Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 5:19

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them,] the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

19. Again addressed to the Apostles as teachers. The union of doing and teaching is essential. It was the grave sin of the Pharisees that they taught without doing. See ch. Mat 23:2-3. This explains the for of next verse.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Whosoever therefore shall break – Shall violate or disobey.

One of these least commandments – The Pharisees, it is probable, divided the precepts of the law into lesser and greater, teaching that they who violated the former were guilty of a trivial offence only. See Mat 23:23. Christ teaches that in his kingdom they who make this distinction, or who taught that any laws of God might be violated with impunity, should be called least; while they should be held in high regard who observed all the laws of God without distinction.

Shall be called least – That is, shall be least. See Mat 5:9. The meaning of this passage seems to be this: in the kingdom of heaven, that is, in the kingdom of the Messiah, or in the church which he is about to establish (see the notes at Mat 3:2), he that breaks the least of these commandments shall be in no esteem, or shall not be regarded as a proper religious teacher. The Pharisees, by dividing the law into greater and lesser precepts, made no small part of it void by their traditions and divisions, Mat 23:23; Mat 15:3-6. Jesus says that in his kingdom all this vain division and tradition would cease. Such divisions and distinctions would be a small matter. He that attempted it should be the least of all. People would be engaged in yielding obedience to all the law of God without any such vain distinctions.

Shall be called great – He that teaches that all the law of God is binding, and that the whole of it should be obeyed, without attempting to specify what is most important, shall be a teacher worthy of his office, and shall be called great. Hence, we learn:

1.That all the law of God is binding on Christians. Compare Jam 2:10.

2.That all the commands of God should be preached, in their proper place, by Christian ministers.

3.That they who pretend that there are any laws of God so small that they need not obey them, are unworthy of his kingdom. And,

4.That true piety has respect to all the commandments of God. Compare Psa 119:6.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mat 5:19

Break one of these least commandments.

The perilous harmfulness of little sins

Man is set free from the curse of the law, but not from its authority.

I. Let us consider these minor violations of the moral law as they are considered in relation to the lawgiver himself. The least commandment has the same authority as the greatest. Little sins will soon acquire all the gigantic proportions of the greatest. It is no paradox to say, that little sins are peculiarly offending in the sight of God, because they are little; in other words, because we run the risk of offending Him for what on our own showing we care very little about, and from which we only expect an insignificant return. It would aggravate the venality of a Judge that the bribe was so paltry. The least sin is aggravated by the small degree of temptation by which it is accompanied.

II. The awful danger of these little sins in regard to ourselves. Little sins leave men hardly conscious float they have broken Gods law; great sins stir up piercing thoughts. See the peril of little sins, as they are sure to draw greater ones after them. It is fools sport to play with firebrands. The multiplication of little sins show how we need the merit of an infinite atonement. (D. Moore, M. A.)

We learn

I. That all the law of God is binding on Christians (Jam 2:10).

II. That all the commands of God should be preached in their proper place by Christian ministers.

III. That they who pretend that there are any laws of God so small that they need not obey them, are unworthy of His kingdom.

IV. That true piety has respect to all the commands of God, and keeps them (Psa 119:64). (Dr. A. Barnes.)

I. Christ does not hereby authorise us to suppose any of His commandments to be little. The meaning is-anything contained under or included in them, though seemingly small to us; as anger, scornful speaking, and reviling is the sin of murder.

II. As little in it, as he accounts of them; that is nothing; they shall be excluded.

(1) Observe the danger of vacating Gods commands.

(2) In any respect.

(3) In any one instance. (Thomas Adam.)

A little sin indicative of a carnal disposition

That an act in itself inconsiderable, may indicate the existing state of feeling, as clearly as one that is more palpable. As the motion of a leaf shows the quarter from which the wind blows as certainly as the agitated branches of an oak, so you may gather any ones dislike, though he does not strike you, or abuse you, or attempt insidiously to destroy your reputation. Only let him receive you with coldness, and his disaffection is as indisputable as if it were manifest in angry assault Is it not evident that the man who has brought himself to the perpetration of one fraud, has broken down the only security against the perpetration of a score, lie who can be the oppressor of a few, wants only the means to become the despot of an empire. (C. Williams.)

Avoid the least sin

If we would save the big ship, let us stop the small leak. If we would save the palace from flames, let us put out the spark. (Newman Hall.)

The great evil and danger of little sins

I. What is meant by the least commandment. It must not be understood as if one commandment were less necessary to be obeyed than another; Gods commands are all alike necessary.

1. They are all enjoined by the same authority.

2. They are all necessary to be performed in order to eternal life. But when Christ speaks of the least commandment, He alludes

(1) to the corrupt doctrine of the Scribes distinguishing Gods commands into small and great.

(2) Those commandments which are great in respect of the Lawgiver, may yet be least in comparison with other commands of the same law, which are indeed thought greatest. This inequality arises from the inequality of the objects about which they are concerned, our duty to God or man. Sometimes it arises from the latitude that any command hath in it, to our thoughts, words, or actions; a thought is said to be less than an action.

II. What is meant by being least in the kingdom of heaven. Either the kingdom of grace, the Church, heaven. Little sins carry great guilt and bring heavy condemnation.

1. This appears in that the least sin is a most high affront and provocation of the great God.

2. It is a violation of a holy and strict law.

3. What a complicated evil every sin is, that the commission of the least makes you guilty of the greatest.

4. The authority of the great God seems more to be despised by the commission of small sins than by the commission of great.

5. Little sins do greatly deface the image of God in the soul. In curious pictures, a little scratch is a great deformity.

6. Little sins have in them ordinarily of temptation, and therefore more of wilfulness.

7. Little sins do maintain the trade and course of sinning.

III. The evil and danger of little sins hath been made apparent: I shall add farther proofs of their aggravated guilt.

1. Little sins usually are the destroying sins.

2. Small sins-what they want in weight, usually make up in number. A ship may have a heavy burden of sands, as well as of millstones; and may be as soon sunk with them.

3. It is very difficult to convince men of the great evil and danger of little sins.

4. The allowance of the least sin is a certain sign of a rotten heart.

5. Little sins usually make way for the vilest.

(1) The devil, by his temptations, nurses up youngling sins, till they arrive at full stature.

(2) Natural corruption is of a growing nature.

6. Little sins are the greatest provocations; murder is a reproach to all; unbelief does not provoke public scandal.

7. Damnation for little sins will be most intolerable-here for such little sins!

IV. Application:

1. If little sins have so much danger, what shall we think of great impieties?

2. Then behold a fearful shipwreck of all the hopes of formalists.

3. What absolute need we stand in of Christ.

4. What cause we have to bemoan and humble ourselves before God.

5. Pray for a tender conscience.

6. Keep alive reverent thoughts of God.

7. Get a more thorough sense of the spirituality of the law. (Bp. Hopkins.)

Little sins accumulate

The devil cannot expect always to receive such returns of great and crying impieties: but yet, when he keeps the stock of corruption going, and drives on the trade of sinning by lesser sins, believe it, corruption will be on the thriving hand, and you may grow rich in guilt, and treasure up to yourselves wrath against the day of wrath, by adding those that you call little sins unto the heap. (Bp. Hopkins.)

Great advancement made in sin by little stages

If Satan prevails with us to go with him one step out of our way, we axe in danger to stop nowhere till we come to the height of all profaneness: he will make us take a second, and a third, and so to travel on to destruction; for each of these is but one step: the last step of sin is but one step, as well as the first; and if the devil prevail with us to take one step, why should he not prevail with us to take the last step as well as the first step, seeing it is but one? Your second sin no more exceeds your first, than your first doth your duty; and so of the rest. (Bp. Hopkins.)

Little sins are often united with great, which together sweep the soul to destruction

As you see in rivers, the natural course of them tends to the sea; but the tide, joining with them, makes the current run the swifter and the more forcibly: so is it with sin. Little sins are the natural stream of a mans life; that do of themselves tend hell-ward, and are of themselves enough to carry the soul down silently and calmly to destruction: but, when greater and grosser sins join with them, they make a violent tide, that hurries the soul away with a more swift and rampant motion down to hell, than little sins would or could do of themselves. (Bp. Hopkins.)

The need of a sensitive conscience

A tender conscience is like the apple of a mans eye: the least dust that gets into it afflicts it. (Bp. Hopkins.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 19. Whosoever – shall break one of these least commandments] The Pharisees were remarkable for making a distinction between weightier and lighter matters in the law, and between what has been called, in a corrupt part of the Christian Church, mortal and venial sins. See Clarke on Mt 22:36.

Whosoever shall break. What an awful consideration is this! He who, by his mode of acting, speaking, or explaining the words of God, sets the holy precept aside, or explains away its force and meaning, shall be called least – shall have no place in the kingdom of Christ here, nor in the kingdom of glory above. That this is the meaning of these words is evident enough from the following verse.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Whosoever shall in his practice violate but one of the commandments of God, which the Pharisees judge of the least, and which possible are so compared with others, and shall teach men that they may do as he doth, making such false interpretations of the law as may warrant such a practice, he shall be accounted of the least value and esteem in the church of God, and shall never come into the kingdom of glory: but he who shall strictly and uniformly obey all the commandments, and teach others to do the like by his doctrine and example, that man shall have a great renown and reputation in the church, which is the kingdom of heaven upon earth, and shall have a great reward in the kingdom of glory hereafter.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

19. Whosoever therefore shallbreakrather, “dissolve,” “annul,” or “makeinvalid.”

one of these leastcommandmentsan expression equivalent to “one of the leastof these commandments.”

and shall teach mensoreferring to the Pharisees and their teaching, as is plainfrom Mt 5:20, but of courseembracing all similar schools and teaching in the Christian Church.

he shall be called the leastin the kingdom of heavenAs the thing spoken of is not thepractical breaking, or disobeying, of the law, but annulling orenervating its obligation by a vicious system of interpretation, andteaching others to do the same; so the thing threatened is notexclusion from heaven, and still less the lowest place in it, but adegraded and contemptuous position in the present stage of thekingdom of God. In other words, they shall be reduced by theretributive providence that overtakes them, to the same condition ofdishonor to which, by their system and their teaching, they havebrought down those eternal principles of God’s law.

but whosoever shall do andteach themwhose principles and teaching go to exalt theauthority and honor of God’s law, in its lowest as well as highestrequirements.

the same shall be calledgreat in the kingdom of heavenshall, by that providence whichwatches over the honor of God’s moral administration, be raised tothe same position of authority and honor to which they exalt the law.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments,…. Which are to be understood not of the beatitudes in the preceding verses, for these were not delivered by Christ under the form of commandments; nor of any of the peculiar commands of Christ under the Gospel dispensation; but of the precepts of the law, of which some were comparatively lesser than others; and might be said to be broke, loosed, or dissolved, as the word here used signifies, when men acted contrary to them.

And shall teach men so; not only teach them by their example to break the commandments, but by express orders: for however gross and absurd this may seem to be, that there should be any such teachers, and they should have any hearers, yet such there were among the Jews; and our Lord here manifestly strikes at them: for notwithstanding the great and excellent things they say of the law, yet they tell us, that the doctors of the sanhedrim had power to root anything out of the law; to loose or make void any of its commands, for a time, excepting in the case of idolatry; and so might any true prophet, or wise man; which they pretend is sometimes necessary for the glory of God, and the good of men; and they are to be heard and obeyed, when they say, transgress anyone of all the commands which are in the law h. Maimonides says i, that the sanhedrim had power, when it was convenient, for the time present, to make void an affirmative command, and to transgress a negative one, in order to return many to their religion; or to deliver many of the Israelites from stumbling at other things, they may do whatsoever the present time makes necessary: for so, adds he, the former wise men say, a man may profane one sabbath, in order to keep many sabbaths. And elsewhere k he affirms,

“if a prophet, whom we know to be a prophet, should order us , “to transgress anyone of the commands”, which are mentioned in the law, or many commands, whether light or heavy, for a time, we are ordered to hearken to him; and so we learn from the former wise men, by tradition, that in everything a prophet shall say to thee , “transgress the words of the law”, as Elias on Mount Carmel, hear him, except in the case of idolatry.”

And another of their writers says l,

“it is lawful sometimes to make void the law, and to do that which appears to be forbidden.”

Nay, they even m say, that if a Gentile should bid an Israelite transgress anyone of the commands mentioned in the law, excepting idolatry, adultery, and murder, he may transgress with impunity, provided it is done privately. You see what reason Christ had to express himself in the manner he does, and that with resentment, saying,

he shall be called, or be the least in the kingdom of heaven; meaning either the church of God, where he shall have neither a name, nor place; he shall not be in the least esteemed, but shall be cast out as a worthless man; or the ultimate state of happiness and glory, in the other world, where he shall not enter, as is said in the next verse; but, on the other hand,

whosoever shall do and teach; whose doctrine and conversation, principles and practices agree together; who both teach obedience to the law, and perform it themselves: where again he glances at the masters in Israel, and tacitly reproves them who said, but did not; taught the people what they themselves did not practise; and so were unworthy of the honour, which he that both teaches and does shall have: for

the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven; he shall be highly esteemed of in the church here, and be honoured hereafter in the world to come. The Jews have a saying somewhat like this;

“he that lessens himself for the words of the law in this world, , “he shall become great” in the world to come n,”

or days of the Messiah.

h T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 79. 1. & 89. 2. & 90. 2. i Hilch. Memarim, c. 2. sect. 4. k Hilch. Yesode Hattorah, c. 9. sect. 3. l Bartenora in, Misn. Beracot, c. 9. sect. 5. m T. Hicros. Sheviith, fol. 35. 1. n T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 85. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Shall do and teach ( ). Jesus puts practice before preaching. The teacher must apply the doctrine to himself before he is qualified to teach others. The scribes and Pharisees were men who “say and do not” (Mt 23:3), who preach but do not perform. This is Christ’s test of greatness.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) Whosoever therefore shall break,” (hos ean oun luse) “Therefore whoever (anyone who) breaks,” violates or treats with disregard or disrespect. Even “to know to do good and do it not,” is sin before God, both in the light of the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ, the law of love, Jas 4:17.

2) “One of these least commandments,” (mian ton entolon touton ton elachiston) “One (even one) of the least of these commandments (of the law): No commandment of God is so small that it may be disobeyed or disregarded, as it is applicable either to an individual or a nation. To offend is to be a lawbreaker, Jas 2:10.

3) “And shall teach men so,” (kai didakse houtos anthropous) “And teaches men (by word or example) to break even one of them” or influence men to violate, break, disregard, or disrespect one commandment of the Lord.

4) “He shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:” (elachistos klethesetai en te basilela ton ouranon) “He shall be called or identified a least one (a minor) in “the kingdom of heaven,” in the fellowship of the church, the new covenant institution of worship our Lord was addressing in this sermon on the mount, that covers Mat 5:1 to Mat 7:29.

5) “But whosoever shall do and teach them,” (hos d’an poiese Rai didakse) “Yet the one who does, keeps, or observes the moral and ethical principles of the commandments,” being “doers of the word and not hearers only”, Jas 1:22; Joh 14:15; Joh 15:14.

6) “The same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (houtos megas klethesetai an te basileia ton ouronon) “This one shall be called or identified by reputation, as great in the kingdom of heaven,” in the church to which our Lord was delivering this Inaugural address, Joh 17:6; Rev 3:10; Mat 25:34-40. Instead of disrespecting the moral and ethical principles of the law (which was holy) our Lord certified that every member of His church was to hold those standards high Rom 7:12; Rom 7:14.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

19. Whoever then shall break Christ here speaks expressly of the commandments of life, or the ten words, which all the children of God ought to take as the rule of their life. He therefore declares, that they are false and deceitful teachers, who do not restrain their disciples within obedience to the law, and that they are unworthy to occupy a place in the Church, who weaken, in the slightest degree, the authority of the law; and, on the other hand, that they are honest and faithful ministers of God, who recommend, both by word and by example, the keeping of the law. The least commandments is an expression used in accommodation to the judgment of men: for though they have not all the same weight, (but, when they are compared together, some are less than others,) yet we are not at liberty to think any thing small, on which the heavenly Legislator has been pleased to issue a command. For what sacrilege is it to treat contemptuously any thing which has proceeded from his sacred mouth? This is to sink his majesty to the rank of creatures. Accordingly, when our Lord calls them little commandments, it is a sort of concession. He shall be called the least This is an allusion to what he had just said about the commandments: but the meaning is obvious. Those who shall pour contempt on the doctrine of the law, or on a single syllable of it, will be rejected as the lowest of men. (384)

The kingdom of heaven means the renovation of the Church, or the prosperous condition of the Church, such as was then beginning to appear by the preaching of the Gospel. In this sense, Christ tells us, that “ he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John,” (Luk 7:28.) The meaning of that phrase is, that God, restoring the world by the hand of his Son, has completely established his kingdom. Christ declares that, when his Church shall have been renewed, no teachers must be admitted to it, but those who are faithful expounders of the law, and who labor to maintain its doctrine entire. But it is asked, were not ceremonies among the commandments of God, the least of which we are now required to observe? I answer, We must look to the design and object of the Legislator. God enjoined ceremonies, that their outward use might be temporal, and their meaning eternal. That man does not break ceremonies, who omits what is shadowy, but retains their effect. But if Christ banishes from his kingdom all who accustom men to any contempt of the law how monstrous must be their stupidity, who are not ashamed to remit, by a sacrilegious indulgence, what God strictly demands, and, under the pretense of venial sin, to overthrow the righteousness of the law. (385) Again, we must observe the description he gives of good and holy teachers: that not only by words, but chiefly by the example of life, they exhort (386) men to keep the law.

(384) “ Comme 1es plus inutiles du monde;” — “as the most useless in the world.”

(385) “ De mettre la justice de la Loy sous les pieds;” — “to trample the justice of the law under their feet.”

(386) “ Ils exhortent et incitent les hommes;” — “they exhort and incite men.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(19) Shall break one of these least commandments.The words seem at first to imply that even the ceremonial law was to be binding in its full extent upon Christs disciples. The usage of the time, however, confined the word to the moral laws of God (as in Sir. 32:23-24), and throughout the New Testament it is never used in any other sense, with the possible exception of Heb. 7:5; Heb. 7:16 (comp. especially Rom. 13:9; 1Co. 7:19). And the context, which proceeds at once to deal with moral laws and does not touch on ceremonial, is in accordance with this meaning. The least commandments, then, are those which seemed trivial, yet were really greatthe control of thoughts, desires, words, as compared with the apparently greater commands that dealt with acts. The reference to teaching shows that our Lord was speaking to His disciples, as the future instructors of mankind, and the obvious import of His words is that they were to raise, not lower, the standard of righteousness which had been recognised previously.

Shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.The consequence of tampering with the great laws of duty, or the least laws, which are practically great, is described in terms at once severe and gentle; gentle, because the sentence, where the guilt is not wilful, or is repented of, is not one of absolute exclusion from the kingdom; severe in so far as being the least in that kingdom, the object of pity or sorrow to others, involved a severe humiliation to those who aimed at being the highest. To that condemnation many in every age of the Church have been liable, the Anthiomian fanatic and the Jesuit casuist standing so far on the same footing.

Whosoever shall do and teach.Here again the teaching work of the disciples is prominent. The combination is in this case even more significant than in the other. Not right doing only, still less right teaching only, but both together, made up the ideal of the preachers work.

Great.Not greatest. The avoidance of the latter word, interpreted by the later teaching of 18:4, would seem to have been deliberate. Men might aim at a positive standard of the greatness of the true teacher and the true worker, but the conscious aim at being greatest was self-frustrating. That honour belonged to him only who was all unconscious that he had any claim to it.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

19. Whosoever Our Lord farther shows his reverence for the law by guarding its least requirement with highest penalties. These least commandments Contained in the Old Testament. Teach men so As many of you may have feared that I or my disciples were about to do, in the new kingdom. Our Lord therefore is here laying down principles affecting the teachers whom he is to send forth. Shall teach men so If to violate, with purpose, a known law of God is a dangerous sin, how much deeper the danger of teaching others to sin! Least Many of the best commentators understand this as signifying that he shall be excluded. Yet such, surely, is not its exact meaning. Clearly to be least IN the kingdom of heaven is far less than shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord’s phrase here is adopted by him for the purpose of the antithesis the violator of the least shall himself be least. Such mercy is shown to the case of erring man, in whom mistake may mingle in the interpretation of God’s laws, even when he would be a wise teacher, that our Lord uses a sentence which may imply, and yet does not absolutely express, exclusion. Such a man’s reward is terribly cut down; he is scarce if at all saved. Nothing but a state of repentance for all sin, known or unknown, can avail him. Great The true observer and teacher of the law in its completeness shall be a star of brightest lustre in the firmament of heaven. Our Lord here clearly illustrates the truth of different degrees of future reward.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

a “Whoever therefore shall loose (relax, treat lightly, render ineffective) one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so,

b Will be called least in the Kingly Rule of Heaven,

a But whoever shall do and teach them,

b He will be called great in the Kingly Rule of Heaven.

a For I say to you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees,

b You will in no way enter into the Kingly Rule of Heaven.”

Note that the first ‘a b’ and the last ‘a b’ both indicate an undesirable situation, while the central ‘a b’ indicates the desirable state of affairs. (A few important manuscripts such as Aleph, D, W, omit the central ‘a b’ but it is included by the majority of manuscripts. The omission was probably due to a scribal lapse in picking up his copying from the wrong ‘ouranown’ (Heaven).

Here we are given three alternative positions of people over against the Law. There are those who are lax towards what they see as the less important commands, and will thus be called ‘the less important ones’; those who treat all the commands without exception (because they honour the fact that every jot and tittle is from God) with the seriousness that they deserve, and will thus be called ‘great’; and those who actually misrepresent the whole by following the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees, who will simply be excluded. The first will lose out in that they will be seen as ‘least important’ in the Kingly Rule of God, the last will lose out because they will not even enter the Kingly Rule of God (they prefer rather to obey the Scribes), and those who honour all God’s words without exception will be called great in the Kingly Rule of God (compare Mat 18:4). Attitude to God’s word and all His requirements is thus seen as vital for our future. The seriousness of what is involved in not entering the Kingly Rule of God is brought out in Mat 8:11.

It should be noted that Jesus’ purpose in these words is in order to stress the need to observe every last detail of the word of God. Nothing may be cast aside. A lax attitude towards the word of God is seen as making someone of little account in the sight of God. On the other hand to take a totally wrong approach to it as the Scribes and Pharisees did, and thus to misuse it, will be to be cut off from God completely. This was very much preparing for what Jesus would now go on to say. It was a serious warning to take heed to His words, and not to let one of them be lost or disregarded.

‘Shall loose.’ The Rabbis were said to ‘loose’ a law when they relaxed it and made it less demanding because it was felt to be too severe in practise. But Jesus is here rather thinking of those who set aside a law because it is thought to be unimportant. His aim in saying it is certainly not in order to allow His disciples to choose what their level of dedication should be, but to make clear that what their attitude should be is to see all His requirements as equally important. He thus makes clear His severe disapproval of those who are lax with God’s word.

Yet at the same time He does not want to exclude absolutely those who did not have quite that total dedication. He rather makes clear that, while He does not reject them outright, He has a low esteem of them. Elsewhere Jesus certainly does allow that there will be different levels of devotion (Mat 11:11; Mat 18:4), and different levels of ‘reward’ (1Co 3:15), yet we should also remember that He let the rich young man walk away sorrowfully and did not suggest that he was nevertheless acceptable as a minor disciple and had received eternal life, which was what his question had been all about (Mat 19:16-26). The impression given is in fact that he went away without eternal life. We do well not to treat lightly the loss of Jesus’ esteem.

Note that it is those who teach laxity as well as those who are lax, who are ‘least’. Jesus clearly saw any laxity towards the word of God as being heinous.

‘One of these least commandments.’ ‘These commandments’ loosely connects with the overall commandments of the Old Testament of which not one jot would fail until all was accomplished. Note that the idea is not of general laxity. (Jesus does not expect that). The person in question has only been lax on one. But in the event is one too much! Jesus is really concerned to ensure fully disciplined lives and a total commitment to all His commandments.

‘Great.’ That is, of the highest standard. In other words they pass out ‘A1’.

‘The Kingly Rule of Heaven.’ Whether this refers to the Kingly Rule of Heaven while on earth or the eternal Kingly Rule is not a question we have to answer. Both are in fact the same Kingly Rule and those within it are simply either on earthly or heavenly service. Thus this signifies that whether on earth or in Heaven, those who have treated lightly any part of the Law of God lose out in His eyes. The only difference is that for those on earth there is still time to do something about it.

‘The righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees.’ That is, their way of keeping the Law criticised by Jesus in chapter 23, involving detailed observation of ritual, and the interpretation of it to their own advantage, while ignoring the principles of mercy and compassion. The Scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was speaking about (the majority) analysed the Scriptures minutely so as to exactly follow the letter of the Law, rather than considering its implications and the wider implications of such commandments as which required love for their neighbour and for the stranger among them (Lev 19:18; Lev 19:34), and yet they made a great show of how religious they were (compare Luk 18:9-14). Tithing the smallest thing was more important to them than going out of their way to help others, and they judged all men on that basis. They were condemned both for behaving like this (Mat 23:3), and teaching the same attitude to others (Mat 23:15). We can compare here Isa 1:11-18.

‘Your righteousness.’ Jesus was not simply comparing their dedication with that of the Pharisees, nor saying that somehow they needed to outdo them. He was talking about a different form of righteousness. It was the righteousness worked within men who had repented and come under the Kingly Rule of Heaven, a God-implanted and God-imputed righteousness (see on Mat 5:6. Compare Isa 61:3). They were illuminated, empowered and forgiven by God, and transformed into those who obeyed God’s Law as revealed by Jesus. His righteousness and deliverance had been revealed (Isa 46:13). This was the righteousness that saved, and produced the kind of people who will fulfil the injunctions He is about to give. We may again compare this with the idea of righteousness found in Isaiah where righteousness is paralleled with deliverance (Isa 46:13; Isa 51:5; Isa 51:8; Isa 56:1). Isaiah declared that Israel would enjoy ‘righteousness and deliverance’ when God broke in to save. The righteousness was God’s as, in His righteousness, He acted to bring about the ‘righteousness’ and ‘salvation’, the setting free and restoration of His people, with the result that they too became righteous. Something of that is reflected in the use of the term ‘righteousness’ here. What was required was a God-inworked righteousness. His idea is that God will have acted on them in righteousness in order to make them righteous, firstly in His sight, and then in their lives. When used in Matthew of believers, righteousness always has this significance of the delivering power of God (see Mat 3:15; Mat 5:6; Mat 5:10; Mat 6:33; Mat 21:32).

‘In no way.’ An emphatic negative.

‘Enter into the Kingly Rule of Heaven.’ Compare ‘enter into life ‘(Mat 18:8-9; Mat 19:17). We enter the Kingly Rule of Heaven now when we yield our lives to Him and submit to His rule, and will one day enter it in its fullness after the resurrection.

Note on the Scribes and Pharisees.

The Scribes were looked on as the Biblical scholars of the day. The majority were Pharisees, but there were also Scribes of the Sadducees and probably also more general Scribes. Their aim was to enable the people to understand the Torah and the Prophets, with especial emphasis on the former, and the Pharisaic Scribes isolated from the Torah over six hundred laws, making pronouncements on many of them as to how they should be observed. The interpretations were sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes rigid, and all too often facile. Their dicta were united with other traditions brought down from the past known as ‘the traditions of the elders’. When people had a problem about how they should behave in particular circumstances they would seek out the Scribes who would have memorised all the traditions of the elders and would call on them in order to provide a solution to their problem. But the problem with many of the Scribes was that they had become tied down to their own traditions rather than looking afresh at the Scriptures, and their interpretations were regularly rigidly determined by their traditions. Their interpretations therefore followed set patterns. There had been, and were, godly Scribes who were full of compassion according to their lights, and wise in their teaching, but the truly great ones were few, and the false copies many, and it was these last who mainly continued to pester Jesus. There can often be no one more narrow-minded than those who cling to and expound and try to carry forward the words of great Teachers, interpreting them by their own narrow ways of thinking, and that was true of these. For Jesus’ overall criticism of them see chapter 23.

The Pharisees only numbered about six to seven thousand but their influence was huge because of what was seen as their piety. Initially they had probably been mainly godly men who reacted against the Hellenisation programmes carried out against the Jews by the Syrian overlords, with the result that they had therefore developed a concern for special Jewish practises, aiming thereby to preserve distinctive Jewishness. They thus begun to lay great emphasis on ritual washing, avoiding ritual ‘uncleanness’, tithing even the smallest thing, and strict observance of the Sabbath in accordance with their rules. And these had gradually taken a place in their thinking above what they should have had. They hoped thereby to attain merit. This had initially been alongside a living faith in God, but as can happen all too easily, the living faith tended to diminish over time, and the ritual took over and thereby became all-important. (The same process occurred later in the Christian church, resulting in all the distortions of the mediaeval church. It is always to be guarded against. This was true legalism). Their main strength was in Judaea, although there were also Pharisees in Galilee. They would meet in groups, often around the meal table, for discussion and mutual encouragement. They did not run the synagogues, but undoubtedly had influence in them. Jesus was sometimes invited to join in with such groups (see for example Luk 14:1-24, also Luk 7:36-50). So not all Pharisees were in total disagreement with Him, or totally antagonistic towards Him. We tend to hear about the ones who were and overlook the ones who were not.

Both the Scribes and the Pharisees were highly respected by the people, the former for their knowledge and the latter for their ‘piety’. The suggestion therefore that their righteousness was lacking, and was insufficient to allow entry into the Kingly Rule of God would have been startling to the common people, for they were seen as portraying Scriptural standards and Scriptural truth, (we can compare the later monks and friars, some of whom were godly men, but many of whom became rogues and self-seekers benefiting from the reputation of the few) something about which Jesus was now about to undeceive them. For Jesus was only too well aware that they had become bogged down in an overemphasis on ritual which had begun to count for them more than morals, and that much of their piety was at the worst hypocritical and self-publicising, or at the best simply self-striving. He wanted the people to recognise that they must look away from ritual and self-striving to experiencing the power of God working on them in righteousness and deliverance.

We must beware of thinking that Jesus was at odds with all Scribes and Pharisees. Many came to Him with genuine questions (Mat 22:34-40; Luk 10:25-37; Joh 3:1-6), and others invited Him to partake in meals with them. They were willing to listen to what He had to say, even if critically. A number of them later became believers. The danger is that we tend to see them all in the light of the more bitterly critical ones who dogged His steps. But that many of the Scribes and Pharisees undoubtedly did end up opposed to Him the Gospels make clear. They felt that He was undermining their credibility among the people (which in some ways He was) and grew more bitter as time went on, until in the end they undoubtedly consented to His crucifixion, with some even taking part in brining it about.

End of note.

Having laid down the importance of the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and having stressed that both were of God and to be treated with the greatest of respect and honour, and that both should be obeyed, Jesus now set about showing what that obedience should consist of. It was not to be on the basis of listing certain commandments, and then ticking them off and saying smugly, ‘All these things have I observed from my youth up’. It was to be by seeing these commandments against their whole background, and recognising the approach to life that they demanded. As the Law itself had said, by recognising this and living by it they would find what it meant to live a genuine spiritual life (Lev 18:5). This was the full-orbed spiritual life to which God had delivered them by His active righteousness at work upon them.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

In the meantime all men should know:

v. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Here is a conclusion. Since the above is Christ’s view, He is bound to take His stand with reference to the transgressors of that rule. He that dissolves, abrogates, sets aside even those commandments that seem small and of little import, he that disregards as much as one of the little horns or hooks, whose presence or absence may, indeed, change the meaning of an entire passage, falls under Christ’s sentence of condemnation, he is declared to be the least in the kingdom of heaven. The sincerity of his convictions will not be accepted as an excuse, and his fault will only be made greater by his extending the false opinion he holds by means of teaching. He shall be called the least, he shall be rejected in this kingdom, he shall be excluded from its glories. On the other hand, he that teaches in entire conformity with the Old Testament, that preaches not only the Gospel, but the Law in its great purpose of preparing the hearts, that keeps silence with regard to nothing, that does not add thereto nor take therefrom, he shall have a great name in the kingdom of heaven, he shall receive the reward of faithfulness. For this teaching is essential in educating men as to the true righteousness of life, in holding up before the Christians a proper rule of conduct.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 5:19 . Conclusion from Mat 5:18 . On with the conjunctive of the aorist, denoting that which was probably to happen in the future ( the contingent futurum exactum ), see Winer, p. 287 f. [E. T. 385]; Khner, II. 2, p. 929; for , see Winer, p. 291 [E. T. 3 90].

] like , Mat 5:17 ; [403] Fritzsche and Arnoldi (after Castalio, Beza, Wolf, and others): transgressus fuerit , on account of the in the opposition; comp. also Ritschl, p. 40. But this partly forms a very appropriate antithesis to the in our sense, which, after in Mat 5:17 , would be abandoned only from arbitrariness; partly there is by no means wanting between and an appropriate, i.e. a climactic, distinction (they shall declare it to be of no authority, and teach accordingly); partly it is not credible that Jesus should have declared that the transgressor of the law was . . , see Mat 11:11 . Doing ( ) and teaching ( ) refer, as a matter of course, without it being necessary to supply any object besides the general word “ is ” (translated: whosoever shall have done and taught it ), to that which is required in the smallest commandment, and that in the sense of the , Mat 5:17 .

] points back to what is designated by and in Mat 5:18 , not forwards to Mat 5:22 ; Mat 5:28 (Bengel); refers, therefore, not to the Pharisaic distinctions between great and small commandments (see especially, Wetstein, p. 295 f.), but to what Jesus Himself had just designated as and , those precepts which in reality are the least important. They stand, however, in accordance with the of the law, in essential organic connection with the ideal contents of the whole, and can therefore be so little regarded as having no authority, that rather he who does this ( ), and teaches others to act in this manner ( ), will obtain only one of the lowest places (one of the lowest grades of dignity and happiness) in the kingdom of the Messiah. He is not to be excluded (as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Calovius, Wolf, Bengel, and others have misinterpreted the meaning of . .), because his antinomianism is not a principle, not directed against the law as such, but only against individual precepts of the law, which in themselves are small , and whose importance as a whole he does not recognise. [404] Comp. 1Co 3:15 .

Note the correlation of .

[403] Comp. on in the sense of abrogating, overturning of laws , Joh 7:23 ; Herod, iii. 82; Demosth. xxxi. 12. 186. 14. Ebrard (on Olshausen) erroneously explains it: “the mechanical dissolution of a law into a multitude of casuistical and ritualistic precepts.” The should have prevented this view. Amongst Greek writers also the simple verb represents the compound that has preceded it; comp. on Rom 15:4 .

[404] Ver. 19 stands in so essential a connection with the discourse, that the supposition of Olshausen, that Jesus had in view special acts of an antinomian tendency on the part of some of His disciples, appears just as unnecessary as it is arbitrary. Kstlin and Hilgenfeld find here a very distinct disapproval of the Apostle Paul and of the Paulinites , who break free from the law; nay, Paul, thinks Kstlin, was actually named by Jewish Christians the smallest (Eph 3:8 ), as he so names himself (1Co 15:9 ). A purely imaginary combination.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1298
THE DANGER OF LITTLE SINS

Mat 5:19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

IT must be confessed, that amongst those who profess a high regard for the Gospel, there are some who speak of it in terms, which, to say the least, have an antinomian and licentious aspect. In their zeal against self-righteousness, they are apt to represent the law as altogether abolished: knowing that we are no longer under the law as a covenant, they express themselves as if we were freed from it also as a rule of life. But we must never forget that the Gospel is a doctrine according to godliness; and that the law, so far from being made void through faith, is established by it. In the words preceding the text, our blessed Lord had said, that he came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil them: and in the words before us, he teaches us to infer from thence the undiminished authority of the sacred code.
To elucidate his assertions, we observe,

I.

That the commandments of God are universally to be obeyed

It is certain that some commandments are of more importance than others
[There can be no doubt but that the moral precepts, which are founded in our relation to God and to each other, are of more importance than the positive institutions, which are founded only in the sovereign will of God. Our Lord himself, comparing the divine institution of paying tithes with the exercise of judgment, mercy, and faith, calls the latter the weightier matters of the law: though at the same time he determines, These ought ye to have done; and not to leave the other undone.

The positive institutions may even be set aside, if they interfere with our discharge of moral duties. A strict observance of the Sabbath is enjoined: but, if a work of necessity or of mercy demand our attention, we are at liberty to engage in it, notwithstanding we thereby violate the sacred rest of the Sabbath: for God has said, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
Indeed, even in the moral law itself, there is a difference between the duties of the first and of the second table; those which relate to God being more important than those which relate to man. Hence our Lord says, that to love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, is the first and great commandment.]

But the authority on which every one of them stands is the same
[God is the great lawgiver: and whatever his command be, it is, as long as it is in force, binding upon all to whom it is given. We are no more at liberty to abrogate one than to set aside another. If we allowedly violate any one of them, we do, in effect, violate them all [Note: Jam 2:10-11.]. If any two be absolutely incompatible, the positive precept, as I have observed, gives way, and ceases for the time to be a command. So if two moral precepts such as that of obeying a parent, and of obeying God, be irreconcileable, obedience to God is then of superior and paramount obligation. God himself has assigned limits to mans authority, beyond which we are not commanded to obey him. Man cannot dispense with any of the divine commandments: they can be repealed by that authority only which first established them. Neither in theory nor in practice are we at liberty to make them void: we must both do them ourselves, and teach the observance of them to others. We must not add any thing to them, nor take any thing from them. The injunctions which God has given us on this head are strict and solemn [Note: Pro 30:5-6. Deu 12:22.]: and, if we presume to violate them, it is at the peril of our souls [Note: Rev 22:18-19. Deu 27:26.].]

It is intimated that some will both do and teach them: which leads us to observe,

II.

That an unreserved respect for all of them is characteristic of the true Christian

Ungodly men have but little reverence for the divine commands
[The Pharisees of old laid a far greater stress on ceremonial than on moral duties; on washing pots and cups, than on cleansing the heart: and they actually made void some of the commandments by their traditions [Note: Mat 23:25-28; Mat 15:3-6.]. The Papists do the same at this day, denying the sacramental cup to the laity, commanding the consecrated wafer to be worshipped, and granting pardons and indulgences to those who are able to pay for them. Would to God that there were no such impieties among Protestants also! It is true, we do not acknowledge any power in the Pope to dispense with the laws of God: but we take the power into our own hands, and deal as freely with the commands of God as ever the Pope himself can do. One commandment is deemed uncertain, another unreasonable, another unnecessary; and all are reduced to the standard which we ourselves approve. As for the penalties with which they are enforced, we puff at them, and assure both ourselves and others that they shall never be executed.]

But the true Christian dares not thus to insult his God
[It is his habit to tremble at the word [Note: Isa 66:2.]. When once he hears, Thus saith the Lord, his mouth is shut; and he sets himself immediately to obey the divine command. Instead of complaining that any commandment is grievous [Note: 1Jn 5:3.], he loves the whole law; he accounts it holy, and just, and good. He would not have any part of it lowered in its demands on any account [Note: Psa 119:128.]. His desire is rather to have his soul cast into the very mould of the Gospel [Note: Rom 6:17. the Greek.], and to be transformed perfectly into the image of his God. His prayer is, Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed [Note: Psa 119:80.]: let me stand perfect and complete in all the will of God [Note: Col 4:12. 2Co 7:1.] ]

The Christians disposition towards the commands of God ought to be cultivated by every one of us, since it is certain

III.

That on such a respect for them depends our everlasting happiness

Nothing less than this will suffice to prove our sincerity
[It is allowed, without any great difficulty, that heinous violations of Gods law will affect our eternal state: but smaller transgressions are considered as of but little consequence. But this does not accord with our Lords assertions in the text. There we are told that the breach of one single law will be fatal, yea, though it be the least of all the commandments of God. We are not to understand that the unintentional and unallowed defects in our obedience will prove fatal to us: for who then could be saved? but any evil which we allow and justify, or, as the text expresses it, which we do and teach, will certainly exclude us from the kingdom of heaven. The text might seem to import that such conduct would only diminish the degree of our happiness in heaven: but our Lord elsewhere warns us, that it will entirely exclude us from heaven; and that our only alternative is, either to part with sin altogether, or to suffer the penalty of sin, eternal death [Note: Mat 18:8-9.].]

But where obedience is unreserved, it will receive a glorious recompence from God
[That there is no merit in our obedience, is allowed: but that our obedience shall receive a reward of grace, every page of the inspired volume declares The more perfect our conformity to Gods law, and the more energetic our maintenance of its authority have been, the higher testimonies of Gods approbation we shall most assuredly receive; and our exaltation in heaven shall be proportionably great. Peculiar sanctity and zeal may subject us to reproach from men; but it will meet with honour from God: for he has said, Them that honour me, I will honour.]

Learn then from hence the importance of,
1.

A renewed heart

[The unregenerate heart neither is, nor can be subject to Gods law [Note: Rom 8:7.]. We must be born again, and be renewed in the spirit of our minds, before we can truly say, I delight to do thy will, O God; yea, thy law is within my heart [Note: Psa 40:8.]. Let us then seek to be made new creatures in Christ Jesus. Then shall we be prepared both to do the commandments ourselves, and to teach them to those around us.]

2.

A faithful ministry

[Many, in fact, say unto their ministers, Prophesy not unto us right things; prophesy unto us smooth things; prophesy deceits [Note: Isa 30:10.]. But to what purpose would it be to comply with their wishes? In what could such ministrations end? If the blind lead the blind, must they not both fall into the ditch? On the contrary, if we do the whole revealed will of God, as far as we are enabled, and teach it faithfully unto others, we have reason to hope that we shall have many to be our joy and crown of rejoicing in the last day. Instead of complaining, then, that your minister is too strict either in his life or preaching, be thankful that you have a minister, who desires to live for no other purpose than to save himself and them that hear him.]

3.

A pure conscience

[Who can understand his errors? says David; O cleanse thou me from my secret faults. Truly it is no easy thing to be a Christian. Let us examine carefully whether there be not some secret unsubdued lust within us, some worm at the root of our gourd. If there be, woe unto us; Except we repent, we shall surely perish. If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things: but if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God [Note: 1Jn 3:20-21.]. Then shall we not be ashamed, when we have respect unto all his commandments [Note: Psa 119:6.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

No doubt the Reader would wish to have a clear apprehension of the words Raca and Fool. The most acceptable service on these verses I can offer, will be to explain them. Raca, was a word used by the Jews to imply the utmost abhorrence, as if a man was spit upon, which was a mark of the greatest contempt among that people. For a man to call another Raca, was to call him a graceless wretch. But the word Fool, in the sense here intended, was, if possible, worse; for it implied one predestinated to everlasting misery; meaning a child of hell. Mt 23-28; Jud 1:25 . Nothing can be. more proper than to have a just conception of those terms, and of the sense in which our Lord meant them. The word fool, when meaning a person dull or slow of understanding, totally differs from the word fool as here referred to by CHRIST. The LORD himself called his disciples fools in this sense, for their dullness of apprehension. Luk 24:25 . And both Paul and James, his Apostles, did the same upon similar occasions. 1Co 15:36 ; Gal 3:1 ; Jas 2:20 . But the folly which implies a state of reprobation, is totally different from this weakness of the mind. Isaiah speaks of it, Isa 27:11 . For it is a people of no understanding, meaning, to whom no grace is given. Not children of the kingdom, but the children of the wicked one; therefore he that made them, (saith the Prophet) will not have mercy upon them, and he that formed them will skew them no favour. In this sense, for any man to decide upon another, and say, thou fool! thou child of hell! is to endanger his Own state before God. The Lord Jesus, who knows the heart, and knows them that are his, might truly, as he did, tell some in his day, that they were of the generation of vipers, and who could not escape the damnation of hell. But none but the Great Searcher of Hearts can be qualified or authorized to do so. And it should seem that Moses incurred the displeasure of the Lord, for calling the Load’s people Rebels, (which is a similar word to that of fool in this place,) at the waters of Meribah. Num 20:10 . beg ‘to refer the Reader to my Poor-Man’s Concordance, under the words Rebel and Rebels.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them , the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Ver. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments ] So the Pharisees called and counted these weightier things of the law in comparison to their tithings, Mat 23:23 , and traditions, Mat 15:3 . They deemed it as great a sin to eat with unwashed hands as to commit fornication. Dicunt Iesuitae quaedam peccata adeo esse in se et per se levia, ut factores, nec sordidos, nec malos, nec impios, nec Deo exosos reddant. (Chemnitius.) But albeit some commandments are greater than some, as those of the first table (in meet comparison) than those of the second; yet that pharisaical diminution of commandments, that idle distinction of sins into gnats and camels, venial and mortal, motes and mountains, is by no means to be admitted. The least sin is contrary to charity, as the least drop of water is to fire. The least missing of the mark is an error as well as the greatest; and both alike for kind though not for degrees. , a missing of the mark, or swerving from the rule. Hence lesser sins are reproached by the name of the greater; malice is called murder; lustful looks, adultery; sitting at idolatrous feasts (though without all intent of worship), idolatry, 1Co 10:14 . See Job 31:27-28 . Disobedience in never so small a matter (as eating a forbidden apple, gathering a few sticks on the sabbath day, looking into or touching the ark) hath been severely punished. Though the matter seem small, yet thy malice and presumption is great, that wilt in so small a thing incur the Lord’s so high displeasure. What could be a less commandment than to abstain from blood? Yet is their obedience herein urged with many words, and that with this reason, as ever they will have God to do anything for them or theirs, Deu 12:22 . The whole law is (say the schoolmen) but one copulative. Any condition not observed forfeits the whole lease; and any commandment not obeyed subjects a man to the curse, Deu 27:26 ; Gal 3:10 . And so some one good action hath blessedness ascribed and assured to it, as peacemaking, Mat 5:9 ; so he that shall “keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all,” Jas 2:10 . When some of the Israelites had broken the fourth commandment, God challengeth them for all, Exo 16:28 . Where, then, will they appear that plead for this Zoar, for that Rimmon?-a merry lie, a petty oath, an idle errand on the Lord’s day, &c. Sick bodies love to be gratified with some little bit that favoureth the disease. But meddle not with the murdering morsels of sin; there will be bitterness in the end. Jonathan had no sooner tasted of the honey with the tip of his rod only, but his head was forfeited. There is a deceitfulness in sin, a lie in these vanities, Heb 3:13 ; Joh 2:23 ; “give them an inch, they’ll take an ell.” Let the serpent but get in his head, he will shortly wind in his whole body. He plays no small game, but meaneth us much hurt, how modest soever he seemeth to be. It is no less than the kingdom that he seeketh, by his maidenly insinuations, as Adonijah. As therefore we must submit to God, so we must resist the devil, without expostulation, 1Pe 5:7-9 ; throw water on the fire of temptation, though but to some smaller sin, and stamp on it too. “Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth,” saith St James. Jam 3:5 A little poison in a cup, a little leak in a ship, or breach in a wall, may ruin all. A little wound at the heart and a little sin in the soul may hide God’s face from us, as a cloud, Lam 3:44 . Therefore as the prophet, when a cloud as big as a man’s hand only appeared, knew that the whole heaven would be overly covered, and willed the king to betake himself to his chariot; so let us to our shelter, for a company comes, as she said, when she bore her son Gad. After Jonathan and his armourbearer came the whole host; and when Delilah had prevailed, came the lords of the Philistines. He that is fallen from the top of a ladder cannot stop at the second round. Every sin hardeneth the heart, and gradually disposeth it to greater offences; as lesser wedges make way for bigger. After Ahaz had made his wicked altar and offered on it, he brought it into the temple; first setting it on the brazen altar, afterwards bringing it into the house, and then, lastly, setting it on the north side of God’s altar, 2Ki 16:12-14 . Withstand sin therefore at first, and live by Solomon’s rule, “Give not water passage, no, not a little.” Silence sin as our Saviour did the devil, and suffer it not to solicit thee. If it be importunate, answer it not a word, as Hezekiah would not Rabshakeh; or give it a short and sharp answer, yea, the blue eye that St Paul did ( ), 1Co 9:27 . Lividum reddo corpus meum. (Aug.) This shall be “no grief unto thee hereafter, nor offence of heart,” as she told David; the contrary may, 1Sa 25:31 . It repented St Austin of his very excuses made to his parents, being a child, and to his schoolmaster, being a boy. He retracts his ironies, because they had the appearance of a lie, because they looked ill-favouredly. (Confess. i. 19; Retract. i. 1.) Bishop Ridley repents of his playing at chess, as wasting too much time. Bradford bewaileth his dulness and unthankfulness. (Acts and Mon.) David’s heart smote him for cutting the lap of Saul’s coat only; and that for none other intent than to clear his own innocence; that in which Saul commended him for his moderation. There are some that would shrink up sin into a narrow scantling, and bring it to this, if they could, that none do evil but they that are in jails. But David approves his sincerity by his respect to all God’s comandments, and hath this commendation, that he did all the wills of God ( ), Psa 18:21-22 Act 13:36 . Solomon also bids “count nothing little that God commandeth, but keep God’s precepts as the sight of the eye,” Pro 7:2 . Those venturous spirits, that dare live in any known sin, aspire not to immortality, Phi 2:12 ; they shall be least, that is, nothing at all, in the kingdom of heaven.

And teacheth men so ] As the Pharisees did, and all the old and modern heresiarchs. In the year 1559 it was maintained by one David George (that arch-heretic) that good works were pernicious and destructory to the soul. Prodiit paradoxon, quod bona opera sint perniciosa ad salutem. (Bucholc. Ind. Chron.) The Anabaptists and Socinians have broached many doctrines of devils, not fit to be once named among Christians. The Pneumatomachi of old set forth a base book of the Trinity, under St Cyprian’s name, and sold it at a very cheap rate, that the poorest might be able to reach it and read it, as Ruffinus complaineth. In those primitive times, those capital heresies (concerning the Trinity and Christ’s incarnation) were so generally held, that it was a witty thing then to be a right believer, as Erasmus phraseth it, Ingeniosa res fuit, esse Christianum. All the world, in a manner, was turned Arian, as St Jerome hath it, Ingemuit orbis, et miratus est se factum esse. (Arianum.) Orosius telleth us that the Goths, being desirous to be instructed in the Christian religion, requested of Valens the emperor to send them some to preach the faith unto them. He being himself an Arian, sent them Arian doctors, who set up that heresy among them. By the just judgment of God, therefore, the same Valens being overthrown in the battle by the Goths, was also burnt by them in a poor cottage, whither he had fled for shelter. Iusto itaque Dei iudicio Valens a Gothis crematus est, quorum ille animis pestiferum errorum virus in fuderat. (Tertullian.) Heretics have an art of Pythanology, whereby they cunningly insinuate into men’s affections, and many times persuade before they teach, as it is said of the Valentinians. It was therefore well and wisely done of Placilla the empress, when her husband Theodosius, senior, desired to confer with Eunomius, she earnestly dissuaded him; lest being perverted by his speeches, he might fall into his heresy. (Sozom. vii. 6, 7.)

Shall be least in the kingdom of heaven ] That is, nothing at all there; as Mat 20:16 . Either of these two sins here mentioned exclude out of heaven; how much more both? If single sinners that break God’s commandments, and no more, shall be damned, those that teach men so shall be doubly damned: if God will be avenged on the former seven-fold, surely he will on the latter seventy-fold seven-fold. When the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies shall be gathered together (toward the end of the world) to make war against Christ, the multitude shall be slain with the sword, the poor seduced people that were carried along, many of them (as those two hundred that followed Absalom out of Jerusalem) in the simplicity of their hearts, and understood not the matter, shall have an easier judgment, 2Sa 15:11 . But the beast was taken, and the false prophet, and were both cast alive (not slain with the sword, and so cast to the infernal vultures to be devoured by them as a prey; but cast alive), that they may feel those most exquisite pains, into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, Rev 19:20-21 , wherewith they are encompassed, as fish cast into a pond are with water. a

But whosoever shall do, and teach them ] First do, and thereby prove what that good, holy, and acceptable will of God is, Rom 12:2 ; and then teach others what himself hath felt and found good by experience. Come, and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul. “Come, children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee,” Psa 66:16 ; Psa 34:11 ; Psa 51:13 . Charity is no churl, Psa 32:8 ; but cries, I would to God that all that hear me this day were as I am. Andrew calleth Simon; and Philip, Nathanael; the Samaritaness, her neighbours; and those good souls, one another, Hos 6:1 . The love of Christ constrained the apostles, 2Co 5:11 ; they could not but speak the things they had heard and felt; as little as the holy Virgin could conceal the joy she had conceived upon the conception of God her Saviour. They could not but be as busy in building staircases for heaven as these Pharisees were in digging descents to hell. Blind guides they were of the blind, and both fell into the ditch, but the guides fell undermost. By corrupt teachers Satan catcheth men, as a cunning fisher by one fish catcheth another, that he may feed upon both. Here they corrupted the law by their false glosses, as our Saviour sets forth. But where they kept Moses’ chair warm, sat close and said sooth; all that they bid you observe, that observe and do, saith he, Mat 23:2-3 ; for a bad man may cry a good commodity, and a stinking breath sound a trumpet with great commendation. Balaam, Satan’s boggey man, may be (for the time) Christ’s spokesman, and preach profitably to others, though himself be a castaway, 1Co 9:27 ; as water, when it hath cleansed other things, is cast into the sink. Hear such therefore, saith our Saviour, but do not after their works, for they say and do not; they speak by the talent, but work by the ounce; their tongues are larger than their hands; their lives give the lie to their lips; b they shun the way themselves (with that priest and Levite) which they showed to others, when mercy should be showed to the wounded man. Out of their own mouths therefore will God condemn them; and it is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God. As for those burning and shining lights, that have Urim and Thummim, bells and pomegranates, trumpets of sound doctrine in one hand and lamps of good life in the other, as Gideon’s soldiers; they shall be great in the kingdom of heaven. He that holdeth them in his right hand here, Rev 1:20 , shall set them at his right hand hereafter, and give them to hear, as Ezekiel did, the noise “of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord,” Eze 3:12 .

a Dirissimum exitii genus quo hiatu prae reliquis devovebuntur. Parcus.

b Odi homines ignava opera, philosophia, sententia. Ennius. , . Arist.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

19. ] There is little difficulty in this verse, if we consider it in connexion with the verse preceding, to which it is bound by the and the , and with the following, to which the unites it. Bearing this in mind, we see (1) that , on account of what follows in Mat 5:20 and after, must be taken in the higher sense, as referring to the spirit and not the letter: whosoever shall break (have broken), in the sense presently to be laid down. (2) That . . . refers to above, and means one of those minute commands which seem as insignificant, in comparison with the greater, as the and in comparison with great portions of writing. (3) That . does not mean ‘ shall be excluded from ,’ inasmuch as the question is not of keeping or not keeping the commandments of God in a legal sense, but of appreciating, and causing others to appreciate , the import and weight of even the most insignificant parts of God’s revelation of Himself to man; and rather therefore applies to teachers than to Christians in general, though to them also through the and . (4) That no deduction can be drawn from these words binding the Jewish law, or any part of it, as such, upon Christians . That this is so, is plainly shewn by what follows, where our Lord proceeds to pour upon the letter of the law the fuller light of the spirit of the Gospel: thus lifting and expanding (not destroying) every jot and tittle of that precursory dispensation into its full meaning in the life and practice of the Christian; who, by the indwelling of the divine Teacher, God’s Holy Spirit, is led into all truth and purity. (5) That these words of our Lord are decisive against such persons , whether ancient or modern, as would set aside the Old Testament as without significance, or inconsistent with the New . See the preceding note, and the Book of Common Prayer, Article vii.

is in direct allusion to ; but it can hardly be said (De Wette, Tholuck) that, because there is no article, it means ‘ one of the least ’ ( ein geringster ), for the article is often omitted after an appellative verb. rests on different grounds; being positive, and in its nature generic. See ch. Mat 11:11 ; Mat 18:1-4 .

On , see note on Mat 5:9 . Observe the conditional aorists, , , , combined with the indic. fut. , and thus necessitating the keeping the times distinct. The time indicated by is one when the , , , shall be things of the past belonging to a course of responsibility over and done with.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 5:19 . , etc.: pointing to a natural inference from what goes before. Christ’s view being such as indicated, He must so judge of the setter aside of any laws however small. When a religious system has lasted long, and is wearing towards its decline and fall, there are always such men. The Baptist was in some respects such a man. He seems to have totally neglected the temple worship and sacred festivals. He shared the prophetic disgust at formalism. Note now what Christ’s judgment about such really is. A scribe or Pharisee would regard a breaker of even the least commandments as a miscreant. Jesus simply calls him the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. He takes for granted that he is an earnest man, with a passion for righteousness, which is the key to his iconoclastic conduct. He recognises him therefore as possessing real moral worth, but, in virtue of his impatient radical-reformer temper, not great, only little in the scale of true moral values, in spite of his earnestness in action and sincerity in teaching. John the Baptist was possibly in His mind, or some others not known to us from the Gospels. , etc. We know now who is least: who is great? The man who does and teaches to do all the commands great and small; great not named but understood . Jesus has in view O. T. saints, the piety reflected in the Psalter, where the great ethical laws and the precepts respecting ritual are both alike respected, and men in His own time living in their spirit. In such was a sweetness and graciousness, akin to the Kingdom as He conceived it, lacking in the character of the hot-headed law-breaker. The geniality of Jesus made Him value these sweet saintly souls.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Whosoever = every one that (with Greek. an. Supposing the case). See note on “Till”, Mat 5:18. Note the Figure of speech Anaphora (App-6).

these least = these shortest. Referring not to what men might thus distinguish, but to the difference made by the Lord between the whole Law and its minutiae.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

19.] There is little difficulty in this verse, if we consider it in connexion with the verse preceding, to which it is bound by the and the , and with the following, to which the unites it. Bearing this in mind, we see (1) that , on account of what follows in Mat 5:20 and after, must be taken in the higher sense, as referring to the spirit and not the letter: whosoever shall break (have broken), in the sense presently to be laid down. (2) That . . . refers to above, and means one of those minute commands which seem as insignificant, in comparison with the greater, as the and in comparison with great portions of writing. (3) That . does not mean shall be excluded from, inasmuch as the question is not of keeping or not keeping the commandments of God in a legal sense, but of appreciating, and causing others to appreciate, the import and weight of even the most insignificant parts of Gods revelation of Himself to man; and rather therefore applies to teachers than to Christians in general, though to them also through the and . (4) That no deduction can be drawn from these words binding the Jewish law, or any part of it, as such, upon Christians. That this is so, is plainly shewn by what follows, where our Lord proceeds to pour upon the letter of the law the fuller light of the spirit of the Gospel: thus lifting and expanding (not destroying) every jot and tittle of that precursory dispensation into its full meaning in the life and practice of the Christian; who, by the indwelling of the divine Teacher, Gods Holy Spirit, is led into all truth and purity. (5) That these words of our Lord are decisive against such persons, whether ancient or modern, as would set aside the Old Testament as without significance, or inconsistent with the New. See the preceding note, and the Book of Common Prayer, Article vii.

is in direct allusion to ; but it can hardly be said (De Wette, Tholuck) that, because there is no article, it means one of the least (ein geringster), for the article is often omitted after an appellative verb. rests on different grounds; being positive, and in its nature generic. See ch. Mat 11:11; Mat 18:1-4.

On , see note on Mat 5:9. Observe the conditional aorists, , , , combined with the indic. fut. ,-and thus necessitating the keeping the times distinct. The time indicated by is one when the , , , shall be things of the past-belonging to a course of responsibility over and done with.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 5:19. , shall break) The antithetical word to this is , shall do, which occurs further on in this verse. The Scribes, who thought themselves great, were in the habit of breaking them. The same verb, , occurs in Joh 7:23; Joh 10:35.-, of these) those, namely, which follow in Mat 5:22; Mat 5:28, etc.- , of the least) These precepts, Thou shalt not kill, etc., are not essentially the least, for in them the whole law is contained. But they are so only inasmuch as, when rightly explained, they regulate even the most subtile affections and emotions of the soul, and the slightest movements of the tongue, and thus, when compared with other precepts, appear to men to be the least.-, least) Referring to the preceding . An instance of Ploce.[191] As we treat the Word of God, so does God treat us; see Joh 17:6; Joh 17:11; Rev 3:10. A little signifies almost nothing, whence the least comes to mean none at all (for they considered anger, for instance, as of no consequence whatever); cf. in Mat 5:20, ye shall not enter. ; has a different force in this passage from that which (the least) in the kingdom of heaven has in ch. Mat 11:11.- , in the kingdom of heaven) which cannot endure the presence of the unrighteous.- , shall do and teach) The same order of words occurs in Act 1:1.-, shall do them, sc. all; for it is not lawful to break or neglect even one of them.-, this man, he) A pronoun used emphatically. Comp. with this use of , ch. Mat 7:21 (Latin Version[192]); Luk 9:24; Joh 7:18.-, great) All the commandments are of great account to him, especially in their full compass[193] (see Mat 5:18); therefore he shall be called great.

[191] See Appendix. The same word employed twice: in the first instance, expressing the simple idea of the word itself; and in the second, an attribute of it.-ED.

[192] See Gnomon on Mat 7:21, and notes.-(I. B.) The Vulgate, referred to, thus renders the , etc., which abc Hil. and Cypr. read, but which BZ omit, Qui facit voluntatem patris, etc., ipse intrabit, etc.-ED.

[193] Prsertim in complexu suo,-i.e. when considered with reference to all that they involve, as explained by our Lord in this discourse, v. 21, etc.-(I. B.)

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

shall break: Deu 27:26, Psa 119:6, Psa 119:128, Gal 3:10-13, Jam 2:10, Jam 2:11

these: Mat 23:23, Deu 12:32, Luk 11:42

shall teach: Mat 15:3-6, Mat 23:16-22, Mal 2:8, Mal 2:9, Rom 3:8, Rom 6:1, Rom 6:15, 1Ti 6:3, 1Ti 6:4, Rev 2:14, Rev 2:15, Rev 2:20

the least: Mat 11:11, 1Sa 2:30

do: Mat 28:20, Act 1:1, Rom 13:8-10, Gal 5:14-24, Phi 3:17, Phi 3:18, Phi 4:8, Phi 4:9, 1Th 2:10-12, 1Th 4:1-7, 1Ti 4:11, 1Ti 4:12, 1Ti 6:11, Tit 2:8-10, Tit 3:8

great: Mat 19:28, Mat 20:26, Dan 12:3, Luk 1:15, Luk 9:48, Luk 22:24-26, 1Pe 5:4

Reciprocal: Gen 26:5 – General Exo 24:12 – that thou Lev 20:8 – And ye 1Ki 16:2 – hast made my people Ezr 7:10 – to do it Psa 119:34 – I shall Mat 3:2 – for Mat 18:1 – in Mat 19:21 – If Mat 22:36 – General Mar 12:28 – Which Rom 8:7 – for it 1Co 7:19 – but Tit 2:12 – live

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

5:19

The commandments of the law will not be in force in the kingdom of heaven. The thought is that a man who would break the least of these commandments while they are in force shows the wrong attitude toward divine law. Such a person would not rank very high in the kingdom of heaven after it has been set up.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mat 5:19. An application of the truth just announced.

Whosoever, therefore, because of this permanent character of the law.

Shall break, or at any time may break, one of these least commandments, the smallest part of this law, or, in the wider sense, of this revelation which God has made, and shall teach men so, by example or precept, shall be called, recognized as, least in the kingdom of heaven, in the new dispensation He was proclaiming. Such are not excluded, because not opposing the law as a whole, but only some of its minutiae. Least may allude to the Jewish distinction between great and small commandments, a distinction revived by the Romanists, but which cannot exist in Gods law. The positive declaration which follows corresponds. The subsequent part of the chapter, especially the next verse, shows that our Lord does not command a strict observance of the letter of the ceremonial law. He there condemns those most scrupulous on these points. The fulfilment and the keeping of the law here required are explained by the fuller light shed upon it by the Saviours exposition.

He shall be called great. He is emphatic here.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

To evidence yet farther, that the moral law is a perfect rule of life, our Saviour tells his disciples, that if any of them did either by their doctrine or practice, make void any one of the least of God’s commands, either by allowing themselves in the omission of any kmown duty, or in the commission of any known din, they shall never enter into the kingdom of God.

Learn, That such a professor of Christianity as allows himself in the least voluntary transgression, either of omission or commission, and encourages other by his example to do the like, is certainly in a state of damnation.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 5:19. Whosoever therefore shall break Shall himself transgress in his practice, or pervert and weaken by his doctrine, one of these least commandments, and teach men so Shall direct or encourage men to do the same, or shall teach them, either by word or example, that the obligation of these commands is dissolved; he shall be called Or, shall be accounted one of the least, and unworthiest members in the kingdom of heaven Or, Church of the Messiah, and shall soon be entirely cut off from it, as unfit for so holy a society, and shall have no part in the church triumphant. There is in the text a figure, which the rhetoricians call , diminution, often elegantly used to convey a strong idea. Thus, Gal 5:21, They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, that is, shall be severely punished. Macknight. But whosoever shall do and teach them, &c. Whosoever shall himself carefully practise these precepts of the law, and other parts of the divine word, and shall inculcate their universal obligation, shall be greatly rewarded.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

5:19 {4} Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the {h} least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

(4) He begins with the true expounding of the Law, and sets it against the old (but yet false) teachings of the scribes: He is in no way abolishing the least commandment of his Father.

(h) He shall have no place in the Church.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The Jewish rabbis had graded the Old Testament commands according to which they believed were more authoritative and which less, the heavy and the light. [Note: M’Neile, p. 59.] Jesus corrected this view. He taught that all were equally authoritative. He warned His hearers against following their leaders’ practice. Greatness in His kingdom depended on maintaining a high view of Scripture. This verse distinguishes different ranks within the messianic kingdom. Some individuals will have a higher standing than others. Everyone will not be equal. Notice that there will be people in the kingdom whose view of Scripture will not be the same before they enter the kingdom. All will be righteous, but their obedience to and attitude toward Scripture will vary.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)