Third section the judgment upon the church itself second picture of judgment

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.^[FN58] 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.^[FN59]—Missionaries from England and Ireland brought the gospel to Germany.^[FN60]—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.^[FN61]—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 Isaiah, (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 Isaiah, (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 Isaiah, to glorify and enjoy Him forever.—P. S.]

Footnotes:

FN#36 - Matthew 28:17.—Codd. B, D, [also Cod. Sinait.], Vulgate, Chrysostom, and Augnstine omit αὐτῷ, and so Lachmann and Tischendorf [not in the large edition of1859, where he retains it with a majority of uncial MSS.]. some cursive MSS. read αν̓τόν.

FN#37 - Matthew 28:17.— [Grotius, Doddridge, Newcome, Fritzsche, Serivener translate ἐδίστασαν: had doubted, taking the Greek aorist as a Latin pluperfect. So also the French translations of Martin and Osterwald: avaient douté. But this is unnecessary, and grammatically impossible after προσεκύνησαν. Matthew does not say πάντες προσεκύνησαν and the doubt may be referred (with de Wette and Lange) to the act of worship, and not to the fact of the resurrection. See Exeg. Notes. But even if all disciples fell down before the risen Lord, some (not of the eleven, after the two appearances in Jerusalem, John 20, but of the seventy or of the five thousand to whom Christ appeared, 1 Corinthians 15:6) may have done so with the honest scepticism of Thomas, being very anxious, but hardly able as yet to realize such a stupendous miracle. Hence there is no necessity, as there is no critical authority, for Beza’s conjecture, substituting οὐδέ οἱδέ. —P. S.]

FN#38 - Matthew 28:19.—The particle οὖν (therefore) is wanting in all uncial MSS. [This is not quite correct. The Vatican Codex (B.), both in the edition of Angelo Mai and of Buttmann, has it, as well as some ancient patristic quotations, and hence Lachmann retains it, although in brackets. Some quote also Cod. Ephraemi Syri (C.) in its favor, but this Codex as published by Tischendorf breaks off in this chapter with Matthew 28:14. But eleven uncial MSS. (Codd. Sinait, A, E, F, H, K, M, S.) and numerous cursive copies omit it, and so do the editions of Griesbach, Scholz, Tischendorf, and Alford. But although it is difficult to defend it critically, it certainly accords with the sense. For the glorification of the Son by the Father and His elevation to the right hand of Almighty power is the foundation of the Church and of the authority of the apostolic ministry.—P. S.]

FN#39 - Matthew 28:19—[The verb μαθητεν̓ειν (properly an intransitive verb: to be a pupil to one, τινί, Matthew 27:57 and among the classics, but in the N. T. used also transitively: to make a disciple of, τινί, so here, Matthew 13:52; Acts 14:21,=μαθητὰς ποιεῖν, John 4:1), is more comprehensive than διδάσκειν, Matthew 28:20, and should therefore be differently rendered in this connection. It signifies the end, the participles the means. The nations are to be made disciples of Christ or converted to Him by two means chiefly, viz, by baptism (βαπτίζοντες) and by religions instruction (διδάσκοντες). The margin of the Authorized Version proposes: make disciples, or Christians of all nations; Doddridge: proselyte (which is objectionable on account of the double meaning); Campbell: convert; Norton: make disciples from all nations (from implies a false restriction); Scrivener: make disciples of; Conant and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union: disciple (in the sense: to convert, to cause to become a follower). This is certainly shorter than the circumlocution: to make disciples of, but perhaps not sufficiently popular. Lange has: Machet zu Jüngern, and adds in small type: bekehret; de wette and Ewald: bekehret. The teach of the Authorized and all the older English Versions (as well as the lehret of Luther) comes from the inaccurate rendering of the Vulgata: docete…baptizantes…docentes.—P. S.]

FN#40 - Matthew 28:19.—The reading: βαπτίσαντες (having baptized) of Codd. B, D, instead of βαπτίζοντες, is worthy of notice. [Comp. the translator’s foot-note on p557.—P. S.]

FN#41 - Matthew 28:19.—[The preposition εἰς with the accusative, as distinct from ἐν ὀνόματι, strictly conveys the idea: inte the covenant—union and fellowship of the triune God, with all the privileges and duties involved in it. The common version in the English and German Bibles and baptismal offices arises from the inaccurate rendering of Cyprian (Epist73:5) and of the Vulgata: in nomine Patris, etc, instead of in nomen, as Tertullian has it (De Bapt. c13). It may be grammatically defended, however, by ch, Matthew 18:20 : gathered together in my name, εἰς τὸ ὄνομα, and Matthew 10:41 : in the name of a prophet, εἰς ὄνομα προφήτον, δικαίον, μαθητον͂,—the meaning of εἰς being here: in reference to. Lange ingeniously combines the two meanings: in the authority of, and into the communion with, the holy Trinity. See his Exeg. Notes and my additions; also Lange’s Doctrinal Thoughts, No6.—P. S.]

FN#42 - Matthew 28:20.—[Lit.: till the consummation of the (present) œon (as distinct from the future æon after the Advent or the never-ending world to come); Lange: bis an des Weltlauf’s Vollendung. But the common rendering of συντέλεια τον͂ αἰῶνος by end of the world, is upon the whole the best, certainly the most popular, and hence we left it undisturbed in the text. It dates from Wiclif, and was retained by all the older versions (except that of Rheims, which has: to the consummation of the world, after the Vulgata: ad consummationem sœculi), and among recent revisers also by Conant and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union (with the omission of the interpolated even, which dates from Tyndale). Coverdale and James’ Revisers have: unto, but the Versions of Tyndale, Cranmer, Geneva, and the Bishops have: until. The old version is greatly preferable to that of Campbell: to the conclusion of this state, and to that of Norton: to the end of present things—P. S.]

FN#43 - Matthew 28:20.—[The word ἀμήν of the text. Rec. and younger MSS is omitted in Codd. Sinait, B, D, etc, Vulgata, etc It is cancelled by Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford; it is also wanting in the first edition of Erasmus, 1516, and hence in Luther’s German Version, and In all the English Versions previous to that of King James’ Revisers The word was probably added by the scribes who prepared the copies for liturgical use.—P. S.]

FN#44 - Hofmann endeavors to harmonize the differences in the history of the forty days by means of this apocryphal tradition; but ἡ Γαλιλαία means nowhere in the N. T. a mountain, but always the well-known province, nor do the fathers use it in any other sense. Comp. Meyer in the fifth edition, p613, note.—P. S.]

FN#45 - The Edinb. edition reads: it sinks deep into the Valley of Israel. I do not know what the “Valley of Israel” is; but Dr. Lange undoubtedly means the great plateau or elevated plain of Jezreel, עֵמֶק יִזְרְעֶאל, which extends from Carmel to the Jordan where it leaves the Lake Genezreth, and was celebrated for its beauty and fertility, Joshua 17:16; Judges 6:33; Judges 7:1; 1 Samuel 29:1, etc.—P. S.]

FN#46 - The omission of οἱ μέν implies that those who doubted were a small minority, a mere exception. If Matthew had written: οἱ μὲν προσεκύνησαν, οἱ δὲ ἐδίστασαν, he would have divided the disciples into two co-ordinate and almost equal parts. Comp. Meyer in loc.—P. S.]

FN#47 - Lange means the late Johann Friedrich von Meyer, the reviser of Luther’s German Bible, not to be confounded with Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, the commentator still living. As the latter is mentioned immediately afterward, their Christian names should have been given here.— P. S.]

FN#48 - So is the teach of the English Version, and the docete of the Latin Vulgate. Comp. the Critical Note No4, p555. —P. S.]

FN#49 - The reading Βαπτίσαντες has the authority of only two, though very important uncial MSS, the Vatican (B.) and the Cambridge Codex (Codex Bezæ or D.), and looks very much like an ecclesiastical correction. The Sinaitic Codex, which otherwise so often agrees with Cod. B sustains here the text, rec., and all the modern critical editions, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, etc, read the present participle Βαπτίζοντες. Meyer, otherwise so careful in grammatical and critical matters, does not even notice the difference of reading in this case.—P. S.]

FN#50 - Lange, as also de Wette, Stier, and Ewald, translate εἰς τὸ ὄνομα: auf den Namen, while Luther, following the Latin Vulgate, translates in dem Namen, like on; English Version. See the Critical Note No6, p555.—P. S.]

FN#51 - So also two distinguished modern English commentators. Alford in loc.: “It is unfortunate again here that our English Bibles do not give us the force of this εἰς. It should nave been into (as in Galatians 3:27) both here and in 1 Corinthians 10:2, and wherever the expression is used. It imports not only a subjective recognition hereafter by the child of the truth implied in τὸ ὄνομα, κ.τ.λ., but an objective admission into the covenant of redemption—a putting on of Christ. Baptism is the contract of espousal ( Ephesians 5:26) between Christ and His Church. Our word ‘ in’ being retained both here and in our formula of Baptism, it should always be remembered that the sacramental declaration is contained in this word; that it answers (as Stier has well observed, Reden Jesu, 6:902) to the τοῦτό ἐστιν in the other sacrament” Similarly Wordsworth, who otherwise adheres very closely to ancient usage: “Not in, but into; and not names (plural), but into the One name; i. e., admit them by the sacrament of Baptism into the privileges and duties of faith in, and obedience to, the name of the one God, in three persons…and into participation of, and communion with, the divine nature.” Conant, on the other hand, retains and defends the Authorized Version in the name (though not in the sense: by the authority of, but in reference to), and denies that into the name gives the sense, and is admissible in English. But the Authorized Version Venders ὅσοι ἐβαπτίσθημεν εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, Romans 6:3 : “so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ,” the βάπτισμα εἰς θάνατον, Matthew 28:4 : “baptism into death,” and εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτὶσθητε, Galatians 3:27 : “baptized into Christ.” Why not say then with equal propriety: to baptize into the name of Christ, i. e., into communion and fellowship with Him and the holy Trinity as revealed in the work of creation, redemption, and regeneration?—P. S.]

FN#52 - The name signifies the meaning and essence or the subject as revealed, the copy or expression of the being. In this case the name implies all that belongs to the manifestation of the triune God in the gospel, His titles, attributes and works of creation, redemption, and sanctification. It is probable that Christ had reference also to His own baptism in Jordan, where all three persons of the Godhead revealed themselves.—P. S.]

FN#53 - Meyer (p619, 5th ed. of1864) thinks that, doctrinally, the singular τὸ ὄνομα can be used neither in favor of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity (as is done by Basil, Jerome, Theophylact and others), nor in favor of the Sabbellian view of a mere nominal Trinity, since the singular signifies the definite name of each one of the three, so that εἰς τὸὄνομα must be supplied before τον͂ νἱον͂ and before τον͂ ἁγίου πνεν́ματος, comp. Revelation 14:1 : τὸ ὄνομα αν̓τον͂ καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τον͂ πατρὸς αν̓τον͂. But he admits that the New Testament doctrine of the holy Trinity as the sum and substance of the whole Christian faith and confession is presupposed and implied in the passage.—The old practice of a threefold immersion, which is first mentioned by Tertullian, is a venerable usage, but cannot be traced to the apostolic age, nor is it at all required by the trinitarian formula.—P. S.]

FN#54 - So also Meyer. Alford gives the words; καὶ ἰδον́, a different meaning which is rather far fetched, by referring them to the ascension, the manner of which is not related by Matthew.—P. S.]

FN#55 - Lange: alle Tage, all the days, which is the literal translation.—P. S.]

FN#56 - In German: zur Beseligung, which the Edinb. edition misrenders: to seal, as if Beseligung were the same with Versiegelung! The objective end of baptism (and of man) is the glory of God, the subjective end the happiness and salvation of the persons baptized by introducing them into the communion with God. The “Westminster Catechism combines the two in the first question: “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”— P. S.]

FN#57 - 28:22 is a printing error of the original faithfully reproduced in the Edinb. edition, which adds other errors, as Matthew 26:24, instead of64, etc.—P. S.]

FN#58 - The universality or catholicity of the Church, which unfolds itself gradually in the missionary work, is implied in the words: “Make disciples of all nations.” The Edinb. edition renders Allgemeinheit seiner Kirche by “equality of His Church,” which gives no sense at all in this connection.—P. S.]

FN#59 - According to the calculation of Dr. Dietericl in Berlin, made in1859, the number of Christians amounts to335,000,000.—P. S.]

FN#60 - Germany is substituted for the original to us (i. e, Germans), which the Edinb. edition thoughtlessly retained. Germany gave to England, in the fifth century, its Anglo-Saxon population, which was subsequently christianized by missionaries from Rome (Augustine and his thirty companions sent out by Gregory I, a. d596); England sent a few centuries later the gospel to the Continent, mainly through Winfried or Boniface, “the apostle of Germany;” and Germany discharged the debt by giving to England, indirectly at least, the Protestant Reformation, in the sixteenth century. In America both nationalities meet in the nineteenth century to coalesce into one on the ground of their common Protestant Christianity.—P. S.]

FN#61 - According to Dietericl’s calculation the religious statistics of the world in1859 stood as follows:

Heathens	800,000,000
Mohammedans	160,000,000
Jews	5,000,000
Christians	335,000,000—P. S.]