matthew-20:20-28-nasb,nasb

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:26

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, διακονος . I know no other word which could at once convey the meaning of the original, and make a proper distinction between it and δουλος , or servant, in Matthew 20:27 . The office of a deacon, in the primitive Church, was to serve in the agapae , or love feasts, to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:27

Your servant - Δουλος the lowest secular office, as deacon was the lowest ecclesiastical office: δουλος is often put for slave. From these directions of our Lord, we may easily discern what sort of a spirit his ministers should be of. A minister of Christ is not to consider himself a lord over Christ's flock. He is not to conduct the concerns of the Church with an imperious spirit. He is to reform the weak, after Christ's example, more by loving instruction than by reproof or... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:28

A ransom for many - Λυτρον αντι πολλων , or a ransom instead of many, - one ransom, or atonement, instead of the many prescribed in the Jewish law. Mr. Wakefield contends for the above translation, and with considerable show of reason and probability. The word λυτρον is used by the Septuagint for the Hebrew פדיו , pidion , the ransom paid for a man's life: see Exodus 21:30 ; Numbers 3:49-51 ; and λυτρα is used Numbers 35:31 , where a satisfaction (Hebrew כפר copher , an... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:20

Verse 20 Matthew 20:20.Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children. This narrative contains a bright mirror of human vanity; for it shows that proper and holy zeal is often accompanied by ambition, or some other vice of the flesh, so that they who follow Christ have a different object in view from what they ought to have. They who are not satisfied with himself alone, but seek this or the other thing apart from him and his promises, wander egregiously from the right path. Nor is it enough... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:21

Verse 21 21.In the kingdom. It was worthy of commendation in the sons of Zebedee, that they expected some kingdom of Christ, of which not even the slightest trace was then visible. They see Christ exposed to contempt under the mean aspect of a servant; nay more, they see him despised and loaded with many reproaches by the world; but they are convinced that he will soon become a magnificent king, for so he had taught them. It is unquestionably a noble specimen of faith; but hence we perceive how... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:22

Verse 22 22.You know not what you ask. Their ignorance was worthy of blame on two accounts; first, because their ambition led them to desire more than was proper; and, secondly, because, instead of the heavenly kingdom of Christ, they had formed the idea of a phantom in the air. As to the first of those reasons, whoever is not satisfied with the free adoption of God, and desires to raise himself, such a person wanders beyond his limits, and, by unseasonably pressing himself forward beyond what... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:23

Verse 23 23.You shall indeed drink my cup. As they were disciples, it was proper that they should be assimilated to their Master. Christ warns them of what will take place, that they may be prepared to endure it with patience; and, in the persons of two men, he addresses all his followers. For though many believers die a natural death, and without violence or shedding of blood, yet it is common to all of them, as Paul informs us, (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18,) to be conformed to the image... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:24

Verse 24 Matthew 20:24.And when the ten heard it. (660) Luke appears to refer this dispute to a different time. But any one who shall carefully examine that twenty-second chapter will plainly see that discourses delivered at different times are there brought together, without any regard to order. The dispute about the primacy, therefore which Luke mentions, flowed from this source, that the sons of Zebedee aspired to the first places in the kingdom of Christ. And yet the displeasure of the rest... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:25

Verse 25 25.You know that the princes of the Gentiles rule over them. It is first said that Christ called them to him, that he might reprove them in private; and next we learn from it that, being ashamed of their ambition, they did not openly complain, but that a sort of hollow murmur arose, and every one secretly preferred himself to the rest. He does not explain generally how deadly a plague ambition is, but simply warns them, that nothing is more foolish than to fight about nothing. (662) He... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:26

Verse 26 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... read more

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:26

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:27

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:28

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:20

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:21

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:22

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:23

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:24

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:25

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:26

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