Transition verses leading to 19:3
19
📚And it happened that when Jesus had finished saying these words he left Galilee, and came into the region of Judea beyond Jordan. 2 📚And great crowds followed him, and he healed them there.The King teaches about marriage and divorce
3 📚The Pharisees 📖 also came to him, testing him, and saying to him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for every cause?”
4 📚And he answered and said to them, “Have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 📚and said, For this cause a man will leave father and mother, and be united to his wife, and the two will be one flesh? 6 📚So they are no more two, but one flesh. Therefore let not man separate what God has joined together”.
7 📚They said to him, “Then why did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
19:7 Deut 24:1-4. The Pharisees were trying to show that Jesus disagreed with the law of Moses and so condemn Him. But they misinterpreted Moses. Moses did not “command” divorce.⚜
8 📚He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it was not so.
19:8 Because their hearts were hard they did not want God's best, and they were permitted to behave in ways less than the best. Sometimes God gives men their desire when they insist on it, even though it is not good for them (Ps 106:14-15).⚜
9 📚And I tell you, Whoever divorces his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, and marries another, is committing adultery. And whoever marries her who is divorced is committing adultery”.
19:9 See notes on divorce at Matt 5:31-32.⚜
10 📚His disciples said to him, “If this is the case between a man and a wife, it is not good to marry”.
19:10 Apparently they thought that the provision for easy divorce was the only thing that made marriage tolerable! Their low view of marriage needed correcting.⚜
11 📚But he said to them, “All men cannot receive this statement, only those to whom it has been given.
19:11 Those who are not Christ's disciples cannot be expected to behave in this matter as if they were. Christ's principles are the best and they are only for His people. Others will suffer the consequences of not being His disciples.⚜
12 📚For there are some eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb, and there are some eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs 📖 for the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it”.
Little children come to the King
13 📚Then little children were brought to him, so that he would put his hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them.
19:13 In spite of Matt 18:2-6 the disciples may not yet have realized how much He loved children and wanted to bless them.⚜
14 📚But Jesus said, “Permit little children to come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these”.
15 📚And he laid his hands on them, and went away from there.
19:14-15 See Matt 18:2-4. Jesus always had time for the weak and lowly. Children are welcome to come into His presence at any time and He delights to have them there. He laid hands on them and blessed them, but He did not baptize them. This passage does not teach infant baptism. Indeed, it has nothing whatever to do with baptism.⚜
The King and the rich young ruler
16 📚And, suddenly, someone came and said to him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do, so that I may get eternal life?”
19:16 This man had mistaken views about the way of salvation. He thought one could earn it by doing good deeds, or perhaps by one exceptionally good deed. Note on eternal life at John 3:16.⚜
17 📚And he said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments”.
19:17 Jesus was not denying His own goodness. He was saying that if the man regarded Him as a mere human teacher he should not call Him good. All men are sinners (Rom 3:23), and Jesus called even His own disciples “evil” (Matt 7:11). This youth's understanding needed to be enlightened to realize that God alone is good, and that Jesus is good only because He is God incarnate and not a mere man (John 1:1, 14, 18). In other words, if Jesus is truly good He is God, and the youth needed to see this.
Then Jesus pointed him to God's commandments as a way to life. See Lev 18:5. Notes at Lev 18:5; Gal 3:12. Jesus is not teaching salvation by works. This would contradict His own and the Bible's plain teaching in other places (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47; 14:6; Gal 3:10-12; Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:3-7). He knew that neither this youth nor any man ever fully kept God's commandments. He has already said that none is good, and if men are not good they will be unable to keep God's good commandments. The young man much needed to understand this. One purpose of the law was to teach men their sinfulness (notes at Ex 19:21-25; Rom 3:20; 7:7; Gal 3:24). Jesus now shows this man that he had not really kept God's commandments, even though he said he had (v 20).⚜
18 📚He said to him, “Which?” Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not give false witness, 19 📚Honour your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbour as yourself”.
19:18-19 Ex 20:13-16; Lev 19:18. This last commandment should have opened the man's eyes to his sin, but it did not.⚜
20 📚The young man said to him, “All these I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
19:20 He had no doubt lived a moral life and kept the outward forms of the ten commandments. He is an example of an ethical man not corrupted by the more gross sins. But he had not loved his neighbor as himself.⚜
21 📚Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give the money to the poor, 📖 and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me”.
19:21 The man said he had always loved his neighbor as himself. Yet he had kept his great wealth for his own use. Jesus is saying, “If you have love for your neighbor you must prove it by your actions. Words are not enough”. Does Jesus here demand that we all sell all we have and give it away? The answer is “yes”, if a love of money and possessions is the sin that keeps us from following Him. And He demands that all disciples renounce all things in their hearts and give their hearts to Him (Luke 14:33).
There is another commandment which men should fulfill (Matt 22:37; Deut 6:5). This man failed to keep that one too. If he had loved God as he should have, he would gladly have given away everything for His sake. But the truth is, he did not truly love either God or his neighbor. He loved himself and his possessions.⚜
22 📚But when the young man heard this word, he went away sad, for he had great possessions.
19:22 He was sad because he had failed the test and knew that he had failed. He wanted both eternal life and all he could selfishly enjoy in this life too, and found that Jesus would not accept this principle. Jesus will not permit selfishness to be the reigning principle in the lives of His disciples. They cannot serve both God and money (Matt 6:24). And we will all be tested on this point. In fact, we are continually being tested about what we will do with the money and possessions God has given us, whether they be much or little.
We should understand the answer of Jesus to this man who came to him asking for eternal life. Why did he not say to him “Believe in me and you will have eternal life?” (John 3:16). In a way He was saying just that. He was showing that true faith in Him is a powerful force that breaks people free from the things of this world and causes them to value Jesus far above everything else and to receive Him as the Lord of their lives. See note at Acts 22:10. And He was showing that men need to repent of their lack of love for God and man and their clinging to other things. See notes at Matt 3:2; 4:17. If we are not willing to give all we have for Christ and eternal life, we show that we value what we have more than Him and that. And why should God give us something we value less than the pathetic and passing riches of this world?⚜
The King speaks of rewards for His disciples
23 📚Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 📚And I tell you again, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”.
19:23-24 The difficulty lies in man's sinful nature which selfishly clings to wealth and possessions and puts them above God.⚜
25 📚When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
26 📚But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”.
19:26 Here is a general principle which covers not just the case of the rich, but all men. Salvation is not merely difficult to men, it is utterly impossible to achieve by anything they can do (John 3:3-8; 6:44; Acts 13:38-39; Rom 5:6; 8:3; Jer 13:23). But God can do what men cannot do. And He saves men by grace alone (Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8-9).⚜
27 📚Then answered Peter and said to him, “Look, we have given up everything and followed you. Therefore what will we have?”
19:27 See Matt 4:18-22. The question seems to mean “If worldly wealth is ruled out what remains as a reward?” Could he not imagine anything better than riches? The question does not show a spiritual mind, and Jesus in the parable of Matt 20:1-16 rebukes it.⚜
28 📚And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, you who have followed me, in the renewal 📖 when the Son of man sits on the throne of his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones 📖,judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 📚And everyone who has given up houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit everlasting life.
19:16-29 Compare Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30. Matthew says this man was young (v 22); Luke says he was a ruler (Luke 18:18); all three Gospels say he was very rich. He had everything that many people desire – youth, position, authority, and wealth. But he was dissatisfied. Compare Eccl 2:1-11, 17.⚜
19:29 Heartily following Christ is to move in a new spiritual realm. To disciples many people become like mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers and children. Many homes and fields are opened to them. Disciples enter into privileges and spiritual relationships a hundred times more blessed, more meaningful than they could ever have apart from Christ (compare Matt 12:48-49; John 17:20-23; 1 Cor 3:21-23; 12:12-27). And their inheritance will be an even higher kind of life – eternal life (v 16).⚜
30 📚But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.
19:30 Matt 20:16; Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30. Many who hold high positions and are highly regarded in this world (and even in Christian circles) will find in the next world that they are at the very bottom, and those scorned and put down will be exalted to the highest place. This is a word of comfort to the lowly and those who lightly regard themselves, and a warning to lovers of power and position.⚜