Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 28:17
And when they saw him, they worshiped him: but some doubted.
17. worshipped him ] See note ch. Mat 20:20. It is characteristic of St Matthew’s Gospel that this word, which indicates the homage and prostration before a king, should occur twelve times, whereas it is found twice only in each of the other Synoptics.
some ] Probably not some of the Apostles, but some of the five hundred who had not previously seen the Lord.
doubted ] The same word is used of St Peter’s doubt, ch. Mat 14:31, and in these passages only in N. T.; there too the doubt is followed by adoration, Mat 14:33.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They worshipped him – Paid him honour as the Messiah.
But some doubted – As, for example, Thomas, Joh 20:25. The disciples had not expected his resurrection; they were therefore slow to believe. The mention of their doubting shows that they were honest men that they were not easily imposed on that they had not previously agreed to affirm that he had risen – that they were convinced only by the strength of the evidence. Their caution in examining the evidence; their slowness to believe; their firm conviction after all their doubts; and their willingness to show their conviction even by their death, is most conclusive proof that they were not deceived in regard to the fact of his resurrection.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 28:17
But some doubted.
Doubts
I. Philosophic doubts. All men are not philosophers, and cannot reason as Descartes did from self to all outside. We must accept some axioms without proof.
II. Rationalistic doubts. The withholding faith in spite of evidence. They mistake the use of reason in matters of faith. Men act upon three propositions in determining what is right.
1. That is right which we think to be right.
2. There is no telling what right is.
3. That there is a final arbiter.
The objections of the rationalists are based on foregone conclusions.
1. It is declared a priori that the Infinite cannot be a person.
2. That nature is uniform. These are urged against the Bible. But miracles have been wrought. Will a man stand on the wharf as the steamboat is departing and declare that steam is an absurdity?
III. Spiritual doubts. Such are pestered with fears of a different kind.
1. They believe that death is a crisis.
2. That the soul is guilty. Are we pardoned?
3. Some are troubled by the doctrine of election. (F. L. Patton, D. D.)
Religious doubts
1. There is a sense in which Christianity is accountable for the doubts with which it is often assailed. It fosters the spirit of thoughtfulness, inquiry, of mental activity. There are bodily states-of liver and stomach-that may contribute to affect us with temporary gloom of doubt. There are states of the social atmosphere that may contribute to affect us in the same way; when the general air is charged with doubt, we can hardly help being affected by it. Some doubts are the sign of mental quickening. But we must be careful to distinguish these from those resulting from moral deterioration and decline. What used to be a beautiful certainty has paled away in the mist, not, though, under research, but through too much business care; it has come upon him like a change of weather in the night. Sometimes, again, it is a deeper understanding, or a more vivid perception of one particular link, that renders us doubtful in relation to other things. We must be careful in yielding too readily to the apparent inevitable destructiveness of a truth that has burst upon us with new and fascinating power. The contradiction may be a temporary illusion. Again, men often come to doubt what they have ceased to require so urgently as they did; wanting it less, they believe it less. (S. A. Tipple.)
Doubts and fears
I. From whence arise those doubts and fears so distressing to many? Many fruitful sources from whence they spring.
1. Sin is often the cause. Inward foes, etc.
2. Carelessness will often lead to uncertainty and doubt.
3. Disobedience, neglected duty, etc.
4. Worldliness necessarily produces them.
5. Seasons of temptation are often seasons of doubt. Satan worries whom he cannot devour with a malicious joy.
6. Ignorance is perhaps the most fruitful source. Ignorance of what is written was evidently the cause of doubt here. How many appear not to understand (Psa 103:12; Rom 8:1; Joh 10:28, etc.). Salvation is a present certain reality (Eph 2:8; Eph 1:7; Heb 10:14). It may be ignorance as to the work of the Holy Spirit. Losing sight of Christ, many become taken up with feelings and self.
II. Their baneful influence. They by no means prove a state of high spirituality.
1. Doubts dishonour God; rob Him of the praise that is due to Him.
2. Mar our comfort.
3. Weaken our strength for service, conflict, and devotion.
4. They chill our affection.
5. They stunt our spiritual growth.
6. Unfit us to witness for Christ.
7. Influence others unfavourably.
III. Their remedy. As faith is a fruit of the ever-blessed Spirit, no assurance can be obtained but from the same Divine source.
1. Look and get away from self.
2. Study the sacred word more.
3. Live nearer the Lord.
4. Seek to have a more simple, child-like faith-faith that takes God at His word; that raises no cavilling questions; that lives above circumstances, appearances, and feelings, even upon Thus saith the Lord. (G. Cobb.)
Scepticism
I. Doubting in matters of religion. Doubt which arises from ignorance. Doubts which mark the course of inquiry. Doubts which indicate moral perversity. Doubts about our personal religion.
II. The practical influence of doubting in matters of religion. It is no apology for indifference. It ought to stimulate inquiry. It contains an element of belief-doubt, not denial. It may be an ultimate benefit.
1. Christianity is not doubtful because it has been doubted.
2. Its truths are so great that occasional doubting is not wonderful.
3. All classes of doubters should not be treated with indiscriminate harshness.
4. There are broad marks of distinction between the doubts of the saint and of the sinner. (D. Young, D. D.)
Doubt not to abandon truth
When the ship shakes, do not throw yourself into the sea. When storms of doubt assault spiritual truths, do not abandon yourself to the wild evil of the world that cannot rest. The ship rolls in the wind, but by the wind advances. (T. Lynch.)
We must not let go manifest truths because we cannot answer all questions about them. (J. Collier.)
Some doubted
1. You hesitate because you are measuring by human standards and taking your level from nature.
2. You want more proof than God is pleased to give.
3. You judge that God should do something extraordinary.
4. Your faith depends upon what is rare and accidental.
5. Perhaps an interval of carelessness has dimmed the moral eye.
6. There was some temptation to doubt.
7. To God it is no little thing to be doubted by His child.
8. I feel sure that some who have doubted are now in heaven. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Good doubting
He does not doubt wisely who, though stopping short of being an accomplished unbeliever, allows doubt to get ahead of belief; who does not, in fact, make believing his object, using the power and right of doubting only to preserve him against premature and crude and false conclusions. The truth-loving man will read and search, and think, and, let me add, pray, with the view to enlarge, and build, and beautify such a home for his soul as we are reminded of by the words of Solomon. Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands; and wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. I believe in the palace-home of wisdom, with its seven pillars. But what home for the soul will the mere habit of doubting-and especially of doubting, for doubting sake-ever build, and what would be the pillars thereof? (H. H. Dobney.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. But some doubted.] That is, Thomas only at first doubted. The expression simply intimates, that they did not all believe at that time. See the same form noticed on Mt 26:8, and Mt 27:44.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
17. And when they saw him, theyworshipped him; but some doubtedcertainly none of “theEleven,” after what took place at previous interviews inJerusalem. But if the five hundred were now present, we may wellbelieve this of some of them.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when, they saw him, they worshipped him,…. With divine adoration, as the eternal Son of God; for so he was now declared to be by his resurrection from the dead, Ro 1:4,
but some doubted; or “some of them”, as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it; that is, some of the eleven disciples: not that they doubted now that Christ was risen from the dead; since he had appeared several times to them before this, and had given them all the proofs of the truth of his resurrection they could desire; but they, who worshipped him now in Galilee, had doubted before in Jerusalem; not only Thomas, but all of them: they looked upon the words of the women as idle tales; nor did the rest believe the two disciples, with whom Christ travelled to Emmaus: wherefore he upbraids them for their unbelief, Lu 24:11, or else the sense is, that some of them, though they believed Christ was risen from the dead, of which they had had the strongest assurance; yet they doubted whether what they then saw on the mountain was he, or whether it was not a spirit, or a mere phantom; and therefore, as in the next verse, he “came” nearer to them, when they knew him: or else this may be understood of some of the seventy disciples, or of the five hundred brethren, who saw him at this time, and at first had some doubts of his resurrection, but were afterwards fully satisfied.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But some doubted ( ). From (in two, divided in mind). Cf. Mt 14:31. The reference is not to the eleven who were all now convinced after some doubt, but to the others present. Paul states that over five hundred were present, most of whom were still alive when he wrote (1Co 15:6). It is natural that some should hesitate to believe so great a thing at the first appearance of Jesus to them. Their very doubt makes it easier for us to believe. This was the mountain where Jesus had promised to meet them. This fact explains the large number present. Time and place were arranged beforehand. It was the climax of the various appearances and in Galilee where were so many believers. They worshipped () Jesus as the women had done (28:9). He is now their Risen Lord and Saviour.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Worshipped [] . As in ver. 9. Prostrated themselves. The first time that the disciples are described as doing so.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
17. But some doubted. It is wonderful that, after they had twice seen Christ, still some doubted. If any one choose to view this as referring to the first appearance, there will be no absurdity in that opinion; for the Evangelists are sometimes in the habit of blending a variety of transactions. But neither would it have the appearance of absurdity to suppose that in some of them the remains of their former terror led them again into hesitation; for we know that, when Christ appeared, they were struck with fear and amazement, till they had recovered their minds and had become accustomed to his presence. The meaning, therefor appears to me to be, that some at first hesitated, until Christ made a nearer and more familiar approach to them; but that when they certainly and absolutely recognized him, then they worshipped, because the splendor of his divine glory was manifest. And perhaps it was the same reason that suddenly caused them to doubt, and afterwards led them to worship him; namely, that he had laid aside the form of a servant, and had nothing in his appearance but what was heavenly.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) They worshipped himi.e., fell prostrate at His feet. The act, as has been said, was not new in itself, but it seems certain that our Lords manifestations of His Presence after the Resurrection had made the faith of the disciples stronger and clearer (comp. Joh. 20:28), and so the act acquired a new significance.
Some doubted.It seems hard at first to conceive how those who had been present in the upper chamber at Jerusalem (Joh. 20:19-26) could still feel doubt; but the narrative of Joh. 21:4 throws some light upon it. There was something mysterious and supernatural in the manifestation of the glorified bodyoutlines, at first indistinct and scarcely recognised, and then the whole form seen as it had been seen in life. The more devoted and loving disciples were probably, here as before, the first to recognise their Lord. Others questioned whether it was a phantom (comp. Notes on Mat. 14:26) or a reality.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. And when they saw him At the first and more distant perception of his person. They worshipped him That is, some of them recognized him with faith, and worshipped him as their Lord. Some doubted They distrusted whether it was really he until a nearer approach.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And when they saw him, they worshipped him. But some doubted.’
It is not likely that the eleven went alone. They could hardly have disappeared from among the other brethren and the sisters without giving a hint of what was happening. And furthermore the angel is said to have declared that the women disciples will be present (Mat 28:7). Thus ‘they’ here probably has a wider connotation than just the eleven. However Matthew’s main concern is with the eleven to whom the commission will especially be given, as it had been in chapter 10.
When Jesus made His appearance on the mountain they all ‘worshipped Him’. This was probably not worship with a full understanding, but it was fairly close. And yet there were still those among them who found it hard to believe, which is not really surprising. No doubt they all had to keep pinching themselves to make sure that they really were awake, and that it was not all a dream. It should perhaps be pointed out here that people do not have mass ‘hallucinations’ which tally with each other. Thus such a shared experience of Jesus could not have been an hallucination. And the fact that some were still struggling with incredulity confirms this even further. We receive hallucinations of what we expect to see, not of the things we doubt. Even the doubts therefore confirm the genuineness of the experience, even though they bring out the obduracy of some of the Apostles. This latter fault was certainly not the kind of thing that people who respected the Apostles would have invented. Indeed the whole account from Mat 26:1 onwards has been so uncomplimentary to the Apostles that it must be genuine.
‘Some doubted.’ This can only mean that they were at first unbelieving of what they saw. It was not easy for them to grasp the fact that Jesus was risen. Compare ‘disbelieved for joy’ in Luk 24:41, where it was clearly momentary. There are a number of possibilities as to what this means:
1). They saw Him at a distance before He ‘came to them’ (in the next verse) and were thus questioning as to whether it was really Him (compareMat 14:31-32 where Peter’s ‘doubt’ is also followed by ‘worship’ because he doubts no longer).
2). Those who doubted were in fact some outside the eleven who were taking time to adjust.
3). The statement is a general one as indicating the whole post-resurrection situation, and confirming the doubt that constantly initially arose among all who heard about it, until all was made clear (thus an honest recognition in an abbreviated storyline that not all believed immediately. If so it might be put in paranthesis). See also Luk 24:11; Luk 24:25; Luk 24:37; Joh 20:25; Mar 16:13.
Note that the doubts are there before ‘He comes to them’ and speaks with them. It is an honest recognition of the perplexity that Jesus’ appearances at first produced in men before they became convinced, and accepted the idea. But they are not the indication of a continuing experience after He had spoken with them. Indeed truly doubting men do not worship (Mat 28:17) so that the doubts were limited to a few. We may well be better to translate the verb as ‘were perplexed’. It is not credible to suggest that Matthew is talking about long term doubts. He is proclaiming a positive message, not considering things sceptically or with disinterest. He is thus talking about a situation which was resolved by what follows. But what he does want us to know is that they did not just swallow everything thoughtlessly. None of these men were easily convinced, even though conviction came to some more quickly than to others.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 28:17 , . . .] According to the account now before us, evidently the first occasion of meeting again since the resurrection, and the first impression produced by it corresponding to the of Mat 28:7 ; Mat 28:10 . See, besides, on Mat 28:10 .
] It was previously said in a general way that the eleven fell prostrate before Him, though all did not do so: some doubted whether He, whom they saw before them, could really be Jesus. This particular is added by means of , which, however, is not preceded by a corresponding before , because this latter applied to the majority, whereas the doubters, who did not prostrate themselves, were only the exception. Had Matthew’s words been: , , he would thus have represented the eleven as divided into two co-ordinate parts, into as nearly as possible two halves, and so have stated something different from what was intended. This is a case precisely similar to that of the of Mat 26:67 , where, in like manner, the preceding (without ) represents what was done by the majority . “Quibus in locis primum universa res ponitur, deinde partitio nascitur, quae ostendit, priora quoque verba non de universa causa jam accipi posse,” Klotz, ad Devar. p. 358. Comp. Xen. Hell . i. 2. 14 : , ; Cyrop . iv. 5. 46: , , , and the passages in Pflugk, ad Eur. Hec. 1160; Khner, II. 2, p. 808. According to Fritzsche, a preceding should be understood. This, however, is purely arbitrary, for the has its appropriate correlative already in the preceding . Again, as matter of course, we must not think of predicating the of the doubters as well, which would be psychologically absurd (only after his doubts were overcome , did Thomas exclaim: . !). Fritzsche (comp. Theophylact, Grotius, and Markland in Eur. Suppl . p. 326) attempts to obviate this objection by understanding in a pluperfect sense (they had doubted before they saw Jesus); an expedient, however, of the same arbitrary nature as before (comp. on Joh 18:24 ), and such as no reader of our passage (with before him) would have suspected to be at all necessary. Others , in spite of the plain and explicit statements of Matthew, and in order to free the eleven from the imputation of doubt, have here turned to account the five hundred brethren , 1Co 15:6 (Calovius, Michaelis, Ebrard, Lange), or the seventy disciples (Kuinoel), and attributed the to certain of these! Others, again, have resorted to conjecture ; Beza, for example, thinks that for we might read ; Bornemann, in the Stud. u. Krit . 1843, p. 126 (comp. Schleusner), suggests: (some fell prostrate, the others started back from each other with astonishment). The doubting itself on the part of the disciples (comp. Luk 24:31 ; Luk 24:37 ; Luk 24:41 ; Joh 20:19 ; Joh 20:26 ) is not to be explained by the supposition of an already glorified state of the body (following the Fathers, Olshausen, Glckler, Krabbe, Khn, wie ging Chr. durch d. Grabes Thr? 1838; comp. Kinkel’s unscriptural idea of a repeated ascension to heaven, in the Stud. u. Krit . 1841, p. 597 ff.), for after His resurrection Christ still retained His material bodily organism, as the evangelists are at some pains to remind us (Luk 24:39-43 ; Joh 20:20 ; Joh 20:27 ; Joh 21:5 ; comp. also Act 1:21 f., Mat 10:41 ). At the same time, it is not enough to appeal to the fact that “nothing that was subject to death any longer adhered to the living One” (Hase), but, in accordance with the evangelic accounts of the appearing and sudden vanishing of the risen Lord, and of the whole relation in which He stood to His disciples and His disciples to Him, we must assume some change in the bodily organism and outward aspect of Jesus, a mysterious transformation of His whole person, an intermediate phase of existence between the bodily nature as formerly existing and the glorified state into which He passed at the moment of the ascension, a phase of existence, however, of which it is impossible for us to form any distinct conception, for this is a case where analogy and experience alike fail us. His body did not retain, as did those of Jairus’ daughter, the young man of Nain, and Lazarus, exactly the same essential nature as belonged to it before death, but still it was not as yet the (Phi 3:21 ), though it was certainly immortal, a fact which of itself would necessarily involve the very essential change which came over it; comp. also Bleek.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
Ver. 17. They worshipped him, but some doubted ] Even while they worshipped, they doubted; yet was not their worship rejected. The Lord knoweth his still, 2Ti 2:19 . But they know not him still, as here in this text; howbeit they are “known of him,”Gal 4:9Gal 4:9 , and their whole way both known and approved, Psa 1:6 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 28:17 . very meagre statement, the whole interest of the evangelist being absorbed by the words spoken by Jesus. as in Mat 28:9 , but the men less demonstrative than the women; no mention of seizing Jesus by the feet. : but some doubted ( cf. Mat 14:31 , in reference to Peter). This clause seems to qualify and limit the previous statement as to the worshipping, giving this sense: they worshipped, i.e. , the most of them, for some were in doubt. So Meyer, who cites in support Klotz, Ad Devar , whose statement is to the effect that in passages of this kind containing a clause with without a preceding, a universal affirmation is first made and then a division follows, which shows that a universal affirmation was not really intended (p. 358). Various methods have been adopted to get rid of the unwelcome conclusion that some of the eleven did not do homage, e.g. , by taking as a pluperfect (Fritzsche, Grotius), or by finding the doubters among the 500 mentioned by St. Paul (1Co 15:6 ), or even by altering the text into (Beza). The whole narrative is so brief and vague as to lend support to the hypothesis that in the appearance of Jesus here recorded we have not one particular occurrence, but a general picture of the Christophanies, in which mingled conflicting feelings of reverent recognition and hesitation as to the identity of the person played their part. Such is the view of Keil, Steinmeyer, and Holtzmann (H. C.).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
doubted = hesitated. Greek. distazo. Occurs only in Matthew (here and in Mat 14:31). The Greek aorist may he so rendered, especially in a parenthesis; and is so rendered in Mat 16:5. Luk 8:29. Joh 18:24, it should be in Mat 26:48 and in Luk 22:44 also.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 28:17. , others, or, some) sc. of the Twelve. The day of Pentecost, however, removed all doubt from these, if any remained. The slower they were at first to believe, the greater credit is due to them afterwards as witnesses. Leo, in his first sermon on the Ascension, says, They doubted, in order that we should not doubt.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
when: Mat 16:28
worshipped: Mat 28:9, Psa 2:12, Psa 45:11, Joh 5:23
but: 1Co 15:6
Reciprocal: Mat 8:2 – worshipped Mat 9:18 – worshipped Mat 14:33 – worshipped Mat 20:20 – worshipping Mat 28:7 – he goeth Mar 16:7 – there Luk 24:52 – they Joh 9:38 – Lord
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8:17
All we can say of this worship is that what they did comes within the definition of the word as given at chapter 2:2. Thayer defines the original of doubt, “to doubt, to waver.” It indicates a frame of mind that might be expressed by a familiar saying, “it is too good to be true.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 28:17. They worshipped him. The word might mean something less than religious worship, but it does mean that in many cases; the matter could scarcely be mentioned, if it meant less here.
But some doubted. A few, probably of the five hundred, not of the eleven. Some say the doubt was respecting the identity of our Lord, and find in it an evidence of their caution in examining the evidence, which gives their subsequent conviction and testimony the greater weight. But they came there because they thought He was risen, and the sight of the Lord had in all other cases produced conviction. The doubt was probably whether it was proper to worship Him, especially as the following words of our Lord apply so directly to such a doubt. So now some, attached to our Lord, have a speculative doubt as to the propriety of according Him Divine honors. When it becomes a positive denial of the power He claims in the next verse, genuine faith in Him is scarcely possible.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 28:17. When they saw him, they worshipped The greatest part were so fully convinced that the person they saw was their Master, that they worshipped him; but some doubted But with respect to a few, their joy, on seeing the Lord, put them into a kind of perturbation, and their desire that it might be him. made them afraid it was not. This reason is assigned by Luke for the unbelief of some on a former occasion, Mat 24:41. They believed not for joy and wonder; and therefore it may fitly be offered to account for the unbelief of others on this. Besides, the thing is agreeable to nature, men being commonly afraid to believe what they vehemently wish, lest they should indulge themselves in a false joy, which they must soon lose. Hence the saying in Terence, Misera mens incredula est: quo plus cupio, minus credo. My anxious mind is incredulous: the more I wish, the less I believe. The case of the disciples, whose desire and joy made them doubt the truth of what they saw, may be illustrated by the instance of the states of Greece and Asia, whose joy and surprise on hearing a Roman herald declare them all free, and at liberty to use their own laws, had a similar effect upon them, as the story is beautifully told by Livy, lib. 33. cap. 35. The Prussian editors, however, who are followed by some others, render the clause thus, even those who had doubted. Probably at this appearance the apostles received orders to return to Jerusalem; for from Act 1:3-12, compared with Luk 24:50, it is plain that our Lords discourses, before his ascension, related Mar 16:15, and Luk 24:44, were delivered in or near to the city. Besides, he ascended from the mount of Olives, as we shall see in the subsequent evangelists. Wherefore, if the orders for the apostles to repair to Jerusalem were not given at this appearance, Jesus must have showed himself again, which indeed is not impossible, as it is evident from 1Co 15:7 that he showed himself somewhere, after his appearance to the five hundred brethren, to the Apostle James alone, though none of the evangelists have given the least hint of this appearance. Among the apostles there were two persons of that name: one the brother of John, who was killed by Herod, another the brother or cousin of Jesus. Perhaps it was to James the brother of John that our Lord appeared after his resurrection. His being to suffer martyrdom so early, might make this special favour necessary.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 17
Some doubted. Thomas was one who doubted. He was uncertain whether it was really Jesus in bodily presence, or an apparition.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
When the Eleven finally saw Jesus, they worshipped Him. Yet some of them still had unresolved questions about how they should respond to Him. The word "doubted" (Gr. edistasan) means "hesitated" (cf. Mat 14:31). [Note: I. P. Ellis, "’But some doubted,’" New Testament Studies 14 (1967-68):574-80.] Apparently Jesus’ resurrection did not immediately dispel all the questions that remained in the minds of His disciples. Perhaps, also, some of them still felt embarrassed about deserting Him and wondered how He would deal with them.