Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 19:18
He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
18. Which? ] Accurately “what sort of commandments.”
Comp. this enumeration with that in ch. Mat 15:19. Here, as there, the commandments proceed in order from the 6th to the 9th. Here, as there, the enumeration stops at covetousness the rich ruler’s special failing. Neither St Mark nor St Luke preserve the same order.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 18. Thou shalt do no murder, &c.] But some say these commandments are not binding on us. Vain, deceived men! Can a murderer, an adulterer, a thief, and a liar enter into eternal life? No. The God of purity and justice has forbidden it. But we are not to keep these commandments in order to purchase eternal life. Right. Neither Jesus Christ, nor his genuine messengers, say you are. To save your souls, Christ must save you from your sins, and enable you to walk before him in newness of life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mark addeth, defraud not, Mar 10:19, but Luke doth not put it in, Luk 18:20. Three things we may observe:
1. There are no commandments mentioned but those of the second table.
2. Nor are they reckoned up in order.
3. The tenth commandment is expressed by, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; which elsewhere our Saviour calls the second great commandment, and makes comprehensive of all the commandments of the second table.
We must not from our Saviours order here, in the enumeration of the commandments, either conclude that the precepts of the second table are greater than those of the first, or that it is enough to keep them in order to eternal life: nor yet, that the fifth commandment is lesser than the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, because it is put after them. But;
1. Our Saviour had reckoned up commandments enough to convince this man that he could not by keeping the commandments hope for eternal life.
2. He had reckoned those, by some of which he intended by and by to convince him that he had not kept the commandments.
3. And those of the non observation of which it was most easy to convince him.
4. The Pharisees looked upon these as the most vulgar and easy commandments.
5. Because love to our neighbour is an excellent evidence of our love to God.
As concerning the order in which they are enumerated, it was not our Saviours business here to show which was the greatest commandment; that he hath elsewhere determined, calling, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, &c., the first and great commandment: here he is not solicitous about the order.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
He saith unto him, which?…. Whether those commandments of a moral, or of a ceremonial kind; whether the commands of the written, or of the oral law; of God, or of the elders, or both; or whether he did not mean some new commandments of his own, which he delivered as a teacher sent from God:
Jesus said; according to the other evangelists, “thou knowest the commandments”; not the true nature, spirituality, and use of them, but the letter and number of them; being trained up from a child by his parents, in the reading them, committing them to memory, and the outward observance of them, particularly those of the second table:
thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. Christ takes no notice of the ceremonial law, nor of the traditions of the elders, only moral precepts; and these only such as refer to the second, and not the first table of the law, which respect duty to the neighbour, and not to God: and this he does, because these commandments were more known, and were in common use; and he chose to instance in these, partly to show, that if men are under obligation to regard these, much more such as concern God more immediately; and partly, to observe, that if men are deficient in their duty to one another, they are much more so in their worship of God; and consequently, eternal life is never to be got and enjoyed by the performance of these things.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
18. Thou shalt not murder It is surprising that, though Christ intended to show that we are bound to obey the whole law, he should mention the second table only; but he did so, because from the duties of charity the disposition of every man is better ascertained. Piety towards God holds, no doubt, a higher rank; (623) but as the observation of the first table is often feigned by hypocrites, the second table is better adapted for making a scrutiny. (624) Let us know, therefore, that Christ selected those commandments in which is contained a proof of true righteousness; but by a synecdoche he takes a part for the whole. As to the circumstance of his placing that commandment last which speaks of honoring parents, it is of no consequence, for he paid no attention to the regular order. Yet it is worthy of notice, that this commandment is declared to belong to the second table, that no one may be led astray by the error of Josephus, who thought that it belonged to the first table. (625) What is added at the end, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, contains nothing different from the former commandments, but is, general explanation of them all.
The young man saith to him. The law must have been dead to him, when he vainly imagined that he was so righteous; for if he had not flattered himself through hypocrisy, it was an excellent advice to him to learn humility, to contemplate his spots and blemishes in the mirror of the law. But, intoxicated with foolish confidence, he fearlessly boasts that he has discharged his duty properly from his childhood. Paul acknowledges that the same thing happened to himself, that, so long as the power of the law was unknown to him, he believed that he was alive; but that, after he knew what the law could do, a deadly wound was inflicted on him, (Rom 7:9.) So the reply of Christ, which follows, was suited to the man’s disposition. And yet Christ does not demand any thing beyond the commandments of the law, but, as the bare recital had not affected him, Christ employed other words for detecting the hidden disease of avarice.
I confess that we are nowhere commanded in the law to sell all; but as the design of the law is, to bring men to self-denial, and as it expressly condemns covetousness, we see that Christ had no other object in view than to correct the false conviction of the young man. (626) for if he had known himself thoroughly, as soon as he heard the mention of the law, he would have acknowledged that he was liable to the judgment of God; but now, when the bare words of the law do not sufficiently convince him of his guilt, the inward meaning is expressed by other words. If Christ now demanded any thing beyond the commandments of the law, he would be at variance with himself. He just now taught that perfect righteousness is comprehended in the commandments of the law: how then will it agree with this to charge the law with deficiency? Besides, the protestation of Moses, (Deu 30:15,) which I formerly quoted, would be false.
(623) “ Vray est qu’entre les commandemens ceux qui parlent de la recognoissance que nous devons a Dieu tienent le premier degre;” — “it is true that, among the commandments, those which speak of the acknowledgment which we owe to God hold the first rank.”
(624) “ A faire examen pour cognoistre les personnes;” — “to make a scrutiny for knowing persons.”
(625) Josephus says that there were five on each table, from which it must be inferred, that he considered the Fifth commandment as belonging to the First Table. His words are: He showed them the two tables, with the ten commandments engraven upon them, Five upon each table; and the writin was b y the hand of God. — (Ant. 3. 6, 8. ) — Ed.
(626) “ La fausse persuasion et presomption de ee ieune homme;” — “the false conviction and presumption of this young man.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) He saith unto him, Which?Literally, of what kind? The questioner has been trained in the language of the schools, has heard debates as to which was the great commandment of the Law (22:36). Which class of commandments is he to keep that he may win eternal life?
Thou shalt do no murder.Our Lords answer was clearly determined by the method of which we have ventured to speak as calling up the thought of that of Socrates. To a questioner of another type of character He would have pointed (as in Mat. 22:37) to the two great commandments, the love of God, and the love of man, on which hung all the Law and the Prophets. Here it was more in harmony with His loving purpose to leave out of sight altogether the commandments of the first table, that tell men of their duty towards God, and to direct attention only to those which, as speaking of our duty to our neighbour, were thought common and familiar things. The change in the order of the commandments, so that the Fifth follows those which in the Decalogue it precedes, seems to imply a design to lead the seeker through the negative to the positive forms of law, through definite prohibitions of single acts to the commandments which were exceeding broad, as fulfilled only in the undefined region of the affections.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. He saith unto him, Which? The young man can hardly believe that this new teacher would refer him back to the old ten commandments. He has kept them, as he imagines, until they have grown commonplace. At the same time a sense of the insufficiency of his own righteousness does not allow him ease. He has no full sense of peace with God. He wishes some new prescription, by which he may feel that he is a sure heir of eternal life. Jesus said Our Lord gives a few specimens, to intimate that it is just no more than the original decalogue, to which he is referred.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘He says too him, “Which?” And Jesus said, “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness. Honour your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” ’
The young man is delighted with the answer that he must keep the commandments. This is what he is looking for. So the question now is as to which commandment will enable him to do the one good thing that will surmount all the other good things that he has done. How can he achieve the pinnacle that he is seeking?
Jesus replies, with what can only be seen as a brief summary of Mat 5:21-48, by citing the commandments which relate to behaviour towards men, and includes within them Lev 19:18, that he must love his neighbour as himself. This was especially pertinent when considering the action and attitude of heart of a wealthy young man. It summarised all the other commandments. In a sense it was the pinnacle of all manward commandments (Mat 22:39).
Note that Jesus is doing here the same thing that He has commanded His disciples to do. He is teaching men to obey all God’s commandments to their fullest extent (compare Mat 5:17-20). That is what, in the end, salvation is all about. It is to bring us holy, unblameable and unreproveable into His sight (Col 1:22) through the imparting of His own mighty righteousness (Mat 5:6). It is that we be made like Him (1Jn 3:2). Nothing less than this will do. Never listen to anyone who says that you can be saved without wanting to be righteous, for the one will result in the other.
The order in which He pronounces the commandments is logical. First He pronounces four of the last five commandments in order, and then He personalises the whole in terms of parents and ‘neighbours’, thus covering all aspects of social life. No sphere remains untouched.
(Matthew is probably here summarising a wider description of what was required. Comparison with Mark and Luke reminds us that each writer gives us the pith of what was said without pretending to record the whole. It is giving us the truth of what was said. They could not record whole conversations, any more than newspaper reports do, otherwise the writers would soon have run out of space).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 19:18 f. Agreeably to the meaning of his question, Mat 19:16 , the young man expected to be referred to commandments of a particular kind, and therefore calls for further information respecting the to which Jesus referred; hence , which is not equivalent to , but is to be understood as requesting a qualitative statement.
For the purpose of indicating the kind of commandments he had in view Jesus simply mentions, by way of example, one or two belonging to the second table of the decalogue, but also at the same time the fundamental one (Rom 13:9 ) respecting the love of our neighbour (Lev 19:18 ), because it was through it (for which also see note on Mat 22:39 ) He wished the young man to be tested. This latter commandment, introduced with skilful tact, Origen incorrectly regards as an interpolation; de Wette likewise takes exception to it; comp. Bleek, who considers Luke’s text to be rather more original.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Ver. 18. Thou shalt do no murder ] Our Saviour instanceth the commandments of the second table only, as presupposing those of the first, for the second table must be kept in the first; a and the whole law, say the schools, is but one copulative. The two tables of the law (saith a reverend divine) b are, in their object, answerable to the two natures of Christ, for God is the object of one man or the other. And as they meet together in the person of Christ, so must they be united in the affections and endeavours of a Christian.
a Primo praecepto reliquorum omnium observatio praecipitur. Luther.
b Mr Ley’s Pattern of Piety, p. 99.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
18. ] De Wette observes well, that our Lord gives this enumeration of the commandments to bring out the self-righteous spirit of the young man, which He before saw. He only mentions those of the second table, having in Mat 19:17 , in His declaration respecting , included those of the first. Mark has the addition of , representing probably the tenth commandment.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 19:18 . ; not = (Grotius), but what sort of commands: out of the multitude of commands divine and human, which do you mean? He had a shrewd guess doubtless, but wanted to be sure. Christ’s reply follows in this and subsequent verse, quoting in direct form prefaced with the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and fifth commands of the Decalogue with that to love a neighbour as ourselves from Lev 19:18 . This last Origen regarded as an interpolation, and Weiss thinks that the evangelist has introduced it from Mat 22:39 as one that could not be left out. If it be omitted the list ends with the fifth, a significantly emphatic position, reminding us of Mat 15:4 , and giving to the whole list an antithetic reference to the teaching of the scribes. In sending the inquirer to the second table of the Decalogue as the sum of duty, Jesus gave an instruction anything but commonplace, though it seem so to us. He was proclaiming the supremacy of the ethical , a most important second lesson for the inquirer, the first being the necessity of using moral epithets carefully and sincerely. From the answer given to this second lesson it will appear whereabouts the inquirer is, a point Jesus desired to ascertain.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Which? The Lord, in reply, recites five (the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and fifth), but omits the tenth in order to convict him out of his own mouth when he says he has kept “all these”. See App-117.
Jesus = And Jesus.
Thou shalt do, &c. Quoted from Exo 20:12-16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
18.] De Wette observes well, that our Lord gives this enumeration of the commandments to bring out the self-righteous spirit of the young man, which He before saw. He only mentions those of the second table, having in Mat 19:17, in His declaration respecting , included those of the first. Mark has the addition of , representing probably the tenth commandment.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 19:18. ; which?) There was no need to ask which, as our Lord had said the [commandments] .[867]
[867] Thus indicating those pre-eminently so called, and implying the necessity of keeping all of them.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Which: Gal 3:10, Jam 2:10, Jam 2:11
Thou shalt do: Mat 5:21-28, Exo 20:12-17, Deu 5:16-21, Mar 10:19, Luk 18:20, Rom 13:8-10
Reciprocal: Gen 44:8 – how then Exo 20:15 – General Exo 23:1 – an unrighteous witness Mal 2:9 – but Mar 12:28 – Which Mar 12:31 – Thou Luk 18:11 – as Rom 13:9 – For this Gal 5:14 – all
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8-19
He asked Jesus to specify the commands that were meant and he repeated the six of the deca-logue that pertained to dealings between man and man.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
[Thou shalt do no murder, etc.] It is worthy marking, how again and again in the New Testament, when mention is made of the whole law, only the second table is exemplified, as in this place; so also Rom 13:8-9; and Jam 2:8; Jam 2:11; etc. Charity towards our neighbour is the top of religion, and a most undoubted sign of love towards God.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 19:18. Which? That is, of what kind.
Thou shalt not kill, etc. Those commandments involving duties toward our fellow men are cited, so as to meet the young man on his own ground.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, That the duties which our Saviour instances in, are the duties of the second table, which hypocrites are most failing in; but the sincere practice of our duty to our neighbour, is a singular evidence of our love to God. These duties of the second table the young man says he had kept from his youth, and perhaps might say it truly, according to the Pharisees interpretation, which condemned only the gross, outward act, not the inward lust and motion of the heart.
Learn hence, How apt men are to think well of themselves, and have too high an opinion of their own goodness and righteousness before God: All these have I kept from my youth.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The rabbis had added so many commands to those in the Mosaic Law that the young man did not know which commandments Jesus meant. Jesus listed the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and fifth commandments, in that order, plus part of "the greatest commandment" (Lev 19:18). All of these commandments deal with observable behavior.
"Jesus did not introduce the Law to show the young man how to be saved, but to show him that he needed to be saved [cf. Jas 1:22-25]." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:72.]
The fact that the young man claimed to have kept all of them reveals the superficiality of his understanding of God’s demands (cf. Mat 5:20; Php 3:6). Moreover, having lived an upright life he still had no assurance that he possessed eternal life. This is always the case when a person seeks to earn eternal life by his or her goodness. One can never be sure he or she has done enough. This young man may have been rich materially, but he was lacking what was more important, namely, the assurance of his salvation.