Bible Commentaries

SECOND SECTION

JUDAISM, AND ITS TALE; OR, THE IMPORTENT END OF THE OLD WORLD

Matthew 28:11-15

11Now when [as] they [the women] were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto [told]²⁵ the chief priests all the things that were done 12 And when they [the high-priests] were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel,²⁶ they gave large [much]²⁷ money unto the soldiers, 13Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept 14 And if this come to the governor’s ears,²⁸ we will persuade him, and secure you [make you secure, free of care or danger, ὑμᾶι ἀμερίμνους ποιήσομεν]²⁹ 15So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day [i. e., the time of the composition of this Gospel].³⁰

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Matthew 28:11. As they were going.—The Evangelist does not seek to show that the soldiers arrived in the city before the women, but only that, contemporaneously, a second account reached the city,—that one message was borne to the friends, and another to the enemies.

Matthew 28:12. And had taken counsel.—This is the last session of the Sanhedrin, so exacting of reverence, which is recorded by Matthew, and its last decision. It is a very significant transaction, which gives us a perfect Revelation, prospectively, of the post-Christian, unbelieving Judaism. Some have considered this very disgraceful decision of the council to be improbable. But, standing as they did upon the brink of moral destruction and condemnation, this improbability becomes the most awful reality. Still, we are not compelled by our text to believe that they held the meeting for the express purpose of bribing the guards: that was merely a result of their council, and of their deliberations. Probably the matter was handed over to a commission, to be examined into and disposed of; that is, the council left the matter in the hands of the high-priests, agreeing secretly with their designs.

Much money.—Increased bribes, as compared with the former bribery, that of Judas: 1. The bribery in this case was in consequence of a resolution of the Sanhedrin2. The bribery by means of large sums of money, contrasts strongly with the thirty pieces which Judas received3. The bribery of poor Gentiles, and these Roman soldiers, who were seduced into a breach of discipline and into lies, which might have cost their lives; and with this were connected self-humiliation and self-abandonment on the part of the Sanhedrin before these very Gentiles4. The formal resolution, which was aimed, though indirectly, at the corruption of the soldiers, was the culmination of that guilt to which they had subjected themselves in accepting the willing and volunteered treachery of Judas. The whole account expresses distinctly the extreme and painful embarrassment of the chief council. They imagined that by means of thirty pieces of silver they had freed themselves of Judas; but now they begin first to experience the far greater danger to which the crucified and buried Saviour exposed them.

[This Satanic lie carries its condemnation on the face. If the soldiers were asleep, they could not discover the thieves, nor would they have proclaimed their military crime; if they, or even a few of them, were awake, they ought to have prevented the theft; it is very improbable that all the soldiers should have been asleep at once; it is equally improbable that a few timid disciples should attempt to steal their Master’s body from a grave closed by a stone, officially sealed and guarded by soldiers, nor could they do it without awakening the guard, if asleep. But all these improbabilities are by no means an argument against the truthfulness of the narrative: for, if men obstinately refuse to believe the truth, “God sends them strong delusion that they should believe a lie,” 2 Thessalonians 2:11. With this agrees the old heathen adage: “Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad,”—which is constantly exemplified in history. Infatuation is a divine judgment, and the consequence of desertion by God. Among the Jews this lie finds credence to this day, as it did at the time of the composition of the Gospel of Matthew, and in the second and third centuries, according to the testimonies of Justin Martyr and Tertullian.—P. S.]

Matthew 28:14. And if this come to the governor’s ears.—Coram procuratore. Meyer, following Erasmus, interprets this in a judicial sense: When an examination shall be held before Pilate.³¹ But in that case, the mediation would come too late, because Pilate, according to military discipline, must have inflicted the penalty, if such a criminal violation of duty had been openly acknowledged. Accordingly, most commentators interpret, When this rumor shall reach the governor, be repeated unto him. Then the danger became imminent; but, according to this assurance, it would have been already removed.—This was undoubtedly an excuse highly dangerous for the soldiers (see Acts 12:19), and the high-priests could by no means be sure of the result, although they might be ready to give to the avaricious and corrupt Pilate a large bribe. The hierarchical spirit, which here reaches its climax, uses the Roman soldiers merely as tools to effect its own ends, as it had previously employed Judas; and was again fully prepared to let the despised instruments perish, when the work was finished.—We will persuade him, πείσομεν. An ironical euphemism, indicating the means of persuasion. This was the manner in which they will keep the soldiers free of care and danger.

Matthew 28:15. This saying, ὁλόγος οὗτος.—This does not refer to the entire account (Grotius, Paulus), but to the lying statement ( Matthew 28:13), voluntarily adopted by these soldiers, that the body of Jesus had been stolen by His disciples (de Wette, Meyer). Upon the doubts regarding the narrative itself, which Stroth maintained to be an interpolation, consult de Wette and Meyer. Among the opponents of the truth of the passage, are Paulus, Strauss, Weisse, Meyer; among the supporters, Hug, Kuinoel, Hoffmann, Krabbe, Ebrard, etc. Olshausen adopts a modified view, that the Sanhedrin did not act in a formal manner, but that Caiaphas arranged the matter privately. The most plausible arguments which de Wette brings forward against the credibility of the narrative, were already disposed of in the Exegetical Notes on Matthew 27:66 (p537). The objection that the Sanhedrin, in which “sat men like Gamaliel,” could not have so lost its sense of duty and dignity as to adopt so unworthy a resolution, rests entirely upon a subjective view of the worthiness of the council.³² We have already learned from the history of the crucifixion, that it was a Jewish custom to employ bad means to effect the ends of the hierarchy, and to deal with the despised Gentiles as mere tools, who were to be used and then treated with contempt. The existence of this saying among the Jews is acknowledged. See the quotations which Grotius gives out of Justin, from which we learn that the Pharisees spread the report among the people by appointed messengers; and also out of Tertullian. The Talmudic tract, Toledoth Jeschu.³³ That the Evangelist has here communicated to us the prototype of the Talmud, and the Christ-hating Judaism, is a proof of his deep insight into the significance of the facts, and a testimony unto the consistent character of his Gospel.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Some of the watch.—The other guards appear to have been so overcome, so prostrated by the phenomena of the resurrection, as to have recognized the matter as settled, the attempt of the chief council as futile, and, without further delay, to have returned to their military station. Only a part so far overcomes the influence as to go and give a report, probably in hopes of having a reward promised to them, and ready to be bribed. Those mercenary soldiers are a type of all “trencher-soldiers,” who must supply the hierarchy with power to compensate for their want of spiritual might. The nobler soldier, like the independent state, will not allow it even to be supposed that he will yield himself up as a tool to the hierarchy.

2. The intensified heathenism of the disbelieving Judaism begins with disbelief regarding the resurrection of Jesus, and adopts at once a characteristic trait of heathenism, by forming a dark tradition. But the myth of the chief council is worse than the myths of heathenism. The latter, according to their bright side, point to Christ; but the lie of the Sanhedrin forms the dark contrast to the facts of light recorded in the Gospels. The myths of the heathen world are the seed of its culture;³⁴ the lying myth of unbelieving Judaism is the fruit of its obduracy.

3. Matthew, with prophetic spirit, has preserved this fact, the unmistakable germ from which sprang the Talmud, along with which Judaism, that held in the Old Testament fast by the path of faith and repelled all the myths of the heathen world, now manifests itself in its unbelief as the most intensified heathenism; resorting to the most debased of all myths, and endeavoring to destroy the evangelical history by a false exegesis of the Old Testament, by false traditions concerning facts of Gospel history, and by a perversion of the Old Testament into a system of absolute legalism and formalism. Hence it is, that in the following section this type of the Talmud is succeeded by the type of the New Testament.

4. It is indubitable that our narrative is the history of the most extreme self-abasement of the chief council, but is not the less worthy of belief. This is the perfection of the judgment of self-abandonment, under which the council had flung itself. Upon the special points of this self-rejection, see the Exegetical Notes.

5. The hierarchical falsification of the history of the resurrection is the beginning of the hierarchical and antievangelical falsifications of history. The Ebionitic Apocrypha, the donatio Constantini, the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, etc.

6. Christ’s resurrection, according to God’s counsel, officially announced to the civil authorities, and to the hierarchy; and hence the evangelical faith, as belief in the resurrection, is independent and free.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Heathen guards, the messengers whom God had ordained to announce the resurrection unto the chief council.—Despairing sinners (Judas, the guards), the usual preachers of repentance, sent unto the hypocritical, hierarchical powers.—The unbelief of the chief council is bold enough to impart its own obduracy to affrighted Gentile hearts.—Money and bribery, the A and Ω (the beginning and the end) of the salvation which remained with the council.—Bribery of every kind is the principal lever of all antichristian systems: 1. Bribery by money, 2. by honors.—The utter incertitude of the Sanhedrin is clearly manifested by their last decision.—The perfect overthrow which moral self-destruction caused to follow the supposed triumph of their faith.—The imagination of blinded spirits, as though they could debase the grandest facts of heaven into the meanest stories (scandala) of earth.—The fruitless lies, which are imagined capable of converting the most glorious facts into a deceptive myth.—The criticism passed in the dark Jewish lane, upon the facts of Gospel history which took place upon the broad, open highway of the world.—This is the course which all the enemies of Christian truth must pursue, because of the concealed self-contradictions: 1. They imagine the most absurd fables, to destroy the most glorious miracle; 2. they imagine the most senseless absurdity, to destroy what is full of meaning and clear to the soul; 3. they imagine what is mean, wicked, diabolical, to destroy what is sacred.—The latest criticism in the Jewish Talmud, and the Talmud in the latest works of criticism.—How the hierarchy has corrupted even the soldier’s honor.—Slander sneaks along in its impotent path, in pursuit of the Gospel rushing along its winged course: 1. Slander of Christ; 2. of the disciples; 3. of early Christendom; 4. of the Reformation, and so forth.—How Judaism and heathenism unite to oppose Christianity.—How the hierarchy leagues with the dissolute to battle against the faith.—The inhabitants of hell try to make themselves believe that heaven has been built up by the devices of hell.—God allowed the work of shame to run its wretched course, because the message of the resurrection was not intended to be extended in the form of worldly, but of heavenly certainty, by heavenly agencies.—Powerless as are such attempts, as concerns the Lord, they succeed in destroying many souls.—Thus has the Talmud, the production of the legalistic spirit of Judaism, placed itself between the poor Jew and his Christ, as a ruinous phantom. So too does the spirit of legalism endeavor to build up a wall of separation between the poor Christian and his Christ.—It is only the preaching of the Gospel which can overcome the enmity to the Gospel.—The more boldly the opposition advances, let the word ring out the clearer.

The Present Section considered in connection with the following Evangelical Narrative.—The twofold development of the Old Testament: 1. The false continuation of the Talmud2. The true continuation in the New Testament.—The great revolution in the life of Christ: 1. The apparent triumph of His foes becomes their most disgraceful defeat2. The apparent defeat of the Lord becomes His most glorious triumph.—The grand development of Christianity and its dark counter-picture: 1. The fleeing soldiers, the heroic women2. The great council, and its decision; Christ upon the mountain, and His sermon3. The empty expectations of Judaism, and the actual testimony afforded by the Church of Christ.—The perfect impotence of the opponents, and the omnipotence of Christ in heaven and upon earth.

Starke:—Nova Bibl. Tub.: As divine wisdom has decreed, unto even the bitterest foes and persecutors of Jesus must the truth be told by their own beloved confidantes.—The world takes money, and acts as she is taught, against her better knowledge and her conscience, 1 Timothy 6:10; 2 Peter 2:13; 2 Peter 2:15.—No compacts prevail against the Lord.—The devil seeks, where not by force and with boldness, still with lies and blasphemy, to oppose the kingdom and the life of Christ.—Money has great power, but thou and thy money shall perish together, Acts 8:20.—Manifest lies require no refutation; they refute themselves.—Quesnel: What a misfortune, that a man will turn to lies to cover his sin, rather than unto repentance for forgiveness!—Zeisius: The lie, no matter how absurd, is believed rather than the truth, especially by the low and godless masses.—Murder and lies, the devil’s weapons, John 8:44.

Lisco:—Hate and wickedness incite Christ’s enemies to bribe the soldiers; low avarice makes them ready to free themselves from the crime, of a neglect of duty by availing themselves of a convenient lie.

Heubner:—Contrast between this account and the preceding: 1. There truth; here lies2. There the glorified Hero in His perfect purity; here the terrified priesthood, affrighted because of its crime3. There, among the disciples, overmastering joy; here anguishing terror4. There, willing, unpaid servants of truth; here bribed servants of falsehood.—Injustice brings a man to humiliation, shame, before the instruments of his sin: he resigns himself to them, must fear them, and they laugh him to scorn.—Such people have never a clean mouth. The state of things might have been learned by the Apostles from secret friends and adherents among the priests, from several persons, perchance from converted soldiers.

Braune:—As the friends heard from their own, so the foes from their own, the news of the resurrection.—What revelation will be made on the day of judgment³⁵ of what money can effect!—Lies find admission, but they flee before the truth. Let no one, accordingly, be affrighted for what men can do; the Lord’s counsel stands fast.—But let no one imagine that he must take in hand to destroy the attempts of another; leave that to the Lord.

Footnotes

THIRD SECTION

THE OMNIPOTENT RULE, AND THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST, IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH

Matthew 28:16-20

( Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:44-49.)

16Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a [the, τό] mountain where Jesus had appointed them 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him:³⁶ but some doubted [hesitated].³⁷ 18And Jesus came [drew near] and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in [ἐν] heaven and in [on. ἐπί] earth 19 Go ye therefore,³⁸ and teach [make disciples of, or disciple, christianize, μαθητεύσατε]³⁹ all [the, τά] nations, baptizing⁴⁰ them in the name [into the name, εἰς τὸ ὄνομα]⁴¹ of the Father, and of the 20 Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching [διδάσκοντες] them to observe all things what- Song of Solomon -ever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway [all the days, every day, πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας], even unto the end [ἕως τῆς συντελεἰας] of the world [τοῦ αἰῶνος].⁴² Amen.⁴³

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Matthew 28:16. Then the eleven disciples.—They come forward here as the representatives of the entire band of disciples, and not as the select apostolic college of the Twelve, which makes its first reappearance after the selection of Matthias. This distinction is to be found in the remark that some doubted, which cannot apply to the Eleven: reference is made to many witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15:6.

Upon the mountain.—The Evangelist himself informs us that Jesus had appointed the place of meeting, but does not tell us when and where, Inasmuch as the disciples were bidden at first merely to go into Galilee, the more special direction must have been given at a later date. Grotius thinks that the command was issued while they were still in Jerusalem. We agree with Ebrard and others, that Christ’s meeting with the seven ( John 21) preceded and introduced this manifestation. That there is a reference to an actual mountain in Galilee, may be seen from the connection between this passage and the injunctions to proceed into Galilee, Matthew 28:7; Matthew 28:10; also from the consideration, that in Galilee only could a place be found for so large an assemblage of disciples as is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:6. An apocryphal tradition, dating from the thirteenth century, named the northern peak of the Mount of Olives as the scene, and gave it the name of Galilæa. This theory has undoubtedly originated early, in an improper and interested attempt at harmonizing, the first traces of which we find in the apocryphal Actis Pilati. It is upon this statement that Rudolf Hofmann supports his views in his work, Ueber den Berg. Galiläa, Ein Beitrag zur Harmonie der evangelischen Berichte, Leipzig, 1856.⁴⁴ We saw above that Mount Tabor could not have been the scene of the transfiguration. But should we conclude from this, that that tradition is wholly untenable? How easily could that which had been said of the second transfiguration of Jesus before the eyes of His Church, be confounded with the account of the former transfiguration! How well adapted, besides, was Mount Tabor for the accommodation of the disciples, who assembled for the purpose of celebrating the first great Easter festival! That the mount was then peopled, goes against the theory which makes it the scene of such an event as the first transfiguration, but not against the view which selects it as the centre to which the Galilean Christians were gathered. For the dwellers upon this mountain (if the mountain were not then, to some degree, waste and occupied only by ruins; see Schulz, Reisebeschreibung) could be but few in number, and would be, besides, friendly disposed to the Galilean believers, so that the assemblage upon this high peak of Galilee would not be in the least disturbed (see the author’s Leben Jesu, ii3, 1730). Grotius, too, writing upon this passage, is in favor of Tabor. “Southward from the Mount of Beatitudes, six miles distant from Nazareth, in an easterly direction (southeast), the Mount of Tabor rises, תָּבוֹר, i. e. peak, navel, Greek ’Ιταβύριον ( Hosea 5:1; Sept.), called by the natives Tschebel Tor. It is a great, well-nigh isolated ball of chalkstone, flattened on the top. Jerome says of it: Mira rotunditate sublimes. In omni parte finitur œqualiter. Upon the southern side, it extends far down into the plain of Jezreel:⁴⁵ northward it overlooks all the confronting mountains of the highlands of Galilee. The sides of Tabor are covered with a forest of oaks and wild pistachio-trees, which shelter wild swine. The whole mountain is rich in flowers, and abounds with trees. The flat top is about a mile and a half in circumference; upon it are the remains of a large fortress, and two churches may still be recognized.” (K. von Raumer, Palästina, p62.) See Jeremiah 46:18; Psalm 89:12, [“Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name”]. Upon the prospect from Tabor, consult works of travel, Schubert, Robinson; also Schulz (Mühlheim an der Ruhr, 1852, p260). Gerlach supposes the mountain to have lain in a lonely neighborhood, in Lebanon, in the north of Galilee, but states no reasons.

Matthew 28:17. And when they saw Him.—In the case of the Eleven, this was “neither the first occasion upon which they saw Him since the resurrection, nor yet the first impression.” Judging from the import of what follows, we believe that Matthew groups the eleven Apostles together with the assembled pilgrim throng of Galilean believers. To this congregated body does the prostration refer, and also the doubting of some. We consider, however, that the statement: some doubted, is not applied to the reality of the Risen One, but is used in regard to the immediately preceding προσεκύνησαν. These “some” were not in doubt whether the person before them was really Jesus who had risen. That would have been a total inversion of the order of things, if they had come to the mountain believing, and had been plunged back into doubt upon the sight of the Lord. Why, it was the very vision of the Lord which made the women and the Eleven believing. So that they doubted whether it was proper to offer unto the Lord such an unbounded worship as was expressed in the supplications and prostration of the disciples. This view is held also by de Wette. The following declaration of Jesus refers to this hesitation. Hence we find in this a prophetic allusion by the Evangelist to that germ of Ebionism which developed itself at a later period among the Jewish Christians, just as he had before pointed out the germ of the antichristian Judaism. These “some”—οἱ δὲ without a preceding οἱ μέν—constitute a particular section of that assembled mass, formerly mentioned as a body, to which special attention would be directed.⁴⁶ The words, οἱδὲ ἐδίστασαν, have received various explanations1. The reading itself, οὐδὲ: Bornemann [Beza]. 2. The meaning, Some prostrated themselves, the others separated in dismay: Schleussner3. The occasion: (a) They doubted, because Jesus’ body was already glorified: Olshausen and others; (b) dread of a phantom: Hase; (c) on account of a change in the body of Jesus, which was now in the intermediate state, between its former condition, and glorification, which was completed at the ascension: Meyer,⁴⁷ 4. The subject: (a) The Eleven were they who doubted: Meyer; (b) certain of the Seventy: Kuinoel; (c) certain of the five hundred brethren, 1 Corinthians 15:6 : Calovius and others [also Olshausen, Ebrard, Stier, who suppose, from the previous announcement of this meeting, and the repetition of that announcement by the angel, and by Christ, that it included, probably, all the disciples who could be brought together:—in which case we must take the ἕνδεκα in Matthew 28:16 in an emphatic, not in an exclusive sense, the Eleven being the natural leaders of the rest.—P. S.] This last explanation is undoubtedly the correct one. (See above.)

Matthew 28:18. And Jesus drawing near, spake unto them.—This drawing near was manifestly a special approach unto those who were doubting; and unto them likewise were the following words in the first instance addressed, though not exclusively.

All power is given unto Me.—Expression of His glorification and victory. “It is an unwarranted rationalizing explanation, when this expression is made to mean simply, either potestas animis hominum per doctrinam imperandi (Kuinoel), or full power to make all the preparations necessary for the Messianic theocracy (Paulus). It is the munus regium Christi, without limitation.” Meyer. According to the doubts of the later Ebionites, Christ must share the power given Him by God, in heaven with the angels, on earth with Moses. [With the resurrection and ascension Christ took full possession, as the Godman, of that δόξα which, as λόγος ἄσαρκος, or according to His eternal Divine nature, He had before the foundation of the world, John 17:5; Luke 24:26; Philippians 2:9-11; Ephesians 1:20-23.—P. S.]

Matthew 28:19. Go ye (therefore).—Οὖν is a gloss, but a correct one; for the majesty of Christ is the ground both for His sending, and for their allowing themselves to be sent. [Alford, a dignitary of the Church of England, says of these words of the great commission, that they were “not spoken to the apostles only, but to all the brethren.” He also remarks on the connection between ἐξουσία and μαθητεύσατε: “All power is given Me—go therefore and—subdue? Not so: the purpose of the Lord is to bring men to the knowledge of the truth—to work on and in their hearts, and lift them up to be partakers of the Divine nature! And therefore it is not ‘ subdue,’ but ‘make disciples of.’ ”—P. S.]

Make disciples of, μαθητεύσατε—Luther’s translation: lehret, is incorrect.⁴⁸ So also is the Baptist exegesis: In every case, first complete religious instruction, then baptism. To make disciples of, involves in general, it is true, the preaching of the Gospel; but it marks pre-eminently the moment when the non-Christian is brought to a full willingness to become a Christian, that is, has become, through repentance and faith, a catechumen. This willingness, in the case of the children of Christian parents, is presupposed and implied in the willingness of the parents; for it is unnatural and unspiritual to treat children as if they were adults, and Christianity as if it were a mere school question, when the parents do not decide unhesitatingly in favor of Christianity as the religion of their children, and do not determine to educate them accordingly. Hence the children of Christian parents are born catechumens, or subjects of Christian instruction. The Holy Scriptures everywhere place the spiritual unity of the household in the believing father or believing mother, representing this as the normal relation.

All nations.—Removal of the limitations laid down in Matthew 10:5, according to the statements contained in Matthew 25:32; Matthew 24:14. By this, the universality of the apostolic commission is established. The question, how the Gentiles are to be received into the Church, is not yet answered, though the unconditioned reception of believers is found in the appointment, that nations, as nations, are to be christianized, without being first made Jews; that they are to be marked out as Christians by baptism, without any reference to circumcision. The development of this germ is left by the Lord to the work of the Spirit. The revelation recorded Acts 10, is the Spirit’s exegesis of the already perfect commission, and not a continuation or expansion of that commission, which was completed with the work of Christ. We cannot, therefore, assume that the Apostles, up to that time, held circumcision to be a necessary condition of baptism, or reception into the Church; they were merely in the dark regarding this question, until the Holy Spirit explained the word of Christ unto them.

Baptizing them.—Or, more correctly according to the reading βαπτίσαντες: having baptized them.⁴⁹ But μαθητεύειν is not completed in baptism. Rather are there two Acts, a missionary and an ecclesiastical,—the antecedent baptism, the subsequent instruction. [Meyer: “βαπτίζοντες, etc, by which the μαθητεύειν is to be brought about, not what is to take place after the μαθητεύσατε, which would require μαθητεύσαντες-βαπτίζετε.” Alford: “The μαθη τεύειν consists of two parts—the initiatory, admissory rite, and the subsequent teaching. It is much to be regretted that the rendering of μαθ., ‘ teach,’ has in our Bibles clouded the meaning of these important words. It will be observed that in our Lord’s words, as in the Church, the process of ordinary discipleship is from baptism to instruction—i. e., is admission in infancy to the covenant, and growing up into τηρεῖν πάντα, κ. τ. λ.” But this applies only to Christian churches already established. As the Jewish religion commenced with the promise of God, and the faith and circumcision of adult Abraham, who received circumcision as a sign and seal of the covenant already established ( Romans 4:11) for himself and for his seed, so the Christian Church was founded in the beginning, and is now propagated in all heathen countries by the preaching of the Gospel to, and by the baptism of, adults. Infant baptism always presupposes the existence of a responsible parent church and the guaranty of Christian nurture which must develop and make available the blessings of the baptismal covenant. Hence the preponderance of adult over infant baptism in the first centuries of Christianity, and in all missionary stations to this day. But even in the case of adult converts, a full instruction in the Christian religion and development of Christian life, does not, as a rule, precede, but succeed baptism, which is an initiatory, not a consummatory rite, the sacramental sign and seal of regeneration, i. e., of the beginning of the new life, not of sanctification or growth and perfection in holiness.—P. S.]

In [or rather with reference to, or into] the name of.⁵⁰—That is, in the might of, and for, the name, as the badge and the symbol of the new Church. Εἰς τό. “Note,” says Meyer, “that the liturgical formula, In nominee, In the name, rests entirely upon the incorrect translation of the Vulgate.” Yet, not so entirely, because the expression ἐν τψ͂ ὀνόματι is found in Acts 10:48 (compare Matthew 3:11). De Wette and Meyer explain εἰςτό, with reference to the name. But εἰς τό, in other passages, means either the element into which one is baptized ( Mark 1:9, εἰς τὸν ’Ιορδάνην; Romans 6:3, εἰς τὸν θάνατον); or the object, εἰς μετάνοιαν, Matthew 3:11; Acts 2:38, εἰς ἄφεσιν; or the authority of the community, under which and for which one is baptized (εἰς τὸν Μωϋσῆν, 1 Corinthians 10:2). The last meaning is probably the prominent one in this passage: a baptism under the authority of, and unto the authority of the triune God, as opposed to the baptism in and for the authority of Moses. But, as the context shows, we have expressed likewise the idea of being plunged into the name of the Three-one God, as the element, and the dedication of the baptized unto this name.⁵¹ The expression, ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι, Acts 2:38, brings out most fully the idea of the authority, in virtue of which, or the foundation upon which, baptism is administered. In so far, now, as baptism has the Triune name as ground, means, and object, the combined signification of εἰς may be partially explained by with, reference to; more distinctly, however, in the name of: that is, upon the ground of this name, in the might of this name, as dedicated unto this name, or for this name. Meyer: “The name of the Father, etc, is to be the object of faith, and the subject of confession.” This expresses only the third conception, and that but half. Upon the import of the name, see Commentary on Matthew 4:9 [p125]. ⁵² The name refers to each of the Persons of the Godhead. The plural form, τὰ ὀνόματα, would have pointed to Tritheism; while the singular, in its distributive application to Father, Song of Solomon, and Spirit, brings out in the one name the equality as well as the personality, of the three Divine Names in one name.⁵³ In an emphatic sense, may it also be said, that τὸ πνεῦμα ἅγιον is a “distinctively Christian characteristicum of the Spirit” ( John 7:39).

We must dissent from Meyer, when he maintains that the passage is “improperly termed the baptismal formula,” assigning as reason that “Jesus does not, assuredly, dictate the words which are to be employed in the administration of baptism. (No trace is to be found of the employment of these words by the Apostolic Church: compare rather the simple form εἰς Χριστόν, Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27; βαπτίζειν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα X, Acts 8:16; and ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι X, Acts 2:38.) It is the telic import [or intention] of the baptismal act that is given in this expression. Consult Reiche, De Baptism, orig., etc, Göttingen, 1816, p141. It was only at a later period that the baptismal formula was drawn up according to these words (see Justin. Apol. i61), just as was the baptismal confession of the three articles.” But it is exactly this gradual development of the apostolical confession of faith which conducts us back to the germ, which we find here deposited in the New Testament. A baptism in the name of Christ is conceivable only when that confession was accompanied by the acknowledgment of the Father and the Holy Spirit; and this Song of Solomon -called “telic import” points us back to the homogeneous foundation upon which that import rests. It is true, indeed, that the apostolic age was not bound to formulas, as stiff and dead formulas. Otherwise, Meyer is right in defending, against the objections of de Wette, Strauss, and others, the historical truth of this direction of Christ. This is not the only instance in which we have presented a mere specially defined statement of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, and of the essential points of the Christian confession (see 2 Corinthians 13:13; 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:11; Titus 2:13, etc.). [Comp, the Doctrinal Thoughts, below, sub No6.]

Matthew 28:20. Teaching them.—These words mark on the one hand, the continuation of the apostolic activity, after that μαθητεύειν and βαπτίζειν had preceded; upon the other, the course of the Christian, which should run on parallel to this activity. The statement concerning the new ἐντολή, John 13:34, which refers undoubtedly to the institution of the Holy Supper, shows us, that all things commanded by Christ concentrate in the truth, and the spiritual observance of that Supper as necessarily following baptism and the establishment of the visible church. See the author’s Leben Jesu, ii3, p1330.

[We should not overlook that there is no καί before διδάσκοντες, so that baptizing and teaching are not strictly coördinate, as two successive acts and means of Christianizing the nations; but the teaching is a continuous process, which partly precedes baptism, as a general exhibition of the gospel with the view to bring the adults to the critical turning point of decision for Christ, and submission to His authority, and partly follows baptism, both in the case of adults and infants, as a thorough indoctrination in the Christian truth, and the building up of the whole man unto the full manhood of Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Since the eleven apostles and other personal disciples of our Lord could neither baptize nor teach all nations, it is evident that He instituted here the office of a continuous and unbroken preacherhood (not priesthood in the Jewish or Romish sense) and teacherhood, with all its duties and functions, its privileges and responsibilities; and to this office He pledged His perpetual presence to the end of time, without the intermission of a single day or hour.—P. S.]

[All things, whatsoever I have commanded you.—The doctrines and precepts of Christ, nothing ness and nothing more, are the proper subjects of Christian faith and practice, and constitute the genuine Christian tradition to be handed down from age to age, as distinct from those pseudo-Christian traditions of men which were added to the gospel, as the pseudo-Jewish traditions of the Pharisees and elders were added to the Old Testament, and “made the word of God of none effect,” Matthew 15:6.—P. S.]

And, lo.—Excitation and encouragement to fulfil the apostolic commission, and the duties of the Christian life, which are here enjoined.⁵⁴

I am with you.—Not merely through the agency of the power which has been given Me, but still more in the other person of the Holy Spirit, or the Paracletos ( John 14:16; John 14:26, etc.), and in My own personal agency, through My word ( John 14:23) and sacrament ( Matthew 26:28). There is reference also to their vital union to, and communion with, Him, in the might of His Spirit ( John 14:20; John 16:22), and of His life ( John 15:5). [Alford: “ ‘I,’ in the fullest sense: not the Divine Presence as distinguished from the Humanity of Christ. His Humanity is with us likewise. The vine lives in the branches.…The presence of Christ is part of the ἐδόθη above—the effect of the well-pleasing of the Father. So that the mystery of His name, ἐμμανουήλ, is fulfilled—God with us.”—P. S.]

[With you.—Wordsworth, like the Romish interpreters, erroneously confines μεθ̓ ὑμῶν to the apostles and their successors in office. Let us quote Alford, also a dignitary of the Episcopal Church, against him: “To understand μεθ̓ὑμῶν only of the apostles and their (?) successors, is to destroy the whole force of these most weighty words. Descending even into literal exactness, we may see that διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὐμῖν, makes αὐτούς into ὑμεῖς, as soon as they are μεμαθητευμένοι. The command is to the Universal Church—to be performed, in the nature of things, by her ministers and teachers, the manner of appointing which is not here prescribed, but to be learnt in the unfoldings of Providence recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, who by His special ordinance were the founders and first builders of that Church—but whose office, on that very account, precluded the idea of succession or renewal.” In a general sense, however, the apostolic office—the only one which Christ founded, but which was the fruitful germ of all other ministerial offices (the presbyterate and deaconate)—is truly and really continued, with all its necessary functions for the preservation and propagation of the church, in the ministerial or pastoral office. In this passage the apostles and other disciples (there were, probably, more than five hundred in all, comp. 1 Corinthians 15:6) appear as the representatives of the whole ministry of the gospel, and in a wider sense of the whole church over against the unchristian world, which is to be christianized by them. As the Saviour prayed not for the apostles alone, “but for them also that shall believe on Him through their word, that they all may be one” ( John 17:20-21), so the promise of His abiding presence is to all ministers of the gospel and to the whole Church they represent. Christ has abundantly proved, and daily proves, His blessed presence in non-episcopal, as well as episcopal churches, even where only two or three humble disciples are assembled in His name ( Matthew 18:20), and it is our duty and privilege, in the spirit of true evangelical catholicity, to acknowledge and revere the footprints of our Saviour in all ages and sections of Christendom, whether Greek, or Latin, or Anglican, or Protestant.—P. S.]

Alway.⁵⁵—The words: πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας, every day, mark not only every year which will elapse till the world’s end, as years of redemption, but also every day, even the darkest, as days of redemption. [Alford: “All the appointed days—for they are numbered by the Father, though by none but Him.” Wordsworth: “I shall never be absent from you a single day; I shall never be absent in any of the days of the greatest trial and affliction of the Church; but I shall remain with her till the last day, when you will see Me again in bodily presence.”—P. S.]

Unto the end of the world.—That is, until the completion or consummation of the secular æon, or the period of time which comes to an end with the parousia, and involves the end of the present world itself. Hence this fact is also included, that Christ accompanies His own, when they go to the most remote boundaries of the world to preach the Gospel. [The word unto (ἕως) does not set a term to Christ’s presence, but to His invisible and temporal presence, which will be exchanged for His visible and eternal presence at His last coming. Now Christ is with us, then when He shall appear in glory, we shall be with Him where He is ( John 17:24), and shall see Him as He is ( 1 John 3:2). Comp. Bengel, who remarks to ἕως: “Tum enim nos erimus cum Domino.”—P. S.]

On account of this all-encompassing, this heaven-and-earth-including presence of Christ, the fact of the personal ascension is omitted by our Evangelist, which is done also by John, as a point which is self-evidently comprehended in this omnipresence. [The fact itself of the ascension is clearly implied, not only in this verse, but also in other passages of this Gospel, as Matthew 22:44; Matthew 24:30; Matthew 25:14; Matthew 25:31; Matthew 26:64.—P. S.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The mountain in Galilee.—The appearance of the risen Lord upon this mountain recalls in its every part the transfiguration upon the mountain in Peræa, and also Peter’s confession, which preceded that transfiguration. Hence it is, it seems to us, that tradition has connected the second event with the first, in regard to the locality, and has named Mount Tabor as the scene of the transfiguration. Upon this occasion we have a repetition of both the solemn confession and the transfiguration. The two scenes agree in kind, but this present one surpasses in degree. There, Peter confessed: “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God;” here, a disciple-band of more than five hundred believers fall in adoration at the feet of the risen Lord. There, Christ confirmed Peter’s confession, as a revelation from the Father; here, He declares: “All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth.” There, He proclaimed the institution of His Church (ἐκκλησία) upon the foundation of this confession; here, He appoints His disciples apostles unto all nations, while these nations were to take the place of the disciples (μαθητεύσατε), He institutes holy baptism, and recalls the more special institution of the ministerial (teaching) office ( John 20:21), and of the Holy Supper (see above, Exeg. Notes).—And as He made manifest, upon the Mount of Transfiguration, His connection with the heavenly world of spirits, and with the entire past of God’s kingdom (Moses and Elijah), so He certifies here His connection with the entire future of God’s kingdom, His eternal presence in the Church in this world, by means of these words: “Lo, I am with you every day till the completion of the æon, of the world’s course and time.”

2. When Matthew mentions in this passage only the Eleven, he will merely mark them out as the leaders öf the Galilean disciple-procession, but in no sense as those to whom the institutions of the glorified Lord were exclusively entrusted. Gerlach is of the opinion, that the principal, the predominating thought with Matthew, was the office of public teacher; “and hence it is that all the appearances of our Lord, which were enjoyed by different parties, are omitted.” But Matthew reports even an appearance of Jesus unto the women. If Matthew here records (as Gerlach himself admits) the same meeting of Jesus with the disciples which is mentioned by Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:6, it follows that the Lord himself here committed His formal institutions and commissions to the whole assembled Church, with the Apostles at her head, just as He at a later date poured out His Spirit upon the whole assembled Church. And from this, then, we argue, that, according to the law of Christ, the apostolic office and the Church are not two divided sections. In the commission to teach and to baptize, the apostolical community is one, a united apostolate, involving the Church, or, a united Church, including the Apostles. In this unity we may unquestionably mark the distinction between the leader and the led, which comes out in a more positive way in the entrustment to the Apostles of the official keys ( Matthew 16:19; Matthew 18:18; John 20:21). But that is an organic contrast, arising from, and conditioned by, the unity of the apostolic communion ( 1 Corinthians 5:4).

3. The declaration of Christ: “All power,” etc, and His command to baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Song of Solomon, etc, as also the fact that He received the adoring homage of His disciples, show clearly that He presented Himself, not only in the majesty of His exalted humanity, but also in the brightness of His divinity. In the words: “is given unto Me,” there is, undoubtedly, emphasis laid upon His mediatorial relationship, which is frequently illustrated by the Apostle ( 1 Corinthians 15:28; Ephesians 1:20; Philippians 2:9 ff.); but, at the same time, with equal distinctness is the homoousia (or co-equality) of Christ with the Father and the Holy Spirit expressed in the second name of the baptismal formula. Under the old economy, the predominant reference in all the divine government was to the glorification of the Father; under the new economy, to that of the Son; while, in the final completion, the Father shall be glorified with the Son in the glorification of the Holy Spirit.

4. It is manifest that the kingdom which Christ here describes is not only a regnum gratiœ;, but also a kingdom of power, and a kingdom of glory; but it does not manifest itself as three distinct kingdoms, but the power which He manifests is subservient to the interests of the kingdom of grace, and the kingdom of grace finds its end and completion in the Kingdom of glory (see the author’s Positive Dogmatik).

5. That the Anabaptists appeal for their views without sufficient reason to Matthew 28:19, has been often enough pointed out (see the Exeg. Notes). But, upon the other hand, it is clearly presupposed in μαθηεύσατε, that persons are to be induced to be baptized by the use of gospel means, not by forcible conversion,—are not to be made catechumens by compulsion; and also, that baptism can be administered to children really only upon the ground of a truly Christian family, or at least of a god-parentship (sponsorship) which represents spiritually such a family. On the baptism of children, consult W. Hoffmann: Gespräche über Taufe und Wiedcrtaufe; Culmann Welche Bewandtniss hat es mit der Taufe? Stressburg, 1847; the writings of Martensen, Rudelbach, etc. [Comp. also, on the pœdo-Baptist side of the question: P. Schaff: History of the Apostolic Church, New York ed, 1853, § 142, 143, pp569–581; P. Schaff: History of the Christian Church of the First Three Centuries, New York, 1859, p 122 ff.; W. Wall (Episcopalian): The History of Infant Baptism, 2d ed, Oxford, 1844, 4vols.; Samuel Miller (Presbyterian): Infant Baptism Scriptural and Reasonable, etc, Philad, 1840; W. Nast (Methodist): A Dissertation on Christian Baptism, Cincinnati, 1864 (at the close of his Com. on Matthew, p641–652). On the Baptist side of the question, both in regard to infant baptism and immersion, compare the learned and able works of Alexander Carson: Baptism in its Mode and Subjects, 5th Am. ed, 1850, and, as regards the mode of baptism, Dr. T. J. Conant: The Meaning and Use of Baptizein Philologically and Historically Investigated, being an Appendix to his revised Version of the-Gospel of Matthew, New York, 1860, and also separately printed by the Am. Bible Union New York, 1861.—P. S.]

6. In (into) the name.—As we saw before, the name is not the essence itself, but the expression, the manifestation of the essence, among those of God’s intelligent creatures who name the name. So then, In (into) the name (εἰς τὸ ὄνομα) of the Triune, signifies: 1. The ground; (a) objectively: according to His Revelation, under His authority, by reason of His command, and agreeably to His institution; (b) subjectively: upon the confession of this name2. The means; (a) objectively: into the revelation of His name as the spiritual element; (b) subjectively: for the revelation of His name in the actual confession3. The object; (a) objectively: for the glorification of the Triune name in the subject baptized; (b) subjectively: for the happiness⁵⁶ of the baptized in the Triune name. All the significations are combined in, and expressed by εἰς τὸ ὄνομα. Gerlach says: “To do something in the name of God, means, not only: upon His commission, but to do it in such a manner that the power and being of God Himself shall appear as working in the transaction. Thus: to bless in the name of the Lord ( 2 Samuel 6:18; Psalm 129:8); to adjure one in the name of the Lord ( 1 Kings 22:16); to curse one ( 2 Kings 2:24); above all, to pray in Jesus’ name ( John 16:23).” The person baptized is, accordingly, “fully committed unto the Father, the Song of Solomon, and the Holy Spirit—consecrated, made over to experience the blessing, the redeeming and sanctifying influences, of each of the three Persons; hence, also, he is even named by the name of the Lord ( Isaiah 43:7; Isaiah 63:19; Jeremiah 15:16).”

Baptism is, after the analogy of the circumcision, a covenant transaction, more particularly the dedicatory covenant transaction, the sacrament of regeneration, to which the Lord’s Supper corresponds, as the completed covenant Acts, as the sacrament of sanctification. Baptism represents the birth, the Supper the festive manifestation of Christianity. Considered in this light, however, we must bring out prominently these three points: (1) God in this covenant is its author, who invites, reconciles, lays down conditions, and that all the vows and performances of men are to rest upon God’s promises. (2) The promises of God are promises and assurances of the Father, the Song of Solomon, and the Holy Spirit, in which the personal Father, the Song of Solomon, and the Holy Spirit, specializing and individualizing the Gospel, makes Himself over, with all His own peculiar gifts, to each individual subject of baptism; the Father, with the blessing of creation and regeneration; the Song of Solomon, with the blessing of history, i. e., of salvation; the Holy Spirit, with the blessing of His life and of the (entire) Church. This promise contains the assurance of the paternal guardianship and blessing of God, of the grace and merit of Christ, of the consolation, illumination, and direction of the Holy Spirit. But all this under the condition of the subject’s own personal appropriation and application. (3) And in accordance with this, we must direct attention to the vows presented to the Father, the Song of Solomon, and the Spirit. In the case of children, these vows are made by parents or god-parents (sponsors); and where these guarantees are entirely wanting, there is the limit of Christian infant baptism.

7. In the name of the Father, and of the Song of Solomon, and of the Holy Spirit.—“This passage is the chief proof of the doctrine of the Trinity. (1) These three must be subjects distinct from one another, and true persons, especially because τὸ ὄνομα is never in the entire Bible used of abstractis, of qualities, but only of true persons. (2) They must be equal, consequently divine persons, because they are placed upon an equality, and because like reverence is claimed for each. Even Julian the Apostate acknowledged the force of this passage, and accused the Christians of being polytheists.” So Heubner. This taunt is to be avoided by our showing no favor to the vulgar conception of three distinct Divine beings and individuals, and by holding fast to three personal distinctions in the one divine being. For more exact details, see the works upon systematic theology. We would only add, that the doctrine of the Trinity is to be regarded as the fundamental, theological doctrine of Christianity, to which the soteriological doctrines of election, of the atonement, and the Church correspond.

[It should be added, that the doctrine of the Trinity does not rest, by any means, merely on the few dicta probantia which teach it directly and expressly, as the baptismal formula, the apostolic benediction, 2 Corinthians 13:13, and the doubtful passage on the three witnesses in heaven, 1 John 5:7 (comp. besides Matthew 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:2; Revelation 1:4-5), but still more on facts, on the whole Scripture revelation of God as Father, Song of Solomon, and Holy Spirit in the three great works of creation, redemption, and sanctification. From this Trinity of revelation (œconomical Trinity) we justly infer the Trinity of essence (ontological Trinity), since God reveals Himself as He actually is, and since there can be no contradiction between His character and His works. Moreover, every one of the many passages which separately teach either the divinity of our Saviour, or the divinity of the Holy Spirit, viewed in connection with the fundamental Scripture doctrine of the unity of the Godhead, proves, indirectly, also the doctrine of the holy Trinity. Hence you cannot deny this fundamental doctrine without either running into Tritheism, or into Deism, without destroying either the divine unity, or the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit, and thereby undermining the whole work of redemption and sanctification.—P. S.]

8. Institution of the Church.—With this apostolic commission, and with the institution of baptism, which had been preceded by that of the Supper and of the ministerial office, and by the presentation of the “keys,” the institution of the Church is finished, as regards her elements. This can be doubted only, when we ignore that the essence of the Christian Church consists in the communion of the word and the sacraments of Christ, that the word calls the Church into being, that baptism is the foundation, and the communion in a more special sense is the manifestation, of the Church. The doubt whether Christ Himself founded the Church, originated with those who sought the nature of the Church in her policy, or external social organization and constitution; as, e. g., J. H. Böhmer, G. J. Plank (Geschichte der christlichen Gesellschaftsverfassung, i. p17. We may notice in passing, that the germs of Baur’s “Ebinioten Hypothese” are to be found p9. in this book). The evangelical history teaches us that the institution of the Church arose first gradually, that the institution was announced and prepared for in the word ἐκκλησἰα, Matthew 16:18; was decided by the fact of Christ’s death and resurrection; and completed, when the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. Then it was that the organism of the Church, which the Lord had gradually formed, received the quickening Spirit.

9. The resurrection as the Lord’s exaltation.—Because Matthew and John do not record the ascension, some have drawn conclusions from this silence adverse to the reality of the ascension. These deductions rest upon two essential errors. The first error concerns the character of the evangelical writings: the Evangelists are held to have been chroniclers, who relate all they know of Jesus. But we have already shown how far they surpassed these demands; that each Evangelist viewed his materials, and arranged them, influenced by a conception of the Lord’s glory peculiar to himself, and according to one plastic, fundamental thought. But far below a proper appreciation of the Gospels as this error lies, equally far below a proper appreciation of the resurrection of Christ, in its full, eternal significance, does the second error lie. Some, in accordance with the low belief of the Middle Ages, have conceived the resurrection to have been a kind of awaking, on the Lord’s part, unto a life in this world similar to that of Lazarus, so that possibly He might have died again. Then the ascension came in, as the second, entirely new, and in fact much greater miracle, and decided the matter then, and only then. This may be the view of monks of the Middle Ages, but it is not the view of the Apostolic Church. According to the true conception, the ascension is essentially implied in the resurrection. Both events are combined in the one fact of Christ’s exaltation. The resurrection is the root and the beginning of the ascension; the ascension is the blossom and crown of the resurrection. Hence the Apostolic writings take the ascension always for granted ( Acts 2:31; Acts 2:33; Acts 5:31; Acts 7:55; Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 2:6; Ephesians 4:8; Philippians 2:6-10; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 3:32). The ascension is as really presupposed by John ( John 6:62; John 20:17) and by ( Matthew 26:64)⁵⁷ as it is distinctly related by Mark and Luke. The Lord did not return again after His resurrection into this present life; and yet quite as little did Hebrews, as a simple, spiritual existence, enter into the unseen world. He has become through the resurrection, which was at the same time transformation, the first-fruits of the new spiritual human life of glorified humanity; hence is He the Prince of the visible and the invisible worlds, which find here the point of union ( Ephesians 1:21). But this life, as regards its essence, is the heavenly life; and, as regards its character, the entrance into that estate was accordingly the beginning of the ascension. We cannot indeed say (with Kinkel), that the early Church identified the resurrection and the ascension; or, that the latter occurred upon the first day of the resurrection; or, that there was a succession of ascensions. The resurrection marks the entrance into the heavenly slate; the ascension, into the heavenly sphere. With the first, the manner of His former intercourse with the disciples ceased, and was replaced by His miraculous appearances; with the last, His visible intercourse with the disciples generally ceased, to give place to the sending of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. This is the reason why the ascension presents a sad side as well as a joyful, being the departure of Jesus from the earth. It is both Good Friday and Easter. By it the Church of Christ is marked out as both a Church of the cross and a Church of the crown, and enters upon a course of conflict which lasts from Pentecost to the second Advent. Christ’s ascension is accordingly His proper glorification, as the resurrection His transformation. Nevertheless, the unity of the exaltation of Christ predominates to such a degree in the apostolic view, that the final ascension is taken for granted by the Apostles. John sees the image of the ascension in this, that Christ will continue to live in the Petrine and Johannean type of the Church; Matthew in this, that He will be with His own till the completion of the world, hence omnipresent with His people in His majesty, as regards both time and space. Such a spiritual dynamic omnipresence of Christ is conceivable only upon the precondition of the ascension. That “the feast of the Ascension did not make its appearance until a late period “(Gerlach), is to be explained by the fact, that originally the forty days of the glorification of Christ made up one continuous festival. Then the ascension rose just in proportion as the festival of the Forty Days sank. Upon the corporeality of the risen Saviour, see Lange’s Leben Jesu, ii3, p1750. In that work, we have considered connectedly the conceptions of transformation and glorification, as is usually done; and this is so far justifiable, as transformation is the basis of glorification. But the latter, which is the fully developed bloom of transformation, does not fully manifest itself till Christ’s appearance upon the mountain in Galilee, and till the ascension.

10. Matthew’s three sacred mountains: (1) The Mount of the Seven Beatitudes; (2) the Mount of Transfiguration; (3) the Mount of the great Resurrection-festival. (De Wette: The self-inauguration of Jesus,—Transfiguration,—Farewell.)

ΗOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The revelation of our risen Lord in the great congregation of the disciples upon the mountain: 1. The festival which succeeded the Palm-entry, after they had been scattered2. The festival which preceded the feast of Pentecost, when they became perfectly united3. The festival of Easter in its complete form.—How great the gain when we believingly repair to the place where the Lord has commanded us to go: 1. In the Lord’s house; 2. at the Lord’s table; 3. before the Lord’s throne.—The believing Church is constituted by its appearance before the Lord: 1. It is only the appearance before the Lord which makes a true Church; the appearance before men can form only a picture of a Church, or a party2. The appearance before the Lord truly unites the everlasting Church.—The Easter Church, kneeling before her Lord, receives His Easter blessing: 1. The kneeling Church2. The Easter blessing: (a) the most blessed assurance that His royal glory is her shield and salvation; (b) the most extensive commission unto all the world with His salvation; (c) the solemn assurance of His presence and His conduct to the end of the world.—How Christ replies to doubters in His Church: 1. By a reference to His unbounded power; 2. by the institution of His unbounded Church; 3. by the assurance of His ever-abiding presence.—The believing Church participates in the glory of her glorified Lord: 1. She shares His might, in the guardianship and blessing which she experiences; 2. she shares His fulness of grace, in the office she discharges; 3. she shares His victory, in the assurance received by her.—The risen Saviour in His majesty: 1. In His royal glory; 2. in His divine glory; 3. in the glory of His victory.—All power in heaven and upon earth united in the Lord for His people.—Jesus’ omnipotence, an omnipotence of grace, and an omnipotence of judgment.—The Church’s institution and commission is one: 1. The institution, a commission; 2. the commission, an institution.—Holy baptism, as the foundation of Christ’s Church: 1. The pre-condition, catechumens who have been won by the gospel; 2. its meaning, the covenant grace of the Triune God; 3. its object, the holy communion and its blessing.—Baptism in the name of the Triune God, the celebration of a personal covenant: 1. The promises of God, Father, Song of Solomon, and Spirit, unto the baptized; 2. the vows of the baptized, in which he yields and binds himself unto the Father, Song of Solomon, and Spirit.—Baptism, the gospel in its special application to the subject of baptism.—The right of pædo-baptism: 1. The Lord’s title to the children of Christians; 2. the Christian children’s title to the Lord.—The sanctification of pædo-baptisim.—The doctrine of the holy Trinity in its practical significance: 1. A threefold gospel; 2. a threefold Christian calling; 3. a threefold creation and summons unto a spiritual life.—The religion of the Trinity and the religion of the Spirit are one.—Christ’s servants should teach others what Christ has commanded, not command others what Christ has taught.—The blessing of the risen Lord unto His people: 1. Near all and with all; 2. every day, upon every way; 3. till the world’s end; 4. and till the world in perfected.

Starke:—Man must contribute his part; then will God meet him with His promises.—But some doubted. Because they were so tardy in believing, we may receive their testimony as so much more trustworthy.—Is given Me: This is a divine, eternal power,—the foundation of the gospel, the ministerial office,—the ground of our responsibility to obey His commandments, of the baptismal covenant, and of His gracious presence in the Church.—This is the greatest loss, both at the appearance and the beginning of piety, in very many souls, that they will not deny their own strength, and cast themselves down at Christ’s feet.—The boundless power and exaltation of Jesus Christ, the ground of faith and all consolation, from which we must obtain the victory over sin, death, the devil, hell, and the world.—Hitherto ye have been my disciples and scholars; but now ye are to become masters and teachers, and are to make disciples of others.—The preaching of the gospel, along with these attestations, is a precious and incomparable fruit of the death and resurrection of Christ.—To preach and administer the sacraments, are the chief duties of the New Testament minister, Acts 4:6.—Teaching them to observe, Hebrews 6:1-2; 2 Timothy 3:15-16.—To these duties belongs also the observance of the Lord’s Supper.—Zeisius: It is not enough to be baptized, but there is likewise demanded a holy zeal, to live after the baptismal covenant, and to walk blameless, 1 Peter 3:21.—Quesnel: A preacher’s true fidelity consists in this, that he preaches nothing but what he has learned from Jesus Christ.—Believest thou His promise, then canst thou in Him and through Him easily overcome all things.—[Quesnel adds this concluding prayer to his practical Com. on Matthew: Be Thou therefore with us always, O Lord, to be our light, our strength, and our consolation. Be with Thy Church, to be her steadfastness, her protection, and her holiness. Amen.—P. S.]

Lisco:—Christ even in His human nature is the administrator of the divine laws over men, yea, over all creatures.—I have been baptized; the pledge of God’s grace unto me.—Baptism is an incorporation into the body of Christ, which is governed by His Spirit.

Gerlach:—They worshipped Him. That belief in the divinity of Christ, which was partly slumbering during His state of humiliation, is awakened in all, as with one blow, through this miraculously imposing view of the risen Saviour.—Acknowledgment of repentance and of faith, even when it was not yet associated with a clear knowledge concerning the Lord’s person and teaching, was deemed sufficient by the Apostles to justify baptism, Acts 2:41; Acts 8:12; Acts 8:37; Acts 9:19; Acts 10:47-48; Acts 16:33; Acts 19:5.—Unto the end of the world; i. e., till the new world appears, in which God’s kingdom is manifested in its glory. Their administration of baptism and their teaching were accordingly to be accompanied and blessed by His omnipresent, everywhere mighty, efficient power.

Heubner.—The authority of the Father continues, but He performs everything through the Son (and for the Son).—Thereupon rests also the obligation to worship Christ.—The Lord sends to His subjects.—Christ declares here distinctly the universality of His Church.⁵⁸ It was His own clear will to be a universal Saviour.—By the ordinance of Christ, baptism has the divine sanction for all times and peoples.—Teach them all things. Nothing is to be made obsolete. Nothing is contained in Christ’s law which was merely a toleration of an error of the times.—I am with you: The most glorious word of consolation at parting. The most sublime conclusion of the gospel: 1. For all Christians unto all time2. The import of tins promise. With His Spirit, and His actual manifestation of power.—Christ shall be

preached to all in their own time, even in the other world.—The revelation of the glory of Jesus on parting from His Apostles and His Church.

Braune:—Previously, Christ had appeared suddenly, unexpectedly; now He makes a special appointment with them.—In Galilee, the despised province, He had the most friends.—Christ is the Lord of the visible and invisible Church, of the Church militant and triumphant.—[ Rieger:] Some doubted: wonder not that in thy case, too, faith is a constant subjugation of unbelief.—In flaming hearts, the light of conviction must kindle.—Is given Me. With joyous assurance Ha awaited His departure. He had won so few, and His task embraced all peoples, all times, Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 1:23.—If He is busy and efficient at creation, much more is He at regeneration.—The first disciples, Christians, became missionaries, messengers of salvation, as soon as the Church was founded at Pentecost. Upon that first feast of Pentecost, there were three thousand Christians; at the end of the first century, five hundred thousand; under the first Christian ruler, Constantine the Great, about ten millions; in the eighth century, some thirty millions; at the era of the Reformation, nearly one hundred millions; and now, well nigh two hundred millions.⁵⁹—Missionaries from England and Ireland brought the gospel to Germany.⁶⁰—The missionary work is the duty for the Church. There are still eight hundred millions who have not the gospel; one hundred and sixty millions Mohammedans, ten millions Jews, six hundred and thirty millions heathen.⁶¹—Missions are now beginning to receive from the Church that attention they demand. Oh, if it were only held fast: Go ye, preach the gospel! Many act as if the Redeemer said, the Confession.—[Rieger:] The preaching of the gospel is an address made in Christ’s name unto the whole world: it has not to do with an emendation of the Jewish religion, nor with an elevation of heathen morality, nor with the establishment of civil rights; but it is a gospel of the kingdom, a proclamation that Jesus is the Lord; a gospel of glory, that the Son of God hath appeared and taken away the power from death, and from the subjection unto vanity, beneath which the whole creation groaneth, etc.—Baptism. Immersion, which signifies the death and burial of sinful humanity, became an aspersion to signify the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the soul’s renewal, or a sprinkling to indicate purification and dedication, sanctification of heart and life; the external mode may change (but still the idea must obtain the same depth, Romans 6:4, viz, to be baptized into the death of Christ to a new life).—Baptism is the sacrament through which one becomes a Christian.—Lo, I am with you: He is not coming, He is here: 1. He is with weak and strong; 2. in battle as in victory; 3. in life and in death; 4. in time and eternity.—Here Jesus is with us in His word, there we shall be with Him in His glory.—Uhle: What the exalted Son of man in His exaltation is unto men: 1. What do His friends possess in Him? He is, (a) their royal Brother; (b) their eternal High-Priest; (c) their almighty Protector; (d) the unfailing Accomplisher of their perfection2. What do His enemies possess in Him? He is, (a) their almighty King; (b) an omniscient Witness; (c) a patient Forbearer; (d) a righteous Judge.—Ahlfeld: The last will of our Lord Jesus Christ: 1. Believe on the Risen One; 2. extend the Church; 3. console thyself with the Lord’s gracious assistance.—Heubner: The everlasting endurance of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

[Matthew Henry:—Alway, i. e., all days, every day. I will be with you, on Sabbath days, on week days, fair days and foul days, winter days and summer days. There is no day, no hour of the day, in which our Lord Jesus is not present with His churches and His ministers; if there were, that day, that hour, they were undone. The God of Israel, the Saviour, is sometimes a God that hideth Himself ( Isaiah 40:15), but never a God that absenteth Himself, sometimes in the dark, but never at a distance.—With you: 1. With you and your writings: the divine power of the Scriptures continues to the end of time; 2. with you and your successors: all the ministers of the Apostles, all to whom the commission extends to baptize and to teach; 3. with you and all true disciples, comp. Matthew 18:20].—Chrysostom:—Lo, I am with you alway, etc. As much as to say: Tell Me not of the difficulty of all these things, seeing I am with you, who can make all things easy. A like promise He often made to the prophets of the O. T, to Jeremiah, who pleaded his youth; to Moses and to Ezekiel, when they would have shunned the office imposed upon them. The promise is not to the Apostles only, who were not to continue till the end of the world, but with them to all who shall believe after them. He says this to the faithful as one body.—P. Schaff:—The unbroken succession of Christ’s life through all ages of Christendom (or, the true doctrine of the apostolic succession): 1. A glorious fact; 2. an irresistible evidence of Christianity; 3. an unfailing source of strength and encouragement to the believer.—Christ’s presence with His people: 1. In the Holy Spirit, who reveals Christ to us and unites us to Him; 2. in the Church which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all; 3. in His word; 4. in His sacraments, especially the Lord’s Supper, where He offers Himself to the believer as his spiritual food; 5. in the hearts of believers, who live in Him as He in them, the hope of glory.—Christ’s omnipresence in the Church: 1. Its nature: (a) spiritual real; (b) divine-human; (c) mediatorial and saving; 2. its warning; 3. its comfort in life and in death.—Christ’s presence with His members on earth till His coming; their presence with Him in heaven, where they shall see Him as He is, to glorify and enjoy Him forever.—P. S.]

Footnotes