Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 9:4
And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
Jesus, knowing their thoughts – Mark says, Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned. The power of searching the heart, and of knowing the thoughts of people, belongs only to God, 1Ch 28:9; Rom 8:27; Rev 2:23; Jer 17:10. In claiming this, as Jesus did here, and often elsewhere, he gave clear proofs of his omniscience, Joh 2:24-25.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Jesus knowing ( seeing) their thoughts] In telling them what the thoughts of their hearts were, (for they had expressed nothing publicly,) he gave them the fullest proof of his power to forgive sins; because God only can forgive sins, and God only can search and know the heart. Jesus pronounced the man’s sins forgiven; and gave the scribes the fullest proof of his power to do so, by telling them what, in the secret of their souls, they thought on the subject.
God sounds the secrets of all hearts-no sin escapes his notice; how senseless then is the sinner to think he sins securely when unseen by men! Let us take heed to our hearts, as well as to our conduct, for God searches out and condemns all that does not spring from, and leads not to himself.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mark repeats almost the same words, Mar 2:8-10. So doth Luke, Luk 5:22-24. Christ here giveth the scribes and Pharisees a demonstration of his Deity, by letting them know that he knew their thoughts, Jesus knowing their thoughts said; a thing not compatible to angels, much less to one who is mere man; yet these blind scribes and Pharisees take no notice of it.
Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts; evil concerning me? I did this, saith he, on purpose to let you know, that I, who am indeed the Son of man, and whom you mistake in thinking to be no more than the Son of man, hath power, while he is upon the earth, and so conversing amongst you, to forgive sins, and you may make suitable applications to him for that end.
It had been as easy for me every whit to have said to this sick man, Arise and walk; and that I will demonstrate to you. Then saith he to the sick of the palsy,
Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. The same power is required to the one as to the other; God, by your confession, can forgive sins, and God alone can raise men from the grave. The end of my miraculous operations is to convince you that I am he who hath a power to forgive men their sins. I therefore chose first to pronounce this mans sins forgiven, that I might have the advantage to confirm to you by a subsequent miracle this great truth, that I am the Son of God, though you think me no more than the Son of man, and that I have a power to forgive sins upon mens exercise of their faith and coming unto me. Now therefore believe, not because of my word only, but because of the sign I show you confirmative of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Jesus knowing their thoughts,…. Which was a clear evidence, and full demonstration of his deity; for none knows the thoughts of the heart but God; and since he knew the thoughts of men’s hearts, it could be no blasphemy in him to take that to himself which belonged to God, even to forgive sins. And this, one would think, would have been sufficient to have approved himself to them as the true Messiah; since this is one of the ways of knowing the Messiah, according to the Jews, and which they made use of to discover a false one.
“Bar Coziba, (they say g,) reigned two years and a half: he said to the Rabbins, I am the Messiah; they replied to him, it is written of the Messiah, that he is “of quick understanding, and judges”, (referring to Isa 11:3) let us see whether this man is of quick understanding, and can make judgment, i.e. whether a man is wicked, or not, without any external proof; and when they saw he was not of quick understanding, and could not judge in this manner, they slew him.”
But now Christ needed not any testimony of men; he knew what was in the hearts of men, of which this instance is a glaring proof: hence he said,
wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? it was no evil in them to think that God only could forgive sin; but the evil was, that they thought Christ was a mere man, and ought not to have took so much upon him; and that, for so doing, he was a wicked man, and a blasphemer.
g T. Bab. Sanhedrim, fol. 93. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said,” (kai eidos ho lesous tas enthumeseis auton eipen) “And Jesus perceiving their thoughts, said;” And the theme of their complaints He knew, and made known to them, Mr 2:8; as He shall to every man at the hour of judgment, Ecc 12:14; Mat 12:36-37.
2) “Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?” (hinati enthumeisthe ponera en tais kardiaia humon) “Why do you all think wicked things in your hearts,” to accuse me of blasphemy? Man’s worst sins of the heart are envy, jealousy, hatred, covetousness, wicked imaginations, etc., Jer 17:9-10; Heb 4:13. Jesus saw the doubt and skepticism, the unbelief in the hearts of these scribes, as surely as He saw the faith in the hearts of the palsied man, and the four men of faith and compassion who brought him, Psa 94:11; Psa 139:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. And when Jesus saw their thoughts He now gives a proof of his Divinity in bringing to light their secret thoughts: for who knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of man which is in him? (1Co 2:11.) And so Mark adds, that Jesus knew by his Spirit: which means, that what was concealed in their hearts could not be perceived by man, but that Christ by his Divine Spirit knew it thoroughly. Why do you think evil? This does not imply that it gave them pain to see a mortal man assuming what God claims as his own prerogative, but that they proudly and wickedly rejected God, who was openly manifested to them.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Knowing their thoughts.The better MSS. give seeing, as with an immediate act of intuition. St. Mark adds his usual immediately, and both he and St. Luke use the word which implies fulness of knowledge.
Wherefore think ye evil?Literally, evil things. The thoughts were evil because, in face of the mighty works and the divine wisdom of the Teacher, they were assuming that He had wantonly spoken words that involved the most extreme of all forms of sin against the God in whose name He taught.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Knowing their thoughts To know the hearts of men was, with the Jews, a test of the true Messiah’s claims. When Bar Cocav declared himself Messiah, the rabbins quoted Isa 11:3, and examined him to see if he could reveal the secrets of their hearts. He failed, and they slew him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” ’
But Jesus knew what they were saying. Indeed He may well have deliberately provoked it in order to get over to the people that in Him forgiveness had come for all who would turn to God with a view to repenting, turning from sin to God, serving Him and obeying His commandments. For He wanted them to know that in Him their past could be blotted out (Mat 18:23-35), and a way was provided for future forgiveness (Mat 6:12). Indeed Isaiah had made clear that this was God’s promise in the time of His Visitation (Isa 1:18; Isa 43:25; Isa 44:22). It was to be included in the task of the Servant of the Lord (Isa 53:3-6; Isa 53:10). And indeed it was something that had always been God’s offer to men when they turned to Him (Exo 34:6-7; Num 14:18; Psa 103:4).
And because of this it was His prerogative as the One Who had come in His Father’s Name, as The Son of Man Whom God had established at His right hand to dispense justice and mercy (Dan 7:14; Psa 80:17), and had sent to earth (Joh 3:13) to bring the forgiveness of sins to all who would repent, something that should have been obvious to all from the miracles that He performed. Thus He saw their words as arising out of the evil that was in their hearts. In their prejudice they were refusing to recognise the evidence of the Holy Spirit at work within Him (Mat 12:28; Mat 12:31). The casting out of demons was above all the evidence of the Spirit at work, and of the presence in Him of the Kingly Rule of God, which may well be why Matthew puts this incident after the healing of the demoniacs, and they therefore had no reason to doubt His authority as being from God. Indeed what greater proof was needed than that, that God was at work in Jesus? And if He was truly from God, then who could argue that He could not declare God’s forgiveness of men’s sins.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 9:4 . The power to discern the thoughts and intentions of others (comp. on Mat 9:3 ) was a characteristic mark of the expected Messiah (Wetstein), was present in Jesus in virtue of His nature as the God-man, and analogous to His miraculous power.
] why? that is to say, ; Hermann, ad Vig . p. 849; Klotz, ad Devar . p. 631 f.
] inasmuch, that is, as you regard me as a blasphemer, and that with a malicious intention; whereas the sick man, and those who carried him, were full of faith. In contrast to them is the emphatic ( you people! ), which, being ignored by important authorities, is deleted by Tischendorf 8.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
Ver. 4. Wherefore think ye evil, &c. ] Christ confutes their calumny, and proves himself to be God, and to have power to pardon sin, by discerning and condemning their evil thoughts. “I the Lord search the heart,” Jer 17:10 . Satan may give a shrewd guess; and so may men too; as Bartollus writes of Doctor Gabriel Nele, that by the only motion of the lips, without any utterance, he understood all men, perceived and read in every man’s countenance what he meant, &c. But none can certainly know the thoughts of man, but God alone. It is his royalty to “know what is in man,”Joh 2:25Joh 2:25 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4. ] By the spiritual power indwelling in Him. See Joh 2:24-25 . No other interpretation of such passages is admissible. St. Mark’s expression, , is more precise and conclusive. So we have , Joh 11:33 , synonymous with , ibid. Mat 9:33 .
supply : see Klotz on Devarius, pp. 631 2: so Plut. Apol. p. 26 C, ; From is common (nearly verbatim) to the three Evangelists.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 9:4 . : Jesus intuitively read their thoughts as He read the mental state of the sick man. : elliptical for understood = in order that what may happen, do you, etc. ( vide Bumlein, Schul. Gram. , 696, and Goodwin’s Syn. , 331).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
knowing = perceiving. Greek. oida. App-132. Same word as “seeing” in Mat 9:2. Not the same as “know”, Mat 9:6, or as in Mat 9:30.
evil = mischief. Greek. poneros.
in, &c. = among [you] in your hearts.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4. ] By the spiritual power indwelling in Him. See Joh 2:24-25. No other interpretation of such passages is admissible. St. Marks expression, , is more precise and conclusive. So we have , Joh 11:33, synonymous with , ibid. Mat 9:33.
-supply : see Klotz on Devarius, pp. 631-2: so Plut. Apol. p. 26 C, ; From is common (nearly verbatim) to the three Evangelists.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 9:4. , knowing) Besides many Greek codices, which Mill first began to notice on this passage, the Gothic version and the margin of Courcelles reads thus.-[394] appears to have been introduced by some persons from Mat 9:2. St Mark and St Luke have in the parallel passages. Thus too we find in ch. Mat 12:25.-, you) The pronoun is expressed for the sake of emphasis.[395]
[394] Lachmann reads with B, Goth. Vers, and probably a. Dbc and Rec. Text read . Vulg. Cum vidisset.-ED.
[395] Often one, whilst he is arraigning others for their sins, is sinning himself. And indeed the most heinous sins can be committed even in the heart alone.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
knowing: Mat 12:25, Mat 16:7, Mat 16:8, Psa 44:21, Psa 139:2, Mar 2:8, Mar 8:16, Mar 8:17, Mar 12:15, Luk 5:22, Luk 6:8, Luk 7:40, Luk 9:46, Luk 9:47, Luk 11:17, Joh 2:24, Joh 2:25, Joh 6:61, Joh 6:64, Joh 16:19, Joh 16:30, Joh 21:17, Heb 4:12, Heb 4:13, Rev 2:23
Wherefore: Eze 38:10, Act 5:3, Act 5:4, Act 5:9, Act 8:20-22
Reciprocal: Exo 16:8 – the Lord heareth Pro 23:7 – as Pro 24:9 – thought Isa 66:18 – their thoughts Dan 11:24 – forecast his devices Amo 4:13 – and declareth Mat 15:19 – evil Mar 7:21 – evil 1Co 13:5 – thinketh
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9:4
The scribes were afraid to make their accusation so that others could hear it, but Jesus knew their thoughts and exposed them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 9:4. Knowing, by divine insight, rather than from the expression of their countenances.
Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts. A rebuke of the substance and the secrecy of their opposition. Bold language; it assumes, that opposition to Christs power to forgive sins is in itself wicked. Our Lord thus claims much for His Person. According to the usual chronology, this was the first indication of hostility on the part of the Pharisees, although in Joh 4:1, there is a hint that this existed. If John 5 precedes the Galilean ministry, they had already sought to kill Him (Joh 5:16). The usual view, however, places that feast immediately after the call of Matthew. The Pharisees may have objected to a declaration of absolution without the sacrifice required by the law. Pharisaism has often opposed such direct absolution, calling for priestly intervention.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our Saviour here gives the Pharisees a twofold demonstration of his godhead: first, By letting them understand that he knew their thoughts; for to search the hearts, and to know the thoughts, of the children of men, is not in the power either of angels or men, but the prerogative of God only.
Secondly, By assuming to himself a power to forgive sins; the Son of man hath power to forgive sins. Our Saviour here, by forgiving sins in his own name, and his own authority, doth give the world an undeniable proof and convincing evidence of his godhead: for, Who can forgive sins, but God only?
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Jesus probably knew what they were thinking simply because He knew them, though some interpret this statement as expressing divine insight. Jesus did not need supernatural power to perceive the typical attitude of the scribes. What they were thinking was evil because it involved a denial of His messiahship, the very thing His words were claiming.