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Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
“Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 10:28-32 sits inside this longer paragraph.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops. Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
“Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.
Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
“Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will,
but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.
Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven.
And feare ye not them which kyll the body and be not able to kyll the soule. But rather feare hym which is able to destroye bothe soule and body into hell.
Are not two sparowes solde for a farthinge? And none of them dothe lyght on the grounde with out youre father.
And now are all the heeris of youre heedis numbred.
Feare ye not therfore: ye are of more value then many sparowes.
Who soever therfore shall knowledge me before men hym will I knowledge also before my father which is in heuen.
And feare yee not them which kill the bodie, but are nor able to kill the soule: but rather feare him, which is able to destroy both soule and bodie in hell.
Are not two sparrowes sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fal on the ground without your Father?
Yea, and all the heares of your head are nombred.
Feare ye not therefore, yee are of more value then many sparowes.
Whosoeuer therefore shall confesse me before men, him will I confesse also before my Father which is in heauen.
Historical claims about the natural world, weighed against the scientific record.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 32 Though tyrants be never so raging and cruel, yet…
Though tyrants be never so raging and cruel, yet we may not fear them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv28–32 28 And fear not them which kill the body,…
28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Ver. 28. And fear not them which kill the body] That cruelly kill it, αποκτεινειν (as the word signifies), that wittily torture it, as those primitive persecutors, with all the most exquisite torments that the wit of malice could devise: that kill men so that they may feel themselves to be killed, as Tiberius bade. Odull Gemmet suffered a strange and cruel death in France for religion. For when they had bound him, they took a kind of creatures which live in horse dung, called in French escarbots, and put them unto his navel, covering them with a dish, the which, within a short time, pierced into his belly, and killed him. The tragic story of their cruel handling of William Gardner, martyr, in Portugal, may be read in Mr Foxe’s Martyrology, fol. 1242. At the loss of Heidelberg, Monsieur Millius, an ancient minister and man of God, was taken by the bloody Spaniards, who having first abused his daughter before him, tied a small cord about his head, which with truncheons they wreathed about till they squeezed out his brains. So they rather roasted than burnt many of our martyrs, as Bishop Ridley, and others. Neither would they let the dead rest in their graves, as Paulus Phagius, whose bones they digged up and burnt: so they raged exceedingly upon the dead body of Zwinglius, after they had slain him in battle, &c. {a} Now these that cruelly kill the body we must not fear. Our Saviour saith not, that can kill the body at their pleasure, for that they cannot; but that do kill it, when God permits them to do it. And then, too, occidere possunt, laedere non possunt, as he told the tyrant: {b} they may kill the saints, but cannot hurt them, because their souls are out of gunshot. St Paul’s sufferings reached no further than to his flesh, Col 1:24; his soul was untouched, he possessed that in patience amidst all outward perturbations.
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But are not able to kill the soul] As they would do fain, if it were in their power. David often complains that they sought after his soul, that they satanically hated him, &c. Now we commit thy soul to the devil, said the persecutors to John Huss. The Popish priests persuaded the people here at the burning of the martyrs, that when the gunpowder (that was put under their armholes for a readier despatch of them) gave a burst, then the devil fetched away their souls. When Cranmer often cried in the fire, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," a Spanish monk ran to a nobleman then present, and would have persuaded him that those were words of despair, and that he was now entering into hell. {c} Upon the patient and pious death of George Marsh, many of the people said he died a martyr, which caused the bishop shortly after to make a sermon in the cathedral, and therein he affirmed that the said Marsh was a heretic, burnt like a heretic, and a firebrand in hell. Of Nicolas Burton, martyr in Spain, because he embraced death for Christ with all gladness and patience, the Papists gave out that the devil had his soul before he came to the fire, and therefore they said his senses of feeling were past already.
But rather fear him] As one fire, so one fear drives out another. Therefore, in the second commandment, lest the fear of men’s punishment should keep us from worshipping of God, great punishment is threatened to them that worship him not. If I forsake my profession, I am sure of a worse death than Judge Hales had, said that martyr. There is a military law for those that forsake their captain, or else (under a colour of discretion) fall back into the rereward. They that draw back, do it to perdition, Heb 10:39. And is it nothing to lose an immortal soul? to purchase an everlasting death? Should servants fear their masters because they have power over the flesh? Col 3:23; and should not we fear him that can destroy both body and soul in hell? Biron, Marshal of France, derided the Earl of Essex’s piety at his death as more befitting a silly minister than a stout warrior: as if the fear of hell were not a Christian man’s fortitude; as if it were not valour but madness to fight with a flaming fire, that is out of our power to suppress. This Biron, within a few months after, underwent the same death that Essex did, and then if he feared not hell, he was sure to feel it.
{a} In corpus Zuinglii exanime valde saevitum uit, &c. Scultet. Annal., p. 348.
{b} Αποκτειναι με δυναται ο Νερων, βλαψαι δε ου. Thraseds, apud Dion. in Nerone.
{c} Melch. Adam. in Vit. Cranmer.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 32 As I told you before, you will in the…
As I told you before, you will in the publication of my gospel meet with opposition from men. Now that it is preached as it were in darkness, and whispered in men’s ears, there is no great noise made in the world; but the case will be otherwise when it cometh to be publicly revealed, and published upon the housetops. But consider, the enemies can only kill the bodies of my disciples: you have souls as well as bodies; they have no power over your souls; but he that hath sent you to preach, and called you to the owning and profession of the gospel, hath a power over your souls as well as over your bodies, and to punish both in hell. We have the same Luk 12:4,5. There is nothing so effectual to drive out of our hearts a slavish fear of man in the doing of our duty, as a right apprehension of the power of God, begetting a fear of him in our souls.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 32 Observe here the following particulars,1. An unwarrantable fear condemned;…
Observe here the following particulars,1. An unwarrantable fear condemned; and that is, the sinful, servile, slavish fear of impotent man: Fear not him that can kill the body.
2. A holy, awful, and prudential fear of the omnipotent God commended: Fear him that is able to kill both body and soul.
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3. The persons that this duty of fear is recommended to and bound upon-Christ’s own disciples, yea, his ministers and ambassadors; they both may and ought to fear him; not only for his greatness and goodness, but upon the account of his punitive justice; as being able to cast both soul and body into hell, such a fear is not only lawful, but laudable, not only commendable, but commanded, and well becomes the servants of God themselves.
This text contains a certain evidence that the soul doth not perish wih the body; none are able to kill the soul, but it continues after death in a state of sensiblilty; it is granted that men can kill the body, but it is denied that they can kill the soul: it is spoken of temporal death; consequently then the soul doth not perish with the body, nor is the soul reduced int an insensible state by the death of the cody; nor can the soul be supposed to sleep as the body doth till the resurrection; for an intelligible, thinking, and perceivin being, as the soul is, connot be deprived of sensation, thought, and perception, any more than it can lose its being: the soul, after the death of the body, being capable of bliss or misery, must continue in a state of sensation.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv28–32 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?.... A…
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?.... A farthing, with the Jews, was a very small coin; according to them it contained four grains of silver (b); was the ninety sixth part of a "sela", or shilling (c); and sometimes they make it to be of the same value with an Italian farthing: for they say (d), it is of the value of eight "prutahs": and a "prutah" is the eighth part of an Italian farthing: it is used proverbially to signify a very little thing in the Misna (e);
"if of a command, which is light "as a farthing", which Bartenora explains a "very little thing", the law says, "that it may be well with thee", much more of the weighty commands in the law.''
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Hence, in Munster's Hebrew Gospel, it is rendered by , "a little piece of money"; and this was the common price of two sparrows. Our Lord appeals to his disciples, for the truth of it, as a thing well known: according to the question in Luke, five sparrows were sold for two farthings, which makes them somewhat cheaper still. This shows they were of little account.
And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father: some copies add, "which is in heaven"; meaning, that one of them should not be shot, or be killed, without the knowledge, will, and pleasure of God. The design of Christ is to assert the doctrine of providence, as reaching to all creatures and things, even the most minute and worthless: he instances not in men, nor in the beasts of the field, but in the fowls of the air, and in those of the inferior sort, and more useless, in sparrows, yea in little sparrows; as the word may be rendered; whose price was so low, that two are obliged to be put together to fetch the least sum of money current: and yet the providence of God is concerned with each of these; so that not one of them is taken in a snare, or killed with a stone, or shot flying, or sitting, but by the will of God: from whence it may be strongly concluded, that nothing comes by chance; that there is no such thing as contingency with respect to God, though there is to men, with respect to second causes; that all things are firmly ordained by the purpose of God, and are wisely ordered by his providence: and our Lord's further view is, from this consideration, to animate his disciples to a free, open, and constant preaching of his Gospel, not regarding their lives for his sake; for since their heavenly Father, in his providence, takes care of the meanest, even of the most irrational creatures, so that the life of one of them is not taken away without his will, much more will he take care of them; nor could their valuable lives be lost without his will and pleasure. Much such a way of arguing is used by the Jews, who (f) say, , "a bird without God does not perish, much less a man"; or, as it is elsewhere (g) expressed,
"a bird "without God" is not hunted, or taken, how much less does the soul of a man go out of him?''
And again (h),
"a bird "without God" does not fly away, much less the soul of a man.''
Two birds, or sparrows, as the word may be rendered, in Lev 14:4 were used in cleansing the leper; one was killed, and the other let loose into the open field: and though it might be a contingent thing with men which was killed, and which preserved, yet not with God; and some think the allusion is here to that case.
(b) Maimon. in Misn. Peah, c. 8. sect. 1. (c) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Maaser Sheni, c. 4. sect. 3. (d) Ib. in Misn. Eracin, c. 8. sect. 1. (e) Cholin, c. 12. sect. 5. (f) T. Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 38. 4. (g) Bereshit Rabba, fol. 69. 3. (h) Midrash Kohelet, fol. 81. 2. & Midrash Esther, fol. 89. 3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 32 And be not afraid - of any thing which…
And be not afraid - of any thing which ye may suffer for proclaiming it. Be afraid of him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell - It is remarkable, that our Lord commands those who love God, still to fear him, even on this account, under this notion.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv28–32 Verse 28. Fear not them which kill the body]…
Verse 28. Fear not them which kill the body] των αποκτεινοντων. Those who slay with acts of cruelty, alluding probably to the cruelties which persecutors should exercise on his followers in their martyrdom. But are not able to kill the soul. Hence we find that the body and the soul are distinct principles, for the body may be slain and the soul escape; and, secondly, that the soul is immaterial, for the murderers of the body are not able, μη δυναμενων, have it not in their power, to injure it.
Fear him] It is, not hell-fire we are to fear, but it is God; without the stroke of whose justice hell itself would be no punishment, and whose frown would render heaven itself insupportable. What strange blindness is it to expose our souls to endless ruin, which should enjoy God eternally; and to save and pamper the body, by which we enjoy nothing but the creatures, and them only for a moment!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv29, 32 Mat 10:29-31. Are not two sparrows sold for a…
Mat 10:29-31. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing — As if he had said, The particular providence of God is another reason for your not fearing man. For this extends to the very smallest things, even to sparrows and the hairs of your heads, which are all numbered. In other words, the meanest of God’s creatures are under the protection of his providence, insomuch that nothing befalls them without its direction; and therefore your enemies cannot touch even your bodies without your heavenly Father’s permission. A most consolatory doctrine this, indeed, and a strong reason why we should exercise a continual dependance on God, and in all circumstances and situations cast our care on him who thus careth for us. Fear ye not therefore — Lest ye should be overlooked or neglected, ye, my rational and immortal creatures, especially ye my children, adopted and regenerated, and above all, ye ministers of my word, honoured with so important an employment as that of preaching my gospel: ye are of more value than many sparrows — Yea, than the whole species of them: and therefore you may assure yourselves that providence will watch over you.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 32 Them which kill the body - That is, people,…
Them which kill the body - That is, people, who have no power to injure the soul, the immortal part. The body is a small matter in comparison with the soul. Temporal death is a slight thing compared with eternal death. He directs them, therefore, not to be alarmed at the prospect of temporal death, but to fear God, who can destroy both soul and body forever. This passage proves that the bodies of the wicked will be raised up to be punished forever.
In hell - See the notes at Mat 5:22.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv28–31 Fear not those that, &c. Men are afraid of…
Fear not those that, &c. Men are afraid of a prison, yet they are not afraid of hell fire. They fear temporal punishments, but dread not the torments of eternal fire. St. Augustine in Baradius. --- He who continually fears hell, will never fall into it; but he who is negligent, will undoubtedly fall. (St. John Chrysostom in Baradius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v32 10. Confession and Denial; history of the kingdom of…
10. Confession and Denial; history of the kingdom of God, and judgment of the world.
Fifth warning and comfort. Mat_10:32-33
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32Whosoever therefore [Every one, therefore, who]44 shall confess me before men, him will I confess also [also confess, κἀγώ] before my Father which [who] is in heaven 33[in the heavens].45 But whosoever [whoever] shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which [who] is in heaven [in the heavens].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat_10:32. Every one, therefore, who shall confess [acknowledge] Me; ὁμολογή σειἐνἐ μοί,—literally: confess in Me.46 “This corresponds with the idea of ἐν Χριστῷ εῖναι.” So also in Luk_12:8. [The ἐν is not equivalent to in behalf of Me, as Owen explains, but it shows the ground or root of the confession, namely, a living union with Christ. He does not mean a mere outward confession of the mouth, but a genuine and consistent confession of the whole life. “He will not confess the confessing Judas, nor deny the denying Peter,” because the confession of the former was hypocritical, the denial of the latter a transient weakness, followed immediately by the deepest repentance.—P. S.]
[Him will I also confess … him will I also deny, etc.—It is worthy of notice, as Alford suggests, that both here and in the Sermon on the Mount, Mat_7:21-23, the Saviour, after mention of the Father, describes Himself as the Judge and Arbiter of eternal life and death.—P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Every genuine and earnest testimony for Christ is a confession, while every unchristian deed is a denial. “The world, in its indifference and hesitation between heaven and hell—or, rather, in its antagonism to God, under the pretence of morality—condemns only two things: secular crimes and heavenly virtues, or the manifestations of faith; nay, the latter incur its special ire, as it considers them the worst of crimes. Hence our testimony for Christ must always be in face of the opposition of the world, which readily seizes upon it and treats it as a crime; thus converting our profession into a confession.” Let it, however, be also remembered, that every genuine confession is not merely concerning Christ, but in Christ—concerning all revelation, and concerning the new state of matters which this revelation is designed to inaugurate.
2. This confession of Christ on the part of His people indicates the contrast between the import of the judgment of the world and the cause of Christ. On the other hand, the confession of His people on the part of Christ before the Father, marks the contrast between the humble estate of Christians here, and the glory to which they are called. In both instances, the contrast is infinite; but it is the faith of His people on the one hand, and the love of the Saviour on the other, which influences the confession.—Again: Denial on the part of Christ, implies denial of the kingdom of heaven, of love, and of life. Accordingly, this virtually implies the judgment. Substantially, it is equivalent to the verdict, “I never knew you,” Mat_7:23; only with increased intensity, since it applies to His messengers and witnesses, who were specially commissioned to make confession of Him. Any Christian element in such persons shall be utterly ignored, since it had not led to that true confession which is the victory over the world. They are unregenerate, and hence remain unacknowledged.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The glorious presence of God in Christ, the ground on which Christians are called to make confession: 1. It is a revelation which brings everything to light, and hence fills the Christian with joy in the word; 2. by it the whole life of believers is preserved and completed; accordingly, they are also encouraged wholly to own Jesus.—The kingdom of God and the Christian life as summed up in the word confessing. 1. Our course here may be summed up as either a confession or a denial of Christ; 2. so also the judgment to come,—it is either a confession or a denial on the part of Christ.—As Christ is to us before men, so shall we be to Him before His Father in heaven.—Unutterable cowardice and vileness of the man who attaches greater value to the judgment of men than to that of our Father in heaven.—A genuine confession is a confession both in the Lord and of the Lord.—A genuine confession must be in accordance with what we confess: 1. It is an outward manifestation which must also increasingly appear in the life; 2. it is a life which ever proves a manifestation of the faithfulness of God.—The administration of God will be sealed and confirmed by this, that Christ shall confess His own before His Father.—The great promise attaching to Christian faithfulness.
Starke:—Christ is not only denied with the lips, but also by an ungodly life.—Zeisius: Woe to all apostates.
Heubner:—The judgment of Christ alone is decisive.
[Quesnel:—To confess Jesus Christ is to follow His precept and example; to suffer for His sake; to love, teach, and practise His doctrine.—We refer this great truth to the times of the martyrs, because we will not ourselves be martyrs for the truth. It belongs to all times and all believers, every one in his proper way.—To appear before the tribunal of God without having Christ for our Advocate, and, on the contrary, to have Him there as a witness and a judge, how can we think of it and not expire with horror!47—P. S.]
Footnotes:
[44] Mat_10:32.—[Πᾶς οὖν ὅστις, Lange: Jeder nun, der; while in Mat_10:33 we have simply ὅστις, without πᾶς.—P. S.
[45] Mat_10:32.—̓Εν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς both here and in Mat_10:33.
[46][De Wette and Alford: A Hebraistic or rather Syriac mode at expression for, shall make Me the object of his acknowledgment among and before men.—P. S.]
[47][Dr. Adam Clarke (Com. on Mat_10:33) appropriates the last sentence from Quesnel literally, without any acknowledgment.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv28–32 And fear not them which kill the body, but…
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul--In Luk 12:4, "and after that have no more that they can do."
but rather fear him--In Luke (Luk 12:5) this is peculiarly solemn, "I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear," even Him
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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 (Luk 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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 31, 32 28. Fear not them which kill the body —…
28. Fear not them which kill the body — Neither miraculous power nor divine promise insures the apostles against bodily harm or bodily death. But they are enjoined to possess a superiority to fear of these corporeal injuries. And in these words is the primal source of the martyr spirit. It is courage founded on faith. Body… soul — We have here the two parts of man’s compound nature placed in contrast. They are two separate things.
The body is not the soul. The soul is not the body. This is demonstrably the doctrine of the text. Them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul — From these words, it follows that the body may be dead, and the soul alive. Men can murder the body, they can extinguish its corporeal life. They may burn it to ashes, and scatter its particles to the four winds. Yet still the soul is alive. No blows can murder it, no fire can burn it, no water drown or quench it. Nothing less than this can be the meaning of the text, and against the text no materialism can stand. But rather fear him — Namely, God. Fear, then, and fear as the dread of punishment, is a right and suitable feeling. And those who say that such a feeling is too base to be indulged, are contradicted by this text. And those who deny any punishment from God after the death of the body, contradict these words of Christ. To destroy both soul and body — The Lord does not say kill both soul and body. To destroy is not to kill, still less to annihilate, but to ruin. Our Lord’s words teach, not the dismissal of the soul from existence, but its catastrophe and ruin in existence. And this is an evil, a destruction, which we are bound to fear, as a possible reality beyond our bodily death. In hell — In Gehenna. This word Gehenna, or valley of Hinnom, in its primitive and literal sense, designated a gorge south of Jerusalem, otherwise called Tophet, where the offals of the city were ordinarily burned. As a place of defilement and perpetual fire, it became to the Jewish mind the emblem, and the word became the name, of the perpetual fire of retribution in a world to come. Hence, loose reasoners have endeavoured to maintain that this valley was the only hell. And upon this sophism the heresy of Universalism is mainly founded. But the present text demonstrates that beyond the death of the body, and therefore in a future state, there is a hell or Gehenna, which the soul may suffer, more terrible than bodily death, and more to be feared than any evil that man can inflict. God is the author of that evil; it lies beyond death, it is executed upon the soul as well as the body. No plausible interpretation can expel these meanings from this text.
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The following statement is from Kitto’s Cyclopedia:
“Hell is represented by Sheol in the Old, and by Hades in the New Testament. But hell, as the place of final punishment for sinners, is more distinctively indicated by the term Gehenna, which is the word translated ‘hell’ in Mat_5:22; Mat_5:29-30; Mat_10:28; Mat_18:9; Mat_23:15; Mat_23:33; Mar_9:43; Mar_9:45; Mar_9:47; Luk_12:5; Jas_3:6. It is also distinctively indicated by such phrases as ‘the place of torment,’ (Luk_16:28;) ‘everlasting fire,’ (Mat_25:41;) ‘the hell of fire,’ ‘where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,’ (Mar_9:44.) The dreadful nature of the abode of the wicked is implied in various figurative expressions, such as ‘outer darkness,’ ‘I am tormented in this flame,’ ‘furnace of fire,’ ‘unquenchable fire,’ ‘where their worm dieth not,’ ‘the blackness of darkness,’ ‘torment in fire and brimstone,’ ‘the ascending smoke of their torment,’ ‘the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone,’ (Mat_8:12; Mat_13:42; Mat_22:13; Mat_25:30; Luk_16:24; comp. Mat_25:41; Mar_9:43-48; Jud_1:13; comp. Rev_14:10-11; Rev_19:20; Rev_20:14; Rev_21:8.) The figure by which hell is represented as burning with fire and brimstone is probably derived from the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as that which describes the smoke as ascending from it, (comp. Rev_14:10-11, with Gen_19:24; Gen_19:28.) To this coincidence of description Peter also most probably alludes in 2Pe_2:6.”
Is it not more probably derived from the fire of Gehenna?
In regard to the valley of Hinnom, see supplementary note, page 351 (End of Matthew).
Note to Mat_10:28, page 135.
“The valley of the son of Hinnom,” (Jos_15:8,) so called from some unknown person in very early times, running east and west, intersects the Kedron at the southeast corner of the city. At this place the idolatrous Israelites “burnt their children in the fire” (Jer_7:31) unto Moloch, a deity represented by a brass image with the face of a bull. The drum (toph) which was used to drown the cry of the victim gave the place the name of Tophet, (Jer_19:6.) The deep “gorge” of Gehenna (as its Greek name is written) is described by Prof. Hackett as “almost terrific.” “A wall of frowning rocks and precipices hangs over us on the left, and the southern extremity of Zion rises so steeply on the right that one must almost look up into the zenith in order to scale the top of it with the eye…
I found myself oppressed, at length, with a feeling so desolate and horror-stricken, that it was a relief to get through with my task, and come forth where I could see and hear again the sights and sounds of a living world.” The name of this ancient gloomy yet fiery recess was fifty used to designate hell.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 32 28. him which is able to destroy] Either (1)…
28. him which is able to destroy] Either (1) God, whose power extends beyond this life. Clemens Rom. (Ep. II. 4) with a probable reference to this passage says, “We ought not to fear man but God.” Or (2) Satan, into whose power the wicked surrender themselves.
in hell] Literally, in Gehenna. See note, ch. Mat_5:22.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 30, 32 (28) Are not able to kill the soul.—Here our…
(28) Are not able to kill the soul.—Here our Lord uses what we may call the popular dichotomy of man’s nature, and the word “soul” includes all that truly lives and thinks and wills in man, and is therefore equivalent to the “soul and spirit” of the more scientific trichotomy of St. Paul’s Epistles (1Th_5:23).
Fear him which is able . . .—Few words have given rise to interpretations more strangely contrasted than these. Not a few of the most devout and thoughtful commentators, unwilling to admit that our Lord ever presented the Father to men in the character of a destroyer, have urged that the meaning may be thus paraphrased: “Fear not men; but fear the Spirit of Evil, the great Adversary who, if you yield to his temptations, has power to lead you captive at his will, to destroy alike your outward and your inward life, either in the Gehenna of torture or in that of hatred and remorse.” Plausible as it seems, however, this interpretation is not, it is believed, the true one. (1) We are nowhere taught in Scripture to fear the devil, but rather to resist and defy him (Eph_6:11; Jas_4:7); and (2) it is a sufficient answer to the feeling which has prompted the other explanation to say that we are not told to think of God as in any case willing to destroy, but only as having the power to inflict that destruction where all offers of mercy and all calls to righteousness have been rejected. In addition to this, it must be remembered that St. James uses language almost identical (“There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy,” Jas_4:12) where there cannot be a shadow of doubt as to the meaning.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv28–32 And. Restating ver. 26 a from a different point…
And. Restating ver. 26 a from a different point of view. Fear not; be not afraid of (Revised Version); mh fobhyhte apo . So Westcott and Herr, with B (sic) and two or three other authorities. The Revised Version (cf. Authorized Version parallel passage, Luk_12:4) expresses the greater difference from vers. 26 and 28b (fobhyhte apo with genitive, a Hebraism expressing avoidance, shrinking, cowardly dreas; fobhyhte with accusative, concentration of regard) at the expense of the lesser (fobhyhte , general command, or perhaps "never once fear;" fobeisye , "ever fear," habit). Them which kill the body. So R. Akiba refused to give up studying and teaching the Law when it was forbidden on pain of death (Talm. Bab., "Berach.," 61 b). But are not able to kill the soul. (Mat_6:25, note) But rather fear. Always (fobeisye). Fear; yes, but the right object (fobeisye de mallon , not mallon de fobeisye), and that intensely (- vide supra). Him which is able (tomenon). Mere power; but in the parallel passage in Luke, authority. The reference is, of course, to God. (cf. Jam_4:12) To destroy (apolesai). The class of words to which this belongs denotes "utter and hopeless ruin; but they convey no idea whether the ruined object ceases to exist or continues a worthless existence" (Professor Agar Beet, in Expositor, IV 1:28). Professor Marshall, in Expositor, IV 3:283, thinks Luke"s variant, "to cast," indicates that our Lord originally used an Aramaic word that properly meant "to set on fire." Both soul and body in hell. (Mat_5:22, note)
What to fear.
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Fear has a place in the economy of life, but the common mistake of people is to put it in the wrong place. We have dangers, but not where we commonly look for them. There is a needless fear which should be discouraged, am! there is a necessary fear which has to be cultivated.
I THE DISCOURAGEMENT OF NEEDLESS FEAR.
1. In what it consists. This is the fear of man. The apostles were sent out as sheep among wolves. The gathering opposition of the authorities of Israel against their Master was likely to turn against them also if they showed themselves zealous in advocating his cause. The fear of the disciples under these circumstances would be a type of worldly fear. With us this is not the dread of martyrdom; it is a horror of ridicule, a terror of being despised by fashion.
2. Why it is stimulated. There was real danger to the apostles. Men can kill the body, and Christ does not deny this obvious fact. He does not offer his disciples a smooth course; on the contrary, he distinctly affirms that he has come to send a sword (ver. 34).
3. How it is discouraged. Various considerations prove this to be a needless and even an unworthy fear.
(1) The example of Christ. He is ill used. Why should the disciples complain if they receive the same treatment as their Master (vers. 24, 25)?
(2) The future revelation. Hidden things will be made manifest. Then the true life which seems to end in darkness will be brought to light and fully vindicated. It is hard to die under false opprobrium; but this is not the end. There will i.e. a final declaration and justification of the wronged (vers. 26, 27).
(3) The limit of man"s power. He can kill the body, but he cannot touch the soul. Epictetus"s master cannot destroy his slave"s liberty of soul. The Christian"s persecutor may rob him of his brief bodily life, but not of his eternal spiritual life.
(4) The merciful care of God, who sees every sparrow that falls and counts the very hairs of our head, watching the least-valued creatures, observing the least minutiae of his children"s condition (vers. 29, 30). This we must take on faith; for the sparrow falls in spite of God"s watchfulness. But Christ, who knows God, assures us that it is so; and if God is infinite it must be so.
(5) The guilt of cowardice. Dare we shrink from confessing Christ for fear of man? Such conduct will merit his rejection of us (vers. 32, 33).
II THE CULTIVATION OF LEGITIMATE FEAR.
1. The object of this fear. This is the awful destroyer of souls he who goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. There is a childish fear of the devil that haunts the minds of superstitious people a terror that sat like a nightmare on the people of the Middle Ages. Such a fear is but physical. But that which Christ would inculcate is moral the dread of sin. Our great enemy is the spirit of evil, and he attacks us whenever we are tempted. Christ wants us to have a horror of doing wrong.
2. The grounds of this fear.
(1) Soul-destruction. Man can but kill the body; sin kills the soul. This is the peculiar effect of wickedness. If it only brought pain, the infliction might be a merciful chastisement, leading us to repentance. But it does far worse; it kills the soul. The wages of sin is death; the broad road leads to destruction; evil conduct paralyzes our better self, saps our higher energy, robs us of our faculties, blinds, crushes, deadens the life within.
(2) Future ruin. The power of man only appertains to earth; the results of sin are seen after death. Therefore we do well to be on our guard, not with abject terror, but seeking security in Christ. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv28–32 Fear not them which kill the body.
Mat_10:28
Fear not them which kill the body.
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-It is prudent to give up the body in order to cave the soul; it is like casting the cargo of the vessel into the sea to preserve the crew from destruction. (Quesnel.)
Body and soul
I. That human nature is made up of body and soul.
II. That the body may be destroyed, while the soul remains uninjured.
III. That the honest working out of duty may expose the body to destruction.
IV. That the neglect of the duty exposes both body and soul to destruction. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
God to be feared rather than man
Christ cautions His disciples against three particular things.
1. Bodily torments.
2. Disgrace.
3. Death.
Which last He cautions against for these three reasons.
1. Because it is but the death of the body.
2. Because hell is more to be feared.
3. Because they live under the special care of Gods ever-seeing Providence, and cannot, therefore, be taken away without His permission.
The words of the text pregnant with great truths.
1. That it is within the power of man to divest us of all our temporal enjoyments.
2. That the soul of man is immortal.
3. That God has absolute power to destroy the whole man.
4. That the thought of damnation ought to have greater weight to engage our fears than the most exquisite miseries that the malice of man is able to inflict. The prosecution of this lies in two things.
I. In showing what is in those miseries which men are able to inflict that may lessen our fears of them.
1. They are temporal, and concern only this life.
2. They do not take away anything from a mans proper perfections.
3. They are all limited by Gods overruling hand.
4. The good that may be extracted out of such miseries as are inflicted by men is often greater than the evil that is endured by them.
5. The fear of those evils seldom prevents them before they come, and never lessens them when they are come.
6. The all-knowing God, who knows the utmost of them better than men or angels, has pronounced them not to be feared.
7. The greatest of these evils have been endured, and that without fear or astonishment.
II. In showing what is implied in the destruction of the body and soul in hell which makes it so formidable. It is the utmost Almighty God can do to a sinner. When tempted, ponder mans inability and Gods infinite ability to destroy. The case of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego. (R. South, D. D.)
Fear, anxious and prudential
There are two kinds of fear.
1. A fear of solicitous anxiety, such as makes us let go our confidence in Gods providence, causing our thoughts so to dwell upon the dreadfulness of the thing feared as to despair of a deliverance. And with such a kind of fear Christ absolutely forbids us to fear those that kill the body; it being very derogatory to God, as if His mercy did not afford as great arguments for our hope as the cruelty of man for our fear.
2. The second kind of fear is a prudential caution, whereby a man, from the due estimate of an approaching evil, endeavours his own security. And this kind of fear is not only lawful, but also laudable. For, to what purpose should God have naturally implanted in the heart of man a passion of fear, if it might not be exercised and affected with suitable objects-that is, things to be feared? Now under this sort of fear we may reckon that to which Christ advises His disciples in these expressions-Beware of men, and Flee from one city into another. (R. South, D. D.)
Prison better than hell
Pardon me, Emperor, thou threatenest me only with a prison; but God threatens me with hell. (A Primitive Martyr.)
Fearing God rather than man
Bishop Latimer having one day preached before Henry VIII. a sermon which displeased his majesty, he was ordered to preach again the following Sunday, and to make an apology for the offence he had given. After reading his text the bishop thus began his sermon:-Hugh Latimer, dost thou know before whom thou art this day to speak? To the high and mighty monarch, the kings most excellent majesty, who can take away thy life if thou offendest; therefore take heed that thou speakest not a word that may displease. But then, consider well, Hugh; dost thou not know from whence thou camest-upon whose message thou art sent? Even by the great and mighty God, who is all-present, who beholdeth all thy ways, and who is able to cast thy soul into hell! Therefore, take care that thou deliver thy message faithfully. He then proceeded with the same sermon he had preached the Sunday before, but with considerably more energy. Afterwards, the king sent for him, and demanded of him how he dared preach in such a manner. He, falling on his knees, replied, his duty to his God and his Prince had enforced him thereto, and he had merely discharged his duty and his conscience in what he had spoken. Upon which the king, rising from his seat, and taking the good man by the hand, embraced him, saying, Blessed be God, I have so honest a servant.
Persecution
The devil drives but a poor trade by the persecution of the saints; he tears the nest, but the bird escapes; he cracks the shell, but loses the kernel. (Flavel.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 30, 32 28. Be not afraid. Of men, who can only…
28. Be not afraid. Of men, who can only destroy the body, but cannot harm the soul. But rather fear him, etc. Fear God, who can condemn the soul to banishment. The command is to fear not the displeasure of man, but that of God. In hell. See note on Matt. 5:22. The word in the Greek is Gehenna, not hades.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v32 Mat 10:32 - Mat 10:42.
Matthew
THE KING’S CHARGE TO HIS AMBASSADORS
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Mat 10:32 - Mat 10:42.
The first mission of the apostles, important as it was, was but a short flight to try the young birds’ wings. The larger portion of this charge to them passes far beyond the immediate occasion, and deals with the permanent relations of Christ’s servants to the world in which they live, for the purpose of bringing it into subjection to its true King. These solemn closing words, which make our present subject, contain the duty and blessedness of confessing Him, the vision of the antagonisms which He excites, His demand for all-surrendering following, and the rewards of those who receive Christ’s messengers, and therein receive Himself and His Father.
I. The duty and blessedness of confessing Him {Mat 10:32 - Mat 10:33}.
The ‘therefore’ is significant. It attaches the promise which follows to the immediately preceding thoughts of a watchful, fatherly care, extending like a great invisible hand over the true disciple. Because each is thus guarded, each shall be preserved to receive the honour of being confessed by Christ. No matter what may befall His witnesses, the extremest disaster shall not rob them of their reward. They may be flung down from the house-tops where they lift up their bold voices, but He who does not let a sparrow fall to the ground uncared for, will give His angels charge concerning them who are so much more precious, and they shall be borne up on outstretched wings, lest they be dashed on the pavement below. Thus preserved, they shall all attain at last to their guerdon. Nothing can come between Christ’s servant and his crown. The tender providence of the Father, whose mercy is over all His works, makes sure of that. The river of the confessor’s life may plunge underground, and be lost amid persecutions, but it will emerge again into the brighter sunshine on the other side of the mountains.
The confession which is to be thus rewarded, like the denial opposed to it, is, of course, not merely a single utterance of the lip. So far Judas Iscariot confessed Christ, and Peter denied Him. But it is the habitual acknowledgment by lip and life, unwithdrawn to the end. The context implies that the confession is maintained in the face of opposition, and that the denial is a cowardly attempt to save one’s skin at the cost of treason to Jesus. The temptation does not come in that sharpest form to us. Perhaps some cowards would be made brave if it did. It is perhaps easier to face the gibbet and the fire, and screw oneself up for once to a brief endurance, than to resist the more specious blandishments of the world, especially when it has been christened, and calls itself religious. The light laugh of scorn, the silent pressure of the low average of Christian character, the close associations in trade, literature, public and domestic life which Christians have with non-Christians, make many a man’s tongue lie silent, to the sore detriment of his own religious life. ‘Ye have not yet resisted unto blood,’ and find it hard to fulfil the easier conflict to which you are called. The sun has more power than the tempest to make the pilgrim drop his garment. But the duty remains the same for all ages. Every man is bound to make the deepest springs of his life visible, and to stand to his convictions, whatever they be. If he do not, his convictions will disappear like a piece of ice hid in a hot hand, which will melt and trickle away. This obligation lies with infinitely increased weight on Christ’s servants; and the consequences of failing to discharge it are more tragic in their cases, in the exact proportion of the greater preciousness of their faith. Corn hoarded is sure to be spoiled by weevils and rust. The bread of life hidden in our sacks will certainly go mouldy.
The reward and punishment of confession and denial come to them not as separate acts, but as each being the revelation of the spiritual condition of the doers. Christ implies that a true disciple cannot but be a confessor, and that therefore the denier must certainly be one whom He has never known. Because, therefore, each act is symptomatic of the doer, each receives the congruous and correspondent reward. The confessor is confessed; the denier is denied. What calm and assured consciousness of His place as Judge underlies these words! His recognition is God’s acceptance; His denial is darkness and misery. The correspondence between the work and the reward is beautifully brought out by the use of the same word to express each. And yet what a difference between our confession of Him and His of us! And what a hope is here for all who have tremblingly, and in the consciousness of much unworthiness, ventured to say that they were Christ’s subjects, and He their King, brother, and all! Their poor, feeble confession will be endorsed by His. He will say, ‘Yes, this man is mine, and I am his.’ That will be glory, honour, blessedness, life, heaven.
II. The vision of the discord which follows the coming of the King of peace.
It is not enough to interpret these words as meaning that our Lord’s purpose indeed was to bring peace, but that the result of His coming was strife. The ultimate purpose is peace; but an immediate purpose is conflict, as the only road to the peace. He is first King of righteousness, and after that also King of peace. But, if His kingdom be righteousness, purity, love, then unrighteousness, filthiness, and selfishness will fight against it for their lives. The ultimate purpose of Christ’s coming is to transform the world into the likeness of heaven; and all in the world which hates such likeness is embattled against Him. He saw realities, and knew men’s hearts, and was under no illusion, such as many an ardent reformer has cherished, that the fair form of truth need only be shown to men, and they will take her to their hearts. Incessant struggle is the law for the individual and for society till Christ’s purpose for both is realised.
That conflict ranges the dearest in opposite ranks. The gospel is the great solvent. As when a substance is brought into contact with some chemical compound, which has greater affinity for one of its elements than the other element has, the old combination is dissolved, and a new and more stable one is formed, so Christianity analyses and destroys in order to synthesis and construction. In Mat 10:21 our Lord had foretold that brother should deliver up brother to death. Here the severance is considered from the opposite side. The persons who are ‘set at variance’ with their kindred are here Christians. Perhaps it is fanciful to observe that they are all junior members of families, as if the young would be more likely to flock to the new light. But however that may be, the separation is mutual, but the hate is all on one side. The ‘man’s foes’ are of his own household; but he is not their foe, though he be parted from them.
III. Earthly love may be a worse foe to a true Christian than even the enmity of the dearest; and that enmity may often be excited by the Christian subordination of earthly to heavenly love. So our Lord passes from the warnings of discord and hate to the danger of the opposite-undue love.
He claims absolute supremacy in our hearts. He goes still farther, and claims the surrender, not only of affections, but of self and life to Him. What a strange claim this is! A Jewish peasant, dead nineteen hundred years since, fronts the whole race of man, and asserts His right to their love, which is strange, and to their supreme love, which is stranger still. Why should we love Him at all, if He were only a man, however pure and benevolent? We may admire, as we do many another fair nature in the past; but is there any possibility of evoking anything as warm as love to an unseen person, who can have had no knowledge of or love to us? And why should we love Him more than our dearest, from whom we have drawn, or to whom we have given, life? What explanation or justification does He give of this unexampled demand? Absolutely none. He seems to think that its reasonableness needs no elucidation. Surely never did teacher professing wisdom, modesty, and, still more, religion, put forward such a claim of right; and surely never besides did any succeed in persuading generations unborn to yield His demand, when they heard it. The strangest thing in the world’s history is that to-day there are millions who do love Jesus Christ more than all besides, and whose chief self-accusation is that they do not love Him more. The strange, audacious claim is most reasonable, if we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died for each of us, and that each man and woman to the last of the generations had a separate place in His divine human love when He died. It is meet to love Him, if that be true; it is not, unless it be. The requirement is as stringent as strange. If the two ever seem to conflict, the earthly must give way. If the earthly be withdrawn, there must be found sufficiency for comfort and peace in the heavenly. The lower must not be permitted to hinder the flight of the heavenly to its home. ‘More than Me’ is a rebuke to most of us. What a contrast between the warmth of our earthly and the tepidity or coldness of our heavenly love! How spontaneously our thoughts, when left free, turn to the one; how hard we find it to keep them fixed on the other! How sweet service is to the dear ones here; how reluctantly it is given to Christ! How we long, when parted, to rejoin them; how little we are drawn to the place where He is! We have all to confess that we are ‘not worthy of’ Him; that we requite His love with inadequate returns, and live lives which tax His love for its highest exercise, the free forgiveness of sins against itself. Compliance with that stringent law, and subordinating all earthly love to His, is the true elevating and ennobling of the earthly. It is promoted, not degraded, when it is made second, and is infinitely sweeter and deeper then than when it was set in the place of supremacy, where it had no right to be.
But Christ’s demand is not only for the surrender of the heart, but for the giving up of self, and, in a very profound sense, for the surrender of life. How enigmatical that saying about taking up the cross must have sounded to the disciples! They knew little about the cross, as a punishment; they had not yet associated it in any way with their Lord. This seems to have been the first occasion of His mentioning it, and the allusion is so veiled as to be but partially intelligible. But what was intelligible was bewildering. A strange royal procession that, of the King with a cross on His shoulder, and all His subjects behind Him with similar burdens! Through the ages that procession has marched, and it marches still. Self-denial for Christ’s sake is ‘the badge of all our tribe.’ Observe that word ‘take.’ The cross must be willingly and by ourselves assumed. No other can lay it on our shoulders. Observe that other word ‘his.’ Each man has his own special form in which self-denial is needful for him. We require pure eyes, and hearts kept in very close communion with Jesus, to ascertain what our particular cross is. He has them of many patterns, shapes, sizes, and materials. We can always make sure of strength to carry the one which He means us to carry, but not of strength to bear what is not ours.
IV. We have the rewards of those who receive Christ’s messengers, and therein receive Him and His Father.
Our Lord first identifies these twelve with Himself in a manner which must have sounded strange to them then, but have heartened them for their work by the consciousness of His mysterious oneness with them. The whole doctrine of Christ’s unity with His people lay in germ in these words, though much more was needed, both of teaching and of experience, before their depth of blessing and strengthening could be apprehended. We know that He dwells in His true subjects by His Spirit, and that a most real union subsists between the head and the members, of which the closest unions of earth are but faint shadows, so as that not only those who receive His followers receive Him, but, more wonderful still, His followers are received at the last by God Himself as joined to Him, and portions of His very self, and therefore ‘accepted in the Beloved.’ Our Lord adds to these words the thought that, in like manner, to receive Him is to receive the Father, and so implies that our relation to Him is in certain real respects parallel with His relation to the Father. We too are sent. He who sends abides with us, as the Son ever abode in God, and God in Him. We are sent to be the brightness of Christ’s glory, and to manifest Him to men, as He was sent to reveal the Father.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v28 (See Scofield "Mat 5:22").
hell
(See Scofield "Mat 5:22").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv28, 32 Further consolation:
Further consolation:
v. 28. And fear not them which, kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
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v. 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
v. 30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
v. 31. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Why harbor fear? All that the persecuting enemies can destroy or injure is the body, if God should so permit. Only one fear can and should live in the hearts of Christ’s disciples, a deep-seated fear, an awe and relevance which fears not the punishment, but stands in holy dread of Him that judges and condemns both soul and body in everlasting destruction. For this is not a mere human tempter, who tries to harm his neighbor’s soul by leading him into sin, nor is it Satan, for he has no absolute power over body and soul. It is the great God, the divine Judge Himself. Fear of human enemies implies lack of faith in Him, which may in turn lead to denial and thus to damnation. And again: Why fear? So little is the sparrow valued that one will be sold for one half an assarion , less than one cent; so small is the loss of a single hair that it is not even noticed. And yet: Not a single one of the lowest of birds falls to the ground without God’s consent; the very individual hairs of our head are numbered. Will He whose care embraces the smallest details of every-day life permit harm to befall those that put their unwavering trust in Him? Will He who gives the assurance that we are preferred above many sparrows permit the enemies to harm our bodies?
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28, 32 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus continues to instruct his disciples about the persecution they will endure when they go to preach.
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General Information:
Here Jesus also begins to give reasons why his disciples should not be afraid of the persecution they might experience.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul
This is not distinguishing between people who cannot kill the soul and people who can kill the soul. No person can kill the soul. AT: "Do not be afraid of people. They can kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul" (See: Distinguishing versus Informing or Reminding)
kill the body
This means to cause physical death. If these words are awkward, they can be translated as "kill you" or "kill other people."
body
the part of a person that can be touched, as opposed to the soul or spirit
kill the soul
This means to harm people after they have physically died.
soul
the part of a person that cannot be touched and that lives on after the physical body dies
fear him who is able
You can add "because" to clarify why people should fear God. AT: "fear God because he is able" (See: Connecting Words)
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Jesus states this proverb as a question to teach his disciples. AT: "Think about the sparrows. They have so little value that you can buy two of them for only one small coin." (See: Proverbs and Rhetorical Question)
sparrows
These are very small, seed-eating birds. AT: "small birds" (See: Translate Unknowns)
a small coin
This is often translated as the least valuable coin available in your country. It refers to a copper coin worth about one-sixteenth of a day's wage for a laborer. AT: "very little money"
not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge
This can be stated in a positive form. AT: "your Father knows when even one sparrow dies and falls to the ground" (See: Double Negatives)
Father
This is an important title for God. (See: Translating Son and Father)
even the hairs of your head are all numbered
This can be stated in active form. AT: "God knows even how many hairs are on your head" (See: Active or Passive)
numbered
"counted"
You are more valuable than many sparrows
"God values you more than many sparrows"
translationWords
fear
soul
hell
God the Father
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28, 29, 32 10:28 Jesus’ disciples are to fear only God by…
10:28 Jesus’ disciples are to fear only God by obeying him and testifying of him; in contrast to human authorities, God’s authority and judgment are unlimited. • hell: See study note on 5:29.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.