Matthew Chapter 13 verse 52 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 52. - Then said he unto them, Therefore (διὰ τοῦτο); i.e. because you understand, I add this. Every scribe (πᾶς γραμματεύς). The interpretation of the following clause, naturally suggested by this word in itself is that our Lord meant to indicate the possibilities that lay before a Jewish scribe if he were only converted; but for such a reference by our Lord to Jewish scribes there appears no reason in the context. The word must therefore be understood of Christian teachers, who by their study of the Gospel should hold a position in the Christian Church parallel to that of scribes among the Jews. It is possible that our Lord chose the term in order to accustom his disciples to the idea of carrying on the study of Divine things which the scribes were accustomed to make. Even if the disciples were not to follow their methods they might well imitate their devotion Dean Plumptre has an interesting note on our Lord's comparison of his own work and that of the apostles after him, to the work of the scribes of the Jewish schools. In Matthew 23:34 is found a wider application of the term than usual, hardly referring, however, to Christians, but rather to the Jewish scribes in their ideal character. Which is instructed; who hath been made a disciple (Revised Version, μαθητευθείς). Though the correction is right (cf. Matthew 28:19), the word, nevertheless, implies much more than mere admission to the circle of disciples it includes also the thought of instruction having been really received. Unto (to, Revised Version) the kingdom of heaven (τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν, dative of reference; cf. Winer, § 31:4). The kingdom is not regarded as the teacher, but as the school, with reference to which discipleship is entered upon. Is like. In the preceding parables the general principles, etc., of the kingdom of heaven have been compared; here, only certain individuals belonging to it. Unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure (cf. Matthew 2:11, note). The thing signified is his experience and spiritual understanding. Ch. 12:35 has a similar thought, but the treasure there is rather his personality as affecting his life; here, as affecting his intellect. It is curious that the thought of Matthew 12:33, 34 should also resemble our vers. 47-50. Things new and old. The thought of the saying is that as a householder brings out from his stores food recently and long ago acquired (cf. Song of Solomon 7:13), so a Christian "scribe" brings out (primarily, if not solely, for the use of others) the new truths that he learns, and also old ones that he has long since known. It is thus a promise that the disciples shall (if they use their opportunities rightly) be able to do more than understand Christ's teaching (as they have just claimed to have done); for they shall be able to teach (not merely to learn), and that not only new truths, but also old ones; they shall be able, that is to say, to understand the relation of the old to the new, and to bring out even the old in its true meaning, Hence old is mentioned after new, for it implies greater knowledge and skill. It will be observed that Irenaeus' interpretation (IV. 9:1) of new and old as the New and Old Testaments is only partially right. With the disciples, it is true, the old would naturally be, in the first place, Old Testament truths, and the new, such truths as they learned from Christ; but these also would, after a few weeks or months, in their turn become old to them, and the fresh truths taught them as their life went on would be ever the new ones. The thought of 1 John 2:7, 8 is very similar. Weiss' interpretation is different and even less right. According to him, new represents the truths about the kingdom of God, and old the long known arrangements of nature and human life, which, as the parables show, are drawn up on the same hues. Origen gives a beautiful application of Leviticus 26:10, 11a.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(52) Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven.--The verse is interesting as one of the very few passages in which our Lord compares His own work and that of the Apostles after Him to that of the scribes of the Jewish schools. That He was so regarded during His ministry--that men thought of Him as a Rabbi, no less than as a Prophet, or as the Christ--is clear from the facts that He was called by that name (or its equivalent, Master, or Teacher) both by His disciples and by others; that He assumed the office of a scribe, as interpreting the scriptures in the Sabbath services (Luke 4:16); that He questioned with the scribes after their own manner ("Have ye never read?" Matthew 12:3; Matthew 19:4; Matthew 21:16, et al.) and as one of their order. And now He was training the disciples, "unlearned" as they were, to be His successors in that office. They too were sitting at the feet of a Gamaliel--of One greater than Gamaliel. But His method of training was altogether of another kind than that of the Masters of the Schools. It consisted, not in minute comments on the words of the Law, not in the subtleties of an intricate and often revolting casuistry, not in puerile and fantastic legends, but rather in the eternal laws of His Father's kingdom, and the manifold parables of those laws in the visible universe; in this way it was that He was educating them to be scribes of the kingdom of heaven.Things new and old.--Our Lord's own teaching was, of course, the highest example of this union. There were the old eternal laws of righteousness, the proclamation of the true meaning of all that every true teacher had included in the idea of duty and religion, but there were also new truths, such as His own mission as the Head of the divine kingdom and the future Judge of all men, and the work of the Spirit as regenerating and sanctifying. As the years passed, and new facts, such as the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension, supplied the ground-work for new doctrines, these also took their place in the store-house of the well-instructed scribe. But the words applied also to the manner no less than to the substance of the teaching. Now the old familiar words of Lawgiver and Psalmist, now the gracious words such as man had never heard till then, now illustrations freely drawn, in proverbs or parable, from the world of nature or of men--these too were part of the treasure of the scribe. In that union the scribe of later times, every true teacher of the minds and hearts of men, may find the secret at once of reverence for the past and of courage for the future. So long as they bring forth out of their treasures "things new and old," we may hope that religious conservatism will be more than the "froward retention" of a custom or a formula, and religious progress more than a reckless love of novelty for the sake of its newness.