Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Aren’t all His sisters with us as well? Where then did this man get all these things?”

“This question also is one of considerable difficulty, and not without importance; since the James who occupies so prominent a place in the Church of Jerusalem, in the latter part of the Acts, was apparently the apostle, but is by many regarded as "the Lord's…”

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus

“At that time Herod the tetrarch--Herod Antipas, one of the three sons of Herod the Great, and own brother of Archelaus (Mt 2:22), who ruled as ethnarch over Galilee and Perea. heard of the fame of Jesus--"for His name was spread abroad" (Mr 6:14).”

and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

“And said unto his servants--his counsellors or court-ministers. This is John the Baptist: he is risen from the dead, &c.--The murdered prophet haunted his guilty breast like a specter and seemed to him alive again and clothed with unearthly powers in the person of Jesus.”

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

“But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?--The charge is retorted with startling power: "The tradition they transgress is but man's, and is itself the occasion of heavy transgression, undermining the authority of God's…”

he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

“"And," it is added in Mark (Mr 7:12), "ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother." To dedicate property to God is indeed lawful and laudable, but not at the expense of filial duty.”

But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots.

“Heed it not: their corrupt teaching is already doomed: the garden of the Lord upon earth, too long cumbered with their presence, shall yet be purged of them and their accursed system: yea, and whatsoever is not of the planting of My heavenly Father, the…”

“Do you still not understand?” Jesus asked.

“And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?--Slowness of spiritual apprehension in His genuine disciples grieves the Saviour: from others He expects no better (Mt 13:11).”

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

“But the statement is far broader than this; namely that the first shape which the evil that is in the heart takes, when it begins actively to stir, is that of "considerations" or "reasonings" on certain suggested actions.”

“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?”

“As the result of all, I am taken for John the Baptist, for Elias, for Jeremias, for one of the prophets.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.

“Nor is Jesus above giving indication of the deep satisfaction which this speech yielded Him, and hastening to respond to it by a signal acknowledgment of Peter in return. Simon Bar-jona--or, "son of Jona" (Joh 1:42), or "Jonas" (Joh 21:15).”

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

“Even in the Greek it is imperfectly represented. In French, as WEBSTER and WILKINSON remark, it is perfect, Pierre--pierre. I will build my Church--not on the man Simon Bar-jona; but on him as the heavenly-taught confessor of a faith.”

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed…

“As first in confessing Christ, Peter got this commission before the rest; and with these "keys," on the day of Pentecost, he first "opened the door of faith" to the Jews, and then, in the person of Cornelius, he was honored to do the same…”

Then He admonished the disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ.

“Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ--Now that He had been so explicit, they might naturally think the time come for giving it out openly; but here they are told it had not.”

What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

“"O shame," exclaims BENGEL, "to be put to shame before God, Christ, and angels!" The sense of shame is founded on our love of reputation, which causes instinctive aversion to what is fitted to lower it, and was given us as a preservative from all…”

When they gathered together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.

“And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them--Mark (Mr 9:30), as usual, is very precise here: "And they departed thence"--that is, from the scene of the last miracle--"and passed through Galilee; and He would not that any man should know it."”

After they had arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Does your Teacher pay the two drachmas?”

“For the origin of this annual tax, see Ex 30:13, 14; Thus, it will be observed, it was not a civil, but an ecclesiastical tax. The tax mentioned in Mt 17:25 was a civil one.”

“Yes,” he answered. When Peter entered the house, Jesus preempted him. “What do you think, Simon?” He asked.

“He saith, yes--that is, "To be sure He does"; as if eager to remove even the suspicion of the contrary.”

“From others,” Peter answered. “Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus declared.

“Peter saith unto him, Of strangers--"of those not their children." Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free--By "the children" our Lord cannot here mean Himself and the Twelve together, in some loose sense of their near relationship to God as their common Father.”

“But so that we may not offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish you catch.

“Accordingly, the Lord adds, that take, and give unto them for me and thee--literally, "instead of Me and thee"; perhaps because the payment was a redemption of the person paid for (Ex 30:12) --in which view Jesus certainly was "free."”

See that you do not look down on any of these little ones.

“Probably our Lord means that, in virtue of their charge over His disciples (Heb 1:13; Joh 1:51), the angels have errands to the throne, a welcome there, and a dear familiarity in dealing with "His Father which is in heaven," which on their own matters…”

“For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost--or "is lost." A golden saying, once and again repeated in different forms.”

If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.

“Next, If this fail, take two or three to witness how just your complaint is, and how brotherly your spirit in dealing with him. Again, If this fail, bring him before the Church or congregation to which both belong.”

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

“And as such insinuations were perhaps made once and again, he wished to know how often and how long he was to stand it.”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!

“Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven--that is, so long as it shall be needed and sought: you are never to come to the point of refusing forgiveness sincerely asked.”

But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.

“But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants--Mark the difference here. The first case is that of master and servant; in this case, both are on a footing of equality.”