Matthew 10

Matthew 10:2-4:
​ Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

​It would have been embarrassing for the early church to invent a disciple of Jesus who betrayed him. Meier observes, “The criterion of embarrassment clearly comes in to play as well, for there is no cogent reason why the early church should have gone out of its way to invent such a troubling tradition as Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, one of his chosen Twelve.​ --Sean McDowell

​Christians say we are saved. But Jesus says we are not. He puts salvation as the final bus stop, saying: “He who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22). But Christians proclaim their salvation at the beginning. 
Inevitably, Christians are in for a big surprise. Jesus says: “The last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” (Matthew 20:16). Today, Christians are the first who are now destined prophetically to be last.

Matthew 10:16:
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

The word serpent appears twenty-four times in twenty-three verses in the Christian Standard Bible (CSB). Ten applications are clear references to Satan (Gen. 3:1, 2, 4, 13, 14; 2 Cor. 11:3; Rev. 12:9, 14, 15; 20:2). Three times serpent appears in the confrontation between Moses and the magicians of Pharaoh’s court (Exod. 7:9, 10, 12). Three references are to a sea serpent or Leviathan, a mystical deity over which the Lord has absolute power (Job 26:13; Isa. 27:1; Amos 9:3). 
Twice, there are mentions of a “flying serpent,” either an analogy of Assyria (Isa. 14:29) or a reference to one of the wild beasts in the Negev (Isa. 30:6). Singular references include: an analogy of an enemy’s wine (“serpent’s venom,” Deut. 32:33); a place (“Serpent’s Well,” Neh. 2:13); predators who lie in wait (Ps. 91:13); animal food in the new creation (“the serpent’s food will be dust!” Isa. 65:25); and Jesus’ instructions to his disciples to take prudent action in light of coming persecution (Matt. 10:16; cf. 21-23).
Old Testament writers use three different Hebrew words translated “serpent” in these passages. The most common is nachash, meaning “serpent” or “snake.” The word even makes a hissing sound when spoken. The word tanniyn (used in Exod. 7; Deut. 32:33; Neh. 2:13; and Ps. 91:13) has a broader application and can mean “serpent, venomous snake,” “sea or river monster,” or “dragon or dinosaur.” The third word, saraph, is used only once (Isa. 30:6) and may be translated “serpent,” “fiery serpent,” or “poisonous serpent.” It’s also the word from which we get seraphim, the six-winged heavenly creatures Isaiah sees above the throne in his vision of God (Isa. 6). 
In the CSB New Testament, the Greek word ophis is used more than a dozen times and is translated “snake” or “serpent.” It may refer to an actual snake (Matt. 7:10; John 3:14-15; cf. Num. 21:8-9), or it may be used figuratively to illustrate certain traits or qualities. For example, Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees “snakes” because of their venomous hypocrisy (Matt. 23:33). After sending his disciples to proclaim the gospel, Jesus tells them to be “as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16). 
Other references are directed more toward the demonic realm. Believers are promised authority over snakes, demonstrating their power over Satan and his agents (Luke 10:19). And Paul warns the Corinthians that the ancient serpent continues to strike with lethal intent: “But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). 
As you can see, the writers of Scripture employ numerous Hebrew and Greek terms to depict a variety of creatures associated with serpents. Andrew Naselli notes that serpent is an umbrella term – a “big category” – that includes both snakes and dragons. Further, he writes that a serpent has two major strategies that become evident in Scripture: to deceive and devour:
As a general rule, the form a serpent takes depends on its strategy. When a serpent in Scripture attempts to deceive, it’s a snake. When a serpent attempts to devour, it’s a dragon. Snakes deceive; dragons devour. Snakes tempt and lie; dragons attack and murder. Snakes backstab; dragons assault.
The Serpent and the Serpent SlayerFor our purposes, we focus primarily on depictions of Satan as the serpent in Genesis and Revelation.            --Rob Phillips; What Every Christian Should Know About Satan; High Street Press (August 20, 2021)

---

​Matthew 10:28:
“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”

​The fear of man is not simply the fear of the harm that men may do to us. Surely the fear of harm partly drives our desire to be approved by men. However, most properly, the fear of man is, as Bunyan put it, “the fear of losing man’s favor, love, goodwill, help, and friendship.” Simply put, it is “an idol of approval.” We seek to avoid persecution because of “idols of approval,” “comfort,” or “pleasure.” These idols lead us to compromise in order to gain approval—to give in to wickedness in order to gain acceptance and peace. It puts us in a vicious cycle of idolatry. Miserable though it is, the fear of man is the soul’s default setting. --Nicholas Batzig
​

Matthew 10:29-31:
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

​When death comes in an especially unexpected way, for example in a sudden accident, or in cases where a young child is suddenly taken, there is always a sense that this was not meant to be. We are left reeling at the ambush of fate. This sensation of being caught off guard can sometimes lead us to feel as if God was also surprised. Since He didn’t provide us with warning or prep time, as when we are diagnosed with a terminal illness and supplied with a prognosis of time, we may feel as if the loss was incidental.

But the Bible assures us that God is absolutely sovereign over life and death. He is never caught off guard, He is never surprised at events; no, God ordains everything to the minutest detail. This is  truth that brings peace and rest to a heart that is staggering under the dizzying sucker-punch of sudden loss.

 It is natural for mourners to experience a sense of indignation, even rage, at the loss of a loved one. This, I believe, is our soul’s normal response to the Curse. We recognize deep within us that death is unnatural, and everything in us cries out for justice and for death to just stop its devastation.  --Clint Archer

​Matthew 10: 34-42:
Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword. ​For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me. He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward: and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward.

JC Ryle

​In these verses the great Head of the Church winds up His first charge to those whom He sends forth to make known His Gospel. He declares three great truths, which form a fitting conclusion to the whole discourse.
     In the first place, He bids us remember that His Gospel will not cause peace and agreement wherever it comes. “I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword.” The object of His first coming on earth was not to set up a millennial kingdom in which all would be of one mind, but to bring in the Gospel, which would lead to strifes and divisions. We have no right to be surprised, if we see this continually fulfilled. We are not to think it strange, if the Gospel rends asunder families, and causes estrangement between the nearest relations. It is sure to do so in many cases, because of the deep corruption of man’s heart. So long as one man believes, and another remains unbelieving–so long as one is resolved to keep his sins, and another desirous to give them up, the result of the preaching of the Gospel must needs be division. For this the Gospel is not to blame, but the heart of man.
    There is a deep truth in all this, which is constantly forgotten and overlooked. Many talk vaguely about unity, and harmony, and peace in the Church of Christ, as if they were things that we ought always to expect, and for the sake of which everything ought to be sacrificed. Such people would do well to remember the words of our Lord. No doubt unity and peace are mighty blessings. We ought to seek them, pray for them, and give up everything in order to obtain them, excepting truth and a good conscience. But it is an idle dream to suppose that the churches of Christ will enjoy much of unity and peace before the millennium comes.
    In the second place, our Lord tells us that true Christians must make up their minds to trouble in this world. Whether we are ministers or hearers, whether we teach or are taught, it makes little difference. We must carry “a cross.” We must be content to lose even life itself for Christ’s sake. We must submit to the loss of man’s favor, we must endure hardships, we must deny ourselves in many things, or we shall never reach heaven at last. So long as the world, the devil, and our own hearts, are what they are, these things must be so. We shall find it most useful to remember this lesson ourselves, and to impress it upon others. Few things do so much harm in religion as exaggerated expectations. People look for a degree of worldly comfort in Christ’s service which they have no right to expect, and not finding what they look for, are tempted to give up religion in disgust. Happy is he who thoroughly understands, that though Christianity holds out a crown in the end, it brings also a cross in the way.
    In the last place, our Lord cheers us by saying that the least service done to those who work in His cause is observed and rewarded of God. He that gives a believer so little as “a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, will in no way lose his reward.”
     There is something very beautiful in this promise. It teaches us that the eyes of the great Master are ever upon those who labor for him, and try to do good. They seem perhaps to work on unnoticed and unregarded. The proceedings of preachers, and missionaries, and teachers, and visitors of the poor, may appear very trifling and insignificant, compared to the movements of kings and parliaments, of armies and of statesmen. But they are not insignificant in the eyes of God. He takes notice who opposes His servants, and who helps them. He observes who is kind to them, as Lydia was to Paul–and who throws difficulties in their way, as Diotrephes did to John. All their daily experience is recorded, as they labor on in His harvest. All is written down in the great book of His remembrance, and will be brought to light at the last day. The chief butler forgot Joseph, when he was restored to his place. But the Lord Jesus never forgets any of His people. He will say to many who little expect it, in the resurrection morning, “I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.” (Matt. 25:35.)
    Let us ask ourselves, as we close the chapter, in what light we regard Christ’s work and Christ’s cause in the world? Are we helpers of it, or hinderers? Do we in anyway aid the Lord’s “prophets,” and “righteous men?” Do we assist His “little ones?” Do we impede His laborers, or do we cheer them on? These are serious questions. They do well and wisely who give the “cup of cold water,” whenever they have opportunity. They do better still who work actively in the Lord’s vineyard. May we all strive to leave the world a better world than it was when we were born! This is to have the mind of Christ. This is to find out the value of the lessons this wonderful chapter contains. 
​                               --J.C. Ryle, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew

---