim relegate to the sphere of free invention, does not exclude the profound and certainly original words, “fishers of men,” which may have proceeded from the mouth of Jesus to His first called disciples on that day, Joh 1:40 ; and upon the basis of these words the narrative of the call, as it is preserved in Matthew and Mark, might easily be formed.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Ver. 19. He saith unto them, Follow me ] And together with his word there went forth a power inclining them to follow, whereby it appears that they were not only of the many that are called, but of those few that are chosen, Luk 6:13 ; Mat 22:14 ; “The Lord knoweth who are his,” saith St Paul. But this knowing of his is carried secret, as a river underground, till by effectual calling he separates them from the rest, till they can “call upon the name of the Lord and depart from evil,” 2Ti 2:19 . This when they are once taught of Christ they must be acting; when he hath tuned and touched us, we must make music, and while the Spirit embreathes us, we must turn about as the mill, and follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth, as these disciples did, Rev 4:4 .
And I will make you fishers of men ] Of live men, Luk 5:10 , , as fishers desire to catch fish alive, because they are more vendible: an apt metaphor, wherein, 1. The world is compared to the sea, for its unsettledness, tumultuousness, the oppression that is in it (the lesser fish being devoured by the greater), and the sway that Leviathan, the devil, bears there, Psa 104:26 ; Psa 2:1-12 . The Church is compared to a boat, because it is continually tossed with the waves of affliction, as Noah, Jonah, the disciples, Paul, and those seafaring men, “that stagger like a drunken man,” and all their cunning is gone,Psa 107:27Psa 107:27 ; Psa 3:1-8 . The fish to be caught out of this sea and to be brought into this ship are men, Joh 1:42 ; Mat 8:24 . Nature hath, as it were, spawned us forth into this worldly sea; where we drink iniquity like water, wandering confusedly up and down, till caught and cast into the fish pool for the Master’s use and service. Unwittingly we are caught, and unwillingly we are kept, as fishes labour to get out of the net and would fain leap back out of the boat into the water. 4. Ministers are fishers. A busy profession, a toilsome calling, no idle man’s occupation, as the Vulgate conceit it, nor needless trade, taken up alate, to pick a living out of. Let God’s fishermen busy themselves as they must, sometimes in preparing, sometimes in mending, sometimes in casting abroad, sometimes in drawing in the net, “that they may separate the precious from the vile,” &c., Jer 15:19 ; Mat 13:48 ; and no man shall have just cause to twit them with idleness, or to say they have an easy life, and that it is neither sin nor pity to defraud them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
fishers of men. A Talmudic expression: “A fisher of the Law” (Maimonides, Torah, cap. I).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 4:19. , come ye) This word has the force of calling combined with the idea of the present moment; see Mat 11:28, Mat 21:38, etc. This is evident from the singular , hither.-, …, I will make, etc.) The authority of Jesus Christ [is here asserted].-, fishers) See Jer 16:16.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Follow: Mat 8:22, Mat 9:9, Mat 16:24, Mat 19:21, Mar 2:14, Luk 5:27, Luk 9:59, Joh 1:43, Joh 12:26, Joh 21:22
I will: Eze 47:9, Eze 47:10, Mar 1:17, Mar 1:18, Luk 5:10, Luk 5:11, 1Co 9:20-22, 2Co 12:16
Reciprocal: Exo 3:1 – kept 1Ki 19:19 – he with Pro 11:30 – and Son 2:10 – Rise Amo 7:15 – took Mat 13:47 – a net Luk 18:28 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
ON FOLLOWING CHRIST
He saith unto them, Follow Me.
Mat 4:19
This was at the beginning of our Lords public ministry. The call to St. Peter and St. Andrew comes to us as well. Let us try to take in something of His meaning. We may regard Christ as saying
I. In His wanderings and sojournings.Be where I am. In the house, and by the way; in company and alone. So the first disciples followed Him, and so ought we. He is the Shepherd, the Master, the Teacher, the Friend. Walk with God. Go where you know He would have gone; never where He would have shrunk from. Stand by Him in the Judgment Hall, at the Cross. When others forsake, draw closer to Him. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. When you have denied Him, get near to Him again, that that look which melted St. Peters heart may rest on you.
II. In His labours.We are workers together with Him. Let Christs chosen works be yours; His zeal yours. What strength and hope it gives to know that you are sharing Christs work. The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name. When you turn weary and despondent, say to your hearts, It is Christs work. Feeding the hungry, cheering the sad, seeking the lost.
III. In His spirit.Let this mind be in you which was in Christ. No working for applause, or even thanks; but from love and pity. Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
IV. And lastly, follow Christ to glory.If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified together. Can Christ be separate hereafter, and in heaven, from those who bound up their destinies with Him here? To him that overcometh will I give to sit on My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father on His throne.
Prebendary Gordon Calthrop.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
4:19
We note that the Lord did not say anything to these men as to their personal conduct. They had already been converted by John and hence nothing was wanting along that line. John’s work was to “prepare the way of the Lord” by persuading men and women to repent and be baptized. That made it entirely proper for Jesus to call upon them to enter the work for which they had been prepared. Make you fishers of men. That was a psychological appeal to these men in view of their usual occupation. Jesus did not belittle or even criticize their business, but only promised to give them an improved-opportunity to work at the trade of fishing. He intended for them to have better bait (spiritual meat) and take more valuable fish, the souls of men.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
[Fishers of men.] This phrase is something agreeable with that of Maimonides upon the Talmud, A fisher of the law.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 4:19. Come ye after me. This call is to be distinguished from the previous acquaintanceship and discipleship (John 1), and also from the later choice and call to the apostleship (Matthew 10). The call is thus expanded: 1. An invitation to full communion with Him; 2. A demand of perfect self-renunciation for His sake; 3. An announcement of a new sphere of activity under Him; 4. A promise of rich reward from Him. The call of Jesus to follow Him, 1. A call to faith; 2. A call to labor; 3. A call to suffering and cross-bearing; 4. A call to our blessed home. (Lange.)This call to personal attendance, probably in all cases preceded the call to the apostleship. Even this office did not obtain full validity until the day of Pentecost, when the Church was organized, or, strictly speaking, reorganized. The Twelve were gradually prepared for their work. Pauls case is exceptional.
I will make you. His power, not their ability, made them what they became.
Fishers of men. The main points of resemblance cannot be mistaken, such as the value of the object, the necessity of skill as well as strength, of vigilance as well as labor, with an implication, if not an explicit promise, of abundance and success in their new fishery. (J. A. Alexander.) Our Lord uses human agents; even He did not labor alone. Let no one assume to be independent of others in any good work.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 4:19-20. He saith unto them Namely, after some previous circumstances, an account of which is given, Luk 5:1-11. Follow me That is, not only now and then, as you have hitherto done, since my baptism, Joh 1:37; but now leave your ordinary employments, and become my constant attendants; that by continually hearing my doctrine, and seeing my miracles, you may be fitted, in due time, to become my messengers to mankind. It is observable that, when God has called men to offices of dignity and usefulness among his people, or has particularly appeared in their favour, they have generally been engaged in some honest employment. Saul was seeking his fathers asses, and David was keeping his fathers sheep, when the Lord called them to the kingdom. The shepherds were feeding their flocks when they received information from the angel, accompanied by the heavenly host, of the birth of Christ. God called Amos from the flock, Gideon from the threshing floor, and the apostles here from their fishing. God does not encourage idleness, nor despise persons in mean employments. And I will make you fishers of men You shall gather men into the gospel net, and gain them over to the faith; and such abundant success will I give you, that the number of souls converted by you, shall be greater than that of the fishes you have been used to catch. See notes on Eze 37:6-10. Observe, reader! The work of ministers is here set forth. They are not to fish for a livelihood, much less for honour and applause to themselves, but to win souls to God, and are to bait their hooks and order their nets for this end: which, however, will never be answered if, either by mere general discourses, they make the meshes so wide that sinners will find an easy passage through them, or, by abstract reasonings, and fine-spun speculations, they make the threads so small that they can easily break them; or, if they neglect to close the net upon those they have enclosed, by a proper and pointed application of their subject. Nor will all our art or labour make us fishers of men, without the divine blessing. Without this, like the disciples of old, we may toil all day and all night, but we shall catch nothing, or nothing to purpose. And it is to be observed further, that the apostles were not immediately to enter upon the work of the ministry, but were first to follow Jesus. And the apostles, in the choice of one to succeed Judas, limited themselves in their election to those that had companied with them all the time the Lord Jesus had gone in and out among them, Act 1:21. Those who do not observe this become fishers for something else rather than the souls of men. They straightway left their nets and followed him Influenced by the power of his word, and struck with the wonderful miracle recorded Luk 5:6-9. It is not of indispensable necessity that those who are called to the ministry of the word should have nothing else to do. Pauls hand ministered to his necessities and those of his companions. But it is very desirable that they should be so supported as to be able to give themselves wholly up to the work of the Lord.