Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 12:6
But I say unto you, That in this place is [one] greater than the temple.
One greater than the temple – Here the Saviour refers to himself, and to his own dignity and power. I have power over the laws; I can grant to my disciples a dispensation from those laws. An act which I command or permit them to do is therefore right. This proves that he was divine. None but God can authorize people to do a thing contrary to the divine laws. He refers them again Mat 12:7 to a passage he had before quoted (See the notes at Mat 9:13), showing that God preferred acts of righteousness, rather than a precise observance of a ceremonial law.
Mark adds Mar 2:27 the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. That is, the Sabbath was intended for the welfare of man; it was designed to promote his happiness, and not to produce misery by harsh, unfeeling requirements. It is not to be so interpreted as to produce suffering by making the necessary supply of wants unlawful. Man was not made for the Sabbath. Man was created first, and then the Sabbath was appointed for his happiness, Gen 2:1-3. His necessities, his real comforts and needs, are not to be made to bend to that which was made for him. The laws are to be interpreted favorably to his real wants and comforts. This authorizes works only of real necessity, not of imaginary wants, or amusements, or common business and worldly employments.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 12:6
That in this place Is One greater than the temple.
Christ greater than the Church
I. Look at the things essential in the structure of the church, and show what Christ is in relation to these. The things essential in the structure of the church are the plan, the foundation, and the materials.
1. Let us understand what Christ is in relation to the plan. The plan of the Christian Church is that of a temple. Everything we see suggests that God seeks manifestation. The temple was complete in Christ; the union of the Divine and human, the indwelling of the Divine Spirit, the manifestation of the Divine perfection, the operation of the Divine mercy-all were in Him. The life-plan of the Saviour developed by Christian life and fellowship.
2. The foundation. The foundation means the reason which both churches and souls give of the hope that is in them. The gospel of Christ is the foundation.
3. The materials of which it is composed. In respect of the house of God this is a great mystery; composed of divers elements. Christ fits every individual member into his appropriate place.
II. The purposes of the church, what christ is in relation to these.
1. Up-building, or culture.
2. Outbuilding, or conquest.
3. Worship, or adoration. Christ everything to the church in the process of culture. He liberates, elevates, and purifies. As to conquest the Church is Christs messenger. As to worship it is a holy priesthood. (A. McLeod, D. D.)
Christ greater than the temple.
The Church is nothing without its head. Whatever it is, He has created it. Whatever it does, He is its life! It is righteous, but it is with His righteousness. It is royal, its royalty comes from Him. It is a priesthood, He conferred the priesthood. Its love, its power, its faith, its hope, everything it is, everything it expects to do, find their explanation and root in its relation to Him. (A. McLeod, D. D.)
One greater than the temple
I. Our Lord Jesus Christ is greater than the temple.
1. He is so manifestly because He is God. He who dwells in the house is greater than the house in which He dwells, so that as God Jesus is greater than the temple. The Divine must be greater than any human workmanship; the self-existent must excel the noblest created thing. The temple was many years in building, and came to an end. Christ is from everlasting to everlasting. Hence our Lords authority was greater than that of the temple.
2. He is greater than the temple, for He is a more glorious enshrinement of Deity. In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The manifestation of the Godhead in Christ is approachable.
3. Our Lord is a fuller manifestation of the truth than the temple was. The temple was full of instruction; but all in type. Christ says, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.
4. Because He is a more abiding evidence of Divine favour.
5. Because He is a more sure place of consolation.
6. Because He is a more glorious centre of worship.
II. Jesus ought to be regarded as greater than the temple,
1. We ought to think of Him with greater joy than even the Jews did of the greater and beautiful house.
2. We ought to consider Him with greater wonder than that with which men surveyed the temple.
3. He ought to be visited with greater frequency.
4. He ought to be reverenced with greater solemnity.
5. He ought to be honoured with higher service.
6. He ought to be sought with more vehement desire.
III. Practical reflections.
1. How carefully should the laws of Jesus Christ be observed.
2. How much more ought we to value Christ than any outward ordinance.
3. How much more important that you should go to Christ than that you should go to any place which you suppose to be the house of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
I. The superiority of christ to the temple of Jerusalem. His superiority in those respects which distinguish that temple above all others.
1. It was built under the immediate and special direction of God.
2. It was furnished with everything that was requisite to the purpose of its erection as it regards both God and man.
3. It was adorned with a visible symbol of the Divine presence.
4. It was frequented by all the tribes of Israel as the place set apart for their religious worship.
II. Inferences.
1. His lordship over the conscience. Every human authority must yield to His.
2. His power to bestow all spiritual blessing-peace, strength, glory.
(1) How signal are our privileges!
(2) How solemn is our responsibility! (Various.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. In this place is one greater than the temple.] Does not our Lord refer here to Mal 3:1? Compare this with Heb 3:3. The Jews esteemed nothing greater than the temple, except that God who was worshipped in it. Christ, by asserting he was greater than the temple, asserts that he was God; and this he does, in still more direct terms, Mt 12:8, The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath-is Institutor and Governor of it. Compare this with Ge 2:3, and see the notes there.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Jews had very superstitious conceits concerning the temple, and might object, But the priests works are done in the temple. The Jews had a saying, that in the temple there was no sabbath. They looked upon the temple as sanctifying all actions done there. To obviate this, (saith our Saviour),
In this place is one (that is, I am)
greater than the temple. The temple was but a type of me. If the temple can sanctify so much labour, will not my authority and permission, think you, excuse this little labour of my disciples?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. But I say unto you, That in thisplace is one greater than the templeor rather, according tothe reading which is best supported, “something greater.”The argument stands thus: “The ordinary rules for the observanceof the sabbath give way before the requirements of the temple; butthere are rights here before which the temple itself must give way.”Thus indirectly, but not the less decidedly, does our Lord put in Hisown claims to consideration in this questionclaims to be presentlyput in even more nakedly.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But I say unto you,…. Who Christ knew would be ready to object, as above, and therefore prevents them, by saying,
that in this place is one greater than the temple; meaning himself, who was the Lord and Proprietor of the temple, and in his human nature the antitype of it; see Joh 2:19 and was infinitely more sacred than that. Some copies read , “something greater”; referring either to the human nature of Christ, in which the Godhead dwells bodily, and so infinitely greater than the temple; or to the health of his disciples, which was in danger, through hunger: or to the ministry of the apostles, which, by satisfying nature, they were more capable of performing; either of which was of more moment than the sacrifices and service of the temple. Christ’s argument is, that if the temple, and the service of it, excused the priests from blame, in doing things in it on the sabbath day, which otherwise might not be done; then much more might his presence, who was greater than the temple, excuse his disciples from blame in this action of rubbing and eating the ears of corn; which was done to satisfy hunger, and to render them the more capable of performing their ministerial function; and which was of more importance than the service of the priests.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
One greater than the temple ( ). Ablative of comparison, . The Textus Receptus has , but the neuter is correct. Literally, “something greater than the temple.” What is that? It may still be Christ, or it may be: “The work and His disciples were of more account than the temple” (Plummer). “If the temple was not subservient to Sabbath rules, how much less the Messiah!” (Allen).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
One greater [] . The correct reading makes the adjective neuter, so that the right rendering is something greater (Rev., in margin). The reference is, of course, to Christ himself (compare vv. 41, 42, where the neuter pleion, more (so Rev., in margin), is used in the same way). Compare, also, Joh 2:19, where Christ speaks of his own body as a temple. The indefiniteness of the neuter gives a more solemn and impressive sense.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But I say unto you,” (lego de humin) “Then (if you do recall it), l tell you all;” Hunger’s human need took precedence over both the sabbaths (holy days) and the temple (an holy place). Even so, obedience to Christ and His church work, took priority over temple ceremonies and the law of Moses.
2) “That in this place in one greater than the temple.” (hoti tou hierou meizon estin hode) “That a greater (one or thing) than the temple is here,” the one these disciples were following, and His church that they were serving, in their hunger, was greater than the former temple service and priest-servants. This was a mighty blow to the intelligence and arrogant pride of the faultfinding Pharisees, as also expressed, Heb 3:3-6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(6) In this place is one greater than the temple.Better, Here is something greater than the Temple. The Greek adjective is neuter in the better MSS., and the word here we may think of as accompanied (like the destroy this temple of Joh. 2:19) by a gesture which interpreted the words. The passage thus referred to furnishes obviously the true explanation of our Lords assertion of His greatness here, and spoken, as it probably was, to scribes from Jerusalem, may have been intended to remind them of it. The body of the Son of Man was the truest, highest temple of God, and the disciples who ministered to Him were entitled to at least the same privilege as the priests in the Temple at Jerusalem. The range of the words is, however, wider than this their first and highest application. We are taught to think of the bodies of other sons of men as being also, in their measure, temples of God (1Co. 6:19), and so there follows the conclusion that all works of love done for the bodies or the souls of men as little interfere with the holiness of a day of rest as did the ministrations of the priests as they laboured to weariness in the ritual of the Temple. Inasmuch as the disciples were not at the time engaged in any direct service to their Master, but were simply satisfying the cravings of their own hunger, their act, strictly speaking, came under the general rather than the special application of the words. Man, as such, to those who take a true measure of his worth, is greater than any material temple.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. One greater than the temple And, therefore, able to dispense with temple and ritual sanctities when they come in collision with the object of my mission, or the maintenance of my ministers in the performance of that mission. It in fact adds a force to our Lord’s words, that the word greater is, in the Greek, in the neuter gender. Christ is a greater existence or thing than the temple.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“But I say to you, that one greater than the temple is here.”
But Jesus now takes the opportunity of making a second point so as to bring home to them His claims. He points out that ‘One greater than the Temple is here’. Note His emphatic ‘I say to you’. He is speaking from a position of unique authority. The words are carefully chosen. He did not precisely say that He was the One Who was greater than the Temple. He left it to be implied. But again the claim is huge. He is indicating that He is greater than the Temple, that His importance outranks the importance of the Temple, and that He thus has the right to interpret the Law as it applies to His followers, just as the Temple could interpret the Law for its ministrants. Indeed as the Temple is the repository for the Law, it has authority over the Law. So as greater than the Temple He has more right to interpret the Law than any other living person. It was in fact to be one of the duties of the Messianic King to interpret the Law so as to ensure that he and the nation lived by it (Deu 17:19-20).
‘One greater than the Temple.’ ‘One’ is neuter, but in Greek this can signify a person when a quality is being stressed rather than the person himself (compare the similar use in Mat 12:41-42). Alternately what is greater than the Temple might be the Kingly Rule of God, but that would then include the King (Mat 12:28).
‘Is here.’ In other words let them note that the time has come. For long centuries the Temple has represented God on earth. But now it has been superseded as God’s primary means of being revealed to His people, by Another, the One Who can reveal the Father to whom He will (Mat 11:27), or alternately by the presence of the Kingly Rule of Heaven, and the One Who represents it. Thus the Tabernacle and the Temple as the place around which God’s ‘congregation’ would gather is being replaced by Another around which a new congregation will gather.
Jesus comparison of Himself with the Temple comes out elsewhere. See Mat 26:61; Joh 2:19-21. Just as within the Temple was the symbol of the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH (not the Ark itself but something that represented it) so within the body of Jesus was the living God Himself.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The application of the argument:
v. 6. But I say unto you, That in this place is One greater than the Temple.
v. 7. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
v. 8. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. Christ’s argument itself could not be challenged, but He now brings out the principles involved to reveal the smallness and the uncharitableness of their hearts. In the first place: He is greater than the Jewish Law and the Temple. What was permitted to the priests that served in the Temple must surely be conceded as a right to His disciples. Then also: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. The greatest law finding its application here is the law of charity, Hos 6:6. All the sacrifices made in punctilious observance of the letter of the Law cannot be placed on a level with the mercy, with the love, which is the fulfillment of the Law. A heart that realizes the need of the neighbor and cheerfully helps in obtaining all that is needed, is engaged in a higher form of worship than that which upholds a rigorous legalism. And finally: Christ openly declares that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is the founder of the New Covenant. All the Old Testament precepts concerning sacrifices, Sabbath, festivals, were only shadows of things to come. They have lost their force since Christ has now been revealed. The Word of God and the law of love alone rule in the New Testament.
The Observance of Sunday
“Those that are of the opinion that the order of Sunday has been established as necessary in place of the Sabbath, are badly in error. For the Holy Scripture has abrogated the Sabbath, and teaches that all ceremonies of the old Law may be omitted after the revelation of the Gospel; and yet, since it has been necessary to establish a certain day, in order that the people might know when they should come together, the Christian Church has ordained Sunday for that purpose, and has had all the more pleasure and desire for this change, in order that the people might have an example of Christian liberty and know that the observance neither of the Sabbath nor of any other day is necessary.”
“St. Paul and the entire New Testament have abolished the Sabbath of the Jews, in order that it may be palpable that the Sabbath concerns the Jews only. Therefore it is not necessary that the heathens keep the Sabbath, though it was a great and strict law with the Jews. The prophets have also adduced that this Sabbath should be abolished. Isaiah, in the last chapter, verse 23, says: When the Master comes, there will be such a time that one new moon will follow the other, one Sabbath be beside the other. As though he would say: Every day will be Sabbath, every day will be new moon. Thus, in the New Testament the Sabbath no longer exists after the rude, external form. For this commandment also has a twofold meaning like the other commandments, an external and an internal, or spiritual, one. With the Christians of the New Testament all days are holy days, and all days are free. Therefore Christ says: The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath, Mat 12:8. Therefore Paul in various places admonishes the Christians to permit themselves to be bound by no days: Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain, Gal 4:10-11. Again, to the Colossians still more plainly: Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, Col 2:16-17; Rom 14:5.
“Though the Sabbath is now abolished and the consciences are free from it, it is still good, and also necessary, to observe one special day in the week, in order to use, to hear and learn the Word of God on that day. For not everyone can tend to it every day. Nature also demands that men be quiet one day in the week, and both men and beasts abstain from work. But whosoever would make a necessary commandment of the Sabbath, as of a work demanded by God, must keep the Saturday, and not the Sunday; for the Saturday is commanded to the Jews, and not the Sunday. The Christians, however, have till now kept the Sunday and not the Saturday, for this reason, since Christ arose on a Sunday. This is a certain indication that the Sabbath no longer concerns us, and all of Moses [the ceremonial law]; else we should be obliged to keep the Saturday; and this is a great and strong proof that the Sabbath is abrogated. For throughout the whole New Testament we find no passage in which the celebration of the Sabbath is commanded to us Christians.
“Why, then, is the Sunday observed by the Christians? Although all days are free, and one is as the other, it is still useful and good, yea, very necessary that one day be celebrated, whether it be the Sabbath, the Sunday, or any other day. For God wants to lead the world carefully and rule over it peacefully; therefore has He given six days for work, but on the seventh day servants, day-laborers, and workmen of all kinds, yea, also horses, oxen, and other working cattle, shall have rest, as the sense of this commandment is, in order that by rest they might find recreation. And above all, that they who at other times have no leisure, may hear the sermon on the holy day, and thereby learn to know God. And for such reasons, namely, for the sake of charity and necessity, has the Sunday remained, not on account of the Law of Moses, but for the sake of our need, that we might rest, and that we might learn the Word of God.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 12:6. But I say unto you, that in this place, &c. “If you reply, that the priests were not culpable in those actions, because they were undertaken for the temple service, I acknowledge it; but at the same time it should be observed, that if the temple, with its service, be of such importance as to demand a particular dispensation from the law of the sabbath; I who am the Lord of the temple, and of whom the temple is but the type, may, with equal reason, take the same liberty in a case of the like necessity.” Every prophet was in some sense greater than the temple; and hence Elijah sacrificed out of the temple on an extraordinary occasion: but our blessed Lord was infinitely greater than any prophet. It should also be observed, that Christ and his apostles were so taken up in the discharge of their duty, that they had not leisure to prepare food for the sabbath; they were therefore under a necessity either to intermit their prophetic office, or to act contrary to the literal sense of the law. Now, as the Jews did not intermit the office of the priesthood on account of the law concerning the sabbath; so neither should the prophetic office be intermitted on that account, especially as it was superior in its dignity, and more extensive in its benefits. According to this interpretation the reading , a greater work, instead of , a greater person, which is authorised by a number of manuscripts, will have a peculiar elegance. “There is here a much more noble work carrying on than the temple-service.” Or the common reading may be retained thus: “If the servile work done in the temple on a sabbath is not reckoned an offence, because it is undertaken on account of the temple-worship, the rubbing of the ears of corn, for which you blamemy disciples, cannot be any; seeing they do it in order to support life, while they are employed in the service of one who is infinitely greater than the temple.” For the Human Nature of Jesus was an infinitely more august temple, in respect of the essential habitation of the Divinity, than that of Jerusalem. See Grotius, Hammond, Wetstein, and Mill.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 12:6 . As in Mat 12:3 f. Jesus had reasoned a majori (from the fact of David, when hungry, being allowed to eat the shew-bread ) ad minus (to the fact of the hungry disciples being allowed to pluck the corn on the Sabbath), so in Mat 12:5 He reasons a minori (viz. from the temple , where the Sabbath is subordinated to the sacrificial arrangements) ad majus , viz. to His own authority, which transcends the sanctity of the temple, and from acting under which the disciples might well be the less disposed to be bound to keep the Sabbath. The key to this argument is to be found in Mat 12:6 , which contains the minor proposition of the conclusion: what is allowable in the case of the servants of the temple, namely, to work on the Sabbath, must be conceded to the servants of Him who is greater than the temple; I am greater than the temple; therefore, and so on.
In all the elevation and truth of His self-consciousness Jesus points with to His own person and character as surpassing the temple in sanctity and greatness; not to the Messianic work (Fritzsche, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius), with which the plucking of the corn had nothing to do; nor, again, to the interests of the, disciples! (Paulus, Kuinoel); nor, finally, to the in Mat 12:7 (Baur). The neuter , a greater thing , is more weighty than the masculine. Dissen, ad Dem. de cor . p. 396. Comp. Mat 11:9 .
] demonstrative, as in Mat 12:41-42 . Notice how sublimely great is the consciousness that God is dwelling in Him in a higher sense than in the temple; comp. note on Joh 2:19 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1351
CHRIST GREATER THAN THE TEMPLE
Mat 12:6. I say unto you, that in this place is One greater than the Temple.
IT is said, concerning our blessed Lord, that he endured, in a most extraordinary degree, the contradiction of sinners against himself [Note: Heb 12:3.]. And in reading his history, we are struck with it continually. There was not any thing which he either said or did, which was not made a subject of cavil to his enemies. Even his most beneficent acts were condemned as violations of the law [Note: Joh 5:8-9; Joh 5:16.], or as affording occasion for the Romans to destroy both their place and nation [Note: Joh 11:43-44; Joh 11:47-48; Joh 11:53.]. In the chapter before us, we have a remarkable instance of their carping at an action in his Disciples, which, if done by any other person, would have caused no complaint. Our Lord was going with his Disciples through a corn-field, on the Sabbath-day; and they, being hungry, plucked some ears of corn, and rubbed them in their hands, and ate the corn. This the law of Moses expressly authorized them to do [Note: Deu 23:2.]; and therefore the act could not be condemned. But the law prohibited all kinds of labour on the Sabbath-day; and the Pharisees, with hypocritical malignity, interpreted this act as a kind of reaping and threshing-out the corn; and cast reflections on our Lord for sanctioning such a violation of the Sabbath. Our Lord therefore vindicated his Disciples: first, on the ground of its being a matter of necessity, in which case it superseded the observance of a ceremonial institution. In proof of this, he adduced the instance of David, who, having no food to satisfy himself and his followers on one particular emergency, took the loaves of shew-bread, which were to be eaten by none but the priests alone, and satisfied the calls of nature with that [Note: Lev 24:5-9. with 1Sa 21:6.]. This was generally acknowledged as a justifiable act in David, because of the urgency of the occasion; and on the same ground the conduct of his Disciples was justifiable, as was his also in permitting it. Our Lord next vindicated it on the ground of precedent: for, notwithstanding all the injunctions respecting rest on the Sabbath-day, the priests in the temple engaged in labour, to a very great extent, on every Sabbath, being occupied in slaying and offering the appointed sacrifices. They, notwithstanding they thus profaned the Sabbath, were blameless, because the service of the temple required it. In like manner, the Disciples, being engaged in his work, were blameless: for He was greater than the temple; and, consequently, was entitled to suspend the observance of the Sabbath, so far as his service required it; for He was Lord even of the Sabbath-day [Note: ver. 18.].
In discoursing on this subject, I will,
I.
Confirm our Lords assertion
Our blessed Lord did not so fully declare his Messiahship to the Pharisees as he did to some of a more candid disposition; as the Samaritan woman [Note: Joh 4:25-26.], and the man who had been born blind [Note: Joh 9:35-37.]. Yet, on proper occasions, he was not backward to assert his superiority to all the sons of men. Jonas was a prophet; and Solomon a king; but he was, in every view, greater than either the one or the other of them [Note: ver. 41, 42.]. And, of all the structures in the universe, the temple was infinitely the most august and sacred: yet did he, without hesitation, declare himself to be greater than the temple [Note: Whether we read or , denoting a person or a thing, we must of necessity understand it of our Lord himself: only, in the latter case we must suppose him to point to his own body; as he did when he said, Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up: Joh 2:20-21.].
In order to confirm this assertion, I shall not enter generally into the proofs of the divinity of Christ, but shall consider minutely the comparison here instituted between the temple and him: and, stating those things which most ennobled the temple, I will distinctly mark the superiority of Christ in every particular.
The temple then, with every vessel in it, was made after a pattern formed by God himself; and given to David, and to Solomon, for that end [Note: 1Ch 28:11-12; 1Ch 28:18-19.]
[But the Lord Jesus Christ was himself formed by the very hand of God. He was formed, as no other person ever was, by the immediate agency of the Holy Ghost; as the angel had announced to the Virgin Mary: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore, also, that Holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God [Note: Luk 1:35. compared with Heb 9:11.]. Nor was it in his person only, but in his offices also, that he was pre-eminently the product of Divine wisdom and power. In him are combined the kingly, prophetic, and sacerdotal offices; all of which he executes, in a spiritual manner, over the face of the whole earth, yea, and in heaven itself too; and will continue so to do, even to the end of time. It was in reference to him and his offices that the temple itself was formed, and all its ordinances were appointed. They were but the shadow, of which he was the substance: and consequently his superiority in this respect is fully established [Note: Mark carefully the precision with which this is stated in Heb 8:5.].]
Again: the temple was richly furnished with every thing which could conduce to the glory of God, or to the welfare of man
[The candlestick, the table of shew-bread, the altar of incense, the censer, the ark of the covenant, with numberless other vessels, all of the purest gold, and of the most exquisite workmanship, distinguished this building far beyond any that ever existed upon earth. But they were very faint shadows of his incomprehensible fulness and excellency. In Him their respective uses were all combined. He was at once the sacrifice, the altar that sanctified it, and the Priest that offered it. He was the light of the whole world; and the living bread, of which whosoever eats shall live for ever. He was the laver in which every child of man must wash both his person and his offerings. He was the ark, which contained in it the law, and was covered in all its exact dimensions by the mercy-seat; for, by his own fulfilment of the law for us, he rendered the exercise of mercy commensurate with the necessities of fallen man. Here again, then, compare the shadow with the substance, and say whether the Lord Jesus Christ do not infinitely surpass the temple in the very things which constituted its chief grandeur.]
But further: the temple had the Shechinah, the bright cloud, the symbol of the Deity, constantly residing in it
[This was doubtless its highest glory. (I speak of the former temple, previous to the Babylonish captivity; and not of the latter, in which many of its principal ornaments were wanting.) But in the Lord Jesus Christ dwelt, not a symbol of the Deity, but the Deity himself, even all the fulness of the Godhead bodily [Note: Col 2:9.]. This explains that prophecy of the Prophet Haggai, that the glory of the latter house should exceed the glory of the former [Note: Hag 2:9.]. How could that be, it may be asked, when in the latter temple were wanting the Shechinah, the Urim and Thummim, and the fire that came down from heaven? The answer is plain: The Lord Jesus Christ himself came to the latter house: and his presence in it was an honour infinitely exceeding all that ever was conferred on the first temple; because he was not a symbol of the Deity, but the great God himself in an incarnate state, even Emmanuel, God with us [Note: Mat 1:23.].]
I add yet once more: the temple was the place of confluence to all the tribes of Israel, even to all who desired to have access to God, or to obtain blessings at his hands [Note: Psa 122:4.]
[And whither does every sinner in the universe go, but to Jesus [Note: Joh 6:68.]? To him is every eye directed [Note: Isa 45:22.]: through him alone can any man have access to God [Note: Eph 2:18.]: in him does every saint desire to be found [Note: Php 3:9.]: and through him shall all blessings, temporal, spiritual, eternal, flow down in richest abundance upon all who believe in him [Note: Eph 1:3.]. Indeed, in this respect his superiority is most amply marked: for all that he does, is by virtue of the one offering of himself once offered: whereas the offerings in the temple, because of their inefficacy, were renewed from year to year [Note: Heb 10:1-4; Heb 10:10.]: his grace also extends to sins which the law of Moses could not reach [Note: Act 13:39.]; and confers benefits which that was unable to impart [Note: Heb 7:19.]; and endures, not for a year only, like that under the law, but through the countless ages of eternity [Note: Heb 10:11; Heb 10:14; Heb 10:17-18.].]
To add any thing further would be superfluous. The superiority of Christ to the temple is so evident, that, without dwelling any longer upon it, I will proceed to,
II.
Point out the peculiar interest which we have in it
Here again we go back to our text, that we may derive from thence as much as possible for the elucidation of our subject. The establishment of Christs superiority to the temple shews,
1.
His right to command
[That was the precise point at issue between him and the Pharisees: Had he a right to authorize a deviation from the letter of the Mosaic law? He affirmed he had. They themselves admitted, that the strict observance of the Sabbath was dispensed with for the service of the temple: and if He was greater than the temple, the same right was vested in him. Nothing less than divine authority could in any case supersede a divine command: and, if be were greater than the temple, a divine authority must reside in him; consequently, he exercised no other right than what strictly, and of necessity, pertained unto him.
Now, there are divine commands, which we also, under all ordinary circumstances, are bound to obey. We must yield compliance with the lawful edicts of the civil magistrate [Note: Tit 3:1.]: we must obey them, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake: and if we resist his lawful authority, we shall receive to ourselves damnation [Note: Rom 13:1-2; Rom 13:5.]. Yet, if the civil magistrate enjoin what is contrary to the command of Christ, or forbid any thing which Christ has enjoined, we must obey Christ in preference to him. The Apostles, when forbidden to preach or teach in the name of Jesus, appealed to his very judges, saying, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard [Note: Act 4:19-20; Act 5:29]. In like manner, we are commanded to love and honour our parents: and so important is that command, that it is distinguished from the rest, by being enforced, as the Apostle observes, with a special promise [Note: Eph 6:2.]. Yet even that is superseded, when they exert their authority in opposition to Christ. Nay, more: strange as the injunction sounds, we are commanded even to hate father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, in comparison of him; and on no other terms can we ever be acknowledged as his disciples [Note: Luk 14:26.]. (Of course, no one will be so absurd as to imagine that this declaration is to be understood in any other than a comparative view: for in any other view we are not authorized to hate an enemy, much less our nearest relatives.) Our duty to the Lord Jesus Christ is of paramount obligation, and supersedes every thing that is opposed to it. The law of self-preservation is strongly binding upon us: but if fidelity to Christ require the sacrifice of it, not even life itself must be dear to us [Note: Act 20:24.]: we must be willing to lay it down at any time for his sake [Note: Act 21:13.]: and if, at the expense of our duty to him, we save our lives, we shall lose them to all eternity [Note: Mat 10:39.].
This, then, must be a principle deeply fixed in our minds, That the authority of Christ is to rule us under all circumstances; and that nothing under heaven is to be suffered to interfere with it. Men who cast off his yoke will indeed clamour against us, and express their indignation against us for not complying with their will. But we may safely leave ourselves in the hands of Jesus; who, as our Advocate, will plead our cause; and, as our Judge, will pass a sentence of approval upon us in the last day. He will then at least, if not before, vindicate our conduct, and make our righteousness to appear as the noon-day [Note: Psa 37:6.].]
2.
His sufficiency to save
[To all who observed the institutions of the law in faith, they were effectual for the salvation of their souls. And who ever applied to Jesus in vain? Who ever relied on his sacrifice, and was confounded? What is there that shall be kept back from one who implores blessings at his hands? Shall pardon be refused? No: though his sins were red as scarlet or as crimson, they should become white as snow. The blood of Jesus Christ should cleanse him from all sin. Shall peace be denied to the believing suppliant? No: being justified by faith, he shall have peace with God; so that, instead of looking forward with terror to the eternal world, he shall even now rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Shall strength for future obedience be withheld? No: the grace of Christ shall be sufficient for him; and he shall be able to do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth him. Shall glory be deemed too good for him? No: the Saviour, in whom he has believed, will judge him, and exalt him to a participation of his own inheritance, his own kingdom, his own glory. The principal utensils of the temple, the lavers, the tables, the candlesticks, wore, in the temple, ten times more numerous than in the tabernacle [Note: Compare Exo 25:23; Exo 25:31; Exo 30:18. with 2Ch 4:6-8.]: and this marked the great superiority of the temple and its services to the tabernacle and the ordinances observed in it. And say I too much, if I say, that in Jesus our blessings are increased? Verily, they are increased, not tenfold, but a hundredfold: for, till he was glorified, they were sent forth only in slender portions: but from that time they have been poured out like a river [Note: Joh 7:39.].]
Let us then observe from hence,
1.
How highly we are privileged under the Christian dispensation
[Jesus came in person to the second temple, and thereby raised it above the first. And does he not come to his temple in our day? Yes, he does: not corporeally indeed, but spiritually, and with great power. He has promised that he would do so: Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them [Note: Mat 18:20.]. And this he will continue to do: as he has said, Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world [Note: Mat 28:20.]. Nor is it any disadvantage to us that he comes only in a spiritual way: for they who beheld him in person were stumbled at the meanness of his appearance; and could not conceive how one so poor and destitute and despised should possess the authority he claimed. But we have no such stumbling-block in our way. We know who he is, and what he is, even the Mighty God, and the Prince of Peace. We know too what he can do: and that all which was done, under the law by God, in his temple, he can and will do in the midst of us. To us he will give his answers of peace; yea, he will give grace and glory: and withhold no good thing from us in time or in eternity. Let us know, then, our exalted privilege, and have our expectations enlarged, in proportion to the advantages we enjoy.]
2.
With what delight we should attend the ordinances of our God
[Never should we go up to the House of God without expecting to meet our Saviour there. We should not go to public ordinances merely to perform a duty, but to enjoy a privilege; not to hear a preacher, but to meet our God and Saviour. O, what a different appearance would there be in ordinances, if we all attended them in a becoming frame! What devotion would there be in our prayers! what reverential attention to the word delivered! and what showers of blessings would be poured out upon our souls! Remember, I pray you, brethren, that, when you come up hither, you come to meet your Lord, who is already waiting here to receive you. Be never satisfied, if you do not see him: and, if at any time his word be applied with power to your souls, acknowledge him in the gift: for it is through his power alone that the word is effectual for any spiritual good [Note: 2Co 10:4.]. Thus shall your worship here prepare you for higher services above; and your acknowledgments of his goodness be a prelude to your Hosannahs in the realms of bliss [Note: Rev 5:12.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Ver. 6. But I say unto you ] q.d. Whereas you will here object, that that was done in the temple; I tell you I am greater than the temple: for in me the Godhead dwelleth bodily, Col 1:19 ; as in the temple was the ark, where the glory of God appeared, so that it filled the temple sometimes. Take notice here, by the way, how good it is to have some grave and godly man to be a beholder and judge of our actions, to whom we may approve them, whatever other ill-affected think of them- Equitem mihi plaudere curo, saith the heathen poet. And Libanius (though an atheist) could say, (ad Basil). If Basil commend me, I care not what all others say of me. Christ’s white stone will comfort a Christian against the black coals of the world’s censures. If Demetrius have a good report of the truth, and such a one as St John to bear record for him, he need not care though Diotrephes prate as fast against them both with malicious words,3Jn 1:9-123Jn 1:9-12 , as the Pharisees did here against the disciples, when Christ defended them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6. ] seems the better supported reading, and sustains the parallel better: a greater thing than the temple is here. See Joh 2:19 . The inference is, ‘If the priests in the temple and for the temple’s sake, for its service and ritual, profane the Sabbath, as ye account profanation, and are blameless, how much more these disciples who have grown hungry in their appointed following of Him who is greater than the temple, the true Temple of God on earth , the Son of Man!’ I cannot agree with Stier that the neuter would represent only “something greater, more weighty than the temple, namely, merciful consideration of the hungry, or the like:” it seems to me, as above, to bear a more general and sublime sense than the masculine; see Mat 12:41 , &c.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 12:6-8 . The principles involved . The facts stated raise questions as to the reasons. The Pharisees were men of rules, not accustomed to go back on principles. The passion for minuti killed reflection. The reasons have been already hinted in the statement of the cases: , Mat 12:3 ; , Mat 12:5 : hunger , the temple ; human needs, higher claims. These are referred to in inverse order in Mat 12:6-7 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 12:6 . : solemn affirmation, with a certain tone in the voice. . Though they might not have thought of the matter before, the claim of the temple to overrule the Sabbath law would be admitted by the Pharisees. Therefore, Jesus could base on it an argument a fortiori . The Sabbath must give way to the temple and its higher interests, therefore to something higher still. What was that something? Christ Himself, according to the almost unanimous opinion of interpreters, ancient and modern; whence doubtless the of T. R. But Jesus might be thinking rather of the kingdom than of the king; a greater interest is involved here, that of the kingdom of God. Fritzsche takes as = teaching men, and curing them of vice then going on. It may be asked: How did the interest come in? The disciples were following Jesus, but what was He about? What created the urgency? Whence came it that the disciples needed to pluck ears of standing corn? We do not know. That is one of the many lacun in the evangelic history. But it may be assumed that there was something urgent going on in connection with Christ’s ministry, whereby He and His companions were overtaken with extreme hunger, so that they were fain to eat unprepared food ( , Euthy. Zig. on Mat 12:7 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
in this place = here.
greater than the temple. Compare Mat 12:41, a greater prophet; and Mat 12:42, a greater king; who can be only God Himself.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6.] seems the better supported reading, and sustains the parallel better: a greater thing than the temple is here. See Joh 2:19. The inference is, If the priests in the temple and for the temples sake, for its service and ritual, profane the Sabbath, as ye account profanation, and are blameless, how much more these disciples who have grown hungry in their appointed following of Him who is greater than the temple, the true Temple of God on earth, the Son of Man! I cannot agree with Stier that the neuter would represent only something greater, more weighty than the temple,-namely, merciful consideration of the hungry, or the like: it seems to me, as above, to bear a more general and sublime sense than the masculine; see Mat 12:41, &c.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 12:6. , I say) This form of speech expresses great authority.- , the temple) In which the priests minister. The Temple gives way to Christ, the Sabbath (Mat 12:5) to the Temple; therefore the Sabbath (Mat 12:8) to Christ.- , there is here) He does not say, I am greater. Jesus was lowly in heart. See Mat 12:41-42, ch. Mat 11:4-5. Thus too in Luk 4:21, He says, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears; and again, ch. Mat 19:9, This day is salvation come to this house. See also Mat 13:17; Joh 4:10; Joh 9:37.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mat 12:41, Mat 12:42, Mat 23:17-21, 2Ch 6:18, Hag 2:7-9, Mal 3:1, Joh 2:19-21, Eph 2:20-22, Col 2:9, 1Pe 2:4, 1Pe 2:5
Reciprocal: Joh 8:53 – thou greater
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
12:6
The temple was holy and it was the place where these manual performances were done. In this place means the case of Jesus and his disciples, and that it was of more importance at that time than the sanctity of the sabbath day.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 12:6. That which is greater, not some one greater; the comparison with the temple occasions this form, although the reference is undoubtedly to Christ Himself. Argument: If the priests in the temple are authorized to profane the Sabbath (according to your view of what that means) in the performance of necessary duties, how much more can One who is the real temple of God on earth authorize His followers to do so; or, if the former are blameless, so are these who have grown hungry in following Him who is greater than the temple. This meek and lowly Teacher asserts this on His own authority. Works of necessity become a duty on the Sabbath only when so declared by Christ, or as we follow Christ.