But when they deliver you up, be not careful how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given to you in that hour what ye shall speak.
The Lord is sending His disciples out, and He warns them that they will face arrest and trial before rulers. Now He tells them what to do with the fear that would rise in that moment — and the answer is not a rehearsed speech.
The promise belongs to one situation: arrest and trial before rulers. Commentators warn against stretching it to cover preaching in general.
We see this in the Acts, where Paul appears before Felix, and Festus, and then before king Agrippa. Verse 19 gives them clear instructions. People misapply the verse when they use it of preaching the gospel. It has no reference to any service for the Lord, but would save them from anxiety when on their trial.
The older wording "take no thought" can mislead a modern reader. It does not forbid thinking. One writer's list of corrections to Matthew's wording marks the same change here as in Matthew 6.
In Matthew 6, verses 25, 27, 28, 31, 34 (and Matthew 10:19), "thought" should be "anxious thought."
The Lord promises the words for the moment of need. That means no advance script and no clever legal strategy.
When these things happened they would need no speech-writer. They would not even need to study in advance the wisest or most fitting answer to the charges. Instead, they were to depend fully on God to give them the words to speak at the time they were needed. In this they would allow the Spirit of their Father the freedom to speak without hindrance. We see this beautifully carried out in the cases of Peter and John in Acts 4:8-12 and 5:27-32; Stephen in Acts 7; and Paul in Acts 24:10-21 and 26:1-29.
The words would come with power, but they would not be the disciples' own. One writer roots this in the relationship they already had with the Father, and adds who this mission was first sent to.
They would receive such power and guidance from the Spirit of their Father that the words they spoke would not be their own words. They would be the words of Him who inspired them. Once again, their relationship with their Father is the basis of their fitness for the service they had to do. That same relationship clearly marks the Sermon on the Mount. Remember that this testimony went to Israel only. Yet Israel was living under foreign rule, so the testimony would reach their rulers.
Paul's hearing before Felix shows the promise working under pressure. The other side had an orator to speak for them; Paul had no one.
What about the accused? No orator that we hear of volunteered to present his case in the most favourable light before the court. No one pleaded his cause. Was he deserted? Was he worse off for this? He had One with him whom Ananias, Tertullus, and Felix did not know. Relying on His help and guidance, he could stay perfectly calm and let the orator speak first. He was sure that no human eloquence, no shameless flattery, and no cunning misrepresentation could damage his defence.
Commentators differ on the range of this verse. One reads it as still ours in principle, even though it was first spoken to men setting out on a particular errand.
One cannot but feel that such a truth as this, though it has special application to apostles setting out on this mission, most surely remains for us.
Another writer draws a firm line. No preacher should use this verse as an excuse for skipping preparation.
Wherever possible, a person should think over and study the subject he expects to speak on. It is no mark of spirituality to take no thought how or what we shall speak, and we do not believe this is a correct use of the Scripture... Here, He assures His disciples that He will never desert them when they stand before kings and rulers for His name's sake. They need not work out in advance any line of defence, or any elaborate statement of what they hold. Suppose they have been living in the enjoyment of these things and bearing faithful witness. Then they may be sure that the Lord will not desert them in their time of need.
- Setting — this promise covers the courtroom, not the pulpit. It saves the disciples from anxiety on trial.
- Anxiety — "take no thought" means anxious thought; the Lord bans the worry, not the thinking.
- Timing — no speech-writer and no rehearsed defence. God gives the words at the hour of need.
- Speaker — the power comes from the Spirit of their Father, so the words are not theirs but His.
- Proof — Peter and John, Stephen, and Paul before Felix all stood with no one to plead their case, and the Lord deserted none of them.
For *ye* are not the speakers, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.
Jesus is sending His disciples into open hostility, where rulers and kings will put them on trial. Right there He tells them not to worry about what to say — so how far does this promise reach, and who may claim it today?
One writer traces how the chapter widens out beyond that first short mission:
It seems clear that up to verse 15 the group of apostles is mainly in view. That mission was marked by the personal presence of the King. From verse 16 to 20 the language is more general. It looks at the preaching in Acts and on to the fall of Jerusalem. By then the King has gone away, and His servants are handed over to be flogged and brought before rulers and kings. The Holy Spirit from the Father would be in them and would be the power for every emergency.
The heart of the verse is a substitution: the disciple is not the source. One writer describes what that does to the servant:
It is the calm of one who does not think of himself, either through fear or through human eagerness. It is full of the Holy Spirit; everything he says and everything he does comes from Him. Such a man works perfectly on God's side, because the man himself is out of the way, and God by His Spirit works in him... If man works, then there is imperfection. God works in man, and then man is what he ought to be.
Jesus does not say "the Spirit of God." He names a relationship. One writer makes that title the root of the disciples' fitness for the work:
They would receive such power and guidance from the Spirit of their Father that the words they spoke would not be their own words, but the words of Him who inspired them. Once again, their relationship with their Father... is what makes them able for the service they had to do.
The Spirit speaks in the disciple without ever becoming the disciple. One writer sets this beside the New Testament letters. They describe the same Spirit living in believers:
Those who believe the gospel of salvation have the Holy Spirit of God living in them, and He seals them. He is certainly a distinct person from those He lives in. He bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God (Romans 8:16). At the same time He identifies Himself with us in a wonderful way. He helps us in our weakness, and He makes intercession for us with groanings that words cannot express.
One writer points to Paul's trial as the promise in action. Paul stands before Felix, the Roman governor. A hired speaker, Tertullus, accuses him for the high priest Ananias, and no one speaks up for Paul:
No one pleaded his cause. Was he deserted? Was he worse off for this? He had One with him whom Ananias, Tertullus and Felix knew nothing about. Leaning on His help and guidance, he could stay perfectly calm and let the hired speaker go first, as the trial required. He was sure that no human eloquence, no shameless flattery and no clever twisting of the facts could damage his defence.
Some stretch the promise to cover ordinary preaching. One writer ties it back to the courtroom:
Taking no thought about how or what we will speak is no mark of spirituality, and we do not believe it is a correct use of that Scripture... Here He is assuring His disciples that He will never desert them when they stand before kings and rulers for His name's sake. They do not need to work out a line of defence in advance, or any careful statement of what they hold... The same holds good when someone cannot know in advance what he will speak on, or when an unexpected opening for preaching the gospel comes. At such times there has often been the greatest liberty and directness, and the Lord's help has been clear.
One writer reasons from that one hour in court to words meant to last for ever:
Even before an enemy, the Lord told the twelve apostles to have no anxiety about how or what to speak, because in the hour of need it would be given to them... How much more was that divine power needed and given when the question was not their own defence, but passing on God's mind and will to His own people, and for ever!
- Setting — Jesus speaks to men on their way to floggings and royal courts, where they must testify in public.
- Substitution — the disciple is not the source; when the man is out of the way, God works in him, and only then is he what he ought to be.
- Father — Jesus names the Spirit by relationship, and that relationship is what makes them able to serve.
- Proof — before Felix, Paul had One with him whom the court could not see; hired eloquence could not damage his defence.
- Limit — the promise covers the hour of trial; it is not a reason to leave ordinary preaching unstudied.