Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 20:26
But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:26-28
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
True greatness
Greatness a word often used, and peoples ideas of it differ much.
Some regard it as consisting in wealth, social position, physical strength. Christ places it in service, springing from love in the heart. Mans true greatness must be in himself.
1. The importance of a true ideal of life.
2. This true ideal can be realized by every one of us. No life need be a failure. (C. O. Bridgman, D. D.)
Greatness measured by service
I. Greatness is to be measured by service. No man lives or dies to himself. Florence Nightingale moved other women most when she herself went to minister on battle fields.
II. The greater men are in intellect and culture, the more imperative it is that they become leaders and helpers. If a man has power to do good and refuses, he is not guiltless.
III. Those who thus labour for the good of their fellow-men are the greatest. Love is the greatest power on the earth. (G. Anderson, D. D.)
Basis of true greatness
1. Our Lord does not condemn the spirit of ambition, but simply aims to point out the basis of real greatness. He regarded His disciples, in a certain sense, as kings, but He would have them establish their regal right in a different manner from the princes of this world.
2. In how many scriptural promises do we find this principle recognized. They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever: St. Paul says, There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, etc.
3. Rank in the kingdom of heaven will be measured by humility. Condescension is the measure of exaltation. The way up to the glory of the Exalted One is through humble, self-denying love. (R. W. Clark, D. D.)
The greatness of being useful
Yet what has the patriot made himself but the servant of his countrymen: It was in order to the ministering to the well-being of thousands, that he threw himself into the breach, and challenged tyranny to the battle. It was for the sake of securing the rights of those who trod the same soil with himself, that he arose as the champion of the wretched and injured. The case is the same with the philosopher as with the patriot. Accordingly, he who labours in the mine of truth, and presents to the world the results of his investigations, furnishes his fellow-men with new principles on which to act in the business of life, and thus equips them for fresh enterprises, and instructs them how to add to the sum total of happiness. We need not exemplify this in particular instances. You are all aware how scientific research is turned to account in everyday life, and how the very lowest of our people enjoy, in one way or another, the fruits of discoveries which are due to the marvellous sagacity, and the repeated experiments, of those who rank foremost in the annals of philosophy. And thus it is evident that the man who is great in science, is great in the power of serving his fellow-men, and that it is this latter greatness which insures him their applauses. If his discoveries were of no benefit to the many; if they opened no means by which enjoyments might be multiplied, toil diminished, or danger averted; his name would be known only within a limited circle, and there would be nothing that approached to a general recognition of superiority. The individual again who gains renown as a statesman, who serves his country in the senate as the warrior in the field, is the minister to all classes, so that the very lowest have the profit of his toils. And in proportion as the service wore the aspect of selfishness, would the tribute of applause be diminished: we should be less and less disposed to allow, that, in making himself a servant, he had made himself great, if we had increasing cause to think that his main design was the serving himself. But there is no room for suspicions of this class, when the exhibition is that of a fine Christian philanthropy, leading a man to give his assiduity to the sick-beds of the poor, or the prisons of the criminal. Accordingly, when an individual is manifestly and strongly actuated by this philanthropy, there is an almost universal consent in awarding him the appellation of great: even those who would be amongst the last to imitate are amongst the first to applaud. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Pride destroys the best elements of character
The rebel against lawful authority cannot be truly great: the slave of his own passions cannot be truly great: the idolater of his own powers cannot be truly great. And the proud man is this rebel, this slave, this idolater; for pride spurns at the Divine dominion, gives vigour to depraved affections, and exaggerates all our powers. What, then, can be more accurate than that pride destroys the chief elements of which a great character is compounded, so that it must be to direct a man in the way to eminence, to prescribe that he be clothed with humility? (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Christ our Redeemer because our servant
But if Christ thus made Himself servant to the human race, it is this very fact which is to draw to Him finally universal homage. Had He not been their servant, He could not have been their Redeemer; and, if not their Redeemer, then at His name would not every knee have bowed, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. Thus He illustrates His own precept: He became great through redeeming; but since lie redeemed through making Himself the minister to a lost world, lie became great through becoming a servant. (H. Melvill, B. D. )
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 26. It shall not be so among you] Every kind of lordship and spiritual domination over the Church of Christ, like that exercised by the Church of Rome, is destructive and anti-christian.
Your minister] Or, deacon, . I know no other word which could at once convey the meaning of the original, and make a proper distinction between it and , or servant, in Mt 20:27. The office of a deacon, in the primitive Church, was to serve in the agapae, or love feasts, to distribute the bread and wine to the communicants; to proclaim different parts and times of worship in the churches; and to take care of the widows, orphans, prisoners, and sick, who were provided for out of the revenues of the Church. Thus we find it was the very lowest ecclesiastical office. Deacons were first appointed by the apostles, Ac 6:1-6; they had the care of the poor, and preached occasionally.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But it shall not be so among you,…. This is not to be extended to Christian nations, as if there were to be no order of magistracy subsisting in them; but that all must be on a level, and no distinction of princes and subjects, of governors and governed; nor to Christian churches, as if there was no ecclesiastical authority to be used, or any church government and power to be exercised; none to rule, whom others are to obey and submit themselves to; but is to be restrained to the apostles as such, among whom there was an entire equality; being all apostles of Christ, being equally qualified and sent, and put into the selfsame office by him: the same holds good of all pastors of churches, who have no superintendency and pre-eminence over one another, or can, or ought to exercise any lordly power and authority, one, or more, over the rest; being equally invested with the same office power, one as another: for otherwise Christ’s kingdom would appear like the nations of the world, and to be of a worldly nature; whereas it is spiritual, and does not lie in worldly pomp and grandeur, and in external superiority and pre-eminence of one another; but in the spiritual administration of the word and ordinances; which every pastor of a church has an equal right to exercise, and obedience to them lies in a submission to these things:
but whosoever will be great among you, let him be, or, as in Mark,
shall be your minister: whoever would be reckoned a great man in the kingdom of Christ, or under the Gospel dispensation, must be a minister to others if he is desirous of being truly great in the esteem of God, and of men, he must do great service for Christ, and to the souls of men; and seek to bring great glory to God, by faithfully ministering the word and ordinances, and by denying himself worldly honour and glory, and by serving others, through much reproach, difficulty, and opposition.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Would become great ( ). Jesus does not condemn the desire to become great. It is a laudable ambition. There are “great ones” () among Christians as among pagans, but they do not “lord it over” one another (), a LXX word and very expressive, or “play the tyrant” (), another suggestive word.
Your minister ( ). This word may come from and (dust), to raise a dust by one’s hurry, and so to minister. It is a general word for servant and is used in a variety of ways including the technical sense of our “deacon” in Php. 1:1. But it more frequently is applied to ministers of the Gospel (1Co 3:5). The way to be “first” (), says Jesus, is to be your “servant” (), “bond-servant” (verse 27). This is a complete reversal of popular opinion then and now.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Will be great [ ] . See on ver. 14. Rev. would be.
Minister [] . Servant, ver. 27 [] . Doulov, perhaps from dew, to bind, is the bondman, representing the permanent relation of servitude. Diakonov, probably from the same root as diwkw, to pursue, represents a servant, not in his relation, but in his activity. The term covers both slaves and hired servants. The attendants at the feast at Cana (Joh 2:5) are called diakonoi. In the epistles diakonov is often used specifically for a minister of the Gospel (1Co 3:5; 2Co 3:6; Eph 3:7). The word deacon is, moreover, almost a transcription of it (Phi 1:1; 1Ti 3:8, 12). It is applied to Phoebe (Rom 16:1).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
26. It shall not be so among you. There can be no doubt that Christ refers to the foolish imagination by which he saw that the apostles were deceived. “It is foolish and improper in you,” he says, “to imagine a kingdom, which is unsuitable to me; and therefore, if you desire to serve me faithfully, you must resort to a different method, which is, that each of you may strive to serve others.” (666) But whoever wishes to be great among you, let him be your servant. These words are employed in an unusual sense; for ambition does not allow a man to be devoted, or, rather, to be subject to his brethren. Abject flattery, I do acknowledge, is practiced by those who aspire to honors, but nothing is farther from their intention than to serve But Christ’s meaning is not difficult to be perceived. As every man is carried away by a love of himself, he declares that this passion ought to be directed to a different object. Let the only greatness, eminence, and rank, which you desire, be, to submit to your brethren; and let this be your primacy, to be the servants of all.
(666) “ De se rendre serviteur a ses compagnons;” — “to become a servant to his companions.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(26) Whosoever will be great.Better, whosoever wisheth to be great. The man who was conscious, as the disciples were, of the promptings of ambition was at once to satisfy and purify them by finding his greatness in active service; not because that service leads to greatness of the type which natural ambition seeks for, but because it is in itself the truest and highest greatness.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. Shall not be so among you Our Lord does not here mean that there shall be no orders in the Christian Church, or even in heaven. But these Church orders are founded on the principle of service rather than lordship.
The officer of the Church is truly the servant of the Church; and if he exercise authority from any other motive he is guilty of worldly ambition. He is repeating the misdoing of James and John.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“It shall not be so among you. But whoever would become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever would be first among you shall be your slave.”
But it is to be very different among the Apostles. That is why this seeking after positions is so unseemly. For the one who would be great among them must seek rather how they can serve, and the one who would be first among them (sitting at His right hand or His left) must recognise that it involves acting like a slave. This is what ‘sitting on a throne’ involves under the Kingly Rule of Heaven. And this attitude of heart, unnoticed by them, has been, and will continue to be, His constant theme (Mat 20:1-15 – where they are common labourers; Luk 12:37 – where Jesus Himself serves at table for those who have humbly served Him as house servants; Luk 17:8-10 – where the servants acknowledge their unworthiness; Luk 22:27 – where they are to emulate His humble service).
It is evidence of the sinfulness of men’s hearts that religious people who want to emulate the Gentiles take such terms as ‘servant’ (diakonos) and turn them into titles of honour, and eagerly court them that they might be had in honour. But that is not Jesus intent here. The idea of Jesus is of genuine service, lowliness and humility (Mat 11:28-30). The man who seeks to be a minister or a deacon so as to be had in honour, is not worthy of the position. And the one who thinks himself to be something when he is such simply demonstrates his unsuitability for ministry. For those who truly serve Him see themselves as the slaves of Christ and the slaves of others (Mat 20:27). They have no sense of superiority at all.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Ver. 26. But it shall not be so among you ] How express is that against Papal primacy and lordly prelacy. When the duke shall be damned, what will become of the bishop? said the clown to the Bishop of Cullen. Mr Whitehead refused a bishopric, because he liked not to be lorded. And Mr Coverdale being deprived of his bishopric in Queen Mary’s days, would not (for the same cause) be reinvested in Queen Elizabeth’s, but taught a school. Mr Knox would not have a bishopric, because it had aliquid commune cum antichristo somewhat with the common antichrist.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
26 28. ] . , i.e. in the next life , let him be . and here . Thus also the , Mat 20:28 , applies to the coming of the Son of man in the flesh only .
. is a plain declaration of the sacrificial and vicarious nature of the death of our Lord. The principal usages of are the following: (1) a payment as equivalent for a life destroyed, Exo 21:30 ; (2) the price of redemption of a slave, Lev 25:51 a [155] .; (3) ‘propitiation for,’ as in Pro 13:8 , where Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have .
[155] alii = some cursive mss.
here = 1Ti 2:6 . No stress is to be laid on this word as not being here; it is placed in opposition to the one life which is given the one for many and not with any distinction from . (I may observe once for all, that in the usage of these two words, as applied to our redemption by Christ, is the OBJECTIVE, the SUBJECTIVE designation of those for whom Christ died. He died for all , objectively; subjectively, the great multitude whom no man could number, , will be the saved by Him in the end.) ‘As the Son of man came to give His life for many and to serve many, so ye, being many, should be to each one the object of service and self-denial.’ Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, ii. 1, p. 197, argues for being taken with , not with . But Meyer well remarks, 1) that the sense of will not be altered by this, and 2) that this sense is clearly marked by to be that of substitution , not, as Hofm., that of compensation merely.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 20:26 . . . It is not so among you. The of T. R. is probably conformed to the two following , but it is true to the meaning. Jesus speaks of a state of matters He desires, but which does not yet exist. The present spirit of the Twelve is essentially secular and pagan. , : greatness by service the law of the Kingdom of God, whereby greatness becomes another thing, not self-asserted or arrogated, but freely conceded by others.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
But = However.
among. Greek. en.
minister = servant (in relation to activity).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
26-28.] . , i.e. in the next life, let him be . and here. Thus also the , Mat 20:28, applies to the coming of the Son of man in the flesh only.
. is a plain declaration of the sacrificial and vicarious nature of the death of our Lord. The principal usages of are the following:-(1) a payment as equivalent for a life destroyed, Exo 21:30; (2) the price of redemption of a slave, Lev 25:51 a[155].; (3) propitiation for, as in Pro 13:8, where Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have .
[155] alii = some cursive mss.
here = 1Ti 2:6. No stress is to be laid on this word as not being here; it is placed in opposition to the one life which is given-the one for many-and not with any distinction from . (I may observe once for all, that in the usage of these two words, as applied to our redemption by Christ, is the OBJECTIVE, the SUBJECTIVE designation of those for whom Christ died. He died for all, objectively; subjectively, the great multitude whom no man could number, , will be the saved by Him in the end.) As the Son of man came to give His life for many and to serve many, so ye, being many, should be to each one the object of service and self-denial. Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, ii. 1, p. 197, argues for being taken with , not with . But Meyer well remarks, 1) that the sense of will not be altered by this, and 2) that this sense is clearly marked by to be that of substitution, not, as Hofm., that of compensation merely.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 20:26. , but it shall not be so among you) It appears to me not at all natural to suppose that all use and exercise of civil authority is in this passage utterly forbidden to those to whom these words apply, and much less so that our Lord meant to forbid, by these words, all precedence and inequality amongst His followers, since He Himself both expressly recognises degrees amongst them, by which some are preferred to others, as greater to less (see Luk 22:26), and also proposes Himself to them as an example (); see ibid. 27; Mat 20:28. Christ therefore, by this prohibition, did not derogate more from the authority of His followers over each other, than He did from His own over them.-GATAKER: hierarchically enough.- , amongst you) These words seem to apply to all Christians, whether princes or plebeians.-Ibid. Christ teaches that His kingdom is carried on upon different principles from those of this world; for that in those there were external dignities, princedoms, and satrapies, which the respective kings were in the habit of conferring, according to their caprice, upon those whom they wished to honour; but that in His kingdom nothing of this sort was to be found; not because those things were not to be met with, or might not be lawfully exercised in the Church of Christ or amongst the professors of the Christian name, but because they do not pertain to, or arise from, the spiritual kingdom of Christ, to which He invites His followers. Moreover, that there was no reason why any one, in following Him, should promise himself the possession of such dignities, since He neither promised such things to any one, nor took or exercised them Himself: that He professed Himself, by practice as well as precept, to be, not the dispenser of secular dignities, but the author and teacher of humility and spiritual modesty. He exhorts all His followers, therefore, that (utterly laying aside all ambition) they should conform themselves to these virtues, of which they have an example in Himself.-Ibid.-, great) the minister of a great king is him self great.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
it: Mat 23:8-12, Mar 9:35, Mar 10:43, Mar 10:45, Luk 14:7-11, Luk 18:14, Joh 18:36, 2Co 1:24, 2Co 10:4-10, 1Pe 5:3, 3Jo 1:9, 3Jo 1:10, Rev 13:11-17, Rev 17:6
minister: Mat 25:44, Mat 27:55, Eze 24:13, Act 13:5, 2Ti 1:18, Phm 1:13, Heb 1:14, 1Pe 4:11
Reciprocal: Jos 1:1 – Moses’ minister 2Ki 6:15 – servant Mat 5:19 – great Mat 6:32 – after Mat 18:4 – greatest Mat 23:11 – General Luk 4:20 – and he Joh 13:14 – I then Rom 12:10 – in honour 1Co 9:19 – I made Phi 2:5 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
0:26
In the kingdom that Christ was going to set up, phases that would involve greatness and popularity were to be opposite those in worldly kingdoms; in the institution of Christ true greatness was to consist in service to others. Minister is from DIAKONOS and one meaning of the word in the lexicon is “servant.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 20:26. But not to shall it be among you. To maintain superiority of rank by force is not Christian, even if encouraged by ecclesiastical organizations. It is worst of all in such organizations, for freedom in the Christian communion is necessary to true civil freedom.
But whosoever would become great among you, i.e., great in the next life, let him be your minister, i.e., in this life. Deep humility manifesting itself in a service of love is the measure of Christian greatness, actually constituting it here, but acknowledged hereafter. This does not forbid official orders in the Church, but real greatness is independent of such orders. However necessary, they are intended to advance the liberty of the Church. Office in the Church is to be a service.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 26
Your minister; your servant. The idea is that although, in the estimation of the world, greatness is considered as implying elevation above others, and the exercise of authority and power over them,–yet, in the kingdom of Christ, it consists in unostentatious and humble efforts to promote their happiness and welfare.