Matthew 11:19

Mat_11:19

The Son of man came eating.

Christ and common life

I. We have here a strong proof of the humanity of Christ. The Son of man. His oneness with men; not exempt from the necessities of our nature; He was subject to the laws under which we live. No manna fell from heaven for Him.

II. Christ ate and drank with men. Not only as others, but with others. He was no recluse. Jesus represents the new order, which is a life of liberty, because a life of love. Religion must be able to endure the strain of life.

III. Here Christ sanctified the common duties of every day. Nothing is so common as eating and drinking; it is commonplace. The temptation is to make the hours for meals mere feeding times, or to become an epicure. Christs example guards against this. He taught the dignity of our bodies. He who recognizes the body as Gods gift will never dishonour its appetites. The daily meals may be family sacraments cheered by Christian intercourse. Christ came to fit men for this world as well as for the next. (W. S. Jerome.)

Wisdom is justified of her children

I. The different courses of life wherein john and Jesus appeared.

1. That God sendeth forth His servants with divers dispositions.

2. That men are qualified according to the dispensation wherein God useth them. John, a preacher of repentance, was austere; Christ, as a giver of pardon, mild.

3. That men are apt to complain.

1. Except against what is done by God, and whatsoever methods are used to reduce them to a sense of pardon. The censures of the two things disliked in Christ were not just.

1. His diet. All our food should be sanctified.

2. His company.

II. The reasons why he chose this sort of life.

1. Because He would not place religion in outward austerities and observances.

2. Christ would live a strict, but sociable and charitable life; and did not observe the laws of proud pharisaical separation, but spent His time in doing good.

3. Christ came to set us an example, and would take up that course of life most imitable by all sorts of persons.

4. It was fit His form of life should suit with the nature of the kingdom.

5. Because Christ would not gratify human wisdom, as He would not gratify sense, by choosing a pompous life, so He would net gratify wisdom by choosing an austere life.

6. To show us the true nature of mortification, which consists not in abstinence and retreat from temptations, but in a spirit fortified against them.

III. The observances which we may build thereon.

1. We may observe the humanity, goodness, and kindness of that religion which we profess, both with respect to ourselves and others.

2. That external holiness which consisteth in an outside strictness without love usually puffeth up men.

3. That a free life, guided by a holy wisdom, is the most sanctified life. (T. Manton.)

A friend of publicans and sinners.

A friend of publicans and sinners

I. Our Lord proved himself in his own time to be the friend of sinners.

1. He came among them.

2. He sought their good by His ministry.

3. He showed His patience toward them by the contradiction He endured from them.

II. What Christ is doing now for sinners. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. Christ a friend. In a friend we anticipate finding sincere attachment, affectionate concern to promote our welfare, freedom in fellowship and communication, unflinching fidelity.

II. The duty we owe to him. Friendliness, gratitude, fellowship, integrity, constancy,

III. The advantages resulting from the performance of it. The friendship of Christ affords rich consolation, exhaustless supplies, requisite instruction, eternal inheritance. Address the enemies of Christ, the undecided, and His friends. (Rev. Treffy.)

But wisdom is justified of her children.-

Wisdom justified of her children

I. How wisdom becomes justified to her children. Notice those respects in which the scheme of Christianity is considered foolishness by the world.

1. A strong natural dislike of Christianity is founded on the meanhess of the Saviours life and the ignominy of His death. The Christians great struggle is with earthly attachments, and he acknowledges with thankfulness the wisdom of any arrangement whose direct tendency is to help him in the struggle.

2. They often allege the disproportion of the means to the end. Reason cannot decide how much the pardon of a sin must cost. The converted man sees the heinousness of sin. He sees that only an infinite sacrifice could put it away.

3. It is regarded as unsuited to the ends which it proposes to effect, and no heavier charge could be brought against its wisdom. The idea of substitution is said to encourage men in sin; hut where can we find higher morality and truer friendship than amongst men who are trusting in Christ?

II. Wisdom is justified through her children to others. This wisdom is so manifest in the effects of Christianity on the lives of its disciples, that enemies are inexcusable in charging it with foolishness. The children of God must vindicate the wisdom of religion, (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Wisdom justified in her children

I. What is the wisdom to which reference is here made. Some suppose our Lord to have meant Himself; in Proverbs it is declared that by Wisdom God created the heavens. The term wisdom is also applied to the doctrine of the true God. The fear of the Lord that is wisdom.

II. To show how it has been in all ages exposed to the indifference, contempt, or the misapprehension of mankind.

1. Deny her doctrines.

2. Forget her commands.

III. How it has been nevertheless justified in its children.

1. In the life of every saint who has arrived in heaven. A cloud of witnesses prove wisdom is justified of her children.

2. Wisdom is justified in all the social relationships of life. Is he a husband? wisdom will have given him a new affection. (T. Jackson, M. A.)

The worlds estimate of religion

I. Evangelical religion is characterized, as wisdom. As it rightly applies the sublimest knowledge; as it diligently studies the most approved rule; as it zealously prosecutes the most enduring interest.

II. Evangelical religion has been charged with folly. Its principles, its feelings, its practices, have been accounted foolishness.

III. Evangelical religion is justified by the experience on its possessors. They receive her doctrines, avow her service, obey her precepts. (Studies.)

Wisdom justified

I. What is the wisdom of God in the way of salvation presented by the gospel? The end of the means.

II. That this wisdom is despised and contradicted by the carnal world.

III. How and why it must be justified by the sincere professors of the gospel.

1. It must be approved and received by themselves.

2. It must be professed and owned when it is in contempt in the world.

3. This profession must be honoured and recommended to others by a holy conversation.

Why?

1. Because of the charge that is put upon us to testify for God, and justify His ways.

2. Wisdom deserveth to be justified by us.

3. Those who condemn wisdom by their tongues, justify it in some measure by their consciences.

4. If we do not justify religion, we justify the world.

5. Christ will one day justify all His sincere followers.

6. Because of the necessity of justifying wisdom in the times we live in. (T. Manton.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 11:19. Ἄνθρωπος φάγος, κ.τ.λ., a gluttonous man, etc.) They distinguish Him, as one out of many, by a distinction opposed to that mentioned in the preceding verse.—τῶν τέκνων, children) we have shown, in the Apparatus,[532] that τῶν ἔργων—works—was anciently a widely received reading. Ambrose, on Luk 7:35, says:—“Therefore wisdom is justified of all her children.[533] It is well said ‘of all,’ because justice is observed towards all [i.e. in God’s dealings with all], so that the faithful may be accepted, the unfaithful rejected. Very many of the Greeks adopt the reading, ‘Wisdom is justified of all her works,’ because it is the work of justice to observe the due measure towards the merit of every single individual.” He, however, appears to mean the codices of St Matthew, not those of St Luke, for he is in the habit of recurring to them from time to time, although he is commenting on St Luke.[534]—ΑὐΤῆς[535]) Valla[536] thinks that this refers to γενεᾶς; but see Luk 7:35, where there are more remarks on the present passage. Cf. Luk 11:31. [No doubt Christ is the Wisdom meant. The children of Wisdom are those who suffer themselves to be gathered by her into her company. It is for this reason that Wisdom is blamed on the ground of too simple and ready indulgence towards such persons, and she is therefore thus compelled at last to justify herself. Luk 15:1-2, etc.—V. g.]

[532] In the Apparatus, p. 117, he says—

[533] The first sentence is not quoted by Bengel, but, on referring to the original. I considered the meaning so much plainer with it than without it, that I took the liberty of inserting it. The passage in Ambrose stands thus:—

[534] Luke, Luk 7:35, adds πάντων. B corrected later, reads, as the MSS. alluded to by Ambrose, τῶν ἔργων: so MSS. in Jerome, both Syriac and Memph. Versions. But Dac Vulg., Orig., Hil. and Rec. Text, read τέκνων.—ED.

[535] Gen. fem. sing, of αὐτὸς. E. V. renders it her, sc. Wisdom’s. Valla would render it of it, sc. of this generation.—(I. B.)

[536] LAURENTIUS VALLA, one of the most distinguished Latin scholars of the fifteenth century. Born in Rome about 1406; became Professor of Eloquence, first at Pavia, and afterwards at Milan; went to Rome in 1443, and became canon of St John the Lateran. Died 1457. He published, besides many other works, annotations on the N. T.—(I. B.)

“Justificata est ergo Sapientia ab omnibus filiis suis. Bene ab omnibus, quia circa omnes justitia servatur; ut susceptio fiat fidelium rejectio perfidorum. Undeplerique Græci sic habent: Justificata est Sapientia ab omnibus operibus suis; quod opus justitiæ sit, circa unius cujuscunque meritum servare mensuram.”—(I. B.)

“19) τέκνων) operibus notat Hieronymus in Evangeliis quibusdam legi, in Comm. ad h. l. sic vero etiam Æth. Copt. Pers. Syr. Videtur Græcus librarius antiquissimus pro τῶν τέκνων in maxima literarum similitudine, legisse τῶν ἔργων. Quæ strictura docere nos possit, ex Græco Matthæi Evangelio deductum esse Evangelium Nazarenorum [an apocryphal gospel so called], quippe quod hoc loco sine dubio respexit Hieronymus. Eundem varietatem, ex Hieronymo, ut apparet, notavit Hafenrefferus in edit. suâ N. T.”—(I. B.)

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 11:19 . ὁ υἱὸς τ . ἀ .: obviously Jesus here refers to Himself in third person where we might have expected the first. Again the now familiar title, defining itself as we go along by varied use, pointing Jesus out as an exceptional person, while avoiding all conventional terms to define the exceptional element. ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων : the “Son of Man” is one who eats and drinks, i.e. , non-ascetic and social, one of the marks interpretative of the title = human, fraternal . καὶ λέγουσι , and they say: what? One is curious to know. Surely this genial, friendly type of manhood will please! ἰδοὺ , lo! scandalised sanctimoniousness points its finger at Him and utters gross, outrageous calumnies. φάγος , οἰνοπότης , φίλος , an eater with emphasis = a glutton (a word of late Greek, Lob., Phryn., 434), a wine-bibber ; and, worse than either, for φίλος is used in a sinister sense and implies that Jesus was the comrade of the worst characters, and like them in conduct. A malicious nick-name at first, it is now a name of honour: the sinner’s lover. The Son of Man takes these calumnies as a thing of course and goes on His gracious way. It is not necessary to reflect these characteristics of Jesus and John back into the parable, and to identify them with the piping and wailing children. Yet the parable is so constructed as to exhibit them very clearly in their distinctive peculiarities by representing the children not merely employed in play and quarrelling over their games, which would have sufficed as a picture of the religious Jews, but as playing at marriages and funerals, the former symbolising the joy of the Jesus-circle, the latter the sadness of the Baptist-circle ( vide my Parabolic Teaching of Christ , p. 420). καὶ ἐδικαιώθη , etc. This sentence wears a gnomic or proverbial aspect (“verba proverbium redolere videntur,” Kuinoel, similarly, Rosenmüller), and the aorist of ἐδικ . may be taken as an instance of the gnomic aorist, expressive of what is usual; a law in the moral sphere, as elsewhere the aorist is employed to express the usual course in the natural sphere, e.g. , in Jas 1:11 . Weiss-Meyer strongly denies that there are any instances of such use of the aorist in the N. T. (On this aorist vide Goodwin, Syntax , p. 53, and Bäumlein, § 523, where it is called the aorist of experience, “der Erfahrungswahrheit”.) ἀπὸ , in, in view of ( vide Buttmann’s Gram. , p. 232, on ἀπὸ in N. T.). ἔργων : the reading of [68] [69] , and likely to be the true one just because τέκνων is the reading in Luke. It is an appeal to results, to fruit (Mat 7:20 ), to the future. Historical in form, the statement is in reality a prophecy. Resch, indeed ( Agrapha , p. 142), takes ἐδικ . as the (erroneous) translation of the Hebrew prophetic future used in the Aramaic original = now we are condemned, but wait a while. The καὶ at the beginning of the clause is not = “but”. It states a fact as much a matter of course as is the condemnation of the unwise. Wisdom, condemned by the foolish, is always, of course, justified in the long run by her works or by her children.

[68] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[69] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wise men do acknowledge the wisdom of the Gospel, when they receive it.

That which the most part refuse, the elect and chosen embrace.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 19. The Son of man came eating and drinking] That is, went wheresoever he was invited to eat a morsel of bread, and observed no rigid fasts: how could he, who had no corrupt appetites to mortify or subdue?

They say, Behold a man gluttonous, c.] Whatever measures the followers of God may take, they will not escape the censure of the world: the best way is not to be concerned at them. Iniquity, being always ready to oppose and contradict the Divine conduct, often contradicts and exposes itself.

But wisdom is justified of her children.] Those who follow the dictates of true wisdom ever justify, point out as excellent, the holy maxims by which they are guided, for they find the way pleasantness, and the path, peace. Of, here, and in many places of our translation, ought to be written by in modern English.

Some suppose that our blessed Lord applies the epithet of η σοφια, that Wisdom to himself as he does that of Son of man, in the first clause of the verse: and that this refers to the sublime description given of wisdom in Prov. 8. Others have supposed that by the children or sons (τεκνων) of wisdom our Lord means John Baptist and himself, who came to preach the doctrines of true wisdom to the people, and who were known to be teachers come from God by all those who seriously attended to their ministry: they recommending themselves, by the purity of their doctrines, and the holiness of their lives, to every man's conscience in the sight of God. It is likely, however, that by children our Lord simply means the fruits or effects of wisdom, according to the Hebrew idiom, which denominates the fruits or effects of a thing, its children. So in Job 5:7, sparks emitted by coals are termed בני רשף beney resheph, the children of the coal. It was probably this well known meaning of the word, which led the Codex Vaticanus, one of the most ancient MSS. in the world, together with the Syriac, Persic, Coptic, and Ethiopic, to read εργων, works, instead of τεκνων, sons or children. Wisdom is vindicated by her works, i.e. the good effects prove that the cause is excellent.

The children of true wisdom can justify all God's ways in their salvation; as they know that all the dispensations of Providence work together for the good of those who love and fear God. See on Lu 7:35.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) Eating and drinking—i.e., as in the feast in Matthew’s house, or at the marriage-feast of Cana, sharing in the common life of man. The words point almost specifically to the two instances just named, and the very form and phrase recall the question which the Pharisees had asked of the disciples, “Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?” (Luk_5:30).

Wisdom is justified of her children.—Literally, was justified. This is our Lord’s answer for Himself and the Baptist to the contradictory calumnies of the Jews. Men might accuse wisdom, true heavenly wisdom, on this ground or that, but she would be, or rather (the tense implying a generalised fact) is evermore acquitted, justified, acknowledged as righteous, alike in her severer or more joyous forms, by all who are indeed her children, i.e., by all who seek and love her as the mother of their peace and joy. Like so many of our Lord’s other sayings, the parable stretches far and wide through the ages. The evil world rejects all who seek to overcome its evil, some on one pretext, some on another; but true seekers after wisdom will welcome holiness in whatever form it may appear, cheerful or ascetic, Protestant or Romish, Puritan or liberal, so long as it is real and true.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. But wisdom is justified of her children] Wisdom = “divine wisdom”—God regarded as the All Wise. Justified = “is accounted righteous”—“is acquitted of folly.” Of her children = “by the divinely wise.” The spiritual recognise the wisdom of God, both in the austerity of John and in the loving mercy of Jesus who condescends to eat with publicans and sinners.

The word translated but should be and. Either the adversative force lies rather in the whole sentence than in the particle, or the Greek καί is put for the Hebrew connecting particle vau, which is sometimes adversative.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then began he to upbraid the cities,.... When he had sent forth his disciples to preach, and had been in these several cities hereafter mentioned himself, and had taught and preached in them, and confirmed his doctrine by many wonderful works; when he had observed how ill they had used both John and himself, representing the one as having a devil, and the other as a licentious person; when they could not be pleased with the ministry of the one, nor of the other, he very seasonably and righteously began to reproach them with their ungenerous treatment of him, their ingratitude to him, their unbelief in him, the hardness and impenitence of their hearts; which could not be moved to repent of their evil ways, and believe in him, and acknowledge him as the Messiah, by all the instructions he gave them, and miracles he wrought among them: for the cities he has a view to, were such,

wherein most of his mighty works were done; the most for number, and the greatest in their kind; as particularly at Capernaum; where he cured the centurion's servant, recovered Peter's wife's mother from a fever, healed the man sick of a palsy, raised Jairus's daughter from the dead, made whole the woman that had a bloody issue, opened the eyes of two blind men, and cast out a devil from a dumb man, possessed with one: all these, and more, he did in this one city, and therefore he might justly upbraid them,

because they repented not: not because they did not commend him, and speak well of his works, for he sought not his own glory, but their good: all he did was, in order to bring men to repentance of their sins, and faith in himself, that they might be saved.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

Ver. 19. The Son of man came eating and drinking] Teaching us thereby, in the use of things indifferent, to do what we can to preserve our good esteem with others, that we may the sooner prevail with them. This was St Paul’s "all things to all men." He turned himself into all shapes and fashions both of speech and spirit, to win men to God. St Austin spoke broken barbarous Latin to the Roman colonies in Africa, to the end that they might understand him. {a} "When I come to Rome," saith Ambrose to Monica, "I fast on the Saturday: when I am at Milan I fast not." So you, to what church soever you come, eius morem serva, do as others do; not giving offence carelessly, nor taking offence causelessly. Calvin was cast out of Geneva for refusing to administer the Lord’s supper with wafer cakes or unleavened bread. " De quo postea restitutus nunquam contendendum putavit" (saith Beza in his Life), of which being afterwards restored, he thought best to make no more words, but to yield: though he let them know that he had rather it were otherwise. {b} Christ sets us to learn of the unjust steward, by all lawful (though he did it by unlawful) means, to maintain our reputation with men. For this defect he noted in the best, when he said, "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light," Luk 16:8.

But wisdom is justified of her children] Who all having a right estimate of her worth, do meanly esteem of other courses and discourses, do stand to her, and stickle for her, though never so much slighted by the world. There are those who read it thus, "But wisdom is judged of her children," {c} viz. the perverse Jews, who preposterously pass sentence upon their mother, whom they should rather vail to, and vote for.

{a} As Ossum for Os, dolus for dolor, floret for florebit.

{b} Minime tamen dissimulans quod alioqui esset probaturus. Beza.

{c} Iudicatur, vel sententia pronunciatur. Camerar. Scultet.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Come eating and drinking. Whereas John came living in the wilderness on locusts, wild honey, &c. Yet most part of the Jews neither regarded Christ nor St. John: nay the Pharisees here (ver. 18) say of John, that he is possessed with a devil. --- Wisdom is justified by her children. That is, by such as are truly wise; and the sense seems to be, that the divine wisdom and Providence hath been justified, i.e. approved, owned, and declared just and equitable by those that being truly wise, have made good use of the favours and graces offered them at this time of their redemption, when others have remained obstinate in their blindness, and refused to believe in Christ. (Witham) --- That is, the multitude of believers by their faith justify the providence and justice of God, against the calumnies of the wicked; for as these believed, what hindered others also from believing? where it appears that Divine Providence omitted nothing of those things, which were necessary to procure and promote the salvation of men. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The Son of man (Mat_8:20, note) came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold (idou , simply demonstrative, as in the LXX of 1Sa_24:12 2Sa_24:22) a man gluttonous (a gluttonous man, Revised Version, for the Greek, anyrwpov fagov , merely reproduced the original Semitic order), and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. (Mat_9:10, note) A friend. The idea of affection, which through common use of the words has fallen so much into the background both in the Greek filov and our English "friend," is brought out clearly in the Syriac roh mo, which is, perhaps, the very word that our Lord spoke. But; and (Revised Version); kai : i.e. and yet, whatever you may say. Wisdom; i.e. the Divine wisdom, by which all creation was made, (Pro_8:22-31 RAPC Wis 7:22) and which is the source of all true understanding, (Pro_8:12-16) particularly of the will of God. (RAPC Wis 7:27, 28; comp. Luk_11:49, "The Wisdom of God" speaking in Scripture) Is justified (edikaiwyh). The aorist is used either as expressing what is wont to happen (Madvig, Romans a), or perhaps as expressing the completeness of the justification. (cf. eblhyh , Joh_15:6) Nosgen, contrary to New Testament usage, under stands edikaiwyh as meaning "is condemned because of her works" ("So haben sie die Weisheit... um ihrer Werke willen ve rurtheilt"), but the ordinary interpretation holds good that she is acquitted of any error or wrong. Of her children; works (Revised Version); apo twn ergwn authv , with the Sinaitic manuscript and the original hand of the Vatican, besides some of the versions. The common reading, teknwn , has come from Luke. In these words lie the chief difficulty of this difficult sentence. Of (apo) may be used of agents, (comp. Jam_1:13 Jam_5:4 Luk_6:18, almost as though it were upo) but it is more natural to understand it here of the causes or reasons for the verdict. And apo thus gives au excellent sense. Our Lord says that the Divine Wisdom is justified in the minds of men from the results she brings about. Of what is he thinking? Doubtless moral results, and probably those found in the change that might be seen in the publicans and sinners of which he has just been speaking. The Divine Wisdom, which appeared to the careless and unsympathetic so strange and changeable in her methods, is, notwithstanding, pronounced to be in the right, because of the results of her activity, the men and the women brought under her influence. These kaninai ktiseiv (2Co_5:17 Gal_6:15) are always the best justification of misunderstood plans. While, however, this seems the best interpretation of the sentence as recorded in Matthew, it must be confessed that in Luke it appears more natural to understand "her children" as those who justify her; and further, this was probably St. Luke"s own interpretation. For he seems to purposely give an explanation of the apothegm in the verses (Luk_7:29, Luk_7:30) by which he joins the equivalent of our vers. 16-19 to the equivalent of our ver. 11. He there tells us that all the people and the publicans "justified God," having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God"s plan towards them, not having been baptized by him. Wisdom"s children justified her; others did not. Anyhow, ergwn would appear to be the more original of the two terms, for with the explanation preferred above, teknwn would be very easily derived from it. It may, indeed, be due to a more primitive confusion between ahdbO ("her works," cf. Ecc_9:1) and ahDb ("her servants," Hebrew db), this last word being commonly rendered douloi , and, perhaps through paidev , even uioi and tekna (cf. Reseh, "Agrapha," p. 277), but even then it is unlikely that the former and harder reading should be only due to a mistake for the latter. That the harder and metaphorical should be changed into the easier and more literal, even as early as St. Luke"s time, appears much more probable.

The justification of wisdom.

John"s peculiarity was no oddity; it was the power arranged for him in the Divine wisdom. The peculiarity of Jesus was no eccentricity; it was the expression of that Divine Spirit of wisdom which dwelt in him. Men may criticize the methods of John and Jesus; the story of the ages fully justifies the wisdom of those methods.

I WISDOM USES VARIOUS AGENCIES. "The spiritual unfoldings of wisdom in the religions world are manifold." John moves you by his fear and terror; Jesus moves you by his quiet goodness. John"s wisdom thunders; the wisdom of Jesus flows out in mild words. Men "wonder at the gracious words which proceed from his mouth." Through the intellect God appeals to you in one way; and through sympathy in quite another way. How sweetly gentle is electricity in the growth of lilies, and in the generation of birds, bees, butterflies! But in certain conditions it gathers itself up, and flashes in lightning, accompanied with terrible artillery. "Wisdom in John Baptist was ascetic and sincere; in Jesus it was freer, gentler, and sweetly social" (Pulsford). We can never fairly judge an agency until we see how it stands in its relation what it does, what it is calculated to do. Then what seems insignificant and even unsuitable is plainly seen to be an inspiration of wisdom.

II WISDOM IS JUSTIFIED IN THE ADAPTATION OF ITS AGENCIES. Estimate fairly what John had to do, and his austerity and severity are fully justified. Estimate fairly what Jesus has to do, and his friendliness and readiness to enter into the common spheres of life are fully justified. Wisdom is justified in all her methods and changes.

III WISDOM ONLY FALLS TO JUSTIFY ITSELF TO A RIVAL WISDOM. "The children of pride and self-will justify Wisdom in no form. They puff up their own conceit by complaining of every mode in which she presents herself. John comes to them grave enough, earnest as life and death, smiting at the roots of their hereditary nature; but they say, "What a gloomy fellow!" Jesus comes, bland and winning, ready to sit at table with every class of men; but they say, "He is fond of a good dinner and his wine." So that neither can John break them from their old habits, nor Jesus attract them to the Divine-human life. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Son of man came eating and drinking - Conversing in a free, familiar way. Wisdom is justified by her children - That is, my wisdom herein is acknowledged by those who are truly wise.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Son of man (See Scofield "Mat 8:20").

sinners Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. The Son of man came eating. Like other men. He was at the wedding feast of Cana (John 2:1–11); at Matthew's feast, (Matt. 9:10), etc. A wine-bibber. There was nothing singular about his social habits. Like all the people, he drank the light, harmless wine of Palestine, either free from, or with a very slight percentage of, alcohol. Our modern wines are very different. A friend of publicans and sinners. See note on Matt. 9:12, 13. Wisdom is justified of her children. Those who are wise will approve both the course of John and his Lord.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

19. The change from τέκνων to ἔργων is not certain, it is however supported by אB*, by Jerome’s testimony, and by some Versions.

19. For this adversative use of καί, see note ch. Mat 1:19.

δικαιοῦν. Lit. ‘to make right,’ of a person to do him justice, give him what he deserves, either punishment (Thuc. III. 40. Herod. I. 100), or (later) acquittal: here, ‘was acquitted of folly.’ The aorist marks the result, or is the aorist of a customary act—a meaning expressed by the present tense in English.

ἡ σοφία is ‘divine wisdom,’ God regarded as the All-wise. The conception of a personified Wisdom is a growth of later Jewish thought, bringing with it many beautiful associations of Jewish literature, and hallowed by the use of the word in this sense by Christ.

ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων. See critical notes, supra. ἀπό, which strictly marks result, is used of the instrument and of the agent in later Greek. Here the sense is: ‘the results justify the plan or method of divine providence.’

If the reading of the textus receptus be taken, τέκνα τῆς σοφίας = ‘the divinely wise.’ The spiritual recognise the wisdom of God, both in the austerity of John and in the loving mercy of Jesus, who condescends to eat with publicans and sinners.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων] Alluding to our Lord’s practice of frequenting entertainments and feasts, e.g. the marriage at Cana, the feast in Levi’s house, &c. See also ch. 9:14.

καί = and yet; see Joh 16:32.

ἡ σοφία, the divine wisdom which hath ordered these things.

ἐδικ. was justified—the same tense as ἦλθεν both times—refers to the event, q. d., ‘they were events in which wisdom was justified, &c.’ The force of the aorist is not to be lost by giving a present meaning to either of the verbs. The meaning seems to be, that the waywardness above described was not universal, but that the τέκνα σοφίας (in allusion probably to the Book of Proverbs, which constantly uses similar expressions: see ch. 2:1; 3:1, 11, 21; 4:1, &c.) were led to receive and justify (= clear of imputation) the Wisdom of God, who did these things. Cf. Luk 7:29, where in this same narrative it is said, οἱ τελῶναι ἐδικαίωσαν τὸν θεόν, βαπτισθέντες τὸ βάπτισμα Ἰωάννου. The τέκνα σοφίας are opposed to the wayward παιδία above, the childlike to the childish; and thus this verse serves as an introduction to the saying in ver. 25. Chrysostom understands the verse differently: τουτέστιν, εἰ καὶ ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἐπείσθητε, ἀλλʼ ἐμοὶ λοιπὸν ἐγκαλεῖν οὐκ ἔχετε. Thus ὑμεῖς = τὰ τέκνα τῆς σοφ., as being the people of the Lord; and ἡ σοφία is our Lord Himself. This seems far-fetched, and not so consistent with the context as the other interpretation.

ἀπό (reff.), not exactly equivalent to ὑπό, but implying ‘at the hands of’ the person whence the justification comes.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(L) 19. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.] Lk. has again ἐλήλυθεν for ἦλθεν and λέγετε for λέγουσιν. On the other hand, the sociability of Christ, His intercourse with the common people, equally failed to attract His contemporaries. He associates, they said, with men of lax life.

It is clear that this paragraph is aimed at the orthodox Jews, the Pharisees, who judged the Baptist and the Lord by the standard of their Pharisaic righteousness. It seems out of place as addressed to the multitudes, and probably originally belonged to a context in which Christ was addressing the Pharisees. Lk. has endeavoured to prepare for it by inserting 7:29, 30.

(L) And Wisdom was justified by (against) her children.] Lk. has: “all her children.”

This obscure verse is full of difficulty. σοφία is presumably the divine Wisdom of God to whom the Baptist and the Lord alike owed their inspiration. Both had been sent by Wisdom, and the responsibility for the different character of their teaching and methods rested with her. Cf. Luk 11:49 διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ εἶπεν ἀποστελῶ, κ.τ.λ. and see on Mat 23:34.—ἐδικαιώθη] If we suppose that the editor wishes this clause to be taken as a continuation of Christ’s words, the aorist must be compared with the similar aorists in 4:17 (εὐδόκησα), 11:27 (παρεδόθη), 28:18 (ἐδόθη), as implying a pre-temporal foreordaining of future events by the divine Wisdom, which was eternally “justified” as it developed itself in history. If it were not that the clause occurs also in Lk., it would be natural to interpret it (cf. on v. 12), as a comment of the Evangelist reflecting on the fact that the divine Wisdom which had seemed to fail in its methods, so far as Christ’s contemporaries were concerned, had nevertheless justified her plan of action in the history of the Christian Church. If the Jews had failed to respond to her summons, others had obeyed her call; cf. 8:12 the sons of the kingdom rejected, whilst many from east and west take their place. ἀπό here is apparently equivalent to ὑπό; cf. Blass, p. 125. The divine Wisdom, which had planned and carried out its purposes of sending the Baptist and the Son of Man to call the Jews to repentance and to the kingdom, was declared to be right, approved, justified by her children, i.e. by those who did not pass condemnatory judgements on the Baptist and on the Son of Man, but did respond to their teaching, and become their disciples. These showed themselves to be the sons of the Wisdom who called to them through John and through the Son of Man. The clause therefore seems to qualify the “this generation” of v. 16. As a whole, or in large part, they were indeed as irresponsive children unaffected by the message of Baptist or Son of Man. But there were exceptions, Wisdom’s sons. These caught the sound of her voice in the preaching of the Baptist and of Christ, and responded to it. In so doing they justified the methods and agents used by the divine Wisdom. For the “sons” of Wisdom, cf. Pro 8:32, Ecclus 48:11; and in this Gospel the parallel υἱοὶ τῆς βασιλείας, 13:38. Lk. seems to have anticipated the meaning of ἐδικαιώθη in his insertion in 7:29 “All the people and the tax-gatherers justified God, i.e. declared, proved Him to be right by submitting to John’s baptism.” Thus Wisdom was justified of her children. Wellhausen gives a different turn to the passage by taking ἀπό as = מן קדם or מפני = against. The divine Wisdom represented by John and Jesus was justified against her children, i.e. the Jews, in so far as their complaints against her (vv. 18, 19) were seen to be contentious contradictions. For “sons of Wisdom” as = the Jews, cf. the υἱοὶ τῆς βασιλείας of 8:12, which also is equivalent to the Jews.

19. τέκνων] B2 D al S1 S2 a c k; ἔργων, א, B* S3 S4 codd. ap. Hier. In Lk. ἔργων is read by א only. It might be urged that τέκνων in Mt. is due to assimilation to Lk.; but, on the other hand, ἔργων may be a late conjectural emendation. There seems to be no trace of it before the fourth century.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.