Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 10:41
He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
41. in the name of ]=for the sake of, out of regard to the prophet’s character.
a prophet’s reward ] Such reward as a prophet or preacher of the gospel hath.
righteous ] Those who fulfil the requirements of the Christian law (comp. ch. Mat 1:19), true members of the Christian Church the saints.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mat 10:41
He that receiveth a prophet.
The reception of prophet
I. What, is the bible meaning of the term, is a prophet?
1. There is first what may properly be called the seer, men with burning eye to take in visions of the unseen.
2. Then the word prophet merges into our word preacher.
3. But there are two conditions without which no man has a right to this name; a godly life, a special message from God.
II. The true spirit in which a prophet should be received.
1. The true exercise of our receptive faculties is an important element of our responsibility.
2. Let us receive without prejudice.
3. Let us receive with humility.
4. That such a reception will bring us a prophets reward. (J. Brierley, B. A.)
Goodness essential to a true Prophet
In other walks of life man may attain high distinction without this condition. He may be a suecessful lawyer, and, as some modern examples have shown, obtain the chief prizes of his profession without possessing moral character that will bear inspection. A man may obtain fortune and fame as an artist, and be all the while, like Turner, addicted to the lowest pleasures. In fact, a recent French writer has given us the exquisitely French doctrine that immorality is a great auxiliary to art. A man may be a success on the Stock Exchange, and have in him no scintilla of spiritual principle. All this is possible, but a man who in any age takes the name and function of prophet of God, proclaimer of His truth and message, and who at the same time keeps not step in his life to the sublime music of heavens highest law, is a self-confessed monstrosity. (J. Brierley, B. A.)
The true prophet has spiritual knowledge at first hand
Like a man who has been teaching geography in a school. His time has been occupied with maps, atlases, globes, and text-books of geography. He knows all the mountains in Europe by name, and the length of the principal rivers. His head is full of this, and he has tried to fill the heads of his pupils with this, and to him and to them it has been a business unspeakably dry. By-and-by he gets a vacation, and somebody fills his purse for him, and says, Now go off somewhere and enjoy yourself. He goes to Switzerland. He sees Mont Blanc and the Rhine, and the Lake of Geneva. It is not a bit like the geography book. These fresh breezes that blow, the deep blue of the glorious lake, the glint up yonder of the everlasting snows, whisper no hint of page sixteen in that odious text-book with its endless names and figures. This is the difference between knowledge at second hand and at first hand. (J. Brierley, B. A.)
The responsible use of our receptive faculties
Physiologists tell us we have two sets of nerves, the afferent and the efferent; the one bringing to us impressions from without, the other acting on the muscles and carrying to the outside world the tides of force that are within. Life is just this contrast, giving and receiving, and the one process needs as much watching as the other. It is not enough to look after the activities of the soul. The call may be for courtesy, sympathy, and unless these are forthcoming, in spite of activities, the man is a failure over half his nature. (J. Brierley, B. A.)
When Gods rains are descending, and His gracious breezes blowing from off the everlasting hills, keep the soul open. It is a grand opportunity on the receptive side. (J. Brierley, B. A.)
The principle of future recompenses
1. By our works shall be decided the degree of our future reward.
2. The reward affixed to an action may be obtained though the action itself has not been performed. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet is to obtain the recompense as though he were himself a prophet. There must be division of labour; all working to the same end receive same reward.
3. If our works are susceptible of reward, it seems necessarily to follow that there will be differences in reward, so that the future portion of the righteous will be far from uniform. What the prophet receives is not what the righteous man receives.
4. That no good work is so inconsiderable as to be excluded from recompense. Cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple. But if the cup of cold water is not to lose its reward, it must be proffered when he who gives it has nothing better to give. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Difference of office does not preclude sameness of recompense
For instance, what wholly different spheres of duty are assigned to the clergy and the laity! And we are told that he who labours with great earnestness in the work of a clergyman has a reward of peculiar splendour within reach, inasmuch as they who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. But it is evident from our text that the same reward is attainable by others who have never been called to the clergymans work. They who have not been prophets may receive a prophets reward; and if an individual have upheld a clergyman in his arduous and most responsible calling, strengthening him by such assistances as the occasion demands, sustaining him when assailed, cheering him when disheartened, and all out of love for his office, and desire for his success, so that he receives the pastor in the name of a pastor, we may say of such an individual that in Gods sight lie takes part in the clergymans labours. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Sympathy with a character involves likeness to that character
The power of sympathizing with an) character is the partial possession of that character for ourselves. A man who is capable of having his soul bowed by the stormy thunder of Beethoven, or lifted to heaven by the etherial melody of Mendelsshon, is a musician, though he never composed a bar. The man who recognizes and feels the grandeur of the organ music of Paradise Lost has some fibre of a poet in him, though he be but; a mute inglorious Milton. (Dr. Maclaren.)
Sympathy, not action, the condition of reward
The old knight that clapped Luther on the back when he went into the Diet of Worms, and said to him, Well done, little monk! shared in Luthers victory and in Luthers crown. He that helps a prophet because he is a prophet, has got the making of a prophet in himself. (Dr. Maclaren.)
Holding the ropes
I am going down into the pit, you hold the ropes, said Carey, the pioneer missionary. They that hold the ropes, and the daring miner that swings away down in the blackness, are one in the work, may be one in the motive, and, if they are, shall be one in the reward. So, brethren, though no coal of fire may be laid upon your lips, if you sympathize with the workers that are trying to serve God, and do what you can to help them, and identify yourself with them, and so hold the ropes, my text; will be true about you.
He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet; shall receive a prophets reward. They who by reason of circumstances, by deficiency of power, or by the weight of other tasks and duties, can only give silent sympathy, and prayer, and help, are one with the men whom they help. (Dr. Maclaren.)
Participation in service
As there is a way of partaking of other mens sins, so in other mens holy services. (Gurnall.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 41. He that receiveth a prophet] , a teacher, not a foreteller of future events, for this is not always the meaning of the word; but one commissioned by God to teach the doctrines of eternal life. It is no small honour to receive into one’s house a minister of Jesus Christ. Every person is not admitted to exercise the sacred ministry; but none are excluded from partaking of its grace, its spirit, and its reward. If the teacher should be weak, or even if he should be found afterwards to have been worthless, yet the person who has received him in the name, under the sacred character, of an evangelist, shall not lose his reward; because what he did he did for the sake of Christ, and through love for his Church. Many sayings of this kind are found among the rabbins, and this one is common: “He who receives a learned man, or an elder, into his house, is the same as if he had received the Shekinah.” And again: “He who speaks against a faithful pastor, it is the same as if he had spoken against God himself.” See Schoettgen.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
41. He that receiveth a prophetonedivinely commissioned to deliver a message from heaven. Predictingfuture events was no necessary part of a prophet’s office, especiallyas the word is used in the New Testament.
in the name of a prophetforhis office’s sake and love to his master. (See 2Ki4:9 and see on 2Ki 4:10).
shall receive a prophet’srewardWhat an encouragement to those who are notprophets! (See Joh 3:5-8).
and he that receiveth arighteous man in the name of a righteous manfrom sympathy withhis character and esteem for himself as such
shall receive a righteousman’s rewardfor he must himself have the seed of righteousnesswho has any real sympathy with it and complacency in him whopossesses it.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet,…. By “a prophet” is meant, not one that foretells things to come, but a preacher of the Gospel; for as prophesying sometimes signifies preaching, so a prophet designs a minister of the word: and to “receive” him, is not only to embrace his doctrine, but to entertain him in a kind, and generous manner; and he that does this, “in the name of a prophet”, not as coming in the name of another prophet, but upon this account, and for this consideration, because he himself is a prophet; so the phrase, , “in the name”, or on the account of anything, is often used in the Misnic writings s: he that regards such a person, and shows him respect, by an hospitable entertainment of him; not because he may be related to him after the flesh; or because he may be a man of good behaviour, of a singular disposition and temper, of much learning and eloquence, of great natural parts and abilities; but because he is a faithful minister of the Gospel; he
shall receive a prophet’s reward: either a reward from the prophet himself, who shall interpret the Scriptures to him, preach the Gospel to him, lead him more fully into the truths of it, and guide him to the true, and more clear and distinct sense of the sacred writings; which is an ample reward for his kind entertainment of him: or else, that reward which God has appointed, prepared, and promised, to them who receive his prophets; and which indeed is no other, than what the prophets themselves shall receive, even the reward of the inheritance, the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, a reward of grace, and not of debt; since both, in their way, serve the Lord Christ.
And he that receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a righteous man. He that is kind and liberal to any good man, whether he is a minister of the Gospel or not, who appears to have the work of grace upon his soul, and is justified by the righteousness of Christ, and expects eternal life on that account; if he shows respect to him, purely because he has the image of Christ stamped on him, and the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and not on any natural, worldly, or civil accounts,
he shall receive a righteous man’s reward; either from the good man himself, who will not fail to pray for his benefactor, to wish him well, and give him all the assistance he can in his Christian course; to exhort, comfort, instruct him as much, and as far as his Christian experience will furnish him with; or else the same reward of grace the righteous man himself shall have, namely, eternal life, as God’s gift, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
s Misn. Zebachim, c. 1. sect. 1. 2, 3, 4. & 4. 6. &. 6. 7. & 7. 1, 2, 3, 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the name of a prophet ( ). “Because he is a prophet” (Moffatt). In an Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 37 (A.D. 49) we find in virtue of being free-born. “He that receiveth a prophet from no ulterior motive, but simply qua prophet (ut prophetam, Jer.) would receive a reward in the coming age equal to that of his guest” (McNeile). The use of here is to be noted. In reality is simply with the same meaning. It is not proper to say that has always to be translated “into.” Besides these examples of in verses 41 and 43 see Mt 12:41 (see Robertson’s Grammar, p. 593).
Unto one of these little ones ( ). Simple believers who are neither apostles, prophets, or particularly righteous, just “learners,” “in the name of a disciple” ( ). Alford thinks that some children were present (cf. Mt 18:2-6).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet,” (ho dechoneos propheten eis onoma prophetou) “And the one who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet;” A prophet is one who, 1) Speaks in the name of another, and 2) One who foretells matters or events, 1Ki 17:10-17; 1Ki 18:4; 2Ti 1:16; 3Jn 1:8; Mat 16:27; Mat 25:35; Mat 25:40.
2) “Shall receive a prophet’s reward;” (misthon prophetou lempsetai) “He will receive the reward of a prophet;” First, what the prophet may be able to impart to him and, Second, what God may bestow on him for his receiving a prophet, Act 3:6; Php_4:10-19; 2Ti 1:16-18.
3) “And he that receiveth a righteous man,” (kai ho echomenos dikaion) “And he who receives a righteous person,” in his proper character, to treat him as a righteous man, Mat 16:27; Dan 12:3; 1Co 3:14.
4) “in the name of a righteous man,” (eis onoma dikaiou) “in the name of a righteous person,” as Abraham did, Gen 18:1-22; Heb 13:1-2.
5) “Shall receive a righteous man’s reward.” (misthon dikaiou lempsetai) “He will receive the reward of a righteous person,” which is sometimes bestowed in this life, Gen 39:5; Act 27:7; Act 8:24; and again he shall be rewarded in glory, Luk 14:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
41. He who receiveth a prophet He begins with the prophets, but at length comes down to the lowest rank, and embraces all his disciples. In this manner he commends all, without exception, who truly worship God and love the gospel. To receive a person in the name of a prophet, or in the name of a righteous man, means to do them good for the sake of honoring their doctrine, or of paying respect to piety. Though God enjoins us to perform offices of kindness to all mankind, yet he justly elevates his people to a higher rank, that they may be the objects of peculiar regard and esteem.
Shall receive a prophet’s reward This clause is variously interpreted by commentators. Some think that it denotes a mutual compensation, or, in other words, that spiritual benefits are bestowed on the prophets of God instead of temporal benefits. But if this exposition is admitted, what shall we say is meant by the righteous man’s reward? Others understand it to mean, that those who shall be kind to them will partake of the same reward which is laid up for prophets and righteous men. Some refer it to the intercourse of saints, and suppose it to mean, that as by our kind actions we give evidence that we are one body with the servants of Christ, so in this way we become partakers of all the blessings which Christ imparts to the members of his body.
I consider it simply as denoting the reward which corresponds to the rank of the person to whom kindness has been exercised; for Christ means that this will be a remarkable proof of the high estimation in which he holds his prophets, and indeed all his disciples. The greatness of the reward will make it evident, that not one kind office which was ever rendered to them has been forgotten.
By way of amplification, he promises a reward to the very meanest offices of kindness, such as giving them a cup of cold water, He gives the name of little ones not only to those who occupy the lowest place, or are held in least estimation in the Church, but to all his disciples, whom the pride of the world tramples under foot.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(41) In the name of a propheti.e., for the sake of that which the name connotesthe prophets work as a messenger of God, the righteousness of which the living righteous man is the concrete example. The distinction between the two involves the higher inspiration of the prophet as a messenger of God, and perhaps implies that that inspiration belonged to some, and not to all the Twelve, while those who were not to receive that special gift were at all events called to set forth the pattern of a righteous life. The reward, and the time of its being received, belong to the future glory of the kingdom; and the words of the promise throw the gate wide open, so as to admit not only those whose gifts and characters command the admiration of mankind, but all those who show in action that they are in sympathy with the work for which the gifts have been bestowed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 10:41 . A general expression, the special reference of which to the disciples is found in Mat 10:42 .
] from a regard to that which the name implies , to the prophetic character; , Euth. Zigabenus. In Rabbinical writers we find . Schoettgen, p. 107; Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 2431. Therefore; for the sake of the cause which stamps them with their distinguishing characteristics, for sake of the divine truth which the prophet interprets from the revelation that has been made to him, and for sake of the integrity which the exhibits in his life.
] an upright man, correct parallel to . The apostles, however, belong to both categories, inasmuch as they receive and preach the revelation ( ) communicated by God through Christ, and seeing that, through their faith in the Lord, they are characterized by true and holy righteousness of life ( ).
The reward of a prophet and of a righteous man is the same reward, which they will receive (in the Messianic kingdom).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
Ver. 41. He that receiveth a prophet in the name, &c. ] Though, haply, he be no prophet. This takes away the excuse of such as say, They would do good, if they knew to whom, as worthy.
Shall receive a prophet’s reward ] Both actively, that which the prophet shall give him, by teaching him the faith of the gospel, casting pearls before him, &c. And passively, that reward that God gives the prophet, the same shall he give his host. Gaius lost nothing by such guests as John; nor the Shunammite or Sareptan by the prophets, Of such Christ seems to say, as Paul did of Onesimus, “If he owe thee ought, put that in mine account: I will repay it,”Phm 1:18-19Phm 1:18-19 : and he, I can tell you, is a liberal paymaster. Saul and his servant had but five pence in their purse to give the prophet, 1Sa 9:8 . The prophet, after much good cheer, gives him the kingdom. Such is God’s dealing with us. Seek out therefore some of his receivers, some Mephibosheth to whom we may show kindness.
He that receiveth a righteous man ] Though not a minister, if for that he is righteous, and for the truth’s sake that dwelleth in him, 2Jn 1:2 . The Kenites in Saul’s time, that were born many ages after Jethro’s death, receive life from his dust and favour from his hospitality. Nay, the Egyptians, for harbouring (and at first dealing kindly with) the Israelites, though without any respect to their righteousness, were preserved by Joseph in that sore famine, and kindly dealt with ever after by God’s special command.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
41. ] , . Chrysost. Hom. xxxv. 2, p. 401.
, a Hebraism ( ): because He is: i.e. ‘for the love of Christ, whose prophet he is.’ The sense is, ‘He who by receiving (see above) a prophet because he is a prophet, or a holy man because he is a holy man, recognizes, enters into, these states as appointed by Me, shall receive the blessedness of these states, shall derive all the spiritual benefits which these states bring with them, and share their everlasting reward.’
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 10:41 . hen in two distinct forms the law is stated that to befriend the representative of Christ and God ensures the reward belonging to that representative. , having regard to the fact that he is a prophet or righteous man. The prophet is the principal object of thought, naturally, in connection with a mission to preach truth. But Christ knows (Mat 7:15 ) that there are false prophets as well as true; therefore from vocation He falls back on personal character. Here as everywhere we see how jealously He made the ethical interest supreme. “See,” says Chrys., commenting on Mat 10:8 , “how He cares for their morals, not less than for the miracles, showing that the miracles without the morals are nought” (Hom. 32). So here He says in effect: let the prophet be of no account unless he be a just, good man. The fundamental matter is character, and the next best thing is sincere respect for it. To the latter Christ promises the reward of the former. . : a strong, bold statement made to promote friendly feeling towards the moral heroes of the world in the hearts of ordinary people; not the utterance of a didactic theologian scientifically measuring his words. Yet there is a great principle underlying, essentially the same as that involved in St. Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith. The man who has goodness enough to reverence the ideal of goodness approximately or perfectly realised in another, though not in himself, shall, in the moral order of the world, be counted as a good man.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Matthew
THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM, AND THEIR REWARD
Mat 10:41 – Mat 10:42
There is nothing in these words to show whether they refer to the present or to the future. We shall probably not go wrong if we regard them as having reference to both. For all godliness has ‘promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come,’ and ‘ in keeping God’s commandments,’ as well as for keeping them, ‘there is great reward,’ a reward realised in the present, even although Death holds the keys of the treasure-house in which the richest rewards are stored. No act of holy obedience is here left without foretastes of joy, which, though they be but ‘brooks by the way,’ contain the same water of life which hereafter swells to an ocean.
Some people tell us that it is defective morality in Christianity to bribe men to be good by promising them Heaven, and that he who is actuated by such a motive is selfish. Now that fantastic and overstrained objection may be very simply answered by two considerations: self-regard is not selfishness, and Christianity does not propose the future reward as the motive for goodness. The motive for goodness is love to Jesus Christ; and if ever there was a man who did acts of Christian goodness only for the sake of what he would get by them, the acts were not Christian goodness, because the motive was wrong. But it is a piece of fastidiousness to forbid us to reinforce the great Christian motive, which is love to Jesus Christ, by the thought of the recompense of reward. It is a stimulus and an encouragement of, not the motive for, goodness. This text shows us that it is a subordinate motive, for it says that the reception of a prophet, or of a righteous man, or of ‘one of these little ones,’ which is rewardable, is the reception ‘in the name of’ a prophet, a disciple, and so on, or, in other words, is the recognising of the prophet, or the righteous man, or the disciple for what he is, and because he is that, and not because of the reward, receiving him with sympathy and solace and help.
So, with that explanation, let us look at these very remarkable words of our text.
I. The first thing which I wish to observe in them is the three classes of character which are dealt with-’prophet,’ ‘righteous man,’ ‘these little ones.’
Now, at first sight, it certainly does look as if we had here to do with a descending scale, as if we began at the top and went downwards. A prophet, a man honoured with a distinct commission from God to declare His will, is, in certain very obvious respects, loftier than a man who is not so honoured, however pure and righteous he may be. The dim and venerable figures, for instance, of Isaiah and Jeremiah, tower high above all their contemporaries; and godly men who hung upon their lips, like Baruch on Jeremiah’s, felt themselves to be, and were, inferior to them. And, in like manner, the little child who believes in Christ may seem to be insignificant in comparison with the prophet with his God-touched lips, or the righteous man of the old dispensation with his austere purity; as a humble violet may seem by the side of a rose with its heart of fire, or a white lily regal and tall. But one remembers that Jesus Christ Himself declared that ‘the least of the little ones’ was greater than the greatest who had gone before; and it is not at all likely that He who has just been saying that whosoever received His followers received Himself, should classify these followers beneath the righteous men of old. The Christian type of character is distinctly higher than the Old Testament type; and the humblest believer is blessed above prophets and righteous men because his eyes behold and his heart welcomes the Christ.
Therefore I am inclined to believe that we have here an ascending series-that we begin at the bottom and not at the top; that the prophet is less than the righteous man, and the righteous man less than the little one who believes in Christ. For, suppose there were a prophet who was not righteous, and a righteous man who was not a prophet. Suppose the separation between the two characters were complete, which of them would be the greater? Balaam was a prophet; Balaam was not a righteous man; Balaam was immeasurably inferior to the righteous whose lives he did not emulate, though he could not but envy their deaths. In like manner the humblest believer in Jesus Christ has something that a prophet, if he is not a disciple, does not possess; and that which he has, and the prophet has not, is higher than the endowment that is peculiar to the prophet alone.
May we say the same thing about the difference between the righteous man and the disciple? Can there be a righteous man that is not a disciple? Can there be a disciple that is not a righteous man? Can the separation between these two classes be perfect and complete? No! in the profoundest sense, certainly not. But then at the time when Christ spoke there were some men standing round Him, who, ‘as touching the righteousness which is of the law,’ were ‘blameless.’ And there are many men to-day, with much that is noble and admirable in their characters, who stand apart from the faith that is in Jesus Christ; and if the separation be so complete as that, then it is to be emphatically and decisively pronounced that, if we have regard to all that a man ought to be, and if we estimate men in the measure in which they approximate to that ideal in their lives and conduct, ‘the Christian is the highest style of man.’ The disciple is above the righteous men adorned with many graces of character, who, if they are not Christians, have a worm at the root of all their goodness, because it lacks the supreme refinement and consecration of faith; and above the fiery-tongued prophet, if he is not a disciple.
Now, brethren, this thought is full of very important practical inferences. Faith is better than genius. Faith is better than brilliant gifts. Faith is better than large acquirements. The poet’s imagination, the philosopher’s calm reasoning, the orator’s tongue of fire, even the inspiration of men that may have their lips touched to proclaim God to their brethren, are all less than the bond of living trust that knits a soul to Jesus Christ, and makes it thereby partaker of that indwelling Saviour. And, in like manner, if there be men, as there are, and no doubt some of them among my hearers, adorned with virtues and graces of character, but who have not rested their souls on Jesus Christ, then high above these, too, stands the lowliest person who has set his faith and love on that Saviour. Neither intellectual endowments nor moral character are the highest, but faith in Jesus Christ. A man may be endowed with all brilliancy of intellect and fair with many beauties of character, and he may be lost; and on the other hand simple faith, rudimentary and germlike as it often is, carries in itself the prophecy of all goodness, and knits a man to the source of all blessedness. ‘Whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. Now abideth these three, faith, hope, charity.’ ‘Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.’
Ah! brethren, if we believed in Christ’s classification of men, and in the order of importance and dignity in which He arranges them, it would make a wonderful practical difference to the lives, to the desires, and to the efforts of a great many of us. Some of you students, young men and women that are working at college or your classes, if you believed that it was better to trust in Jesus Christ than to be wise, and gave one-tenth, ay! one-hundredth part of the attention and the effort to secure the one which you do to secure the other, would be different people. ‘Not many wise men after the flesh,’ but humble trusters in Jesus Christ, are the victors in the world. Believe you that, and order your lives accordingly.
Oh! what a reversal of this world’s estimates is coming one day, when the names that stand high in the roll of fame shall pale, like photographs that have been shut up in a portfolio, and when you take them out have faded off the paper. ‘The world knows nothing of its greatest men,’ but there is a time coming when the spurious mushroom aristocracy that the world has worshipped will be forgotten, like the nobility of some conquered land, who are brushed aside and relegated to private life by the new nobility of the conquerors, and when the true nobles, God’s aristocrats, the righteous, who are righteous because they have trusted in Christ, shall shine forth like the sun ‘in the Kingdom of My Father.’
Here is the climax: gifts and endowments at the bottom, character and morality in the middle, and at the top faith in Jesus Christ.
II. Now notice briefly in the second place the variety of the reward according to the character.
And the same principle, of course, applies if we think of the reward as altogether future. It must be remembered, however, that Christianity does not teach, as I believe, that if there be a prophet or a righteous man who is not a disciple, that prophet or righteous man will get rewards in the future life. It must be remembered, too, that every disciple is righteous in the measure of his faith. Discipleship being presupposed, then the disciple who is a prophet will have one reward, and the disciple who is a righteous man shall have another; and where all three characteristics coincide, there shall be a triple crown of glory upon his head.
That is all plain and obvious enough, if only we get rid of the prejudice that the rewards of a future life are merely bestowed upon men by God’s arbitrary good pleasure. What is the reward of Heaven? ‘Eternal life,’ people say. Yes! ‘Blessedness.’ Yes! But where does the life come from, and where does the blessedness come from? They are both derived, they come from God in Christ; and in the deepest sense, and in the only true sense, God is Heaven, and God is the reward of Heaven. ‘I am thy shield,’ so long as dangers need to be guarded against, and then, thereafter, ‘I am thine exceeding great Reward.’ It is the possession of God that makes all the Heaven of Heaven, the immortal life which His children receive, and the blessedness with which they are enraptured. We are heirs of immortality, we are heirs of life, we are heirs of blessedness, because, and in the measure in which, we become heirs of God.
And if that be so, then there is no difficulty in seeing that in Heaven, as on earth, men will get just as much of God as they can hold; and that in Heaven, as on earth, capacity for receiving God is determined by character. The gift is one, the reward is one, and yet the reward is infinitely various. It is the same light which glows in all the stars, but ‘star differeth from star in glory.’ It is the same wine, the new wine of the Kingdom, that is poured into all the vessels, but the vessels are of divers magnitudes, though each be full to the brim.
And so in those two sister parables of our Master’s, which are so remarkably discriminated and so remarkably alike, we have both these aspects of the Heavenly reward set forth-both that which declares its identity in all cases, and the other which declares its variety according to the recipient’s character. All the servants receive the same welcome, the same prize, the same entrance into the same joy; although one of them had ten talents, and another five, and another two. But the servants who were each sent out to trade with one poor pound in their hands, and by their varying diligence reaped varying profits, were rewarded according to the returns that they had brought; and one received ten, and the other five, and the other two, cities over which to have authority and rule. So the reward is one, and yet infinitely diverse. It is not the same thing whether a man or a woman, being a Christian, is an earnest, and devoted, and growing Christian here on earth, or a selfish, and an idle, and a stagnant one. It is not the same thing whether you content yourselves with simply laying hold on Christ, and keeping a tremulous and feeble hold of Him for the rest of your lives, or whether you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour. There is such a fate as being saved, yet so as by fire, and going into the brightness with the smell of the fire on your garments. There is such a fate as having just, as it were, squeezed into Heaven, and got there by the skin of your teeth. And there is such a thing as having an abundant entrance ministered, when its portals are thrown wide open. Some imperfect Christians die with but little capacity for possessing God, and therefore their heaven will not be as bright, nor studded with as majestic constellations, as that of others. The starry vault that bends above us so far away, is the same in the number of its stars when gazed on by the savage with his unaided eye, and by the astronomer with the strongest telescope; and the Infinite God, who arches above us, but comes near to us, discloses galaxies of beauty and oceans of abysmal light in Himself, according to the strength and clearness of the eye that looks upon Him. So, brethren, remember that the one glory has infinite degrees; and faith, and conduct, and character here determine the capacity for God which we shall have when we go to receive our reward.
III. The last point that is here is the substantial identity of the reward to all that stand on the same level, however different may be the form of their lives.
That is beautiful and deep. The power of sympathising with any character is the partial possession of that character for ourselves. A man who is capable of having his soul bowed by the stormy thunder of Beethoven, or lifted to Heaven by the ethereal melody of Mendelssohn, is a musician, though he never composed a bar. The man who recognises and feels the grandeur of the organ music of ‘Paradise Lost’ has some fibre of a poet in him, though he be but ‘a mute, inglorious Milton.’
All sympathy and recognition of character involve some likeness to that character. The poor woman who brought the sticks and prepared food for the prophet entered into the prophet’s mission and shared in the prophet’s work and reward, though his task was to beard Ahab, and hers was only to bake Elijah’s bread. The old knight that clapped Luther on the back when he went into the Diet of Worms, and said to him, ‘Well done, little monk!’ shared in Luther’s victory and in Luther’s crown. He that helps a prophet because he is a prophet, has the making of a prophet in himself.
As all work done from the same motive is the same in God’s eyes, whatever be the outward shape of it, so the work that involves the same type of spiritual character will involve the same reward. You find the Egyptian medal on the breasts of the soldiers that kept the base of communication as well as on the breasts of the men that stormed the works at Tel-el-Kebir. It was a law in Israel, and it is a law in Heaven: ‘As his part is that goeth down into the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff, they shall part alike.’ ‘I am going down into the pit, you hold the ropes,’ said Carey, the pioneer missionary. They that hold the ropes, and the daring miner that swings away down in the blackness, are one in the work, may be one in the motive, and, if they are, shall be one in the reward. So, brethren, though no coal of fire may be laid upon your lips, if you sympathise with the workers that are trying to serve God, and do what you can to help them, and identify yourself with them, and so hold the ropes, my text will be true about you. ‘He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward.’ They who by reason of circumstances, by deficiency of power, or by the weight of other tasks and duties, can only give silent sympathy, and prayer, and help, are one with the men whom they help.
Dear brethren! remember that this awful, mystical life of ours is full everywhere of consequences that cannot be escaped. What we sow we reap, and we grind it, and we bake it, and we live upon it. We have to drink as we have brewed; we have to lie on the beds that we have made. ‘Be not deceived: God is not mocked.’ The doctrine of reward has two sides to it. ‘Nothing human ever dies.’ All our deeds drag after them inevitable consequences; but if you will put your trust in Jesus Christ, He will not deal with you according to your sins, nor reward you according to your iniquities; and the darkest features of the recompense of your evil will all be taken away by the forgiveness which we have in His blood. If you will trust yourselves to Him you will have that eternal life, which is not wages, but a gift; which is not reward, but a free bestowment of God’s love. And then, if we build upon that Foundation on which alone men can build their hopes, their thoughts, their characters, their lives, however feeble may be our efforts, however narrow may be our sphere,-though we be neither prophets nor sons of prophets, and though our righteousness may be all stained and imperfect, yet, to our own amazement and to God’s glory, we shall find, when the fire is kindled which reveals and tests our works, that, by the might of humble faith in Christ, we have built upon that Foundation, gold and silver and precious stones; and shall receive the reward given to every man whose work abides that trial by fire.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
a prophet. See App-49.
in the name of: i.e. because he is. A Hebraism (b’shem). Exo 5:23. Jer 11:21.
in. Greek. eis. As in Mat 10:27.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
41. ] , . Chrysost. Hom. xxxv. 2, p. 401.
, a Hebraism (): because He is: i.e. for the love of Christ, whose prophet he is. The sense is, He who by receiving (see above) a prophet because he is a prophet, or a holy man because he is a holy man, recognizes, enters into, these states as appointed by Me, shall receive the blessedness of these states, shall derive all the spiritual benefits which these states bring with them, and share their everlasting reward.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 10:41. , …, in the name, etc.) i.e., on this ground, and on no other.[503]–, a prophet-a righteous man) A prophet is one who speaks, a righteous man one who acts, in the name of God, and is distinguished for his remarkable righteousness; see ch. Mat 13:17, Mat 23:29; Heb 11:33.-, hire, reward) for he shows himself as obedient to God as if he were a prophet himself. It may be asked how he who is not righteous himself can receive a righteous man as a righteous man? The reply is easy: Such a man, by the very act, abandons his evil way, and ceases to be the enemy of righteousness.
[503] So the French Version, published in Geneva in 1744 A.D., En qualit de Prophete. The Latin expression, Prophet nomine, is similar.-E. B.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
righteous
Righteousness. (See Scofield “Rom 10:10”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
that receiveth a prophet: Gen 20:7, 1Ki 17:9-15, 1Ki 17:20-24, 1Ki 18:3, 1Ki 18:4, 2Ki 4:8-10, 2Ki 4:16, 2Ki 4:17, 2Ki 4:32-37, Act 16:15, Rom 16:1-4, Rom 16:23, 2Ti 1:16-18, Heb 6:10, 3Jo 1:5-8
a righteous man’s: Mat 6:1, Mat 6:4, Mat 6:6, Mat 6:18, Mat 16:27, Mat 25:34-40, Isa 3:10, Luk 14:13, Luk 14:14, 1Co 9:17, 2Th 1:6, 2Th 1:7, 2Jo 1:8
Reciprocal: Jos 6:17 – because Rth 2:12 – recompense 1Ki 18:13 – I hid an hundred 2Ki 4:10 – Let us 2Ch 15:7 – your work Job 33:26 – he will Psa 18:24 – the Lord recompensed me Pro 12:14 – and Pro 19:17 – lendeth Mat 5:12 – for great Mat 10:14 – whosoever Act 28:7 – who 1Co 3:8 – and every Eph 6:8 – whatsoever Phi 2:29 – Receive Col 3:24 – ye shall 1Ti 6:19 – Laying Heb 11:6 – a rewarder Heb 11:26 – for he had
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
0:41
The apostles were classed as prophets under the new order of things under Christ. To receive one of these in the name of a prophet means to receive him because he is a prophet of the Lord. Prophet’s reward means the reward such as a prophet can bestow. The same principle applies to receiving a righteous man for his reward.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 10:41. In the name of a prophet, i.e., because he is a prophet, the original implying an inward impulse of love toward the object. The prophet may be unworthy, but the love and the regard arise from the relation to Christ implied in his office.
A righteous man i.e., a Christian, one righteous through and in Christ; the usual meaning among Christians when this Gospel was written.
Shall receive a prophets rewarda righteous mans reward. The reward they receive (not the reward they can give) on the principle of identification through love.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
10:41 {11} He that receiveth a prophet in {q} the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
(11) We will lose nothing that is bestowed on Christ.
(q) As a Prophet.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
A prophet is one who speaks for another. The disciples served as prophets when they announced Jesus’ message. Jesus Himself was a prophet since He spoke for God. The one who received the disciple would receive a reward from God suitable to one who had entertained one of God’s representatives. Likewise the disciples were righteous men who represented another righteous man, Jesus. God would give those who received the disciples as righteous men a reward in keeping with what a righteous man deserves (cf. Mat 5:20; Joh 13:20).