Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, *I* also will confess him before my Father who is in [the] heavens.
The Lord has been preparing His messengers for a hostile world, promising them the Father's care. Now He turns to what they must do for Him: speak up for Him in front of others, and hear Him speak up for them.
The verse begins a new section of the chapter. It sets the Father's care beside something still to come.
From verse 32 to the end of the chapter, we have the importance of the confession of Christ, and the effects of it in this world. We have had the Father's care; we have now the Son's confession by and by. The Father's care we know upon earth, whatever may be the trial. The Son's confession of us will be in heaven, when all the scene of trial is over.
Confession starts where faith starts. It does not stop with the first words.
Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and confesses with the mouth that Jesus is Lord, such a person confesses Him before men. This confession of Him is ever to increase, not only with the lips but in the conduct and the life. So every true believer is a confessor of Jesus as Lord, and the Lord in His day will confess him before His Father.
That rules out treating the promise as attached to one ceremony or a single public occasion.
Matthew 10:32 does not refer specially to the act of baptism. Our whole life should be a testimony for Christ. The Christian himself is "the epistle of Christ, known and read of all men."
The difficulty is never confessing Christ where nobody is listening. The Lord puts His finger on the exact place where courage fails.
The Lord sees the difficulties they will meet, and cheers them by saying, "If you confess Me before men, I will confess you before the angels of God." And 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?" Sadly, 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.
Darby quotes the matching words in Luke, where the Lord promises to confess us before the angels of God. John's Gospel gives a real example of this failure.
Ungodliness betrays itself not only in the unwillingness of the heart to believe, but in the cowardice of the soul to confess the Lord (Rev. 21:8). So we see here that "many even of the authorities believed in Him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue." Their moral reason was this: they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God... But we must not forget this: "with the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved" (Rom. 10:10). God makes much of confession of His Son.
What the Lord offers in return is not a payment but a naming, spoken by Him in the highest presence there is.
To be valued so greatly by the Father surely calls for a fitting response on our part — that response of fearlessly confessing Christ before men. He is far more than worthy of this. But this too will bring a response from the Lord Jesus, in confessing before His Father the one who confessed Him before men. Wonderful honour indeed given to the wholehearted believer!
The second half of the Lord's saying changes one word, and the change is easy to miss. It also leaves the door open to the one who repents.
But they must confess Christ before men. Whoever confessed Him before men, He also would confess before His Father in heaven. But whoever denied Him, He also would deny before His Father — He could not now say their Father — in heaven. Grace never sets aside the holiness of God, but shapes us to meet its conditions. At the same time, God's holiness does not set aside grace, which always receives the one who repents. The chief of the apostles gives us the illustration of this.
The appeal, then, falls on anyone still undecided.
Are there any of you who are hesitating between two opinions, and afraid to confess what you owe to the Lord? Oh, I once more urge you to be honest. Be open, be decided, confess Christ's name on earth, and He will not be ashamed to confess your name before the whole assembled universe.
- Cared for — the Father's care comes first, and it is ours on earth now. The Son's confession of us waits for heaven, when the trial is over.
- Confess with the mouth — it begins with believing and saying that Jesus is Lord. Then it grows in conduct and life, until the whole life is the testimony.
- Confess before men — private devotion was never the hard part. The words "before men" test how far the fear of man has more power over us than God. The rulers believed, but they stayed silent.
- Confessed by Him — the Lord Jesus will name us before His Father. He will not be ashamed to confess our name before the whole assembled universe.
- Or denied — denial meets denial, and the Lord no longer says "their Father." Yet holiness never cancels the grace that receives the one who repents, as the chief of the apostles shows.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will *I* also deny before my Father who is in [the] heavens.
Jesus is sending His twelve apostles into a world that will hate them, and He names the test that decides everything: does a person own Him in front of others, or disown Him? The warning raises hard questions — is this Peter's sin, and can a believer fall under it?
Verses 32 and 33 open the last part of the Lord's charge. They set earth and heaven side by side.
From verse 32 to the end of the chapter, we have the importance of confessing Christ, and the effects of it in this world… We have had the Father's care. Now we have the Son's confession, later on. We know the Father's care on earth, whatever the trial may be. The Son's confession of us will be in heaven, when all the scene of trial is over.
The Lord does not ask what a person thinks of Him in private. He asks about the moment when other people are listening.
It is not whether they could think of Him in private. Of course they could do that, if they cared for Him at all. But that is not the point. Do they "confess me before men?" How often we cannot find the courage to confess Christ openly "before men," when we can do it alone at home! This is a simple test of how far the fear of man has more power over our souls than God.
Silence can itself be denial. One writer points to leaders who believed but kept quiet:
Ungodliness shows itself not only in a heart that refuses to believe, but in a soul too cowardly to confess the Lord (Revelation 21:8). We see it here: "many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue." And the reason is plain: they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
How far does denying Christ go? One writer draws a sharp line:
To deny Christ, we understand to mean not a sudden fall into temptation, like Peter, but a total and absolute denial. It shows that, whatever a person claimed before, there had never been any reality in the soul… So here Christ will deny those who deny Him. That is, He will reject them finally and completely.
But what about the one who falls and then repents?
Grace never sets aside the holiness of God; it brings us into line with what that holiness requires. And God's holiness does not set aside grace, which always receives the one who repents. The leading apostle gives us the illustration of this.
Denial is not a small social awkwardness. It touches the honour of a Person, and of His Father.
Men do not stop to consider the solemn horror and dishonesty of denying the Son of God the rights that are His alone. This is not only an insult to Him, but also to His Father. The name of His beloved Son is precious to Him beyond all we can imagine.
So the answer is not revenge but necessity:
God would cease to be God, if He went along with the dishonour of His Son.
Look closely at whose Father is named on each side of the sentence.
Whoever confessed Him before men, He would also confess before His Father in heaven. And whoever denied Him, He would also deny before His Father — He could not now say their Father — in heaven.
The answer to fear is a decision:
Dear friends, stand forward for Him. Do not be ashamed to own your relationship to Him, your dependence on Him… confess Him before men, and act for Him, and live for Him in a godless world. He is not ashamed to call you brothers. Will you be ashamed to confess Him as your Lord and Master in front of the whole world? … Make the plunge, and trust God for the outcome. I know it by experience, that an open bold confession of being Christ's is more than half the struggle over.
- Test. The question is not what you think of Christ in private. It is whether you own Him "before men" — the test of whether fear of people has more power over you than God.
- Denial. This is not a stumble under pressure. It is a settled, total disowning — proof that there was never any reality in the soul.
- Grace. Holiness does not cancel grace. Grace always receives the one who repents — and the leading apostle is the proof.
- Verdict. Christ must answer denial, because to shrug at the dishonour of God's Son would mean God ceasing to be God.
- Courage. He is not ashamed to call you His brother; the open confession, made at once, is more than half the battle already won.
Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth I have not come to send peace, but a sword.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For I have come to set a man at variance with his father, and the daughter with her mother, and the daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law;
Jesus has just sent out His twelve disciples with a message. Now He tells them what that message will do inside a home. He names father, mother, daughter and mother-in-law. Many expect Him to bring peace, so how can He say He came to divide?
The Lord is not naming His aim. He is describing what happens when His message enters a world that hates Him.
Then He warns them that their testimony may have a very painful result — homes thrown into confusion, family members set against one another. Do not be surprised... We know that the Lord can give us peace at all times and in every way. But here He is speaking about His testimony going out through His disciples into a world that hates Him. So the two are bound to collide. He does not want confusion. It is the natural effect when the knowledge of Christ enters a house where some of its members reject Him.
Long before, the prophet Micah described a society where even husband and wife no longer trusted each other. Matthew shows the same breakdown, and this time it follows what people do with Christ.
The prophet Micah describes the moral corruption of his day. He says that all trust between friends, and even between husband and wife, had completely vanished... The gospel of Matthew shows the same state of things, but this time it follows the presentation of Christ... When Christ is set before people, they either receive Him or reject Him. So He brings not peace but a sword. It draws out of those who refuse Him all the enmity and all the hidden corruption of the human heart, both against Christ and against His followers... Sons have betrayed their fathers, and parents their children, and in this way the Lord's words have often been fulfilled in the history of the Church — that a person's enemies will be those of his own household.
The division also reaches people you would least suspect.
The closest relationships made no difference, and neither did sex, age, or youth. Grace works freely, according to the sovereign will of God. In the same way man's hatred spares no one, and it shows up in the most unlikely places... So it is solemn to find that the evil had already come before the days the prophet spoke of. The presence of Divine love in the person of Jesus provokes it.
One writer traces the division back to man's response to Christ, then follows it into the home.
If man had been what he ought to be, the result would have been peace. But man saw no beauty in Christ to desire Him, and the effect was hatred — not peace, but a sword. The nearer the relation, the deeper the grievance... Yet the division that grace brings has this strange mark. The one in a family who turns to Christ usually becomes, at once, the slave of the rest. Such cases turn nature itself upside down. How often a husband or parent loses his authority!
The sword does not cancel the promise of peace. It sets the timing. And the cross has already secured the peace we needed most.
Peace on earth waits until He appears in glory. Meanwhile the ground of that peace has been laid in divine righteousness. In the richest way the same ground has been laid for peace in heaven, and for peace where we needed it most — by the blood of the Cross.
A few verses later the Lord makes the demand plain. If a home can divide over Him, He cannot come second in it.
There must be a decision as regards Christ. If one loves father or mother, son or daughter more than Him, he is not worthy of Him. He cannot take a secondary place to any natural relationship. For any mere man to demand this would be wickedness. But this Man is the eternal God. He is worthy of unconditional worship, and every creature owes Him absolute obedience.
A believer in such a home should expect strain. A home where everyone loves the Lord is a gift to be thankful for.
Many tensions arise when one member of a family turns to the Lord and the others oppose him. He meets a lack of understanding, sometimes open acts of hostility, and in some countries even persecution. How thankful we should be if God has granted us the grace of a close family, where each member loves the Lord and seeks to serve Him!
- Cause — Christ's coming did not create the enmity; it exposed it. Rejection of Him is what turns a household against itself.
- Test — He is the touchstone. Each heart either receives Him or refuses Him, and the sword is that split made visible.
- Reach — The closer the tie, the sharper the offence. The believer at home often ends up serving everyone else.
- Cost — If a home can break over Him, He must outrank it. Anyone who loves family more than Christ is not worthy of Him.
- Result — Peace is delayed, not cancelled. The blood of the cross has already secured it, and and the earth will have it when He appears in glory.
and they of his household [shall be] a man's enemies.
The Lord has just warned His messengers to expect hatred, and now He names its sharpest form: it starts at home. How can the One announced as bringing peace say that His coming splits families?
Christ's arrival did not create the hostility; it exposed it.
The Lord has warned us in advance about the effect of His coming and testimony — not its purpose. That effect would be strife, dividing even the nearest and most precious natural relationships (Matt. 10:34-37).
The reason lies in what each person does with Christ.
When Christ is presented to people, they either receive Him or reject Him. So He brings not peace but a sword. It draws out from those who refuse Him all the enmity, all the hidden corruption of the human heart — both against Christ and against His followers.
The Greek word for "household" ties this verse back to verse 25, where the Lord spoke about His own house.
Here the Lord says, "And a person's enemies will be those of his own household" — words not repeated in the other gospels. The word here is oikiakos, which comes from oikia. It is used again, in line with the meaning of oikia, in verse 25 of the same chapter in Matthew: "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master." If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of His household (oikiakos)?
He met the same hostility from His own family.
The cup of the Lord was full of bitterness. He endured not only the hostility of sinners against Himself, but also the mistaken and evil judgments of His own relatives. He walked that path first, ahead of all others — the path where, as He warned His disciples, a person would find enemies inside his own household.
The wording echoes the prophet Micah, who used it for the worst evil of the last days. The timing is the surprise.
The Lord is alluding to the prophecy of Micah, who describes in similar terms the worst evil of the last days (Micah 7:6). It is solemn to find, then, that the evil had already come before the days the prophet spoke of arrive. And the presence of divine love in the person of Jesus provokes it. This could not be if men were not thoroughly bad; but Jesus is the Truth, and therefore brings everything to a head.
Natural affection offers no protection.
Peace on earth was not the word now, but hostility in the closest relationships. Owning the Lord is intolerable to man. The closer the relationship, the greater the hostility.
At home the change often turns the tables on the new believer.
There is this peculiar feature in the division that grace brings in. The one who is converted in a family generally becomes, at once, the servant of the rest. Such cases even turn nature upside down. How often a husband or parent loses his authority in this way!
The pressure lands where love is deepest, so home becomes the proving ground.
The powerful ties of family relationship will not be enough to hold people together when Christ becomes the object of anyone in the family. A person's enemies will be those of his own household. And this becomes the test of being wholly for Him.
The opposite picture is a home where everyone owns Christ as Lord.
What is happier than a Christian home, where Christ is owned as Lord? It is a little foretaste of that heavenly home. There nothing can intrude to spoil our eternal peace, because nothing can interfere with Christ's absolute control. Contrast this with the divided house, where the world is allowed in.
- Cause — Christ did not come to make enemies. His presence draws out the enmity already in the heart. The division is the effect of His coming, not its aim.
- Word — "Household" (oikiakos) echoes verse 25. They called the Master of the house Beelzebub, so those belonging to His house should expect the same name.
- Echo — The phrasing comes from Micah's picture of the worst evil of the last days. Yet that evil was already present the moment divine love stood among men.
- Reach — The hostility runs deepest along the closest ties. The converted family member often becomes the servant of the rest.
- Result — When affection and Christ pull in opposite directions, the pull tests loyalty. When a whole home owns Him as Lord, it becomes a foretaste of heaven.
He who loves father or mother above me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter above me is not worthy of me.
Jesus has just spoken about division inside the home. Now He sets the order of love. The question is not whether a disciple may love his family. It is what happens when that love and the claim of Christ pull in opposite directions.
One writer names where a disciple feels this pressure hardest.
Now this becomes one of our severest trials — the effect that the testimony of God has upon families. People speak of households being broken up and relatives divided. The Lord already uses the same words and strengthens us for it.
He will not take second place to a parent or a child. One writer asks who has the right to make such a demand.
There must be a decision as regards Christ. If one loves father or mother, son or daughter more than Him, he is not worthy of Him. He cannot take a secondary place to any natural relationship. For any mere man to demand this would be wickedness. But this Man is the eternal God. He is worthy of unconditional worship, and entitled to the absolute obedience of every creature.
When does this apply? One writer points to a case inside the home, then to how loyalty works in ordinary life.
No human tie should have a superior claim to that of the Lord Jesus. And in the words quoted, He had in view a case where family authority sought to override His word as Master. Even a government does not let a parent's claims or a child's duties release a subject from loyalty to the Crown. It does not shield a criminal from justice either. Must the Lord of all ask less than this from the subjects of His kingdom?
Does this verse ask a person to stop loving his father? One writer answers plainly.
There is no hardness in the Christian or in Christ. When it is the service of God and faithfulness, we must not regard father or mother. The Lord sent His mother away whenever she came to Him during His service. It is not the destruction of natural affection, but the superiority of Christ — God coming in — or else it is idolatry.
Some people have walked out on parents for reasons that had nothing to do with Christ. So it is worth being exact about the one case the Lord allows.
There is only one case in which the Lord shows the necessity of forsaking father and mother, and that is when the child is commanded to forsake Christ. In every other case it is sin against Him. He is the One who said long ago, "Honor your father and your mother," and who also said through the apostle, "Children, obey your parents." When father or mother, or wife, or life itself, comes into competition with Christ, then all must be "hated"; the disciple must bear the cross and follow Him.
Luke records the same teaching with the harsh word "hate." One commentator explains what that word means.
Luke 14:26 — It is the first of our Gospels, notice, that softens the language here ("hate"). The Greek word for "hate" means to renounce the claims or influence of the person or thing concerned. Compare Matthew 10:37, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me."
The test is comparison, not coldness. One writer describes the devotion Christ asks for, and the place from which He asks it.
The world is against Him. He puts forth no power to subdue it, and no power even to shelter His people from the vengeful hatred He predicts. Yet He claims from all who will be His disciples the most complete devotion a man could show. He is to be dearer than the dearest, nearer than those bound to us by the closest ties. And under that constraint they are to follow Him as the perfect, supreme example of everything highest a person can reach: to be "worthy of Him" is to be their whole ambition!
- Sword — The testimony of God divides families. That is one of a disciple's severest trials, and the Lord names it in advance to strengthen him for it.
- Claim — Only God could ask to outrank a parent's place in the heart; such a demand from any mere man would be wickedness.
- Comparison — The test is not "do you love your family?" but "do you love them more than Me?" He is to be dearer than the dearest, and to be worthy of Him is the disciple's whole ambition.
- Order — Natural affection is not destroyed but placed second; left in first place, it becomes an idol.
- Limit — Only one case calls for forsaking father and mother: when they demand you forsake Christ. In every other case, leaving is itself sin against His command to honor them.
And he who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Jesus says this at the end of His charge to the twelve, before His own crucifixion. So the first reader has two questions: what cross could a disciple carry then, and what does it mean to be "worthy" of Christ?
Jesus is sending the twelve out, and He tells them in advance what it will cost.
The first hints our Lord gave His disciples about bearing the cross were in no way vague or ambiguous. This saying is not a mere isolated statement either — from verse 16 of the chapter to the end, the whole passage runs on the persecution that would fall on His faithful witnesses. He, the Lord of the harvest, was sending out His labourers into the harvest. He warns them ahead of time of the enormous opposition they would meet. It would come from those who oppose every new thing out of sheer stubbornness. It would come from the powers that be — governors and kings. Hardest of all to bear, it would come from their nearest relatives: fathers, mothers and children.
One writer draws out how far this reaches beyond the men standing in front of Him.
There is no service to Christ which is without a cross… He said this to the twelve in particular, as servants of God. Yet in principle it is true of every disciple's service.
In that world the cross was not a symbol. It was a way of killing, and a shaming one.
It seems to me that Scripture ties the cross above all to shame and disgrace. The cross itself was a cruel and shameful heathen way of putting a man to death. Even the heathen kept it for the very worst. It seemed to say: here is a wretch whose feelings count for nothing. His sufferings can be dragged out to frighten others away from doing what he has done.
Read that way, the picture Jesus draws is of a man already sentenced.
As the other Gospels show, the Lord had used expressions like "taking his cross" and "bearing his cross" as pictures of one truth: His disciple must be ready to come under the death sentence of the world.
The wording is precise: his cross, not Christ's.
Christ did not say, "And whoever does not bear My cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." That would mean perfection of reproach, and would imply perfection of walk. But every believer, in his own measure, suffers reproach. It is the same character as Christ's, and so it is called a cross; but it is his cross, not Christ's. Every disciple bears his cross. But God forbid that he should glory in it. He glories only "in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14).
Everyday speech stretches the word to cover any trouble at all. Scripture is narrower.
People use the word for every kind of trial and suffering, without distinction. Unbelievers use it, and others use it about unbelievers. Yet using the language of Scripture, it is clear that no unbeliever bears a cross. The world loves its own; it does not hate them (John 15:19)… It is the reproach of Christ. Only one thing earns the name cross: the suffering or reproach that flows from man's unjust judgment on what is like Christ in us.
This verse follows straight on from Christ's claim to outrank father, mother, son and daughter.
For any mere man to demand this would be wickedness. But this Man is the eternal God, worthy of unconditional worship, and entitled to the absolute obedience of every creature… Christ has willingly accepted the cross of mankind's rejection for our sake. Every disciple of His is therefore to take his own cross. That is, he chooses to identify himself with the rejected Christ of God, and to follow Him in this path of rejection. He expects no recognition from the world, but reproach instead.
This is where the verse is most often misread, as if God's acceptance were for sale.
This worthiness does not refer to standing before God. Forgiveness of sins and acceptance with God rest on grace alone, never on merit of any kind (Eph. 2:8). The point is not relationship but discipleship… To dodge the cross is to forfeit the title of a worthy witness for the Lord Jesus in the world.
Christ asks nothing of His followers that He avoided Himself.
If the Lord was going to make those who followed Him take up the cross, He had to bear it Himself. He went ahead of His sheep in this path of self-denial and devotedness, to prepare the way. He went alone.
- He went first. The Lord would not lay a cross on His followers without carrying one Himself. He walked that road alone first.
- Your cross, not His. The verse says his cross. The disciple shares Christ's reproach, not His perfect walk — and glories only in the cross of Christ.
- Shame, not misfortune. The cross was the death reserved for the worst; it stands for the world's sentence on you, not for hardship in general.
- First place or no place. The demand sits beside a claim to outrank father, mother and child — a claim only the eternal God could rightly make.
- Worthy means witness. "Not worthy" touches discipleship, not salvation. Acceptance is by grace alone; worthiness here is the loyalty that proves whose you are.
He that finds his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake shall find it.
Jesus is sending out His twelve disciples, and He has just warned them that loyalty to Him will split families. Now He states the rule behind that cost — and it sounds like a contradiction until you ask which world each half belongs to.
This saying keeps coming back in the Gospels.
Of all His wonderful words in the Gospels, this is the only one I know of that comes back, with slight changes, no less than six times. Read these passages: Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33... So He pressed this truth home four times: when He sent out His twelve disciples; just before His transfiguration; when giving a prophetic talk not long before the end of His ministry; and within a few days of His death.
The verse sits at the end of hard words about families divided over Him.
The Lord boldly meets the case. I have come to bring in My principle, and it sets child against parent... He shows that His coming would bring the opposite to a path of ease in this world. Yes, we must make up our minds to suffer trial, rejection and scorn.
Much depends on which word Jesus used for "life."
The word translated "life" here is usually translated "soul." It refers to that "soul life" which marks man in his natural fallen condition. The soul is not the same as the spirit. The spirit is the higher part of a person, able to put him in intelligent touch with God. The soul is the seat of our natural desires and longings. So "soul life" is the life of enjoying all the things that naturally appeal to us.
Read the two halves as belonging to two different worlds. That also keeps the verse from shrinking to those who die as martyrs.
In the world to come, the finding and losing of the soul in this present world are turned around. There the finding becomes losing, and the losing becomes finding. The man who makes himself the object of his life loses himself and is cast away. The man who sacrifices self and its interests for Christ's sake is really keeping everything safe for the world to come... And you do not have to lay down your life as a martyr for this to apply. Can only those who die a martyr's death live for ever?
Everything hangs on three words: "for My sake."
The Lord goes on to declare the reward, connecting it with the conditions He has already laid down. "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life" — not simply as having done this, but — "for My sake, will find it." This is not a rule of harsh self-denial, or anything like that. It is His love ruling in the face of a hostile world.
Something in us fights this, and it has a slogan of its own.
So if the cross had to be His portion, His followers must accept the cross too. For Him the cross meant atonement for sin, as well as rejection and shame. We share the rejection and shame only. But nature shrinks from this, and even resents it. Its motto (suggested by Satan) is "Spare yourself"; God's motto is "Deny yourself." Someone has truly said that Peter "at the last denied the Lord because he had not denied himself."
The trade is not blind. What is surrendered is real, and so is what replaces it.
One who found his life — that is, chose a life of ease and comfort on earth — would only lose it. A man cannot keep what he tries so hard to hold. But suppose someone loses his life for Christ's sake, and makes Christ his object. It might cost him life's natural pleasures and aims. Yet he would find his life after all: a satisfying life of lasting value and blessing, with eternal good in view.
- Repeated — no other saying of Jesus is recorded six times. He said it when sending out the twelve, before the transfiguration, in prophecy, and days before His death.
- Reversed — what counts as finding in this world counts as losing in the next. Make yourself your own object and you lose yourself.
- Yourself — the word usually translated "soul" means the seat of natural desires. The losing is not limited to dying as a martyr.
- For His sake — these words rule out harsh self-denial as a system. This is His love ruling a disciple in a hostile world.
- Result — nature says spare yourself; God says deny yourself. Peter denied his Lord because he had not first denied himself.
He that receives you receives me, and he that receives me receives him that sent me.
Jesus is sending His twelve disciples into a world that will not welcome them, and He ends His instructions by tying their welcome to His own, and His own to the Father's. So what is a person doing when he opens or shuts his door to a servant of Christ?
The messengers carry the testimony of a Lord the world has rejected. A welcome given to them travels much further than the doorstep.
Whoever received this testimony, in the person of the disciples, received Christ, and, in Christ, Him who sent Him. So God was acknowledged in the person of His witnesses on earth, and He would give a reward to whoever received them, a reward matching the testimony they carried. Whoever acknowledged the testimony of the rejected Lord in this way — even if only by giving a cup of cold water — would not lose his reward. In a world set against Him, whoever believes God's testimony and welcomes the man who carries it confesses God as well as His servant. The rejection of Christ made Him a test, a touchstone.
The disciples had no standing of their own. Their weight at a village door came from the One who sent them.
It is like the Lord's own words, "Whoever receives you receives me" (Matt. 10:40). The power given on earth represents the authority that stands behind it.
Set beside other sayings of Jesus about being for Him or against Him, this verse leaves the hearer no third option.
"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." (Luke 11:23.) Here there is no room for indifference or neutrality... In all these passages there is not the slightest hint of neutrality... We must be either against the Lord or for Him. We must receive Him or reject Him. We must be either gathering with Him or scattering.
If receiving reaches all the way up, so does refusing. Samuel, a prophet in Israel, learned this when the people refused his message.
To reject a servant whom the Lord has truly sent out, who is doing His will and standing for Him, is to reject the Lord Himself... In exactly the same way the Lord Jesus identified Himself with His disciples... Blessed is the servant who, by grace, is so hidden behind his Lord that he is taken up with the Lord's aims and interests, and thinks only of HIS honour and HIS claims. Such a servant will understand, as Samuel did, that when people refuse his message they are rejecting God's word and not his own.
The principle is not aimed only at outsiders. Believers can dishonour the Lord by how they handle the person He has sent them.
Even believers are sometimes very unwise in the way they criticize the message, or the man himself, when the Lord has sent him to press the truth of His word on consciences and hearts. It is not right to flatter a man because he is the Lord's servant. But it is also very wrong to treat him with disrespect, for in this we show our disrespect for the Lord.
Does the promise depend on the messenger turning out well? Judas was one of the twelve, and he betrayed the Lord.
Did Judas betray the Lord? That sealed his own doom, but it did not touch the authority or the grace of Christ, or of God Himself. If they received someone Christ had sent, whatever his end turned out to be, they received the Son, and so the Father. They did not share in the guilt or danger of the punishment of a servant who dishonoured his Master to his own ruin.
The tone here is encouragement, not pressure. So what place should reward have?
What wonderful dignity there is in verse 40, and how wonderful the Lord's rewards are! They are rewards of grace, but they are not held out as motives. The motive should be the glory of God and love for Christ.
The next two verses keep stepping down the scale.
It is very sweet that the disciples are called "little ones." There is a step-by-step order in verses 40-42: first, Himself; then a prophet — one who reaches the conscience and brings the soul into the presence of God; then the righteous man; and last, the one who gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones... Where love to Christ moves the heart to show even the least possible kindness, the Lord will not forget it.
- Chain. Welcome the messenger and you welcome Christ. Welcome Christ and you welcome the Father who sent Him. One line runs from a doorstep to God.
- Authority. The messenger has nothing of his own. The power given to him on earth stands for the authority behind it.
- Choice. The chain forces a decision. Receive Him or reject Him. There is no neutral ground.
- Warning. The chain runs backwards too. Refuse a servant the Lord has sent, and you refuse the Lord. Disrespect for His messenger is disrespect for Him.
- Reward. The chain reaches down to a cup of cold water. The Lord remembers the smallest kindness done out of love for Him. The reward is grace, never the motive.
He that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward.
The Lord turns from His messengers to the people who open their doors to them. A welcome given to God's servant, He says, earns the same reward as the service itself.
The phrase points to the reason behind the welcome, not to any formula spoken over it. One writer tests it against a man who hosted Jesus without ever treating Him as a prophet:
Also, if one receives a prophet in the name of a prophet, that is, as a prophet, he will receive a prophet's reward. He takes to heart God's message sent by a prophet. So he will receive a reward like that of the prophet who speaks faithfully for God. If he receives a righteous man as a righteous man, that puts him in the class of righteous man, and so he will receive a reward. If he receives him with ulterior motives, that would be quite different, of course. Simon the Pharisee received the Lord into his house (Luke 7:36), but not as a prophet (vv. 3, 34), though he admitted He was a teacher (v. 40).
Another writer weighs the exact wording used here:
A remarkable use of this is in Matthew 10:41, "in the name of a prophet." Here the phrase is not the warrant for receiving him. It marks the place he is received into — the honour due to a prophet.
A prophet here is more than someone who announces the future. One writer traces the order of verses 40 to 42, starting with Christ Himself and working down:
There is a gradation in verses 40-42. First, Himself. Then a prophet — one who reaches the conscience. He is not merely someone who foretells future events, but one who brings the soul into the presence of God… Then one who is not a prophet: if he has a heart for a prophet, he will receive the reward as if he were a prophet. It shows that it is all of grace. Then again the righteous man, and he receives the seal of righteousness.
The verse extends a principle the Lord had just laid down about Himself and His messengers:
Then He identifies Himself in the fullest way with those He sent out: "he that receives you receives Me, and he that receives Me receives Him that sent Me." This principle He now extends beyond those He is addressing… That is, where mind and heart identify someone with the prophet or the righteous man, God will identify him too. The receiver of a prophet shall be blessed with the prophet.
If welcoming a servant counts as welcoming the Lord, then turning one away counts too. One writer draws that line, and adds a test that stops it from meaning we must trust anyone who claims to be sent:
When God sends a messenger He is pleased to identify Himself with His servant… This is a solemn thing for the people of God. The reverse is also true: if a man refuses one whom the Lord has truly sent, he refuses the Lord in the person of His servant. This does not mean we should receive everyone who claims to be sent by God. The test is, do such people speak the words of God? (John 3:34.)
One writer describes a woman in Israel who took a prophet in for the sake of the God who sent him:
She received a prophet because of Him who had sent him, because he was a holy man of God — and she did it with humility and complete self-forgetfulness. So she received a prophet's reward: the gift most precious to a Jewish mother, which she had not dared to hope for, even when she first heard the news.
- Receive as. The reward hangs on what you see the person to be: welcoming a prophet as a prophet, a righteous man as a righteous man. Motives change everything.
- Received into. The words describe the place you give him — the honour due to a prophet — not a formula you use to secure a blessing.
- Received by God. Where your heart goes out to the messenger, God links you with him. His blessing reaches you too.
- All of grace. The one who is no prophet, but has a heart for one, receives the reward as if he were one. Nobody earns this; God gives it.
- Refused, and refused. The principle cuts both ways: turning away a true messenger turns away the Lord. The test is whether he speaks the words of God.
And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold [water] only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
Matthew 10 closes a discourse full of hard things: messengers among wolves, families divided, a cross to carry. It ends on a cup of water, and the point is not how much a person gives but who the receiver belongs to.
The ESV reads "because he is a disciple." Older translations render the phrase "in the name of a disciple." The wording is unusual in Greek, and it does not mean acting by someone's authority. It means welcoming a person as what he is.
In Matthew 10:41-42 we have the unusual phrase of receiving a prophet, a righteous man, and a disciple, "unto" each one's respective name, or as such. In English it is perhaps hard to avoid saying "in the prophet's name"; but it means receiving each one as such, and not acting in the power or authority of each, as in Christ's name.
So the cup goes to him because he is a disciple.
Verses 40 to 42 move down a ladder — Christ Himself, then a prophet, then a righteous man, then a "little one" — and the reward keeps pace at every step.
It is very sweet that the disciples are called "little ones."… There is a gradation in verses 40-42. First, Himself. Then a prophet — one who reaches the conscience, not simply someone who foretells future events, but one who brings the soul into the presence of God. Then one who is not a prophet: if he has a heart for a prophet, he shall receive the reward as if he were a prophet. It shows that it is all of grace. Then again, the righteous man, and he receives the seal of righteousness. And lastly, whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water… We may gather from this 42nd verse that many things will be rewarded — things done unknowingly, or thought too small to be worth noticing.
A cup of water counts because the Lord never separates Himself from His people. His name rests on them.
Our blessed Lord fully identifies Himself with His people. His name is put upon them. It is also entrusted to them to carry, so that they maintain His honour before men. So to receive a Christian in the name of Christ is to receive Christ Himself. And to receive Christ is to receive Him who sent Him… Whatever is done for His own is kindness shown to His name.
The cup of water is not the point in itself. It is evidence of something already at work inside.
It would be the evidence that the Spirit was at work in his soul — his heart drawn out in mercy toward those who are of God in this world, and in sympathy with them. He should in no way lose his reward. It is the outward conduct springing from the inward principle.
Nothing here promises repayment now. The Lord settles the account later, at His judgment seat.
Reward is never an adequate motive for the saint. But it is set before faith as an encouragement to be true to the Lord. On the other hand, the unfaithful will lose it. The kingdom is the sphere where the Lord will take account of both, when everything is brought to light at His judgment seat… Even a cup of cold water given to one of the Lord's little ones in the name of a disciple will not be forgotten in that day. What a Lord we have to serve! Who but He would think of recognising anything of such little account?
Because the Lord promises a reward, it is easy to start calculating. But the two motives are not the same, and they do not end the same way.
Love rewards, but working for reward and working for love are entirely distinct. The labourer in the vineyard who worked for his penny gained his penny, but he did not obtain the smile of his master. It is the Christian's happy privilege to work for love. It will be the joy of the Master to remember every service.
- Name. The cup goes to the man as a disciple, because he belongs to Christ.
- Link. Christ has tied His own name to His people, so kindness shown to them is kindness shown to Him.
- Grace. The scale runs down from Christ to the smallest "little one," and the reward keeps pace. It rests on grace, not on the size of the service.
- Evidence. The outward cup of water shows an inward work; the Spirit moves the heart before the hand moves.
- Day. The reward waits for the judgment seat, where even forgotten acts come to light. Love, not the reward, makes service a joy now.