Bible Commentaries

Countenance ( εἰδέα )

Rev., more correctly, appearance. The word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It does not refer to the face alone, but to the general aspect. Wyc., looking.

As lightning

In effulgence. Each evangelist's account of the resurrection emphasizes different particulars. Matthew alone notes the outward glory, the earthquake, the agency of the angel, and the impotence of the military and priestly power to crush the new faith. He only notices the adoration of the risen Lord before his ascension, and traces to its origin the calumny current among the Jews to this day.

He goeth before you ( προάγει )

He is in the act of going. See on Matthew 26:32.

All hail ( χαίρετε )

The ordinary Greek form of situation.

Large money ( ἀργύρια ἱκανὰ )

Lit., sufficient money. Enough to bribe them to invent a lie.

We will persuade ( πείσομεν )

i.e., satisfy or appease. Compare Galatians 1:10. “Do I conciliate men or God?”

Secure you ( ὑμᾶς ἀμερίμνους ποιήσομεν )

Lit., make you without care. The word secure, however, is, etymologically, a correct rendering. It is from the Latin se = sine, without, and cura, care. It has passed into the popular meaning to make safe. Compare 1 Corinthians 7:32. “I would have you to be free from cares ” (Rev.).

Worshipped ( προσεκύνησαν )

As in Matthew 28:9. Prostrated themselves. The first time that the disciples are described as doing so.

Came to

Matthew 28:17 evidently describes the impression made by seeing him at a distance. Possibly from feelings of modesty they had not ventured close to him. Jesus now approaches and addresses them.

Spake - saying ( ἐλάλησεν - λέγων )

Two different words are here used to express speech, with a nice distinction which can hardly be conveyed without paraphrase. The verb λαλεῖν is used of speaking, in contrast with or as a breaking of silence, voluntary or imposed. Thus the dumb man; after he was healed, spake ( ἐλάλησεν ); and Zacharias, when his tongue was loosed, began to speak ( ἐλάλει ). In the use of the word the writer contemplates the fact rather than the substance of speech. Hence it is used of God (Hebrews 1:1), the point being, not what God said, but the fact that he spake to men. On the contrary, λέγειν , refers to the matter of speech. The verb originally means to pick out, and hence to use words selected as appropriate expressions of thought, and to put such words together in orderly discourse. Here, then, we have Jesus first breaking silence ( ελάλησεν ), and then discoursing ( λέγων )Power ( ἐξουσία )

Better, authority, as Rev.

Is given ( ἐδόθη )

Lit.,was given, by the divine decree.

Teach ( μαθητεύσατε )

Rev., rightly,make disciples of.

In the name ( εἰς τὸ ὄνομα )

Rev., correctly, “into the name.” Baptizing into the name has a twofold meaning. 1. Unto, denoting object or purpose, as εἰς μετάνοιαν , unto repentance (Matthew 3:11); εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν , for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). 2. Into, denoting union or communion with, as Romans 6:3, “baptized into Christ Jesus; into his death;” i.e., we are brought by baptism into fellowship with his death. Baptizing into the name of the Holy Trinity implies a spiritual and mystical union with him. E ἰς , into, is the preposition commonly used with baptize. See Acts 8:16; Acts 19:3, Acts 19:5; 1 Corinthians 1:13, 1 Corinthians 1:15; 1 Corinthians 10:2; Galatians 3:27. In Acts 2:38, however, Peter says, “Be baptized upon ( ἐπὶ ) the name of Jesus Christ; and in Acts 10:48, he commands Cornelius and his friends to be baptized in ( ἐν ) the name of the Lord. To be baptized upon the name is to be baptized on the confession of that which the name implies: on the ground of the name; so that the name Jesus, as the contents of the faith and confession, is the ground upon which the becoming baptized rests. In the name ( ἐν ) has reference to the sphere within which alone true baptism is accomplished. The name is not the mere designation, a sense which would give to the baptismal formula merely the force of acharm. The name, as in the Lord's Prayer (“Hallowed be thy name”), is the expression of the sum total of the divine Being: not his designation as God or Lord, but the formula in which all his attributes and characteristics are summed up. It is equivalent to his person. The finite mind can deal with him only through his name; but his name is of no avail detached from his nature. When one is baptized into the name of the Trinity, he professes to acknowledge and appropriate God in all that he is and in all that he does for man. He recognizes and depends upon God the Father as his Creator and Preserver; receives Jesus Christ as his only Mediator and Redeemer, and his pattern of life; and confesses the Holy Spirit as his Sanctifier and Comforter.

Alway ( πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας )

Lit., all the days. Wyc.,in all days.

End of the world ( συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος )

Rev., in margin, and lit., consummation of the age. The current age is meant; and the consummation is coincident with the second coming of Christ, after the Gospel shall have been proclaimed throughout the world. “The Saviour's mind goes no farther; for after that, evangelizing work will cease. No man, after that, will need to teach his neighbor, saying, 'Know the Lord'” (Jeremiah 31:34) (Morison “On Matthew”).