Mat 10:24-36 | JFB | STEP | 24. The disciple is not above his master-- teacher. nor the servant above his lord-- another maxim which our Lord repeats in various connections ( ; ; ).

‏ Matthew 10:24-36

24. The disciple is not above his master--teacher.

nor the servant above his lord--another maxim which our Lord repeats in various connections (Lu 6:40; Joh 13:16; 15:20).

25. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub--All the Greek manuscripts, write "Beelzebul," which undoubtedly is the right form of this word. The other reading came in no doubt from the Old Testament "Baalzebub," the god of Ekron (2Ki 1:2), which it was designed to express. As all idolatry was regarded as devil worship (Le 17:7; De 32:17; Psa 106:37; 1Co 10:20), so there seems to have been something peculiarly satanic about the worship of this hateful god, which caused his name to be a synonym of Satan. Though we nowhere read that our Lord was actually called "Beelzebul," He was charged with being in league with Satan under that hateful name (Mt 12:24, 26), and more than once Himself was charged with "having a devil" or "demon" (Mr 3:30; Joh 7:20; 8:48). Here it is used to denote the most opprobrious language which could be applied by one to another.

how much more shall they call them of his household--"the inmates." Three relations in which Christ stands to His people are here mentioned: He is their Teacher--they His disciples; He is their Lord--they His servants; He is the Master of the household--they its inmates. In all these relations, He says here, He and they are so bound up together that they cannot look to fare better than He, and should think it enough if they fare no worse.

26. Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known--that is, There is no use, and no need, of concealing anything; right and wrong, truth and error, are about to come into open and deadly collision; and the day is coming when all hidden things shall be disclosed, everything seen as it is, and every one have his due (1Co 4:5).

27. What I tell you in darkness--in the privacy of a teaching for which men are not yet ripe.

that speak ye in the light--for when ye go forth all will be ready.

and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops--Give free and fearless utterance to all that I have taught you while yet with you. Objection: But this may cost us our life? Answer: It may, but there their power ends:

28. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul--In Lu 12:4, "and after that have no more that they can do."

but rather fear him--In Luke (Lu 12:5) this is peculiarly solemn, "I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear," even Him

which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell--A decisive proof this that there is a hell for the body as well as the soul in the eternal world; in other words, that the torment that awaits the lost will have elements of suffering adapted to the material as well as the spiritual part of our nature, both of which, we are assured, will exist for ever. In the corresponding warning contained in Luke (Lu 12:4), Jesus calls His disciples "My friends," as if He had felt that such sufferings constituted a bond of peculiar tenderness between Him and them.

29. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?--In Luke (Lu 12:6) it is "five sparrows for two farthings"; so that, if the purchaser took two farthings' worth, he got one in addition--of such small value were they.

and one of them shall not fall on the ground--exhausted or killed

without your Father--"Not one of them is forgotten before God," as it is in Luke (Lu 12:6).

30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered--See Lu 21:18 (and compare for the language 1Sa 14:45; Ac 27:34).

31. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows--Was ever language of such simplicity felt to carry such weight as this does? But here lies much of the charm and power of our Lord's teaching.

32. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men--despising the shame.

him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven--I will not be ashamed of him, but will own him before the most august of all assemblies.

33. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven--before that same assembly: "He shall have from Me his own treatment of Me on the earth." (But see on Mt 16:27).

34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword--strife, discord, conflict; deadly opposition between eternally hostile principles, penetrating into and rending asunder the dearest ties.

35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--(See on Lu 12:51-53).

36. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household--This saying, which is quoted, as is the whole verse, from Mi 7:6, is but an extension of the Psalmist's complaint (Psa 41:9; 55:12-14), which had its most affecting illustration in the treason of Judas against our Lord Himself (Joh 13:18; Mt 26:48-50). Hence would arise the necessity of a choice between Christ and the nearest relations, which would put them to the severest test.