Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 11:19
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
19. But wisdom is justified of her children ] Wisdom = “divine wisdom” God regarded as the All Wise. Justified = “is accounted righteous” “is acquitted of folly.” Of her children = “by the divinely wise.” The spiritual recognise the wisdom of God, both in the austerity of John and in the loving mercy of Jesus who condescends to eat with publicans and sinners.
The word translated but should be and. Either the adversative force lies rather in the whole sentence than in the particle, or the Greek is put for the Hebrew connecting particle vau, which is sometimes adversative.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mat 11:19
The Son of man came eating.
Christ and common life
I. We have here a strong proof of the humanity of Christ. The Son of man. His oneness with men; not exempt from the necessities of our nature; He was subject to the laws under which we live. No manna fell from heaven for Him.
II. Christ ate and drank with men. Not only as others, but with others. He was no recluse. Jesus represents the new order, which is a life of liberty, because a life of love. Religion must be able to endure the strain of life.
III. Here Christ sanctified the common duties of every day. Nothing is so common as eating and drinking; it is commonplace. The temptation is to make the hours for meals mere feeding times, or to become an epicure. Christs example guards against this. He taught the dignity of our bodies. He who recognizes the body as Gods gift will never dishonour its appetites. The daily meals may be family sacraments cheered by Christian intercourse. Christ came to fit men for this world as well as for the next. (W. S. Jerome.)
Wisdom is justified of her children
I. The different courses of life wherein john and Jesus appeared.
1. That God sendeth forth His servants with divers dispositions.
2. That men are qualified according to the dispensation wherein God useth them. John, a preacher of repentance, was austere; Christ, as a giver of pardon, mild.
3. That men are apt to complain.
1. Except against what is done by God, and whatsoever methods are used to reduce them to a sense of pardon. The censures of the two things disliked in Christ were not just.
1. His diet. All our food should be sanctified.
2. His company.
II. The reasons why he chose this sort of life.
1. Because He would not place religion in outward austerities and observances.
2. Christ would live a strict, but sociable and charitable life; and did not observe the laws of proud pharisaical separation, but spent His time in doing good.
3. Christ came to set us an example, and would take up that course of life most imitable by all sorts of persons.
4. It was fit His form of life should suit with the nature of the kingdom.
5. Because Christ would not gratify human wisdom, as He would not gratify sense, by choosing a pompous life, so He would net gratify wisdom by choosing an austere life.
6. To show us the true nature of mortification, which consists not in abstinence and retreat from temptations, but in a spirit fortified against them.
III. The observances which we may build thereon.
1. We may observe the humanity, goodness, and kindness of that religion which we profess, both with respect to ourselves and others.
2. That external holiness which consisteth in an outside strictness without love usually puffeth up men.
3. That a free life, guided by a holy wisdom, is the most sanctified life. (T. Manton.)
A friend of publicans and sinners.
A friend of publicans and sinners
I. Our Lord proved himself in his own time to be the friend of sinners.
1. He came among them.
2. He sought their good by His ministry.
3. He showed His patience toward them by the contradiction He endured from them.
II. What Christ is doing now for sinners. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
I. Christ a friend. In a friend we anticipate finding sincere attachment, affectionate concern to promote our welfare, freedom in fellowship and communication, unflinching fidelity.
II. The duty we owe to him. Friendliness, gratitude, fellowship, integrity, constancy,
III. The advantages resulting from the performance of it. The friendship of Christ affords rich consolation, exhaustless supplies, requisite instruction, eternal inheritance. Address the enemies of Christ, the undecided, and His friends. (Rev. Treffy.)
But wisdom is justified of her children.–
Wisdom justified of her children
I. How wisdom becomes justified to her children. Notice those respects in which the scheme of Christianity is considered foolishness by the world.
1. A strong natural dislike of Christianity is founded on the meanhess of the Saviours life and the ignominy of His death. The Christians great struggle is with earthly attachments, and he acknowledges with thankfulness the wisdom of any arrangement whose direct tendency is to help him in the struggle.
2. They often allege the disproportion of the means to the end. Reason cannot decide how much the pardon of a sin must cost. The converted man sees the heinousness of sin. He sees that only an infinite sacrifice could put it away.
3. It is regarded as unsuited to the ends which it proposes to effect, and no heavier charge could be brought against its wisdom. The idea of substitution is said to encourage men in sin; hut where can we find higher morality and truer friendship than amongst men who are trusting in Christ?
II. Wisdom is justified through her children to others. This wisdom is so manifest in the effects of Christianity on the lives of its disciples, that enemies are inexcusable in charging it with foolishness. The children of God must vindicate the wisdom of religion, (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Wisdom justified in her children
I. What is the wisdom to which reference is here made. Some suppose our Lord to have meant Himself; in Proverbs it is declared that by Wisdom God created the heavens. The term wisdom is also applied to the doctrine of the true God. The fear of the Lord that is wisdom.
II. To show how it has been in all ages exposed to the indifference, contempt, or the misapprehension of mankind.
1. Deny her doctrines.
2. Forget her commands.
III. How it has been nevertheless justified in its children.
1. In the life of every saint who has arrived in heaven. A cloud of witnesses prove wisdom is justified of her children.
2. Wisdom is justified in all the social relationships of life. Is he a husband? wisdom will have given him a new affection. (T. Jackson, M. A.)
The worlds estimate of religion
I. Evangelical religion is characterized, as wisdom. As it rightly applies the sublimest knowledge; as it diligently studies the most approved rule; as it zealously prosecutes the most enduring interest.
II. Evangelical religion has been charged with folly. Its principles, its feelings, its practices, have been accounted foolishness.
III. Evangelical religion is justified by the experience on its possessors. They receive her doctrines, avow her service, obey her precepts. (Studies.)
Wisdom justified
I. What is the wisdom of God in the way of salvation presented by the gospel? The end of the means.
II. That this wisdom is despised and contradicted by the carnal world.
III. How and why it must be justified by the sincere professors of the gospel.
1. It must be approved and received by themselves.
2. It must be professed and owned when it is in contempt in the world.
3. This profession must be honoured and recommended to others by a holy conversation.
Why?
1. Because of the charge that is put upon us to testify for God, and justify His ways.
2. Wisdom deserveth to be justified by us.
3. Those who condemn wisdom by their tongues, justify it in some measure by their consciences.
4. If we do not justify religion, we justify the world.
5. Christ will one day justify all His sincere followers.
6. Because of the necessity of justifying wisdom in the times we live in. (T. Manton.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. The Son of man came eating and drinking] That is, went wheresoever he was invited to eat a morsel of bread, and observed no rigid fasts: how could he, who had no corrupt appetites to mortify or subdue?
They say, Behold a man gluttonous, c.] Whatever measures the followers of God may take, they will not escape the censure of the world: the best way is not to be concerned at them. Iniquity, being always ready to oppose and contradict the Divine conduct, often contradicts and exposes itself.
But wisdom is justified of her children.] Those who follow the dictates of true wisdom ever justify, point out as excellent, the holy maxims by which they are guided, for they find the way pleasantness, and the path, peace. Of, here, and in many places of our translation, ought to be written by in modern English.
Some suppose that our blessed Lord applies the epithet of , that Wisdom to himself as he does that of Son of man, in the first clause of the verse: and that this refers to the sublime description given of wisdom in Prov. 8. Others have supposed that by the children or sons () of wisdom our Lord means John Baptist and himself, who came to preach the doctrines of true wisdom to the people, and who were known to be teachers come from God by all those who seriously attended to their ministry: they recommending themselves, by the purity of their doctrines, and the holiness of their lives, to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. It is likely, however, that by children our Lord simply means the fruits or effects of wisdom, according to the Hebrew idiom, which denominates the fruits or effects of a thing, its children. So in Job 5:7, sparks emitted by coals are termed beney resheph, the children of the coal. It was probably this well known meaning of the word, which led the Codex Vaticanus, one of the most ancient MSS. in the world, together with the Syriac, Persic, Coptic, and Ethiopic, to read , works, instead of , sons or children. Wisdom is vindicated by her works, i.e. the good effects prove that the cause is excellent.
The children of true wisdom can justify all God’s ways in their salvation; as they know that all the dispensations of Providence work together for the good of those who love and fear God. See on Lu 7:35.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The son of man came eating and drinking,…. Meaning himself, who ate and drank as men usually do, lived in the common way of life, was free and sociable, went to feasts, entertainments, and weddings, when he was invited; and was affable, courteous, and friendly in his deportment, to all men;
and they say, behold a man gluttonous, a voracious man, an epicurean, one that indulges his appetite to a very great degree, and in a scandalous manner;
a winebibber, a common tippler, one that drinks to excess; whom the Rabbins call k, , who is one, they say, that drinks up his cup at one draught; one that is given to wine, and is greedy of it:
a friend of publicans and sinners; such as are openly and notoriously wicked; and loves their company, for the sake of tippling with them; and encourages them in their revelling and drunkenness; a very black charge this!
But wisdom is justified of her children; either the wisdom of God, in making use of ministers of a different disposition and deportment, whereby some are gained, and others left inexcusable: or the Gospel, in which there is such a display of divine wisdom, which is vindicated from the charge of licentiousness, by the agreeable lives and conversations of the children of God: or rather Christ himself, who is the wisdom of God; and in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; who, however he may be traduced by ignorant and malicious men, yet will be acquitted from all such charges, as here insinuated, by all the true sons of wisdom; or by such, who are made wise unto salvation. We may learn from hence, that no sort of preachers and preaching will please some men; that the best of Gospel ministers may be reproached as libertines, or madmen; and that they will be sooner, or later, justified and cleared from all such aspersions.
k T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 86. 2. Betza, fol. 25. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Wisdom is justified by her works ( ). A timeless aorist passive (Robertson, Grammar, p. 836f.). The word “justified” means “set right” Luke (Lu 7:35) has “by all her children” as some MSS. have here to make Matthew like Luke. These words are difficult, but understandable. God’s wisdom has planned the different conduct of both John and Jesus. He does not wish all to be just alike in everything. “This generation” (verse 16) is childish, not childlike, and full of whimsical inconsistencies in their faultfinding. They exaggerate in each case. John did not have a demon and Jesus was not a glutton or a winebibber. “And, worse than either, for is used in a sinister sense and implies that Jesus was the comrade of the worst characters, and like them in conduct. A malicious nickname at first, it is now a name of honour: the sinner’s lover” (Bruce). Cf. Lu 15:2. The plan of God is justified by results.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “The Son of man came eating and drinking,” (elthen ho huios tous anthropou esthion kai pinon) “On the other hand the Son of man came eating and drinking,” in an ordinary manner, the thing they criticized in John, Luk 5:29-30; Joh 2:1; Joh 2:3.
2) “And they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber,” (kai legousin idou. anthropos phagos kai oinopotes) “And they (the same faultfinders) say, Behold a winedrinker and a gluttonous person, Mat 9:10-11; Joh 12:2.
3) “A friend of publicans and sinners.” (telonon philos kai hamartolon) “A friend of tax-collectors and immoral and unethical people.” But not a companion in sin. What would sinners have thought, if he had not entered some social fellowship with them? Luk 7:29.
4) “But wisdom is justified of her children,” (kai edikaiothe he sophia apo ton ergon autes) “And wisdom is justified, (or acquitted) from such slanderous charges, by her works,” Luk 7:35. The wise will see the reason, personal care that Jesus showed by sitting down among sinners, not to condone or endorse any sin among them, but to show that He loved them in spite of their sins, Rom 11:33; Rom 3:4; Php_2:15.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(19) Eating and drinkingi.e., as in the feast in Matthews house, or at the marriage-feast of Cana, sharing in the common life of man. The words point almost specifically to the two instances just named, and the very form and phrase recall the question which the Pharisees had asked of the disciples, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? (Luk. 5:30).
Wisdom is justified of her children.Literally, was justified. This is our Lords answer for Himself and the Baptist to the contradictory calumnies of the Jews. Men might accuse wisdom, true heavenly wisdom, on this ground or that, but she would be, or rather (the tense implying a generalised fact) is evermore acquitted, justified, acknowledged as righteous, alike in her severer or more joyous forms, by all who are indeed her children, i.e., by all who seek and love her as the mother of their peace and joy. Like so many of our Lords other sayings, the parable stretches far and wide through the ages. The evil world rejects all who seek to overcome its evil, some on one pretext, some on another; but true seekers after wisdom will welcome holiness in whatever form it may appear, cheerful or ascetic, Protestant or Romish, Puritan or liberal, so long as it is real and true.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of public servants and sinners!’ ”
Jesus on the other hand was willing to sit at table with public servants and sinners, and with the common people. Thus when people began to find His teaching too much for them they justified their consciences by accusing Him of being irreligious, and even greedy, and a keeper of bad company. Once they had convinced themselves of that they did not then have to worry about His teachings. They could ‘justifiably’ ignore them. It was all a sign of the hypocrisy of the human heart.
Note the reference to the ‘Son of Man’. The description of Him here contrasts with the description of Him as the Son of Man Who had nowhere to lay His head (Mat 8:20), and with the description of Him as Lord of the Sabbath (Mat 12:8) and the forgiver of sins (Mat 9:6), thus their accusations were inexcusable.
These misrepresentations are in fact typical of people who are trying to avoid facing up to their consciences or who do not want to have to think too seriously. They do not arise from careful investigation, but from twisting the facts to suit themselves. They were not really puzzled, even though they expressed puzzlement. They were simply justifying themselves in their refusal to listen to them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
“And wisdom is justified by her works.”
In the only other reference to wisdom in the context it refers to the ‘wisdom’ of those who saw themselves as wise, but were not enlightened by God (Mat 11:25). Thus we are probably to read these words as referring to those who were unbelieving and who mocked. Their wisdom was revealed by their actions, by what they produced (therefore Luke says ‘by their children’). And by their words and thoughts of ‘wisdom’ they thought that they had justified themselves in their own eyes. As representing ‘Wisdom’ (wisdom was often personified) they were justified by their works (their behaviour and words) which they considered had now cleared them of all blame. You could not be expected to listen to a demon or a drunkard.
Of course the converse applied. Those who were truly wise and responded to the teaching of John and Jesus really would be justified by their actions. By their fruits they would be known.
Others, however, see this last verse as referring to Jesus and John, and therefore to their wisdom in behaving as they did which was justified by what they accomplished, or as Wisdom (God) being justified by their ‘works’ (Mat 11:2). But in our view the first interpretation fits the context better.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
Ver. 19. The Son of man came eating and drinking ] Teaching us thereby, in the use of things indifferent, to do what we can to preserve our good esteem with others, that we may the sooner prevail with them. This was St Paul’s “all things to all men.” He turned himself into all shapes and fashions both of speech and spirit, to win men to God. St Austin spoke broken barbarous Latin to the Roman colonies in Africa, to the end that they might understand him. a “When I come to Rome,” saith Ambrose to Monica, “I fast on the Saturday: when I am at Milan I fast not.” So you, to what church soever you come, eius morem serva, do as others do; not giving offence carelessly, nor taking offence causelessly. Calvin was cast out of Geneva for refusing to administer the Lord’s supper with wafer cakes or unleavened bread. ” De quo postea restitutus nunquam contendendum putavit ” (saith Beza in his Life), of which being afterwards restored, he thought best to make no more words, but to yield: though he let them know that he had rather it were otherwise. b Christ sets us to learn of the unjust steward, by all lawful (though he did it by unlawful) means, to maintain our reputation with men. For this defect he noted in the best, when he said, “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light,” Luk 16:8 .
But wisdom is justified of her children ] Who all having a right estimate of her worth, do meanly esteem of other courses and discourses, do stand to her, and stickle for her, though never so much slighted by the world. There are those who read it thus, “But wisdom is judged of her children,” c viz. the perverse Jews, who preposterously pass sentence upon their mother, whom they should rather vail to, and vote for.
a As Ossum for Os, dolus for dolor, floret for florebit.
b Minime tamen dissimulans quod alioqui esset probaturus. Beza.
c Iudicatur, vel sententia pronunciatur. Camerar. Scultet.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
19. ] Alluding to our Lord’s practice of frequenting entertainments and feasts, e.g. the marriage at Cana, the feast in Levi’s house, &c. See also ch. Mat 9:14 .
= and yet; see Joh 16:32 .
, the divine wisdom which hath ordered these things.
. was justified the same tense as both times refers to the event , q. d., ‘they were events in which wisdom was justified, &c.’ The force of the aorist is not to be lost by giving a present meaning to either of the verbs. The meaning seems to be, that the waywardness above described was not universal, but that the (in allusion probably to the Book of Proverbs, which constantly uses similar expressions: see ch. Pro 2:1 ; Pro 3:21Pro 3:21 ; Pro 4:1 , &c.) were led to receive and justify (= clear of imputation) the Wisdom of God, who did these things. Cf. Luk 7:29 , where in this same narrative it is said, , . The are opposed to the wayward above, the child like to the child ish; and thus this verse serves as an introduction to the saying in Mat 11:25 . Chrysostom understands the verse differently: , , . Thus = ., as being the people of the Lord; and is our Lord Himself. This seems far-fetched, and not so consistent with the context as the other interpretation.
(reff.), not exactly equivalent to , but implying ‘ at the hands of ’ the person whence the justification comes.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 11:19 . . .: obviously Jesus here refers to Himself in third person where we might have expected the first. Again the now familiar title, defining itself as we go along by varied use, pointing Jesus out as an exceptional person, while avoiding all conventional terms to define the exceptional element. : the “Son of Man” is one who eats and drinks, i.e. , non-ascetic and social, one of the marks interpretative of the title = human, fraternal . , and they say: what? One is curious to know. Surely this genial, friendly type of manhood will please! , lo! scandalised sanctimoniousness points its finger at Him and utters gross, outrageous calumnies. , , , an eater with emphasis = a glutton (a word of late Greek, Lob., Phryn., 434), a wine-bibber ; and, worse than either, for is used in a sinister sense and implies that Jesus was the comrade of the worst characters, and like them in conduct. A malicious nick-name at first, it is now a name of honour: the sinner’s lover. The Son of Man takes these calumnies as a thing of course and goes on His gracious way. It is not necessary to reflect these characteristics of Jesus and John back into the parable, and to identify them with the piping and wailing children. Yet the parable is so constructed as to exhibit them very clearly in their distinctive peculiarities by representing the children not merely employed in play and quarrelling over their games, which would have sufficed as a picture of the religious Jews, but as playing at marriages and funerals, the former symbolising the joy of the Jesus-circle, the latter the sadness of the Baptist-circle ( vide my Parabolic Teaching of Christ , p. 420). , etc. This sentence wears a gnomic or proverbial aspect (“verba proverbium redolere videntur,” Kuinoel, similarly, Rosenmller), and the aorist of . may be taken as an instance of the gnomic aorist, expressive of what is usual; a law in the moral sphere, as elsewhere the aorist is employed to express the usual course in the natural sphere, e.g. , in Jas 1:11 . Weiss-Meyer strongly denies that there are any instances of such use of the aorist in the N. T. (On this aorist vide Goodwin, Syntax , p. 53, and Bumlein, 523, where it is called the aorist of experience, “der Erfahrungswahrheit”.) , in, in view of ( vide Buttmann’s Gram. , p. 232, on in N. T.). : the reading of [68] [69] , and likely to be the true one just because is the reading in Luke. It is an appeal to results, to fruit (Mat 7:20 ), to the future. Historical in form, the statement is in reality a prophecy. Resch, indeed ( Agrapha , p. 142), takes . as the (erroneous) translation of the Hebrew prophetic future used in the Aramaic original = now we are condemned, but wait a while. The at the beginning of the clause is not = “but”. It states a fact as much a matter of course as is the condemnation of the unwise. Wisdom, condemned by the foolish, is always, of course, justified in the long run by her works or by her children.
[68] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.
[69] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
The Son of Man. See App-98.
winebibber = drinking to excess.
publicans and sinners. See notes on Mat 5:46; Mat 9:10.
But = And: i.e. And [for all that] Wisdom was [in each case] vindicated by her children; so with Messiah (the Wisdom of God. 1Co 1:24, 1Co 1:30. Compare Mat 23:34 with Luk 11:49).
of = by. Greek. apo. App-104.
children. App-108. Tr. reads “work”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
19. ] Alluding to our Lords practice of frequenting entertainments and feasts, e.g. the marriage at Cana, the feast in Levis house, &c. See also ch. Mat 9:14.
= and yet; see Joh 16:32.
, the divine wisdom which hath ordered these things.
. was justified-the same tense as both times-refers to the event, q. d., they were events in which wisdom was justified, &c. The force of the aorist is not to be lost by giving a present meaning to either of the verbs. The meaning seems to be, that the waywardness above described was not universal, but that the (in allusion probably to the Book of Proverbs, which constantly uses similar expressions: see ch. Pro 2:1; Pro 3:1; Pro 3:11; Pro 3:21; Pro 4:1, &c.) were led to receive and justify (= clear of imputation) the Wisdom of God, who did these things. Cf. Luk 7:29, where in this same narrative it is said, , . The are opposed to the wayward above, the childlike to the childish; and thus this verse serves as an introduction to the saying in Mat 11:25. Chrysostom understands the verse differently: , , . Thus = ., as being the people of the Lord; and is our Lord Himself. This seems far-fetched, and not so consistent with the context as the other interpretation.
(reff.), not exactly equivalent to , but implying at the hands of the person whence the justification comes.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 11:19. , …, a gluttonous man, etc.) They distinguish Him, as one out of many, by a distinction opposed to that mentioned in the preceding verse.- , children) we have shown, in the Apparatus,[532] that -works-was anciently a widely received reading. Ambrose, on Luk 7:35, says:-Therefore wisdom is justified of all her children.[533] It is well said of all, because justice is observed towards all [i.e. in Gods dealings with all], so that the faithful may be accepted, the unfaithful rejected. Very many of the Greeks adopt the reading, Wisdom is justified of all her works, because it is the work of justice to observe the due measure towards the merit of every single individual. He, however, appears to mean the codices of St Matthew, not those of St Luke, for he is in the habit of recurring to them from time to time, although he is commenting on St Luke.[534]-[535]) Valla[536] thinks that this refers to ; but see Luk 7:35, where there are more remarks on the present passage. Cf. Luk 11:31. [No doubt Christ is the Wisdom meant. The children of Wisdom are those who suffer themselves to be gathered by her into her company. It is for this reason that Wisdom is blamed on the ground of too simple and ready indulgence towards such persons, and she is therefore thus compelled at last to justify herself. Luk 15:1-2, etc.-V. g.]
[532] In the Apparatus, p. 117, he says-
[533] The first sentence is not quoted by Bengel, but, on referring to the original. I considered the meaning so much plainer with it than without it, that I took the liberty of inserting it. The passage in Ambrose stands thus:-
[534] Luke, Luk 7:35, adds . B corrected later, reads, as the MSS. alluded to by Ambrose, : so MSS. in Jerome, both Syriac and Memph. Versions. But Dac Vulg., Orig., Hil. and Rec. Text, read .-ED.
[535] Gen. fem. sing, of . E. V. renders it her, sc. Wisdoms. Valla would render it of it, sc. of this generation.-(I. B.)
[536] LAURENTIUS VALLA, one of the most distinguished Latin scholars of the fifteenth century. Born in Rome about 1406; became Professor of Eloquence, first at Pavia, and afterwards at Milan; went to Rome in 1443, and became canon of St John the Lateran. Died 1457. He published, besides many other works, annotations on the N. T.-(I. B.)
Justificata est ergo Sapientia ab omnibus filiis suis. Bene ab omnibus, quia circa omnes justitia servatur; ut susceptio fiat fidelium rejectio perfidorum. Undeplerique Grci sic habent: Justificata est Sapientia ab omnibus operibus suis; quod opus justiti sit, circa unius cujuscunque meritum servare mensuram.-(I. B.)
19) ) operibus notat Hieronymus in Evangeliis quibusdam legi, in Comm. ad h. l. sic vero etiam th. Copt. Pers. Syr. Videtur Grcus librarius antiquissimus pro in maxima literarum similitudine, legisse . Qu strictura docere nos possit, ex Grco Matthi Evangelio deductum esse Evangelium Nazarenorum [an apocryphal gospel so called], quippe quod hoc loco sine dubio respexit Hieronymus. Eundem varietatem, ex Hieronymo, ut apparet, notavit Hafenrefferus in edit. su N. T.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Son of man (See Scofield “Mat 8:20”).
sinners Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
came: Luk 5:29, Luk 5:30, Luk 7:34, Luk 7:36, Luk 14:1, Joh 2:2, Joh 12:2-8, Rom 15:2
a friend: Mat 9:10, Mat 9:11, Luk 15:1, Luk 15:2, Luk 19:7
But: Psa 92:5, Psa 92:6, Pro 17:24, Luk 7:29, Luk 7:35, 1Co 1:24-29, Eph 3:8-10, Rev 5:11-14, Rev 7:12
Reciprocal: Gen 43:34 – were merry Psa 22:6 – a reproach Psa 109:20 – them Hos 14:9 – and the Mal 2:17 – Every Mat 5:22 – Whosoever Mat 5:46 – publicans Mat 9:14 – Why Mat 12:32 – whosoever Mat 18:17 – a publican Luk 2:34 – for a Joh 7:20 – Thou Rom 3:4 – That thou Rom 14:3 – judge Eph 1:8 – in Eph 2:2 – the children Heb 12:3 – contradiction
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
IN THE WORLDNOT OF IT
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
Mat 11:19
The question whether the faith of Christ permits us to enjoy the good things with which God has stored this beautiful world is one which often presents itself to the conscientious mind. In the world as God made it, it is quite possible to live for God and our fellow-creatures while living in the full rich stream of good homely thought and activity, and that is clearly what our Lord intended: I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. The medival Church held that the whole value and meaning of genuine Christianity lay in renunciation; and then, finding this an impossible ideal for the great mass of mankind, they declared that, while the monastic notion was the highest and best, there was a mild kind of Christianity, without this strict and severe ascetic principle, which was to be sufficient for ordinary people. This is, of course, wholly inconsistent, for no two such systems are revealed in the teachings of Christ.
I. In the world.The contrast which our Lord draws between the reception of Himself and John the Baptist is fundamental in this respect, and of the highest importance. If the duty of renouncing the gifts of God were the true meaning of Christianity, we should find the disciples, who followed their Master in all things so closely, taking such a view of His character. They did nothing of the kind.
II. The spiritualising of life.What are the leading ideas of Christs message? Trust in God as our Father, the Kingdom of Heaven, repentance, humility, the forgiveness of sins, the love of our neighbour. That is the sphere into which His teaching leads. Beside such glorious principles there is no room for a system of restrictions and abnegations. Our Lord came to fulfil and spiritualise the law, not merely to replace one set of difficult restrictions by another.
III. Three enemies.What are the three enemies of the Christian life against which our Lord speaks most strongly? They are
(a) The lust of money.
(b) Anxiety.
(c) Selfishness.
IV. The aim of life.When the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and renounced not the world, nor lived in the desert, but in the kindly homes of His brother men,in all this He had one abiding and permeating purposeand that purpose was love, love for the souls of men, love for the welfare of men, love that healed their sicknesses, love that comforted their sorrows.
Archdeacon Sinclair.
Illustration
The common daily life is for most of us the life of struggle and poverty, and any example which can teach us how to feel a deeper trust, a gladder contentment, a lighter care, should be very precious to us. In this respect Luther, like other brave and holy men, had learned better than we do the meaning of our Lord and Masters life. Ought we to consider poverty so great a curse, ought men to rebel against it so frantically, as though it were the worst of earthly evils, when we remember that it was this lot which Jesus Christ chose? Have the rich men done in this world one tithe of the good that has been done by poor men? When Martin Luthers voice rang through the world, he had no income of his own. One suit of clothes served him for two years. For a whole year his bed was never made. I was tired out, he said, with the days work, and lay down, and knew no more.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1:19
Jesus did the very opposite as to his social activities and did eat “with publicans and sinners” (chapter 9:11), yet that did not suit the people so they represented him as a man especially interested in his appetites. Wisdom is justified of her children. The last word is from a Greek word that means something that is produced by another. The wisdom that John and Christ showed in their different manner of life will be justified by the good results (the product or children) of their work, which was adapted to the peculiar circumstances in which they moved.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 11:19. The Son of man. Peculiarly appropriate here, where our Lord speaks of Himself, as appearing in His exalted mission, eating and drinking, like all other men; going to places of festivity, such as the wedding at Cana, the feast at the house of Levi, identifying Himself with men in their ordinary life.
Behold. Those who cried out against austerity objected also to a teacher of righteousness, who snowed himself thoroughly human in social life.
A winebibber. Our Lord used wine, as those about Him did. There was nothing singular in His social habits as the Son of man. But the generation which had denounced asceticism in John, at once magnified this into a crime.
A friend of publicans and sinners. Thoroughly worldly people seek to parry the claims of spiritual truth by assailing its teachers, in childish petulance, with such contradictory accusations, extending their criticisms to dress, food, expression of countenance, cut of the beard and parting of the hair. Much time has been wasted in trying to satisfy those sitting in the markets and playing there. Those who hate the truth will hate its representatives and will never understand their principles, or be satisfied with their practice. To our own Master we stand or fall.
And, or, and yet, in opposition to this childish conduct, Wisdom, the wisdom of God, personified here as in the Book of Proverbs, was justified; not is, nor will be.
By, or from, her works. The common reading here is borrowed from Luk 7:35 : by all her children. The general sense is the same; here the reference is to the actions of these children of wisdom. The judgments of the world are childish, those of the children of wisdom are childlike, in humility and faith, and their works correspond. The result in their case has justified the wisdom of Gods method. Some, however, refer the clause to the Jews, either in solemn irony (claiming to have wisdom, their works should justify it), or implying that their contradictory judgments confuted each other and thus confirmed wisdom.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
11:19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. {4} But {f} wisdom is justified of her children.
(4) That which the many refuse, the elect and chosen embrace.
(f) Wise men acknowledge the wisdom of the gospel when they receive it.