Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 9:29
Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
Then touched he their eyes – Simply to indicate that the power proceeded from him. Compare Mat 8:3.
According to your faith … – That is, you have believed that you could be healed, be healed accordingly. Your faith covered the whole extent of the work respecting my power and the absolute restoration to sight, and that power is exerted accordingly, and your sight is restored. So with the sinner. If he has faith in the Son of God; if he believes that he is able and willing to save him: and if he earnestly desires to be saved, the power of Jesus will be put forth to the full extent of his faith.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 9:29
Then touched He their eyes.
The opened eye
The power, glory, rewards of faith form the theme of this chapter.
I. The faith described in the text was the first outgrowth and expression of a deep and lively sense of wretchedness and darkness. Faith often springs out of such convictions; it Also amounts to a conviction that light is possible.
II. The faith in this instance was intelligent. They had settled it in their minds that Jesus was the Son of David, that He had come to open the eyes of the blind. Their faith conceived the grandeur of His mission. Faith is not merely an emotion; it is a conviction of the understanding.
III. This faith of the blind men was eager and importunate. They followed Jesus. It was not crushed by having to wait for mercy.
IV. The faith of these individuals was A personal experience.
V. The faith here referred to appreciated Christs power to save.
VI. The faith here mentioned appropriates and applies the Divine Power to its own case. (H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)
The blind men restored to sight
1. A simple prayer. Their prayer was
(1) united. Union is strength.
(2) Earnest.
(3) Persevering.
II. An important inquiry. Believe, ye, etc.
1. What it involves. The dignity of Christ.
2. On account of the principle it sets forth. He required no personal worthiness in those He cured; faith only.
3. Because of its spiritual application. Faith stands in same relation to healing of the soul.
III. A gracious act.
1. When He did so-as soon as they professed faith.
2. The words with which the act was accompanied.
3. The result that ensued.
IV. An express injunction. See that no man know it. The reasons:-
1. The malice of His enemies.
2. The misguided zeal of the multitude.
3. The manner in which it was regarded. (Expository Outlines.)
The measure of the faith, the measure of the gift
1. The broad law of the gospel is that God gives all He gives to faith.
2. That the measure of faith is the measure of His gift.
3. The chief ways to multiply faith are
(1) to live much on the promise;
(2) to love and cherish in the heart the inward voices of the Holy Spirit;
(3) to act out whatever grace God has already given. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The ways of Eastern poor folk
Most of the poor make their wants known to the public by begging. Paralytics are laid down at the doors of the rich, or of the church or mosque, with the idea that men are most inclined to be charitable when they come from the house of feasting or of prayer. The blind lift up their voices as they grope their way from door to door along the streets. (Van Lennep.)
Our Lords question to the blind men
I. The seekers.
the two blind men.
1. They were in downright earnest.
2. They were thoroughly persevering.
3. They had a definite object in their prayers.
4. They honoured Christ in their prayers.
5. They confessed their unworthiness.
II. The question which was put to them.
1. It concerned their faith.
2. It concerned their faith in Jesus-Believe ye that I am able to do this?
3. Believe ye that I am able to do this? Some think their hearts too hard.
III. That question was a very reasonable one. Else why do you pray?
IV. The answer.
1. It was distinct.
2. It was immediate.
V. Our Lords response to their answer. (C. H. Spurgeon)
Faith receptive of blessing
Why is faith so essential It is because of its receptive power. A purse will not make a man rich, and yet without some place for his money how could a man acquire wealth. Faith of itself could not contribute a penny to salvation, but it is the purse which hold: a precious Christ within itself, yea, it holds all the treasures of Divine love. If a man is thirsty a rope and a bucket are not in themselves of much use to him, but yet, sirs, if there is a well near at hand the very thing that is wanted is a bucket and a rope, by means of which the water can be lifted. Faith is the bucket by means of which a man may draw water out of the wells of salvation, and drink to his hearts content. You may sometimes have stopped a moment at a street fountain, and have desired to drink, but you found you could not, for the drinking-cup was gone. The water flowed, but you could not get at it. It was tantalizing to be at the fountain-head and yet to be thirsty still for want of a little cup. Now faith is that little cup, which we hold up to the flowing stream of Christs grace: we fill it, and then we drink and are refreshed. Hence the importance of faith. It would have seemed to our forefathers an idle thing to lay down a cable under the sea from England to America and it would be idle now if it were not that science has taught us how to speak by lightning: yet the cable itself is now of the utmost importance, for the best inventions of telegraphy would be of no use for purposes of transatlantic communication if there were not the connecting wire between the two continents, Faith is just that; it is the connecting link between our souls and God, and the living message flashes along it to our souls. Faith is sometimes weak and comparable only to a very slender thread; but it is a very precious thing for all that, for it is the beginning of great things. Years ago they were wanting to throw a suspension bridge across a mighty chasm, through which flowed, far down, a navigable river, From crag to crag it was proposed to hang an iron bridge aloft in the air, but how was it to be commenced? They shot an arrow from one side to the other, and it carried across the gulf a tiny thread. That invisible thread was enough to begin with. The connection was established; by-and-by the thread drew a piece of twine, the twine carried after it a small rope, the rope soon carried a cable across, and all in good time came the iron chains and all else that was needed for the permanent way. Now, faith is often ver) weak, but even in that ease it is still of the utmost value, for it forms a communication between the soul and the Lord Jesus Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Blind people swarm in Oriental cities
In our own streets we meet here and there with a blind beggar, gut they swarm in Eastern cities. Ophthalmia is the scourge of Egypt and Syria, and Volney declares that in Cairo, out of a hundred persons whom he met, twenty were quite blind, ten wanted one eye, and twenty others were more or less afflicted in that organ. At the present day every one is struck with the immense number of the blind in Oriental lands, and things were probably worse in our Saviours time. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 29. According to your faith] See Clarke on Mt 8:13.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
29. Then touched he their eyes,saying, According to your faith be it unto younot, Receive acure proportioned to your faith, but, Receive this cure asgranted to your faith. Thus would they carry about with them,in their restored vision, a gracious seal of the faith which drew itfrom their compassionate Lord.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then touched he their eyes,…. Not but that he could have restored sight to them, without touching their eyes, by a word speaking, or by the secret communication of his power; but he might do this as a sign of his favour and kindness to them, and of his will to cure them; as also in compliance with their weakness, who might expect some manual operation upon them;
saying, according to your faith be it unto you: not that faith in his person and power, was the cause or condition of this cure, or the rule and measure according to which Christ proceeded; but the sense is, that as they had believed he was able to heal them, accordingly a cure should be effected; which, upon his so saying, they immediately found performed in them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Touched their eyes ( ). The men had faith (9:28) and Jesus rewards their faith and yet he touched their eyes as he sometimes did with kindly sympathy.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Then touched he their eyes, saying,” (tote hepsato ton ophthalmon auton legon) “Immediately, or right then, he touched their eyes while saying,” repeating the words:
2) “According to your faith be it unto you.” (kata ten pistin humon genetheto humin) “According to your faith, or in harmony with your faith, let it be become to (both of) you;” He spoke not of the proportion or amount of their faith, but as a result of their placing it (great or small) in Him, as in Mat 9:22.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
29. According to your faith. Though the subject of the narrative is a remarkable benefit conferred on two blind men, yet from this declaration of Christ we may draw the general doctrine, that if we pray in faith, we will never sustain a refusal in our prayers. But if those two men, whose faith was small and imperfectly formed, obtained what they wished, much more efficacious will now be the faith of those who, endued with the Spirit of adoption, and relying on the sacrifice of Christ, shah approach to God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(29) Then touched he their eyes.This is the first recorded instance of the method which our Lord seems always to have adopted in the case of the blind, and, in part also, in that of the deaf. Others might have their faith strengthened by the look of sympathy and conscious power which they saw in the face of the Healer. From that influence they were shut out, and for them therefore its absence was supplied by acts which they would naturally connect with the purpose to heal them. (Comp. the later instances in Mat. 20:34; Joh. 9:6.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
29. Touched their eyes As if his finger were the conductor of the power. But the act served to show that the cure was no accidental coincidence. It visibly manifested that the work was his. According to your faith So that the measure of faith which you have shall be exactly justified, sustained, and rewarded. Thus faith is a readiness to receive of God. Though it has no merit to deserve a reward, yet it is the right state of soul to receive God’s truth and mercy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”
Jesus makes clear that He is responding to their faith. He uses His touch of power, touching their eyes and declaring that He is responding to their faith. The lesson is clear. All who come to the Messiah in faith can have their eyes opened.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
Ver. 29. According to your faith ] Questionless (saith a famous divine) justifying faith is not beneath miraculous, in the sphere of its own activity, and where it hath warrant of God’s word,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
29. ] In this miracle however we have this peculiar feature, that no direct word of power passes from our Lord, but a relative concession, making that which was done a measure of the faith of the blind men: and from the result the degree of their faith appears. Stier remarks (Reden Jesu, i. 383), “We may already notice, in the history of this first period of our Lord’s ministry, that from having at first yielded immediately to the request for healing, He begins, by degrees, to prove and exercise the faith of the applicants.”
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
According to. Greek. kata. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
29.] In this miracle however we have this peculiar feature, that no direct word of power passes from our Lord, but a relative concession, making that which was done a measure of the faith of the blind men: and from the result the degree of their faith appears. Stier remarks (Reden Jesu, i. 383), We may already notice, in the history of this first period of our Lords ministry, that from having at first yielded immediately to the request for healing, He begins, by degrees, to prove and exercise the faith of the applicants.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 9:29. , according to) He says this by way of affirmation, not of limitation.-, let it be done, or let it become) corresponding with the Hebrew .[430]
[430] Used in the celebrated passage, Gen 1:3, And GOD said, Let there be Light:-and there was Light.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
touched: Mat 20:34, Joh 9:6, Joh 9:7
According: Mat 8:6, Mat 8:7, Mat 8:13, Mat 15:28, Mar 10:52
Reciprocal: 2Sa 5:23 – fetch 2Ki 4:6 – when the vessels Psa 33:22 – General Mat 8:2 – if Mat 8:15 – touched Mat 9:22 – thy Mar 5:36 – only Mar 8:22 – to touch Luk 5:13 – I will Act 14:9 – he had 2Co 6:13 – be
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE FAITH AND THE GIFT
According to your faith be it unto you.
Mat 9:29
The measure of our faith will be always the measure of the gift. But, as many and as different as are the benefits which God bestows on us, so many are the states of faith in a mans soul.
I. An overcoming faith.If this principle be true, it sends us down to our own heart, to find that we have not obtained any particular blessing, because we have had, at the moment, so very small a measure of faith. I believe there is more in the verse than is generally understoodThis is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. It is that the whole world, the whole universe, everything in it, every sorrow and every care, every temptation and every difficulty, faith can match with it continually, can overcome it; but then the faith must be in proportion to the difficulty. No faithall a blank. Weak faithlittle peace, and little work. Strong faithgreat things; delightful things; heavenly things. God is keeping to His own formulaAccording to your faith be it unto you.
II. Faith is based upon promises.God has given us, upon many subjects, and in many ways, certain distinct promises. Almost our first duty in life is to know Gods promises, and to gather them out and collect them up in our minds. Every one of these promises is good for eternity. It is with them faith dealsfor its commission is to take the promise, and bring it to God, and get it honoured. Outside the boundary line of the promise, faith properly speaking, has no province.
The Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration
Whatever is poor or wrong about your soul, it is your faith which is at fault. Lay the blame in the right place. Attend to your faith. There are many of us who cannot find peace, though they seek it, and seek it honestly. The real clue to it all is, you are not taking God at His word. Another man feels, I think I am forgiven, but I have no joy. No; because you do not realise the fact that Christ, and the whole world, and life, and death, and heaven, and all things are yours. If you believed this, you would be happy. They are yours; nevertheless, according to your faith be it unto you. Another is entering upon some duty, and he enters tremblingly: he wishes to glorify God, but he feels it too much for him, and he is overwhelmed and afraid; and yet there stand by that man abounding promises. They are all written for you: and then, over them all, is this inscription, According to your faith be it unto you.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
9:29
According to your faith is said on the same principle as that said to the centurion in chapter 8:13, “as thou past believed.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 9:29. Then touched he their eyes. As an outward sign of His power.
According to your faith, etc. Faith is the hand which takes what God offers, the spiritual organ of appropriation, the conducting link between emptiness and Gods fullness.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Perhaps Jesus touched the eyes of the blind men to help them associate Him with their healing as well as because He was compassionate. However it was Jesus’ word, not His touch that resulted in their healing (cf. Genesis 1). "According to your faith" does not mean "in proportion to your faith" but "since you believed" (cf. Mat 9:22). This is the only time in the first Gospel that Matthew presented faith as a condition for healing.
Jesus "sternly warned" them against telling anyone about the miracle, probably because these blind men had identified Jesus as the Son of David. The verb embrimaomai occurs only five times in the New Testament (Mar 1:43; Mar 14:5; Joh 11:33; Joh 11:38). Jesus wanted to avoid the masses of people that would have dogged His steps and hindered Him from fulfilling His mission (cf. Mat 8:4). He wanted people to hear about Him and face the issue of His messiahship, but too much publicity would be counterproductive. Unfortunately, but understandably, these beneficiaries of Messiah’s grace disobeyed Him and broadcast what He had done for them widely. They should have simply joined the band of disciples and continued to follow Jesus faithfully.
This incident shows that some people in Galilee beside the Twelve were concluding that Jesus was the Messiah. [Note: Plummer, p. 143; Samuel J. Andrews, The Life of Our Lord Upon the Earth, p. 307.] The emphasis in the incident is Jesus’ ability to restore sight where there was blindness.