Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 19:26
But Jesus beheld [them,] and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Verse 26. With men this is impossible] God alone can take the love of the world out of the human heart. Therefore the salvation of the rich is represented as possible only to him: and indeed the words seem to intimate, that it requires more than common exertions of Omnipotence to save a rich man.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But Jesus beheld them,…. Looking wishfully and earnestly at them; signifying thereby, that he knew their reasonings among themselves, though they did not speak out so as to be heard by him; and that there was no reason why they should be in so much concern, as their countenances showed, or possess themselves with such fears:
and said unto them, with men this is impossible. Mark adds, “but not with God; for with God all things are possible”; to be done by him, if he will, which are consistent with the glory and perfections of his nature: for as he could, by his almighty power, if he would, reduce a camel to so small a size, as to be able to go through the eye of a needle, which, with men, is an impossible thing; so by the mighty power of his grace he can work upon a rich man’s heart, in such a manner, as to take off his affections from his worldly substance, and cause him to drop his trust and confidence in it: he can so influence and dispose his mind, as to distribute his riches cheerfully among the poor, and largely, and liberally supply their wants, and even part with all, when necessity requires it: he can change his heart, and cause the desires of his soul to be after true riches of grace and glory; and bring him to see his own spiritual poverty, his need of Christ, and salvation by him; and to deny himself, take up the cross, and follow him, by submitting to his most despised ordinances, and by suffering the loss of all things for his sake; and he can carry him through a thousand snares safe to his kingdom and glory, which is Christ’s sense; though the thing is impossible upon the foot of human nature, and strength, which can never effect anything of this kind: and as to what the apostles suggested concerning the safety of persons in the Messiah’s kingdom, if no rich man could enter there, but should be in opposition to it; our Lord’s answer implies, that though, humanly speaking, it was not possible and practicable that they, a company of poor, mean, and despicable men, should be able to stand against the united force of the great and mighty men of the earth; yet God was able to support, and uphold them, succeed, and keep them, and make them both useful and comfortable, amidst all the opposition and persecution they should meet with, until he had finished his whole will and work by them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Looking on them (). Jesus saw their amazement.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
This [] . Not the salvation of rich men, but salvation in general. It is in answer to the question, who can be saved ? Man cannot save himself nor his fellow. God only can save him.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
26. With men this is impossible. Christ does not entirely free the minds of his disciples from all anxiety; for it is proper that they should perceive how difficult it is to ascend to heaven; first, that they may direct all their efforts to this object; and next, that, distrusting themselves, they may implore strength from heaven. We see how great is our indolence and carelessness; and what the consequence would be if believers thought that they had to walk at ease, for pastime, along a smooth and cheerful plain. Such is the reason why Christ does not extenuate the danger — though he perceives the terror which it excited in his disciples — but rather increases it; for though formerly he said only that it was difficult, he now affirms it to be impossible Hence it is evident, that those teachers are guilty of gross impropriety, who are so much afraid to speak harshly, that they give indulgence to the slothfulness of the flesh. They ought to follow, on the contrary, the rule of Christ, who so regulates his style that, after men have been bowed down within themselves, he teaches them to rely on the grace of God alone, and, at the same time, excites them to prayer. In this manner, the weakness of men is seasonably relieved, not by ascribing anything to them, but by arousing their minds to expect the grace of God. By this reply of Christ is also refuted that widely embraced principle — which the Papists have borrowed from Jerome — “Whoever shall say that it is impossible to keep the law, let him be accursed. “For Christ plainly declares, that it is not possible for men to keep the way of salvation, except so far as the grace of God assists them.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(26) Jesus beheld them.We can surely conceive something of the expression of that look. He had gazed thus on the young ruler, and read his inner weakness. Now, in like manner, he reads that of the disciples; and the look, we may believe, tells of wonder, sorrow, tenderness, anxiety. Those feelings utter themselves in the words that follow, partly in direct teaching, partly in symbolic promises, partly in a parable.
With men this is impossible.General as the words are in their form, we cannot help feeling that they must have seemed to the disciples to have rebuked their hasty judgment, not only as to the conditions of salvation generally, but as to the individual case before them. He, the Teacher, would still hope, as against hope, for one in whom He had seen so much to love and to admire. Their wider teaching is, of course, that wealth, though bringing with it many temptations, may be so used, through Gods grace, as to be a help, not a hindrance, in that deliverance from evil which is implied in the word salvation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. With God all things are possible The salvation of a rich man is as miraculous as the putting a camel through a needle’s eye. It is a human impossibility. But God can do it. But does not this reduce the rich man to just the same level as any other man, and so destroy all the force of our Lord’s first reflections on the impossibility of bringing a rich man into the kingdom of heaven? We reply, that our Lord means to represent that the salvation of a rich man bears to the ordinary salvation of common men the same relation that a miracle does to an ordinary transaction. If the saving of an ordinary man be a miracle of grace, the saving of a rich man is a miracle upon a miracle. It is an event above the ordinary train of grace, just as a miracle is above the ordinary course of nature.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Jesus looking on them said to them, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” ’
Jesus now points out that the age of impossibilities has arrived. He simply points out to them that God can in fact save both rich and poor. For while doing this is impossible with men, with God all things are possible. By this He first makes clear that salvation is a miracle that only God can accomplish, and secondly He draws special attention to its source. It is those whom God has chosen to ‘bless’ who will be saved. The idea that God can do the impossible is firmly imbedded in the Old Testament. See Gen 18:14; Job 42:2; Zec 8:6. And now it has begun to manifest itself.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 19:26 . ] This circumstance is also noticed by Mark. The look which, during a momentary pause, preceded the following utterance was doubtless one of a telling and significant character, and calculated to impress the startled disciples (Chrysostom, Euthymius Zigabenus: ). Comp. Luk 20:17 ; Joh 1:43 .
] so far as men are concerned, i.e. not hominum judicio (Fritzsche, Ewald), but serving to indicate that the impossibility is on the part of man , is owing to human inability, Luk 1:37 .
] namely, the , not: that the rich should be saved. See Mat 19:25 (in answer to Fritzsche, de Wette). Jesus invites the disciples to turn from the thought of man’s own inability to obtain salvation, to the omnipotence of God’s converting and saving grace.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
26 But Jesus beheld them , and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Ver. 26. With men this is impossible ] Because rich men’s hearts are ordinarily so wedded and wedged to the world that they will not be loosened but by a powerful touch from the hand of Heaven. Think not, therefore, as many do, that there is no other hell but poverty, no better heaven than abundance. a Of rich men they say, What should such a man ail? The Irish ask, What they mean to die, &c. The gold ring and gay clothing carried it in St James’s time,Jas 2:2Jas 2:2 . But he utterly disliked such partiality, and tells us that “God hath chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith, to be heirs of his kingdom.” In which respect he bids the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted in Christ.
But with God all things are possible ] He can quickly root out confidence in the creature, and rivet rich men to himself. He can do more than he will; but whatsoever he willeth, that he doth, without stop or hindrance. Men may lack their will for lack of power. Nature may be interrupted in her course, as it was at the time when the fire burned not the three worthies, the water drowned not Peter walking upon it, &c. Satan may be crossed and chained up; but who hath resisted the Almighty? who ever waxed fierce against God and prospered? Job 9:4 . Nature could say, all things are easy to God, and nothing impossible, ‘ (Linus Poeta). Howbeit for a finite creature to believe the infinite attributes of God, he is not able to do it thoroughly without supernatural grace.
a Luk 2:41 . Divitiae vocautur , quia avari animo quasi insident. Beza.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
26. ] Probably to give force to and impress what was about to be said, especially as it was a saying reaching into the spiritual doctrines of the Gospel, which they could not yet apprehend.
, salvation in general, and even of those least likely to be saved.
in both cases, as in E. V., with, ‘in the estimation of,’ ‘penes:’ a subjective force of the preposition derived from its local meaning of close juxtaposition, in which sense we have it only once in the N.T., Joh 19:25 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 19:26 . denotes a look of observation and sympathy. Jesus sees that He has made too deep an impression, depressing in effect, and hastens to qualify what He had said: “with mild, meek eye soothing their scared mind, and relieving their distress” (Chrys., Hom. lxiii.). , etc.: practically this reflection amounted to saying that the previous remark was to be taken cum grano , as referring to tendency rather than to fact . He did not mean that it was as impossible for a rich man to be saved as for a camel to pass through a needle-eye, but that the tendency of wealth was to act powerfully as an obstructive to the spiritual life.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
beheld. Greek. emblepo. App-133. Not the same as verses: in, 27.
all things are possible. For eternal life is now “the gift of God” (compare Rom 6:23). See also Gen 18:14. Job 42:2 (marg). Zec 8:6 (Septuagint) Luk 1:37.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
26. ] Probably to give force to and impress what was about to be said, especially as it was a saying reaching into the spiritual doctrines of the Gospel, which they could not yet apprehend.
, salvation in general, and even of those least likely to be saved.
in both cases, as in E. V., with, in the estimation of, penes: a subjective force of the preposition derived from its local meaning of close juxtaposition, in which sense we have it only once in the N.T., Joh 19:25.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 19:26. , having looked upon) in order to fix the thoughts of the terrified disciples. Jesus taught many things even by His look and by the expression of His countenance. This look first moved Matthew, once a publican.-, said) with the greatest sweetness.-, impossible) more even than morally impossible.-, all things) Therefore even this. The Divine omnipotence is seen, not only in the kingdom of nature, but in those also of grace and glory. That power is more than human by which the human heart is led away from earthly things. The cause of the rich may be pleaded with the greatest, effect by the poor and the scrupulous.[876]-, possible) as each of the elect will know.
[876] In the original, timoratos. In illustration and explanation of this barbarous word, the following extract will not be unwelcome:-
TIMORATUS. Wippo de Vita Chunradi Salici, p. 428: In Dei seruitio Timorata, in orationibus et eleemosynis assidua. Gesta Innocentii iii. p. 77: Deuotus et timoratus. Ditmarns lib. 2: Filiam bene Timoratam, etc. Humiliter et Timorate, apud eumdem lib. 3. Fulbertus Carnot. Epist. 40: Haerebam timorate suspensus et expectans, etc. Occurrit non semel: Gallis Timor, Dei timidus et a lenibus culpis auersus. Timoratus et totus plenus Deo, in Chronico Noualic. apud Murator, to. 2, part. 2, col. 735. Adde p. 2 de Imit. Christi, c. 10, n. 3, etc. GLOSSARIUM MANUALE AD SCRIPTORES MEDI ET INFIME LATINITATIS ex magnis Glossariis CABOLI DU FRESNE, DOMINI DU CANGE, et CARPENTARII in compendium redactum multisque verbis et dicendi formulis auctum.-Tom. 6, p. 563, b.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
but: Gen 18:14, Num 11:23, Job 42:2, Psa 3:8, Psa 62:11, Jer 32:27, Zec 8:6, Mar 10:27, Luk 1:37, Luk 18:27
Reciprocal: Gen 17:1 – Almighty Gen 22:8 – General 1Sa 14:6 – for there is no restraint 1Ki 17:6 – the ravens 1Ki 17:16 – the barrel Dan 2:11 – and there Mat 19:24 – It Rom 4:21 – he was able
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9:26
Jesus supplied the point the disciples overlooked, namely, that a thing impossible with men does not have to be so with God. He could actually take a camel through the eye of a needle, but in doing so there would be some kind of change made in the camel’s body that its earthly master could not cause it to make. A rich man can be saved, but it cannot be if he continues in his devotion and trust in his riches.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 19:26. Looked upon them. To give force to this profound statement, and perhaps in kindly sympathy with their weakness and want of understanding.
With men this is impossible. Not only in their judgment, but with their power.With God all things are possible. Gods grace not only can, but does, save some who are rich in spite of all the hindrances their wealth occasions.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if Christ had said, “Were all men left to themselves, no man, either rich or poor would be saved; but God can bring men to heaven by the mighty power of his grace: he can make the rich in estate, poor in spirit; and them that are poor in this world, rich in grace.”
Learn, 1. That it is impossible for any man, rich or poor, by his own natural strength, to get to heaven.
2. That when we are discouraged with a sense of our own impotency, we should consider the power of God, and act our faith upon it: With God all things are possible.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 26
With God, &c. The power of God alone can change the heart.