King James Version
Matthew 28
20 verses with commentary
The Resurrection
In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.</strong> This verse opens the resurrection narrative, the climactic event of redemptive history. The Greek phrase ὀψὲ δὲ σαββάτων (<em>opse de sabbatōn</em>, 'after the Sabbath') indicates Saturday evening transitioning to Sunday dawn, marking a new ...
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XXVIII.
(1) It will probably help the student to place before him, in their right order, the recorded appearances of our Lord Jesus after His resurrection:—
(1.) To Mary Magdalene, John 20:14; Mark 16:9.
(2.) To Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, Matthew 28:9.
(3.) To Peter, Luke 24:34; 1Corinthians 15:5.
(4.) To Cleopas and another disciple at Emmaus, Luke 24:13-35.
(5.) To the eleven, or more st...
Read full commentary →And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. was: or, had been
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<strong>And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.</strong> The word 'behold' (ἰδού/<em>idou</em>) demands attention to the extraordinary nature of what follows. A 'great earthquake' (σεισμὸς μέγας/<em>seismos megas</em>) accompanied this divine intervention, echoing the earthquake a...
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(2) There was a great earthquake.—The words imply, not that they witnessed the earthquake, but that they inferred it from what they saw. The form of the angel is described in Mark 16:5 as that of a “young man” in white or bright (Luke 24:4) raiment. This was the answer to the question they had been asking as they came, “Who shall roll away the stone for us?” (Mark 16:3). That would have been beyon...
Read full commentary →His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
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<strong>His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow.</strong> This description of the angel's appearance emphasizes the glory and purity of heavenly beings. The Greek προσωπεία (<em>prosōpeia</em>, 'countenance/appearance') being 'like lightning' (ὡς ἀστραπή/<em>hōs astrapē</em>) suggests dazzling, brilliant light radiating from the angel's face, similar to Christ's transfigu...
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(3) **Like lightning.**—The word employed by St. Luke to describe the “raiment has the same force. The “white as snow” has its counterpart in the record of the Transfiguration (Mark 9:3) and the vision of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:9.
And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
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<strong>And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.</strong> The Roman guards stationed at the tomb experienced overwhelming terror at the angel's appearance. The phrase 'did shake' (ἐσείσθησαν/<em>eseisthēsan</em>) uses the same root as 'earthquake' (σεισμός/<em>seismos</em>) in verse 2—they were shaken both by the earth's trembling and by fear. This was no mere startlement...
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(4) **The keepers did shake.**—The words imply that the two Maries when they reached the sepulchre saw the soldiers prostrate in their panic terror.
And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
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<strong>And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.</strong> The angel's words reveal divine knowledge and distinguish the women from the terrified guards. While the guards fled in terror, the women receive comfort: 'Fear not ye' (Μὴ φοβεῖσθε ὑμεῖς/<em>Mē phobeisthe hymeis</em>). The emphatic 'ye' (ὑμεῖς/<em>hymeis</em>) contrast...
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(5) **The angel answered and said. . . .**—We do not read of any words as spoken by the women, but the words which they now heard were an answer to their unuttered questionings and fears. The bright one on whom they gazed knew their distress and amazement at the sight of the emptied sepulchre, and told them that there was no cause for fear.
He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
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<strong>He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.</strong> These words constitute the greatest announcement in human history. 'He is not here' (οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε/<em>ouk estin hōde</em>)—the tomb designed to hold the dead cannot contain the Author of Life. Death's prison is broken; the grave is defeated.<br><br>'For he is risen' (ἠγέρθη γάρ/<em>ēgerthē gar</e...
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(6) **He is not here.**—It is not given to us to fix the precise moment when the grave was opened and the risen Lord came forth from it, but the indications point to the time at or about sunrise. There was an obvious fitness in the symbolism of the Resurrection of the Son of Righteousness coinciding with the natural “day-spring.” (Comp. Luke 1:78.)
**Come, see the place.**—Comp. the description in...
Read full commentary →And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
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<strong>And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.</strong> The angel commissions the women as apostles to the apostles—'go quickly' (πορευθεῖσαι ταχύ/<em>poreuthei sai tachy</em>) conveys urgency. The greatest news demands immediate proclamation. Truth about the resurrection mus...
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(7) **He goeth before you into Galilee.**—The words seem to point to a meeting in Galilee as the first appearance of the risen Lord to His disciples, and St. Matthew records no other. No adequate explanation can be given of the omission of what the other Gospels report, if we assume the whole Gospel to have been written by the Apostle Matthew. On the hypothesis that it is a “Gospel *according* to ...
Read full commentary →And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
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<strong>And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.</strong> The women's response combines 'fear' (φόβου/<em>phobou</em>) and 'great joy' (χαρᾶς μεγάλης/<em>charas megalēs</em>)—emotions that seem contradictory but properly characterize encounters with the living God. Fear here is not terror but awe, reverence, holy amazement at di...
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(8) **They departed quickly.**—It is natural that independent narratives, given long years afterwards, of what had passed in the agitation of “fear and great joy “should present seeming, or even real, discrepancies as well as coincidences. The discrepancies, such as they are, at any rate, show that the narratives were independent. The best solution of the questions presented by a comparison of the...
Read full commentary →And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
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<strong>And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.</strong> The risen Christ personally appears to the women—'Jesus met them' (Ἰησοῦς ὑπήντησεν αὐταῖς/<em>Iēsous hypēntēsen autais</em>). This is more than angels' testimony; they encounter the living Lord Himself. Jesus takes initiative, revealing Him...
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(9) **All hail.**—Literally, *rejoice.* The word was probably our Lord’s wonted greeting to the company of devout women, and though used in homage, real or derisive, as in Matthew 27:29, John 19:3, had not necessarily the solemnity which modern usage has attached to “hail.” It was, we may believe, by that familiar word and tone that the other women at first recognised their Lord, as Mary Magdalene...
Read full commentary →Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
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<strong>Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.</strong> Jesus's first words to the women are 'Be not afraid' (Μὴ φοβεῖσθε/<em>Mē phobeisthe</em>)—the same comfort the angel offered (verse 5). Christ calms their fears, assuring them of His favor and kindness. Though they worship Him rightly, they need not cower in terror...
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(10) **Go, tell my brethren.**—The words are clearly used of those who were brethren by spiritual relationship, as in Matthew 12:49, and have their counterpart in John 20:17, “I ascend to My Father and your Father.”
The Report of the Guard
Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.
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<strong>Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.</strong> This verse begins the narrative of the authorities' response to the resurrection. While the women joyfully proclaimed Christ's victory, 'some of the watch' (τινὲς τῆς κουστωδίας/<em>tines tēs koustōdias</em>)—Roman soldiers or temple guards who h...
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(11) **Some of the watch.**—This incident, like that of the appointment of the guard, is reported by St. Matthew only. As writing primarily for the Jews of Palestine, it was natural that he should take special notice of the rumour which hindered many of them from accepting the fact of the Resurrection, and trace it to its corrupt source. The object of the soldiers was, of course, to escape the pen...
Read full commentary →And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,
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<strong>And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers.</strong> The chief priests convened a council ('assembled with the elders'—συναχθέντες μετὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων/<em>synachthentes meta tōn presbyterōn</em>), the same body that had condemned Jesus (Matthew 26:59). This was the Sanhedrin, Judaism's supreme religious and civil authority,...
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(12) **When they were assembled.**—Obviously the chief priests to whom the soldiers had told their tale.
**And had taken counsel.**—Better, as before in Matthew 27:1; Matthew 27:7, *having held a council.* It was a formal, though probably, as before, a packed, meeting of the Sanhedrin. They decided on the ready expedients of bribery and falsehood. The fact that the chief priests were Sadducees, an...
Read full commentary →Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
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<strong>Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.</strong> The fabricated story is absurd on its face. If the guards 'slept' (κοιμωμένων ἡμῶν/<em>koimōmenōn hēmōn</em>), how could they know who took the body? Sleeping witnesses cannot testify to events during sleep. Roman soldiers sleeping on duty faced execution; admitting they slept was potentially suicidal ...
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(13) **His disciples came by night.**—The story was on the face of it self-contradictory. How could they tell, if they had been asleep, who had stolen the body? All that they could know was that they had fallen asleep, and that when they awoke the sepulchre was open and empty.
And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.
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<strong>And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.</strong> The chief priests anticipated potential consequences. Roman soldiers sleeping on duty could be executed. Temple guards failing their assignment could be severely punished. The soldiers' natural fear required assurance, which the religious leaders promised.<br><br>'If this come to the governor's ears' (ἐ...
Read full commentary →So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
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<strong>So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.</strong> The guards accepted the bribe and followed instructions: 'did as they were taught' (ἐποίησαν ὡς ἐδιδάχθησαν/<em>epoiēsan hōs edidachthēsan</em>). They exchanged truth for money, integrity for security. This echoes Judas's betrayal—both involved silver purchasing...
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(15) **This saying is commonly reported.**—The passage is interesting as the earliest indication of a counter-statement to the witness borne by the disciples, and as in part explaining the partial non-acceptance of their testimony. The phrase “until this day” suggests some considerable interval—say, at least, fifteen or twenty years—between the facts recorded and the composition of the narrative. ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**51. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom--**This was the thick and gorgeously wrought veil which was hung between the "holy place" and the "holiest of all," shutting out all access to the presence of God as manifested "from above the mercy seat and from between the cherubim"--"the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not...
Read full commentary →The Great Commission
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
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<strong>Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.</strong> Narrative shifts from the guards' deception to the disciples' obedience. 'The eleven disciples' (οἱ δὲ ἕνδεκα μαθηταί/<em>hoi de hendeka mathētai</em>)—no longer twelve since Judas's betrayal and suicide (Matthew 27:3-5). This detail underscores the tragedy of apostasy: one who walked...
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(16) **Then the eleven disciples.**—The writer passes over, for some reason which we cannot now discover, all the intermediate appearances, and passes on at once to that which connected itself with the mission and work of the Apostles, and through them of the universal Church.
**Into a mountain.**—Better, to *the* mountain. The words imply some more definite announcement than that of Matthew 28:7;...
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**52. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose--**These sleeping saints (see on 1Th 4:14) were Old Testament believers, who--according to the usual punctuation in our version--were quickened into resurrection life at the moment of their Lord's death, but lay in their graves till His resurrection, when they came forth. But it is far more natural, as we think, and ...
Read full commentary →And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
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<strong>And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.</strong> This verse presents honest, unembellished testimony. 'They worshipped him' (προσεκύνησαν αὐτῷ/<em>prosekynēsan autō</em>)—they rendered worship (proskyneō) due only to deity. Having encountered the risen Christ, seen His wounds, heard His voice, they responded with adoration. Worship is the proper response to resurrecti...
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(17) **They worshipped him**—i.e., fell prostrate at His feet. The act, as has been said, was not new in itself, but it seems certain that our Lord’s manifestations of His Presence after the Resurrection had made the faith of the disciples stronger and clearer (comp. John 20:28), and so the act acquired a new significance.
**Some doubted.**—It seems hard at first to conceive how those who had been...
Read full commentary →And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
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The risen Jesus declares total authority: 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth' (Greek: ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, 'all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me'). The word ἐξουσία means authority, right to rule. The passive 'is given' (ἐδόθη) indicates the Father granting authority to the Son. 'All' (πᾶσα) is comprehensive - no realm exceeds Jesus...
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(18) **All power is given unto me.**—Literally, *all authority was given,* the tense used being that in which men speak of something that occurred at a given point of time. We may possibly connect it with St. Paul’s use of the same tense in the Greek of Philippians 2:8. The exaltation came, the authority was given, as at the moment of the Resurrection, and as the crown of His obedience unto death.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**54. Now when the centurion--**the military superintendent of the execution.
**and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake--**or felt it and witnessed its effects.
**and those things that were done--**reflecting upon the entire transaction.
**they feared greatly--**convinced of the presence of a Divine Hand.
**saying, Truly this was the Son of God--**There cannot be a r...
Read full commentary →Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teach: or, make disciples, or, Christians of all nations
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<strong>Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.</strong> This verse initiates the Great Commission, Christ's final and definitive marching orders to His disciples before His ascension. The Greek participle <em>poreuthentes</em> (πορευθέντες, "having gone") is an aorist passive participle functioning as an attendant ci...
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(19) **Teach all nations.**—Better, *make disciples of all the heathen.* The Greek verb is the same as that which is rendered “instructed” in Matthew 13:52, and is formed from the noun for “disciple.” The words recognise the principle of a succession in the apostolic office. The disciples, having learnt fully what their Master, their Rabbi, had to teach them, were now to become in their turn, as s...
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**55. And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus--**The sense here would be better brought out by the use of the pluperfect, "which had followed Jesus."
**from Galilee, ministering unto him--**As these dear women had ministered to Him during His glorious missionary tours in Galilee (see on Lu 8:1-3), so from this statement it should seem that they accompanied him and mini...
Read full commentary →Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway , even unto the end of the world. Amen.
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<strong>Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.</strong> These are Jesus's final recorded words in Matthew's Gospel, spoken after His resurrection on a mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-20). This conclusion to the Great Commission provides both the church's mission content and Christ's ongoing presenc...
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(20) **All things whatsoever I have commanded you.**—The words obviously point, in the first instance, to the teaching of our Lord recorded in the Gospels—the new laws of life, exceeding broad and deep, of the Sermon on the Mount, the new commandment of Love for the inner life (John 13:34), the new outward ordinances of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. But we may well believe that they went fur...
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**56. Among which was Mary Magdalene--**(See on Lu 8:2).
**and Mary the mother of James and Joses--**the wife of Cleophas, or rather Clopas, and sister of the Virgin (Joh 19:25). See on Mt 13:55,56.
**and the mother of Zebedee's children--**that is, Salome: compare Mr 15:40. All this about the women is mentioned for the sake of what is afterwards to be related of their purchasing spices to ano...
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