Matthewchapter 19
30 verses · Matthew, by tradition · AD 50 to 65 · The Gospels
Key verse
He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
It stands in Marriage, Divorce, and Hard Hearts, verses 1 to 12.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Divorce and marriage: 'what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.' The rich young ruler: 'sell that thou hast … come and follow me.' 'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.' The disciples' reward.
Context
Gospel · Matthew · Matthew overview
The world of this chapter
- Who
- Jewish readers who knew the rabbis were split on divorce
- Where
- The region of Judea beyond the Jordan, on the pilgrim route
- When
- The journey south toward Jerusalem. c. AD 30
Historical context
The divorce question was the hottest legal dispute of the generation, and the questioners knew it. Deuteronomy permitted a man to divorce his wife if he found some indecency in her. The school of Shammai read that narrowly as unfaithfulness; the school of Hillel read it broadly enough to cover almost any displeasure, including a spoiled meal. Asking Jesus to rule was asking him to take a side and lose half the audience.
It was also dangerous ground. John the Baptist had lost his freedom, and then his head, over Herod Antipas's marriage, and this conversation happens in Antipas's territory east of the Jordan.
In practice the certificate of divorce mattered enormously to a woman. It was her legal proof that she was free to remarry, and without a husband or a son she had almost no means of support. That is the real weight behind a ruling that made divorce easy for men.
The camel and the needle's eye is a deliberately impossible picture, the largest animal in the region and the smallest opening in a household. Attempts to soften it by inventing a small gate in Jerusalem's wall have no ancient evidence behind them. The disciples' astonishment shows they heard it as impossible, because in their world wealth was widely read as a sign of God's favour.
Significance
Jesus does not pick Hillel or Shammai; he goes behind Deuteronomy to Genesis and grounds marriage in creation itself, then names the permission as a concession to hard hearts. For Matthew's readers, that reframed a lawyers' argument as a matter of what God made.
The rich young man then walks away sad, and Peter asks what is in it for those who left everything. The answer promises a hundredfold and thrones, but ends with a reversal: many who are first will be last. Readers who had lost house and family for the name were being told the ledger is not settled yet.
Where the chapter sits
Matthew 19 falls in Community in the Kingdom (chapters 18). Discourse 4: greatness, forgiveness.
Before it: Parables of the Kingdom, chapters 13. After it: Olivet Discourse, chapters 24–25.
The whole shape of Matthew→The structure of this chapter
People1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Marriage, Divorce, and Hard Hearts
finished these sayings: When Jesus had finished these sayings closes the fourth discourse with the same formula that seals all five, marking the church discourse of chapter 18 as complete and turning the narrative south. Beyond Jordan, into the coasts of Judea, sets Jesus on the road that ends in Jerusalem and the cross, the region called Perea by the historians of the day, under Herod Antipas rather than the temple authorities directly. Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there is Matthew's brief summary before the Pharisees' question breaks in, a pattern the Gospel uses repeatedly to mark a hinge between blocks of teaching.
Matthew 19:1
“And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee--This marks a very solemn period in our Lord's public ministry. So slightly is it touched here, and in the corresponding passage of Mark (Mr 10:1), that few readers probably note it as the Redeemer's Farewell to Galilee, which however it was.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Matthew 19:1
“Coasts of Judea beyond Jordan - The narrative here refers to the last journey of the Saviour from Galilee to Jerusalem, to attend the last Passover which he celebrated.”
Matthew 19:1
“In these verses we have the mind of Christ declared on two subjects of great moment. One is the relation of husband and wife; the other is the light in which we should regard little children in the matter of their souls. It is difficult to overrate the importance of these two subjects: the well-being of nations and the happiness of society are closely connected with right views upon them. Nations are nothing but a collection of families.”
J.C. Ryle· Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856)Reformed Evangelical
Matthew 19:2
“Only, when Jesus had finished these words, having spoken them in Galilee about Capernaum, then "He departed thence, and came into the borders of Judaea," which were different from Galilee. But He came to the borders of Judaea, and not to the middle of it, but, as it were, to the outermost parts, where great multitudes followed Him, whom He healed at "the borders of Judaea beyond Jordan,"-where baptism had been given.”
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Book XIV), 15patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 19:2
“Great multitudes followed him - Some to be instructed - some to be healed - some through curiosity - and some to ensnare him.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 19:2
“And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there--Mark says further (Mr 10:1), that "as He was wont, He taught them there." What we now have on the subject of divorce is some of that teaching.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
tempting him: Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause is not an innocent question but one asked tempting him, and the bench places it inside a live rabbinic dispute the Pharisees knew Jesus would have to answer publicly. The school of Hillel read Deuteronomy 24:1's uncleanness broadly enough to permit divorce for nearly any dissatisfaction, even a spoiled meal, while the school of Shammai restricted it to marital unfaithfulness; asking Jesus to choose a side risked alienating one following or the other. The trap is sharpened by the setting, Perea being Herod Antipas's territory, the same ruler who had imprisoned and beheaded John the Baptist for saying much the same thing Jesus is about to say.
Matthew 19:3
“Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?--Two rival schools (as we saw on Mt 5:31) were divided on this question--a delicate one, as DE WETTE pertinently remarks, in the dominions of Herod Antipas.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:3
“Christ's answer to this question; though it was proposed to tempt him, yet, being a case of conscience, and a weighty one, he gave a full answer to it, not a direct one, but an effectual one; laying down such principles as undeniably prove that such arbitrary divorces as were then in use, which made the matrimonial bond so very precarious, were by no means lawful.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
made them at the beginning: Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female bypasses the Deuteronomy dispute entirely and answers from Genesis 1:27 and 2:24 instead, the bench noting Jesus refuses the Pharisees' framing on their own contested legal ground and returns to marriage's original design before the fall or the law of Moses ever entered. They twain shall be one flesh states a union the commentators read as more than physical, a joining God himself performs, which is why what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder follows as the verse's own conclusion rather than an added command. The appeal to the beginning rather than to Moses sets up the distinction Jesus draws sharply in verse 8.
Matthew 19:4
“But He so frames His answer as to evade their snare. He brings in the testimony of Holy Writ, and the law of nature, and opposing God's first sentence to this second, He answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female? This is written in the beginning of Genesis.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 19:4
“And he answered and said unto them,.... Not by replying directly to the question, but by referring them to the original creation of man, and to the first institution of marriage, previous to the law of Moses; have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female?”
Matthew 19:4
“He which made them at the beginning - When Adam and Eve were the first of human kind. Made them male and female - Merely through the design of matrimonial union, that the earth might be thus peopled. To answer a case of conscience, a man should act as Christ does here; pay no regard to that which the corruption of manners has introduced into Divine ordinances, but go back to the original will, purpose, and institution of God. Christ will never accommodate his morality to the times, nor to the inclinations of men.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 19:4
“He who made them, made them male and female from the beginning - At least from the beginning of the Mosaic creation. And where do we read of any other? Does it not follow, that God's making Eve was part of his original design, and not a consequence of Adam's beginning to fall?”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Cross references
Matthew 19:4
- QuotingGenesis 1:27“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
'he which made them at the beginning made them male and female' (divorce dispute)
Matthew 19:5
“For this cause - Being created for this very purpose; that they might glorify their Maker in a matrimonial connection. A man shall leave (καταλειψαι, wholly give up) both father and mother - the matrimonial union being more intimate and binding than even paternal or filial affection; - and shall be closely united, προσκολληθησεται, shall be firmly cemented to his wife. A beautiful metaphor, which most forcibly intimates that nothing but death can separate them: as a well-glued board will break sooner in the whole wood, than in the glued joint. So also the Hebrew word דבק debak implies.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:5
“Much less may a husband put away his wife, betwixt whom, though not by nature, yet by divine appointment, the relation is nearer, and the bond of union stronger, than between parents and children; for that is in a great measure superseded by marriage, when a man must leave his parents, to cleave to his wife.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Cross references
Matthew 19:5
- QuotingGenesis 2:24“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”
'For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife'
Matthew 19:6
“God has joined by making man and woman one flesh; this then man may not put asunder, but God only. Man puts asunder, when from desire of a second wife the first is put away; God puts asunder, who also had joined, when by consent for the service of God we so have our wives as though we had them not. (1 Cor. 7:29.)”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 19:6
“What therefore God hath joined together - Συνεζευξεν, yoked together, as oxen in the plough, where each must pull equally, in order to bring it on. Among the ancients, when persons were newly married, they put a yoke upon their necks, or chains upon their arms, to show that they were to be one, closely united, and pulling equally together in all the concerns of life. See Kypke in loco.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 19:6
“Marriage and the sabbath are the most ancient of divine ordinances. Though marriage be not peculiar to the church, but common to the world, yet, being stamped with a divine institution, and here ratified by our Lord Jesus, it ought to be managed after a godly sort, and sanctified by the word of God, and prayer.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
writing of divorcement: Why did Moses then command a writing of divorcement presses Jesus with Deuteronomy 24:1 itself, and his answer draws the line the whole exchange has been building toward, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you, not commanded, a concession to human sin rather than an institution of God's original design. From the beginning it was not so restates verse 4's appeal and makes plain that Moses' permission was a regulation for a fallen condition, limiting an evil already present rather than authorizing it fresh. The bench reads this as settling the Hillel-Shammai debate by refusing its terms altogether, the question was never how broadly to read uncleanness but whether divorce belonged to creation's design at all.
Matthew 19:7
“Why did Moses command - Christ replies, Moses permitted (not commanded) it, because of the hardness of your hearts - Because neither your fathers nor you could bear the more excellent way.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:7
“Why did Moses ... - To this they objected that Moses had allowed such divorces Deu 24:1; and if he had allowed them, they inferred that they could not be unlawful. See the notes at Mat 5:31.”
Matthew 19:8
“He saith unto them, Moses--as a civil lawgiver. because of--or "having respect to." the hardness of your hearts--looking to your low moral state, and your inability to endure the strictness of the original law. suffered you to put away your wives--tolerated a relaxation of the strictness of the marriage bond--not as approving of it, but to prevent still greater evils.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 19:8
“What He says is to this purpose. Is it possible that God should so contradict Himself, as to command one thing at first, and after defeat His own ordinance by a new statute? Think not so; but, whereas Moses saw that through desire of second wives who should be richer, younger, or fairer, that the first were put to death, or treated ill, he chose rather to suffer separation, than the continuance of hatred and assassination.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 19:8
“Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts - It is dangerous to tolerate the least evil, though prudence itself may require it: because toleration, in this case, raises itself insensibly into permission, and permission soon sets up for command. Moses perceived that if divorce were not permitted, in many cases, the women would be exposed to great hardships through the cruelty of their husbands: for so the word σκληροκαρδια, is understood in this place by some learned men.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
committeth adultery: Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery is Matthew's own exception clause, absent from the parallel sayings in Mark 10:11 and Luke 16:18, and the bench divides on its force: some read fornication narrowly as premarital unchastity discovered after betrothal, others read it as marital infidelity generally, permitting divorce though never commanding it, while a minority reads the exception as a Matthean clarification rather than a new permission Jesus had not already implied. What is not disputed is the verse's plain center, that remarriage after an unwarranted divorce is itself adultery, a hard word the disciples' own reaction in verse 10 shows landed with its full weight.
Matthew 19:9
“And I say unto you - Emphasis should be laid here on the word “I.” This was the opinion of Jesus - this he proclaimed to be the law of his kingdom this the command of God ever afterward. Indulgence had been given by the laws of Moses; but that indulgence was to cease, and the marriage relation to be brought back to its original intention. Only one offence was to make divorce lawful.”
not good to marry: If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry is the disciples' own startled response, the bench reading it as evidence they had understood Jesus correctly, that he had just closed a legal door their culture had long treated as open. Jesus answers with the eunuch saying, distinguishing three kinds, born eunuchs, those made eunuchs of men, referring to castration practiced in some courts, and those who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake, a voluntary forgoing of marriage for undivided kingdom service that the commentators connect forward to Paul's own teaching in 1 Corinthians 7. All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given marks the whole teaching, both the hard word on divorce and the call to celibacy, as gifts rather than universal burdens, closed with he that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Matthew 19:10
“If they may not be allowed to put away their wives when they please, they will have no wives at all; though, from the beginning, when no divorce was allowed, God said, It is not good for man to be alone, and blessed them, pronounced them blessed who were thus strictly joined together; yet, unless they may have a liberty of divorce, they think it is good for a man not to marry.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:10
“If the case of the man - Του ανθρωπου, of a husband, so I think the word should be translated here. The Codex Bezae, Armenian, and most of the Itala, have του ανδρος, which, perhaps, more properly signifies a husband, though both words are used in this sense. Our word husband comes from the Anglo-Saxon, hus and band: the bond of the house, anciently spelt housebond, - so in my old MS. Bible. It is a lamentable case when the husband, instead of being the bond and union of the family, scatters and ruins it by dissipation, riot, and excess.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 19:11
“But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given--that is, "That the unmarried state is better, is a saying not for everyone, and indeed only for such as it is divinely intended for." But who are these? they would naturally ask; and this our Lord proceeds to tell them in three particulars.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 19:11
“But let none think, that wherein He adds, save they to whom it is given, that either fate or fortune is implied, as though they were virgins only whom chance has led to such a fortune. For that is given to those who have sought it of God, who have longed for it, who have striven that they might obtain it.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 19:11
“Now this is given to three sorts of persons to some by natural constitution, without their choice: to others by violence, against their choice; and to others by grace with their choice: who steadily withstand their natural inclinations, that they may wait upon God without distraction.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 19:12
“He speaks of three kinds of eunuchs, of whom two are carnal, and one spiritual. One, those who are so born of their mother's womb; another, those whom enemies or courtly luxury has made so; a third, those who have made themselves so for the kingdom of heaven, and who might have been men, but become eunuchs for Christ. To them the reward is promised, for to the others whose continence was involuntary, nothing is due. (cf. Orig. in loc.) Or we may say otherwise.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:12
“Eunuchs - Ευνουχος, from ευνην εχειν, to have the care of the bed or bedchamber; this being the principal employment of eunuchs in the eastern countries, particularly in the apartments of queens and princesses. These are they whom our Lord says are made eunuchs by men, merely for the above purpose. So born from their mother’s womb - Such as are naturally incapable of marriage, and consequently should not contract any.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Let the Little Children Come to Mevv. 13-15
the disciples rebuked them: Brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray, was ordinary practice, parents seeking a rabbi's blessing on their children, and the disciples' rebuke likely came from a sense that such small matters should not interrupt serious teaching, especially so soon after the weighty exchange on marriage. Suffer little children, and forbid them not is Jesus' correction, and for of such is the kingdom of heaven repeats in substance the object lesson of 18:2 to 4, dependence and receptivity rather than achievement marking those who belong to the kingdom. The bench notes he laid his hands on them and departed thence, granting exactly what the parents came for, without the sign or the miracle the crowds usually pressed him for.
Matthew 19:13
“Then were there brought unto him little children,.... It does not appear that they were new born babes; the words used by either of the evangelists do not always signify such, but are sometimes used of such as are capable of going alone; yea, of receiving instructions, of understanding the Scriptures, and even of one of twelve years of age, Mat 18:2 nor is it probable that infants just born, or within a month, should be had abroad.”
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:13
“Then were brought little children - See also Mar 10:13-16; Luk 18:15-17. Probably these were brought by some of his followers, who desired not only to devote themselves to Jesus, but all that they had - their children as well as themselves. All the Jews were accustomed to devote their children to God by circumcision. It was natural, therefore, under the new dispensation, that it should be done. Luke says they were infants. They were undoubtedly those who were not old enough to come by choice, but their coming was an act of the parents.”
Matthew 19:14
“Of such is the kingdom of heaven - Or, the kingdom of heaven is composed of such. This appears to be the best sense of the passage, and utterly ruins the whole inhuman diabolic system of what is called non-elect infants’ damnation; a doctrine which must have sprung from Moloch, and can only be defended by a heart in which he dwells. A great part of God’s kingdom is composed of such literally; and those only who resemble little children shall be received into it: see on Mat 18:3 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:14
“And He said distinctly, Of such is the kingdom of heaven, not Of these, to show that it was not years, but disposition that determined His judgment, and that the reward was promised to such as had like innocence and simplicity.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 19:15
“And he laid his hands on them,.... "And blessed them", as Mark says; he put his hands upon them, according to the custom of the country, and wished all kind of prosperity to them: and departed thence, out of the house where he had been, and his disciples with him: the Ethiopic version renders it, "and they went from thence", from those parts, towards Jerusalem.”
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:15
“He - departed thence - That is, from that part of Judea which was beyond Jordan, Mat 19:1; and then went to Jericho. See Mat 20:29.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The Rich Young Ruler and the Eye of the Needle
Good Master, what good thing: shall I do, that I may have eternal life frames the question as one of achievement, doing a thing to earn life, and Jesus' answer, why callest thou me good, there is none good but one, that is, God, does not deny his own goodness but presses the young man to reckon with what he has just said, calling a mere teacher good in the sense reserved for God alone. If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments answers on the young man's own terms first, meeting him where he stood before the conversation moves to what the commandments could not supply.
Matthew 19:16
“These verses detail a conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ and a young man who came to him to inquire about the way to eternal life. Like every conversation recorded in the Gospels between our Lord and an individual, it deserves special attention. Salvation is an individual business: every one who wishes to be saved must have private personal dealings with Christ about his own soul. We see for one thing from the case of this young man that a person may have desires after salvation, and yet not be saved.”
J.C. Ryle· Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856)Reformed Evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 19:16
“He that asks this question is both young, rich, and proud, and he asks not as one that desires to learn, but as tempting Him. This we can prove by this, that when the Lord had said unto him, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments, he further insidiously asks, which are the commandments? as if he could not read them for himself, or as if the Lord could command any thing contrary to them.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 19:16
“We must be doing, and doing that which is good. The blood of Christ is the only purchase of eternal life (he merited it for us), but obedience to Christ is the appointed way to it, Heb. v. 9 . [4.] That he was, or at least thought himself, willing to do what was to be done for the obtaining of this eternal life.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 19:16
“One came - Instead of εις one, several MSS., the Slavonic version, and Hilary, read νεανισκος τις, a certain young man. Good, etc. - Much instruction may be had from seriously attending to the conduct, spirit, and question of this person. 1. He came running, (Mar 10:17), for he was deeply convinced of the importance of his business, and seriously determined to seek so as to find. 2. He kneeled, or caught him by the knees, thus evidencing his humility, and addressing himself only to mercy. See Mat 17:14.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 19:17
“But because he had styled Him Good Master, and had not confessed Him as God, or as the Son of God, He tells him, that in comparison of God there is no saint to be called good, of whom it is said, Confess unto the Lord, for he is good; (Ps. 118:1.) and therefore He says, There is one good, that is, God. But that none should suppose that by this the Son of God is excluded from being good, we read in another place, The good Shepherd layeth down his life for his sheep. (John 10:11.)”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 19:17
“But he would seem to find that faith in what he said, when he called him good Master, which the gentleman perhaps was not conscious to himself of; he intended no more than to own and honour him as a good man, but Christ would lead him to own and honour him as a good God; for there is none good but one, that is God.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 19:17
“Why callest thou me good? - Or, Why dost thou question me concerning that good thing? τι με ερωτας περι του αγαθου. This important reading is found in BDL, three others, the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Ethiopic, latter Syriac, Vulgate, Saxon, all the Itala but one, Origen, Eusebius, Cyril, Dionysius Areop., Antiochus, Novatian, Jerome, Augustin, and Juvencus. Erasmus, Grotius, Mill, and Bengel approve of this reading. This authority appears so decisive to Griesbach that he has received this reading into the text of his second edition, which in the first he had interlined.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Thou shalt do no murder: The commandments Jesus lists run from the sixth through the ninth of the ten and add love thy neighbour as thyself from Leviticus 19:18, all of them the horizontal commands governing conduct toward others rather than the first table's commands toward God, a selection the bench takes as deliberate. All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet is the young man's own honest sense of a remaining gap, and the commentators read his question as sincere rather than boastful, a man who has genuinely kept the letter of these commands and still senses something is missing.
Matthew 19:18
“Thou shalt do no murder, etc. - But some say these commandments are not binding on us. Vain, deceived men! Can a murderer, an adulterer, a thief, and a liar enter into eternal life? No. The God of purity and justice has forbidden it. But we are not to keep these commandments in order to purchase eternal life. Right. Neither Jesus Christ, nor his genuine messengers, say you are. To save your souls, Christ must save you from your sins, and enable you to walk before him in newness of life.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:18
“Because he would teach him, and us all, that moral honesty is a necessary branch of true Christianity, and to be minded accordingly. Though a mere moral man comes short of being a complete Christian, yet an immoral man is certainly no true Christian; for the grace of God teaches us to live soberly and righteously, as well as godly.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Cross references
Matthew 19:18
- QuotingExodus 20:12“Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”
the commandments recited to the rich young ruler (Decalogue, second table)
Matthew 19:19
“Honour thy father and thy mother - σου thy, is omitted by almost every MS. of respectability. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself - Self-love, as it is generally called, has been grievously declaimed against, even by religious people, as a most pernicious and dreadful evil. But they have not understood the subject on which they spoke. They have denominated that intense propensity which unregenerate men feel to gratify their carnal appetites and vicious passions, self-love; whereas it might be more properly termed self-hatred or self-murder.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:19
“Honour thy father and thy mother:.... This, as it is the first commandment with promise, so the first of the second table, and yet is here mentioned last; which inversion of order is of no consequence: so the "seventh" command is put before the "sixth", and the "fifth" omitted, in Rom 13:9 and with the Jews it is a common (c) saying, אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה, "there is neither first nor last in the law": that is, it is of no consequence which commandment is recited first, or which last.”
Cross references
Matthew 19:19
- QuotingLeviticus 19:18“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”
'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself'
Matthew 19:20
“All these have I kept - I have made these precepts the rule of my life. There is a difference worthy of notice between this and our Lord’s word. He says, Mat 19:17, τηρησον, keep, earnestly, diligently, as with watch and ward; probably referring not only to the letter but to the spirit. The young man modestly says, all these (εφυλαξα) have I observed; I have paid attention to, and endeavored to regulate my conduct by them. I have kept them in custody. From my youth - Several MSS., versions, and fathers, leave out these words.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:20
“Or into life, that spiritual life which is the beginning and earnest of eternal life. He desired to know how he might have eternal life; Christ tells him how he might enter into it; we have it by the merit of Christ, a mystery which was not as yet fully revealed, and therefore Christ waives that; but the way of entering into it, is, by obedience, and Christ directs us in that.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
If thou wilt be perfect: , go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor names the young man's true lack, not a missing eleventh commandment but an unnamed first commandment problem, since Mark's parallel identifies him as having great possessions and the bench reads the test as exposing exactly where his treasure and his heart actually lay. Come and follow me is the call underneath the sale, discipleship rather than almsgiving as the real demand, and the young man went away sorrowful because he had great possessions, choosing his wealth over the very treasure in heaven Jesus had just offered him. The commentators do not read this as a universal command to give away all property but as a diagnosis aimed precisely at this man's own idol.
Matthew 19:21
“If thou wilt be perfect - Τελειος ειναι, To be complete, to have the business finished, and all hinderances to thy salvation removed, go and sell that thou hast - go and dispose of thy possessions, to which it is evident his heart was too much attached, and give to the poor - for thy goods will be a continual snare to thee if thou keep them; and thou shalt have treasure in heaven - the loss, if it can be called such, shall be made amply up to thee in that eternal life about which thou inquirest; and come…”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:21
“If thou desirest to be perfect - That is, to be a real Christian: Sell what thou hast - He who reads the heart saw his bosom sin was love of the world; and knew he could not be saved from this, but by literally renouncing it. To him therefore he gave this particular direction, which he never designed for a general rule. For him that was necessary to salvation: to us it is not.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 19:22
“It follows, And when the young man had heard these words, he went away sorrowful. This is the sorrow that leads to death. And the cause of his sorrow is added, for he had great possessions, thorns, that is, and briars, which choked the holy leaven.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:22
“Went away sorrowful - Men undergo great agony of mind while they are in suspense between the love of the world and the love of their souls. When the first absolutely predominates, then they enjoy a factitious rest through a false peace: when the latter has the upper hand, then they possess true tranquillity of mind, through that peace of God that passeth knowledge. He had great possessions - And what were these in comparison of peace of conscience, and mental rest?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
shall hardly enter into the kingdom: A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven, sharpened by the camel and the needle's eye, is read two ways in the tradition: a late suggestion that a small gate in Jerusalem's wall was nicknamed the needle's eye, through which an unladen camel could barely stoop, and the bench notes this reading has no support earlier than the ninth century and likely softens a deliberately impossible image; the plainer reading takes the largest common animal and the smallest common opening as Jesus' own hyperbole for a natural impossibility, matching the disciples' own reaction in the next verse. Kingdom of God appears here rather than Matthew's usual kingdom of heaven, one of only five such uses in the Gospel, without altering the saying's force.
Matthew 19:23
“A rich man shall hardly enter - That is, into the spirit and privileges of the Gospel in this world, and through them into the kingdom of glory. Earthly riches are a great obstacle to salvation; because it is almost impossible to possess them, and not to set the heart upon them; and they who love the world have not the love of the Father in them. 1Jn 2:15. To be rich, therefore, is in general a great misfortune: but what rich man can be convinced of this?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 19:24
“A camel - Instead of καμηλον, camel, six MSS. read καμιλον, cable, a mere gloss inserted by some who did not know that the other was a proverb common enough among the people of the east. There is an expression similar to this in the Koran. “The impious, who in his arrogance shall accuse our doctrine of falsity, shall find the gates of heaven shut: nor shall he enter there till a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle. It is thus that we shall recompense the wicked.” Al Koran. Surat vii. ver.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:24
“According to this, no rich man can be saved. But if we read Isaiah, how the camels of Midian and Ephah came to Jerusalem with gifts and presents, and they who once were crooked and bowed down by the weight of their sins, enter the gates of Jerusalem, we shall see how these camels, to which the rich are likened when they have laid aside the heavy load of sins, and the distortion of their whole bodies, may then enter by that narrow and strait way that leads to life.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
exceedingly amazed: Who then can be saved captures the disciples' exceeding amazement, since wealth was widely read in their culture as a mark of God's own favor, so if the rich could hardly be saved the case seemed hopeless for everyone. With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible answers the young ruler's whole encounter, the bench reading it as the chapter's real center: no man, rich or poor, earns eternal life by his own doing, and what the law could only expose, grace alone supplies. The saying reaches back to Genesis 18:14's nothing too hard for the Lord and forward to the whole New Testament's teaching on salvation by grace rather than works.
Matthew 19:25
“His disciples were amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? - If rich men, with all their advantages, cannot? A poor man; a peasant; a beggar: ten thousand of them, sooner than one that is rich.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:25
“Who can be saved? - The question of the disciples seemed to intimate that most people were rich, and that therefore scarcely any could be saved. They certainly must have attached a different meaning to what constitutes a rich man, to what we in general do. Who is a rich man in our Lord’s sense of the word? This is a very important question, and has not, that I know of, been explicitly answered.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 19:26
“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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:26
“Jesus looking upon them - To compose their hurried spirits. O what a speaking look was there! Said to them - With the utmost sweetness: With men this is impossible - It is observable, he does not retract what he had said: no, nor soften it in the least degree, but rather strengthens it, by representing the salvation of a rich man as the utmost effort of Omnipotence.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
we have forsaken all: , and followed thee; what shall we have therefore is Peter's own question set directly against the rich young ruler who could not, and Jesus answers with a promise reaching to the regeneration, the Greek palingenesia, a term the bench notes appears only here and at Titus 3:5 in the whole New Testament, naming the world's own final renewal rather than merely the individual soul's rebirth. Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel gives the apostles a role in that renewed order, and the commentators read judging in its wider biblical sense of governing and ruling rather than only rendering verdicts, echoing the judges of Israel's own earlier history.
Matthew 19:27
“We have forsaken all - “A poor all,” says one, “a parcel of rotten nets.” No matter - they were their All, whether rotten or sound; besides, they were the all they got their bread by; and such an all as was quite sufficient for that purpose: and let it be observed, that that man forsakes much who reserves nothing to himself, and renounces all expectations from this world, taking God alone for his portion. See Mat 4:20. To forsake all, without following Christ, is the virtue of a philosopher.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 19:28
“Ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, etc. - The punctuation which I have observed here, is that which is followed by the most eminent critics: the regeneration is thus referred to the time when Jesus shall sit on the throne of his glory, and not to the time of following him, which is utterly improper. The regeneration, παλιγγενεσια. Some refer this to the time in which the new heavens and the new earth shall be created, and the soul and body united.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:28
“Then being absolved, they shall sit with the Judge, 1 Cor. vi, ii, On twelve thrones - So our Lord promised, without expressing any condition: yet as absolute as the words are, it is certain there is a condition implied, as in many scriptures, where none is expressed.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
an hundredfold: Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold widens Peter's promise to every disciple who makes the same costly choice the rich young ruler refused, and shall inherit everlasting life closes the whole encounter on the very question the young man opened it with, now answered not by keeping commandments but by forsaking all for Christ's sake. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first stands as the chapter's summary line and the hinge into the parable of the laborers that opens chapter 20, a reversal the rich man's sorrow and Peter's sacrifice have both just illustrated in their own persons.
Matthew 19:29
“And everyone that hath forsaken houses,.... Not only the then disciples of Christ, but any other believer in him, whether at that time, or in any age, that should be called to quit their habitations, or leave their dearest relations, friends, and substance: as brethren or sisters, or father or mother, or wife or children, lands, for my name's sake; or, as in Luke, "for the kingdom of God's sake"; that is, for the sake of the Gospel, and a profession of it.”
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 19:29
“There are that take occasion from this passage to bring forward the thousand years after the resurrection, and say that then we shall have a hundred fold of the things we have given up, and moreover life eternal. But though the promise be in other things worthy, in the matter of wives it seems to have somewhat shameful, if he who has forsaken one wife for the Lord's sake, shall receive a hundred in the world to come.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 19:29
“Shall receive a hundredfold - Viz. in this life, in value, though perhaps not in kind; and in the world to come everlasting life. A glorious portion for a persevering believer! The fullness of Grace here, and the fullness of Glory hereafter! See on Mar 10:30 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 19:30
“But many first - Many of those who were first called, shall be last - Shall have the lowest reward: those who came after them being preferred before them: and yet possibly both the first and the last may be saved, though with different degrees of glory.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 19:30
“By this He exhorts those that come late to the heavenly word, to haste to ascend to perfection before many whom they see to have grown old in the faith. This sense may also overthrow those that boast to have been educated in Christianity by Christian parents, especially if those parents have filled the Episcopal see, or the office of Priests or Deacons in the Church; and hinder them from desponding who have entertained the Christian doctrines more newly.”
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists; John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae on Matthew and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.