But I say to you, my friends, Fear not those who kill the body and after this have no more that they can do.
Jesus has just warned His disciples about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Now He turns to what will happen when that hostility reaches them. Before He tells them what to fear, He tells them who they are to Him.
The name He gives them changes how they would hear everything that followed.
The Lord did not only urge His disciples to have no fear of men. He also told them things that would prove a great encouragement to that end. In verse 4 He addressed them as, "My friends." They knew they were His disciples and His servants. This word must have put everything in a new and cheering light. In the strength of His friendship they, and we, can face the world's hostility.
The danger He prepares them for follows from the light they carry.
This would bring them into conflict with a world that hated the light. That world treated anyone who brought the light as an enemy, because the light exposed the world and showed the world to itself. So the Lord graciously meets this fear with encouragement — "I tell you, my friends" — and with strong, important truth, to set the matter straight in terms of wisdom and duty. They can kill the body. Humanly speaking they can, since the body is the place of adversity and of the devil's power here. But they can do no more.
"After that have nothing more that they can do" marks a fixed boundary. Men can reach the body; the rest belongs to Another.
Men may take the lives of others, or even take their own lives, but only One has the keys of hell and of death; only One can both kill and cast into hell; and He only can bring out of death those who have entered there.
Read against the whole chapter, this shifts what counts as loss.
What a comfort those words must have been to the martyrs of years gone by: "Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do." This chapter weighs everything by the state of the soul before God, not by the body. So foes and fears are all pushed aside. It is not a question of bodies, or goods, but the soul in relation to God and eternity.
One root joins the hypocrisy Jesus had just exposed and the fear He now forbids.
The law showed God dealing with people on earth. Now God reveals wrath from heaven, and this wrath has eternal consequences… Then God will show that He is truly the One to fear. The hypocrisy of the Pharisees grew out of fear of man. They did not fear God. They wanted a good name with men, above all a religious reputation. Is that the true fear of God?… Redemption brings us to God. Christianity, at its heart, sets the soul in the presence of the unseen and eternal.
The worst men can do turns out to be the lesser danger.
Again, "Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do, but fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell." Here death, taken by itself, is the lesser thing. Death is the wages of sin, but not the whole of those wages. What comes after — body and soul in hell — is the thing to fear.
Verses 6 and 7 seem at first to change the subject. They do not.
God has power to kill and to cast into hell. In other words, He has complete mastery over all His creatures. And yet that same One is full of love. He is not a tyrant. Great as He is, He takes notice of the price five sparrows fetch. And He numbers the very hairs of our head. And so the Lord says first of all, "Fear God," and then He says, "Fear not." For if we fear Him, we have nothing else to fear; He will care for us.
- Friends first. He calls them "My friends" before He tells them what to fear. In the strength of that friendship they can face the world's hostility.
- Friends of the light. Their danger comes from carrying light into a world that hates it and treats the light-bearer as an enemy.
- Friends safe. Men reach the body and stop there. Only One holds the keys of hell and of death.
- Friends fear rightly. The Pharisees' hypocrisy grew out of fear of man. Fearing God sets the soul in the presence of the unseen and eternal.
- Friends fear nothing else. The God who can cast into hell is the God who prices sparrows and numbers hairs — fear Him, and there is no one left to fear.
But I will shew you whom ye shall fear Fear him who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell; yea, I say to you, Fear *him*.
Jesus has just warned His disciples about hypocrisy, and now He tells them whom to be afraid of. The verse names a power that does not stop at the grave — yet two verses later He says, "Fear not."
The Lord had just warned about the leaven of the Pharisees. One writer connects that warning to this one.
Closely linked with this warning is the fear of man, which is another form of opposition to the grace of God. It is often because of fear that we act like hypocrites. But the limit of man's persecution is the killing of the body. Believers have no right reason to fear men.
The cure is not to feel braver. It is to be more afraid of Someone else.
They who fear God much, fear men little.
The force of the verse lies in reach. Persecutors can go so far and no further.
They were not to fear opposition, and not to trust in themselves, but to fear God and trust His help... Everything would be revealed. God reaches the soul: man can only touch the body.
The phrase "after He has killed" places God's action past the point where human hostility runs out.
These words of the Lord clearly teach that man survives the death of the body, and that God is the judge of his destiny. Men may challenge His authority and please themselves in this life. But in the next life God will deal with them according to His own justice, and there will be no appeal from His verdict.
The verse itself does not name the One who holds this authority. One writer names Him, and says what that authority involves.
God, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell. That power involves raising the unbeliever's body and the judgment of the Great White Throne, which results in the torment of the lake of fire. It is God who is really to be feared.
The word translated "hell" in this verse is Gehenna, and it carries a history.
Gehenna is the Greek form of two Hebrew words meaning "valley of Hinnom." It was the place near Jerusalem where the Jews made their children pass through fire to pagan gods, and it was defiled afterwards. A fire burned there all the time, which made it a fitting picture of the place of eternal punishment.
Note the order: killing comes first, then the casting in.
Death then is not the end of the body. It can be cast into Gehenna after death. Matthew 5:22 calls it the Gehenna of fire, and it is the lake of fire of Revelation 20. God has not done this yet. Yet many of those whose portion will be in that lake have been dead for centuries. The body decays and turns to dust, but God will find that no obstacle to dealing with it in this way.
Some have argued that God has the power but will never use it. That reading empties the warning of its point.
But surely the Lord gives no empty warning here... and we know that threat will be carried out. If He never wills to do this, men need no more fear it than if He had not power. And how strange for the Lord to claim for Him a power that no one can deny, and yet which He will never use!
The repetition — "yes, I tell you, fear Him" — is the Lord pressing the point home. One writer is honest about where this motive ranks.
It is not the highest motive, but it is an imperative and most solemn and urgent appeal.
Right after this warning, Jesus speaks of birds sold for pennies and of counted hairs. The two halves belong together.
God has power to kill and to cast into hell. In other words, He has complete mastery over all His creatures. And yet that same One is full of love. He is not a tyrant. Great as He is, He takes notice of the price five sparrows fetch... And so the Lord says first, "Fear God," and then He says, "Fear not." For if we fear Him, we have nothing else to fear. He will care for us.
- Root — Fear of man is often what makes people act like hypocrites. The two warnings belong together.
- Reach — Men can kill the body and go no further. God's authority reaches past death to judgment, so He is the One to fear.
- Word — "Hell" here is Gehenna. It was a defiled valley outside Jerusalem where a fire burned all the time — a picture of eternal punishment.
- Real — A power God claims but would never use would be no reason for fear. He will carry the warning out.
- Result — Fear Him, and you have nothing left to fear. The God who can cast into hell is the God who counts sparrows and numbers your hairs.
Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria? and one of them is not forgotten before God.
Jesus has just warned His disciples about whom to fear. Now He points at a bird sold for small change — the cheapest thing in the market, and proof that God forgets no one.
The warning about fear comes first. One writer shows what the Lord adds straight after it, and why.
God works not only in light, as we have seen, but by love (5–7), and the confidence He invites us to have in Himself... Then at once the Lord brings in the love of the Father. He does this to guard against the misuse of that first truth. It is always true, and true for a believer, but it is, so to speak, the lower end of the truth.
Matthew records the same words with different numbers. A note on the coin explains what each Gospel is stressing.
The "assarion" had two values, and we must allow for local differences. But the "two farthings" would equal about one penny of our money. Matthew stresses how small the coin was that bought two sparrows. Luke stresses how many birds that money bought.
The fifth bird cost nothing at all. One writer draws out what that says about the price of a single sparrow:
The sparrow was so worthless that if a customer bought two farthings' worth, the seller threw in an extra bird! Then the Lord reminded the disciples that they were of more value than many sparrows, and that the very hairs of their head were all numbered. How wonderful that God can care for such details, yet this is the glory of God, that it is so!
Two Psalms picture this same bird, and the picture is a lonely one. A dictionary entry gathers what Scripture says about it.
The Psalms speak of it as a lonely bird on the housetop, and as a bird that finds a home in the courts of God's house (Psalm 84:3; Psalm 102:7). In Palestine sparrows are plentiful, and five were sold for two farthings. Yet the Lord said not one falls without His Father's knowledge, and He added, "You are of more value than many sparrows." If God cares for the birds — and the word here is the diminutive, the little bird — He will surely care for His own beloved ones.
The argument runs upward. It moves from the thing men value least to the people God sends out to speak for Him.
What infinite care of God, that can descend to the least thing, that man despises most! How much more, then, His care for those who are His witnesses!... Nothing strengthens a witness for the truth more than knowing God's love. Nothing strengthens him more than knowing that the least person or thing belonging to him is of interest to God.
This is not a soft sentiment. It stands against people who mean real harm, and it limits what they can do.
You do not need to be afraid of man; he cannot touch you except by divine permission... Man may rage against us, but he cannot touch us; it is impossible without God's permission. I have seen men out shooting. I have watched them aim at birds, and I have said to myself, "You may be skilful shots, but you cannot hit one bird without divine permission." That is what this teaches us.
The same care reaches into ordinary life, not just moments of danger. One writer takes this verse as ground for bringing small matters to God in prayer:
The believer is privileged to have communion with God about the whole of his private and personal affairs... "Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7).
- Cheapest. Two small coins bought five sparrows, with one thrown in free. Luke points at how many birds so little money could buy.
- Counted. God's care reaches down to the least thing that men despise most. The same care numbers the hairs on a disciple's head.
- Remembered. Not one of the five is forgotten. The little bird of the Psalms, alone on a roof, is the very creature God keeps in mind.
- Guarded. No bird falls without God's permission. No enemy can touch His own without it either.
- Fearless. Warning and comfort belong together: fear God, and then fear nothing else — He works in light, and He works by love.
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore, ye are better than many sparrows.
Jesus has just warned His friends to fear God, not the people who can kill the body. Then He points to sparrows sold for pennies and to hairs no one bothers to count — so how can "fear" and "fear not" stand together?
One writer reads verses 4-7 as one argument. It warns the heart and calms it at the same time.
Here the heart is taught not only to fear God, but also to trust Him — it is not only warned, but also calmed. "Fear," and "fear not," may seem a contradiction to flesh and blood; but to faith it is no contradiction. The man who fears God most will fear circumstances least. The man of faith is, at once, the most dependent and the most independent man in the world. He is dependent on God and independent of circumstances. … The One with power to cast into hell is the only One he must fear. And that same One has taken the trouble to count the hairs of his head. He has surely not done so in order to let him perish, in this life or the next.
Another writer looks at the two commands a few lines apart:
Notice that in verse five it is, "Fear him," and in verse seven it is, "Fear not." There is no contradiction. In verse five it is the holy fear of a child, in case he should do something that would pain or grieve the Lord. And then in verse seven, it is that you have the sense of the care of God.
Hair is the one thing nobody keeps track of.
What a Father is ours, dear friends! And what a love is constantly at work on our behalf! A love that gave the greatest gift — the only Son — and takes notice of the smallest thing belonging to us. For what is smaller, or seems less important, than a hair of our head? Or what mother, even the most loving mother of all, has ever bothered to count the hairs of her child's head? Our Divine Father has done so.
One writer answers those who call this just a figure of speech:
And no detail of your life is too small for His notice. When He told His disciples that the hairs of their heads were numbered, He meant it. And if you insist that His language was figurative, so be it. It simply means this: the details of your life that are too small for you to notice do not escape His notice.
Jesus is speaking to men who will testify for Him. One writer shows that the smallness of the sparrow carries the comfort.
What infinite care of God, that can come down to the least thing, the thing man despises most! How much more, then, His care for those who are His witnesses! … Nothing strengthens a witness for the truth more than knowing God's love. Nothing strengthens him more than knowing that the least person or thing belonging to him is of interest to God.
God's eye is on the falling sparrow. So no hostile hand has the last word about you.
You do not need to be afraid of man; he cannot touch you except by divine permission. … Man may rage against us, but he cannot touch us; it is impossible without God's permission. I have seen men out shooting. I have watched them aim at birds, and I have said to myself, "You may be skilful shots, but you cannot hit one bird without divine permission."
The same writer applies this to times of sickness:
God may allow us the use of means. But how often we turn to them in unbelief, as if our recovery depended on human help and advice alone! If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without our Father's permission, neither can His children. No — the very hairs of our heads are all numbered. We honour God by staying perfectly calm and confident in the face of the greatest dangers.
The promise is not that no disciple will die. Many did.
They had cast Him out, and what could His disciples expect but similar treatment? It has not been your lot or mine to have it, but many of His beloved saints have. And what a comfort those words must have been to the martyrs of years gone by: "Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do." This whole chapter measures importance by the state of the soul before God, not by the body. So enemies and fears are all pushed aside.
- Counted, not costed. Five sparrows sell for two coins, and not one is forgotten. God's notice runs all the way down to the cheapest bird.
- Counted hairs. No mother ever counted her child's hairs. God has. Details too small for you are not too small for Him.
- Counted means guarded. No sparrow falls without permission. No shot, no illness, no enemy reaches His children outside His will.
- Counted means fearless. Fear God most, and you fear circumstances least — most dependent on God, most independent of circumstances.
- Counted, even in death. This care is not escape from martyrdom. The chapter weighs the soul before God, not the safety of the body.
But I say to you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, the Son of man will confess him also before the angels of God;
Jesus is preparing His followers to speak for Him in a world that will oppose them. He answers the fear that silences people: what it costs to be known as His. So what does open acknowledgement look like, and what does He promise in return?
Note: some quotes below use an older translation. It says "confess Me before men" where the ESV says "acknowledges me."
This chapter looks ahead to the time when His followers would stand for Him alone. One writer describes where they stand and what it may cost.
Luke 12 puts the disciples into this place of testimony by the power of the Holy Spirit, with the world opposed to them, after the Lord's departure. It is the word and the Holy Spirit, instead of the Messiah on the earth. They were neither to fear opposition, nor to trust in themselves, but to fear God and trust His help... Their calling was to show God in the world at all costs... It might cost them dear before men: Jesus would confess them before angels.
Another writer weighs the cost against the gain.
The hatred and opposition of men was to lie as a liability upon them: but what marvellous assets are these — the friendship of Christ, the care of God, the teaching of the Holy Spirit. And in addition to this, their confession of Christ before hostile men would be rewarded by His confession of them before holy angels.
One writer shows why those two words are the whole test.
Notice how the Lord knows how to put His finger on the very point of the difficulty: "If you confess Me before men." It is not whether they could think of Him in their private rooms. Of course they could do that, if they cared for Him at all. But that is not it. Do they "confess Me before men?" How often we cannot find courage to confess Christ openly "before men," when we can do it in private. But this is simply a test of how far the fear of man has more power over our souls than God.
The same writer adds a guard. Daniel kept obeying God and had to suffer for it. But the Lord would not have us thrust ourselves on people. So "let us take care that we are suffering for doing God's will, and not in doing our own will."
Luke's wording differs from Matthew's. One commentator marks the difference.
Luke 12:8 — "The Son of Man"; Matthew has "I" (10:32). The introduction of the title in this connection is peculiar to Luke; but in Mark 8:38 also the Lord has spoken of Himself as Judge in the character of Son of Man.
Another writer draws courage from the title itself.
The term "Son of Man" involves His relationship with all mankind: He is in control over all of them. Blessed incentive for our courage of faith!... What a test of whether our motives are really for His glory! In confessing Him we make it clear that we are fully on His side.
The Lord will speak the believer's name before the angels. One writer uses a picture from army life to show what that is worth.
Imagine for one minute that the time has come when the Lord will reward His people. Down here in this world there has been a humble Christian who has made a habit of confessing the name of the Lord Jesus, delighting to speak His name... I have been told, and I believe it is true, that an officer in the army during a campaign covets nothing so much as to be mentioned in the dispatches about a battle that has been fought... but how much greater the joy to the simple Christian, wherever he may be, or in a small circle unnoticed day by day, whose delight it is to mention the name of Christ. What an immense honour to have one's name told out by the lips of the Lord Himself in the presence of all the angels!
The promise is future, but it changes how a believer walks now.
It is not only that God cares for us. The Lord is also going to confess us before the angels of God, if we confess Him here. That is the sense of His eye being upon us, and that He knows just what our pathway is. By and by the Lord will recognise your path and my path, as we have gone through this scene. How this cheers a saint!
- Cost — Jesus sends His followers into a world set against them, and speaking for Him there may cost them a great deal.
- Test — the words "before men" mark the hard part. Thinking of Him in private is easy. Speaking out shows whether the fear of man beats the fear of God.
- Judge — only Luke puts the title "Son of Man" here, where Matthew has "I". The One who will speak is in relationship with all mankind.
- Reward — He answers our word about Him with His word about us. He names the unnoticed believer before the angels.
- Comfort — because that day is coming, His eye is on the path now. He knows just what your pathway is.
but he that shall have denied me before men shall be denied before the angels of God;
Jesus has just told His disciples not to fear people who can only kill the body. Here He states the other side of His promise, and it raises a hard question: who exactly is He describing — a believer who fails once, or a life that says no to Him?
The verse closes a section that starts with a warning about hypocrisy. One writer links that pretence to the fear behind it.
The Lord warned His disciples to beware of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees... Closely linked with this warning is the fear of man, which is another form of opposition to the grace of God. It is often because of fear that we act like hypocrites. But the limit of man's persecution is the killing of the body. Believers have no right reason to fear men. God, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell. It is God who is really to be feared.
One writer, commenting on the parallel warning in 2 Timothy, separates a single failure from a settled course, and points to Peter.
Denying the Lord is not impossible for a servant of His. Scripture shows it happened to one of the most honoured of them, who had thought that for him, of all men, it was impossible; yet Peter was on the edge of it. No doubt it was only a passing act, however shameful and sad, and however often he repeated it that night; yet the all-conquering, all-forgiving grace of Christ rose above it and wiped it out. But where it is a course of life — the older wording is "if we shall deny Him," not a single act — the result is, as it should be, that God must vindicate His own majesty, which has been insulted: "He also will deny us." God would stop being God if He quietly accepted the dishonour of His Son.
The wording allows no exception. One writer takes it that the Lord is not describing a believer's slip, but someone who only claims the name of Christ.
Now He turns to the other side, and it is very solemn. It does not apply to a Christian because the statement is absolute... but there may be many who only profess to be Christians and deny Him. It is a very solemn thing if a Christian does even once deny the Lord, but the Lord Jesus is not speaking of Christians in this verse.
Commentators differ on how far the principle reaches. Another writer applies the same words by degree, measured in how openly the Lord owns us:
In the fullest sense, denying Christ would mean abandoning the faith altogether, and the "us" covers everyone who professes to be a Christian. But there are important applications to those who are truly Christians. The more openly they confess Him, the more they enjoy His open favour. I have no doubt that the boldest confessors are (if they are real) the happiest possessors.
The verse leaves two groups only. One writer presses this through Reuben, Joseph's brother, who tried to save him without ever taking a stand.
He tries in a weak, half-hearted way to save Joseph's life, but he makes sure it costs him nothing; and he suffers with his wicked brothers just as if he had taken the leading part... You cannot occupy a neutral place between this Christ-rejecting world and an open confession of His name. You may think in your heart that you have some respect or regard for Jesus; but let me tell you, this will not help you in the coming day.
The two outcomes mirror what happened to Christ Himself.
Glory before the angels of God would answer back for shame before men. The one who denied Him before men would be denied by Him before the angels of God. Christ had taken His shame here below, but everything in God's presence would melt before Him, and so own Him. He was content with shame, though He felt it far more deeply than anyone, because His feelings and His love were perfect.
The remedy is not gritted teeth but a full heart.
I want you, dear young people, especially to remember this, because there are many temptations to conceal that you are Christians. We all know the temptations, but the Lord brings in the blessed encouragement. Don't conceal that you belong to Him. Let your heart be so full of Him that you will delight to speak of Him, and then He will by and by confess your name before the angels of God.
- Fear — the fear of man is what makes a disciple act the hypocrite.
- Denial — the verse describes a course of life, not a single fall. Peter denied Him, and grace wiped the act away.
- Absolute — the sentence has no exception. One writer says it describes the professing Christian, not the believer; another applies it by degree, to how openly we own Him.
- Neutral — there is no third place between this world and open confession. A private regard for Jesus will not help in the coming day.
- Exchange — Christ took shame before men and receives glory before God. Before the angels, He will name the side each of us took here.
and whoever shall say a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him; but to him that speaks injuriously against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But when they bring you before the synagogues and rulers and the authorities, be not careful how or what ye shall answer, or what ye shall say;
Jesus tells His disciples what is coming for them: courts, officials, formal charges. What He does not give them is a script — and the reason why is the heart of the verse.
The chapter looks ahead to the days after Jesus leaves the earth.
Luke 12 puts the disciples into this place of testimony by the power of the Holy Spirit. The world is against them, and the Lord has gone. It is the word and the Holy Spirit, instead of the Messiah on the earth. They were not to fear opposition, and not to trust in themselves. They were to fear God and trust His help. The Holy Spirit would teach them what to say.
"Synagogues" here does not mean a quiet place of worship. One writer gives the plain fact behind the word:
The synagogues served as courts of law.
The verse names rulers and authorities too. The believer is on trial, not just under criticism.
William Kelly reads the Lord's words as a lesson in where the disciple's confidence must rest:
The Holy Spirit does not only put a solemn seal on the testimony. He is also a positive power for the person giving it... The giving of the Spirit would not set aside the evil in the world. As we know, that evil grows worse and worse. So when they come before the powers of the world, the Lord says, "do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say." This shows us the spirit of absolute dependence upon God.
The command only works if the heart is already free. C. H. Mackintosh names what disqualifies a witness:
The only proper ground of testimony for Christ is total freedom from human influence and a settled, unqualified confidence in God. To the extent that I am influenced by men, or in debt to them, I am disqualified from being a servant of Christ. Only a living faith in God can free me from human influence. When God fills the heart, there is no room for the creature.
The disciple on trial is not left to his own resources:
Suppose believers were arrested to face the Jewish council or magistrates. They were told not to decide in advance how to answer the charges against them, or what to say. The same Spirit of God who energised Christ would energise them and guide them in their words. For the grace of God is greater than the strongest opposition of hatred.
Commentators differ here. Some warn that the verse is often stretched into an excuse for unprepared preaching:
It is no mark of spirituality to give no thought to how or what we will speak. Nor do we believe it is a correct use of Scripture to expect the Lord to fulfil that promise, which was given in a far different setting... Here He is assuring His disciples that He will never desert them when they are brought before kings and rulers for His name's sake.
Others read it as a wider promise, covering the believer's speech in every setting:
The Holy Spirit gives the believer divine competence in every possible situation. What could we wish more? The care of God, the reward of Christ, and the sustaining energy of the Holy Spirit belong to every child of God. They are to supply our souls while our Lord is away. If persecution comes, you will be sustained.
One writer sees the same principle at work in three men who faced a furious king:
The three Jewish men know the battle is the Lord's, so they stay perfectly calm in front of the furious king. In ordinary matters of state, touching the business of the king, they would no doubt be very careful. But this is the business of God, and therefore mere human care is as useless as it is unnecessary.
- The Cause — the disciples witness for a Master who has gone; the word and the Spirit take His place on earth.
- The Court — synagogues, rulers and authorities are law courts; this verse is about trial, not embarrassment.
- The Gift — the Spirit seals the testimony and gives living power; the disciple's part is absolute dependence.
- The Freedom — a heart in debt to men cannot witness; only living faith in God leaves no room for the creature.
- The Result — grace is greater than the strongest hatred; in God's business, human anxiety is useless and unnecessary.