Matthew 16:28

Mat 16:28. Verily, there be some standing here, &c. — And that you may not doubt that there shall be a day of judgment, when I shall come clothed with divine majesty, to render unto men according to their actions in this life, let me assure you there are some here present that shall not die till they shall see a faint representation of this, in events which will soon take place, especially in my coming to set up my mediatorial kingdom with great power and glory, in the increase of my church, and the destruction of mine enemies. Accordingly the disciples saw their Master coming in his kingdom, when they were witnesses of his transfiguration, resurrection, and ascension, and the miraculous gifts of his Spirit conferred upon them; and lived to see Jerusalem, with the Jewish state, destroyed, and the gospel propagated through the greatest part of the then known world.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:28 This saying has been taken to refer either to (1) the transfiguration that follows (17:1-13); (2) the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (27:50-53; 28:1-10); (3) Pentecost (Acts 2:1-47); (4) the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 (Matt 24:1-31); (5) the second coming of Christ in the future (24:29-31); or (6) an unfolding revelation of God’s Kingdom in various ways, including the evangelism of the world. In the fourth view, coming would mean “coming in judgment” upon sinful Israel. • The expression Son of Man (16:27-28) forms an inclusio (bracketing expression) with 16:13, unifying 16:13-28 around the theme of the identity of the Son of Man. He is the Messiah who would suffer and then be exalted by God and return as Judge.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 16:28. Τινὲς, some) Our Lord does not mention them by name; and it was profitable for them not to know that they were the persons meant.[772] Peter then scarcely hoped that he would be one of them.—ὧδε, here) A strikingly demonstrative particle.—ἓως ἄν ἴδωσι, until they see) Something is indicated which was to happen, but not immediately (otherwise all, or nearly all, would have lived to that time), but yet something which would take place in that generation of men. This term (terminus) or period has various intervals: the vision, or seeing, various degrees up to the death of those who saw it, which followed at various times: cf. in Luk 2:26, the expression πρὶν ἢ ἴδη, before he had seen, used with regard to Simeon. And the advent of the Son of Man advanced another step before the death of James (see Act 2:36), and passim till Mat 12:2, and cf. Heb 2:5-7); another before the death of Peter (see 2Pe 1:14; 2Pe 1:19, and Luk 21:31); another, and that the highest, before the death of John, in the most magnificent revelation of His coming, which the beloved disciple has himself described (see Gnomon on Joh 21:22); a revelation to which the event foretold will correspond; see Mat 16:27, and ch. Mat 26:64. And a previous proof of this matter was given in a week[773] from this time on the Mount of Transfiguration; and, at the same time, out of all the disciples those were chosen who should most especially see it. It is beyond question, that those three[774] who witnessed our Lord’s transfiguration were peculiarly favoured with reference to the subsequent manifestations of His glory. This saying of our Lord appears to have been referred to, but not rightly understood, by those who imagined that the last day was near at hand.—τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον, the Son of Man coming) His conspicuous coming to judgment (see Gnomon on Mat 16:13) is meant, which would begin to follow immediately after His ascension.[775]

[772] And He may have thereby also at the same time sharpened others.—V. g.

[773] “After six days,” chap. Mat 17:1.—ED.

[774] Of whom James, in the year 44, Peter in 67, John in 102, are generally said to have died.—Harm., p. 372.

[775] Bengel, J. A. (1860). Vol. 1: Gnomon of the New Testament (M. E. Bengel & J. C. F. Steudel, Ed.) (J. Bandinel & A. R. Fausset, Trans.) (251–333). Edinburgh: T&T Clark.

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

Mat_16:28. Having affirmed the certainty of the second coming and the divine retribution, He now proceeds to do the same with regard to their nearness.

εἰσί τινες κ.τ.λ.] which refers to those present generally, and not merely to the disciples, presupposes that the majority of them will have died previous to the event in question.

γεύσωνται θανάτου] The experiencing of death regarded as a tasting of it (of its pains). See note on Joh_8:52, and Wetstein.

ἕως κ.τ.λ.] not as though they were to die afterwards, but what is meant is, that they will still be living when it takes place. Comp. Mat_24:34; Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 2, p. 629 f.

ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ] not for εἰς τὴν κ.τ.λ. (Beza, Raphel, and others), but as a king in all His regal authority (Plat. Rep. p. 499 B: τῶν νῦν ἐν δυναστείαις ἢ βασιλείαις ὄντων). Luk_23:42. There is no substantial difference between the present prediction of Jesus as to His impending advent in glorious majesty (comp. Mat_10:23, Mat_24:34), and that in Mar_9:1; Luk_9:27. The βασιλεία cannot be supposed to come without the βασιλεύς. This, at the same time, in answer to Ebrard (comp. Baumeister in Klaibers Studien, II. 1, p. 19), who interprets this passage, not of the second coming to judgment, but, laying stress on the ἐν (against which the ἐν τῇ δόξῃ, Mat_16:27, should have duly warned), understands it as referring to the founding of the church, and particularly to what took place at Pentecost, and that notwithstanding the context and the words εἰσί τινες, etc., which, if this view were adopted, would be entirely out of place (Glass, Calovius). It is likewise to explain it away in a manner no less arbitrary, to understand the passage in the sense of a figurative coming in the destruction of Jerusalem and the diffusion of Christianity (Jac. Cappellus, Wetstein, Kuinoel, Schott, Glöckler, Bleek), or of the triumphant historical development of the gospel (Erasmus, Klostermann, Schenkel), or of the powerful influences of the spirit of the glorified Messiah as extending over the world (Paulus). Others, such as Beda, Vatablus, Maldonatus, Jansen, Clarius, Corn. a Lapide, following Chrysostom, Euth. Zigabenus, Theophylact, have so strangely perverted Christs prediction as even to make it refer to the incident of the transfiguration immediately following.

On the impending advent in general, see the observations at the close of ch. 24.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 16:28 . crux interpretum , supposed by some to refer to the Transfiguration (Hilary, Chrys., Euthy., Theophy., etc.); by others to the destruction of Jerusalem (Wetstein, etc.); by others again to the origins of the Church (Calvin, Grotius, etc.). The general meaning can be inferred with certainty from the purpose to furnish an additional incentive to fidelity. It is: Be of good courage, there will be ample compensation for trial soon ; for some of you even before you die. This sense excludes the Transfiguration, which came too soon to be compensatory. The uncertainty comes in in connection with the form in which the general truth is stated. As to that, Christ’s speech was controlled not merely by His own thoughts but by the hopes of the future entertained by His disciples. He had to promise the advent of the Son of Man in His Kingdom or of the Kingdom of God in power (Mk.) within a generation, whatever His own forecast as to the future might be. That might postulate a wider range of time than some of His words indicate, just as some of His utterances and His general spirit postulate a wide range in space for the Gospel (universalism) though He conceived of His own mission as limited to Israel. If the logion concerning the Church (Mat 16:18 ) be genuine, Jesus must have conceived a Christian era to be at least a possibility, for why trouble about founding a Church if the wind-up was to come in a few years? The words of Jesus about the future provide for two possible alternatives: for a near advent and for an indefinitely postponed advent. His promises naturally contemplate the former; much of His teaching about the kingdom easily fits into the latter. γεύσωνται θ .: a Hebrew idiom, but not exclusively so. For examples of the figure of tasting applied to experiences, vide Elsner in Mk. For Rabbinical use, vide Schöttgen and Wetstein. ἕως ἄν ἴδωσι , subjunctive after ἐν ἄν as usual in classics and N. T. in a clause referring to a future contingency depending on a verb referring to future time.

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

By his kingdom is understood the glory of his ascension, and what followeth thereof, Eph. 4:10, or the preaching of the Gospel, Mark 9:1.

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

Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here--"some of those standing here."

which shall not taste of death, fill they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom--or, as in Mark (Mar 9:1), "till they see the kingdom of God come with power"; or, as in Luke (Luk 9:27), more simply still, "till they see the kingdom of God." The reference, beyond doubt, is to the firm establishment and victorious progress, in the lifetime of some then present, of that new kingdom of Christ, which was destined to work the greatest of all changes on this earth, and be the grand pledge of His final coming in glory.

Next: Matthew Chapter 17

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 28. There be some - which shall not taste of death] This verse seems to confirm the above explanation, as our Lord evidently speaks of the establishment of the Christian Church after the day of pentecost, and its final triumph after the destruction of the Jewish polity; as if he had said, "Some of you, my disciples, shall continue to live until these things take place." The destruction of Jerusalem, and the Jewish economy, which our Lord here predicts, took place about forty-three years after this: and some of the persons now with him doubtless survived that period, and witnessed the extension of the Messiah's kingdom; and our Lord told them these things before, that when they came to pass they might be confirmed in the faith, and expect an exact fulfilment of all the other promises and prophecies which concerned the extension and support of the kingdom of Christ.

To his kingdom, or in his kingdom. Instead of βασιλεια, kingdom, four MSS., later Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Saxon, and one copy of the Itala, with several of the primitive fathers, read δοξη, glory: and to this is added, του πατρος αυτου, of his Father, by three MSS. and the versions mentioned before. This makes the passage a little more conformable to the passage already quoted from Daniel; and it must appear, very clearly, that the whole passage speaks not of a future judgment, but of the destruction of the Jewish polity, and the glorious spread of Christianity in the earth, by the preaching of Christ crucified by the apostles and their immediate successors in the Christian Church.

1. THE disciples, by being constantly with their Master, were not only guarded against error, but were taught the whole truth: we should neglect no opportunity of waiting upon God; while Jesus continues to teach, our ear and heart should be open to receive his instructions. That what we have already received may be effectual, we must continue to hear and pray on. Let us beware of the error of the Pharisees! They minded only external performances, and those things by which they might acquire esteem and reputation among men; thus, humility and love, the very soul of religion, were neglected by them: they had their reward-the approbation of those who were as destitute of vital religion as themselves. Let us beware also of the error of the Sadducees, who, believing no other felicity but what depended on the good things of this world, became the flatterers and slaves of those who could bestow them, and so, like the Pharisees, had their portion only in this life. All false religions and false principles conduct to the same end, however contrary they appear to each other. No two sects could be more opposed to each other than the Sadducees and Pharisees, yet their doctrines lead to the same end - they are both wedded to this world, and separated from God in the next.

2. From the circumstance mentioned in the conclusion of this chapter, we may easily see the nature of the kingdom and reign of Christ: it is truly spiritual and Divine; having for its object the present holiness and future happiness of mankind. Worldly pomp, as well as worldly maxims, were to be excluded from it. Christianity forbids all worldly expectations, and promises blessedness to those alone who bear the cross, leading a life of mortification and self-denial. Jesus Christ has left us an example that we should follow his steps. How did he live? - What views did he entertain? - In what light did he view worldly pomp and splendour? These are questions which the most superficial reader may, without difficulty, answer to his immediate conviction. And has not Christ said that the disciple is not ABOVE the Master? If HE humbled himself, how can he look upon those who, professing faith in his name, are conformed to the world and mind earthly things? These disciples affect to be above their Lord; and as they neither bear his cross, nor follow him in the regeneration, they must look for another heaven than that in which he sits at the right hand of God. This is an awful subject; but how few of those called Christians lay it to heart!

3. The term CHURCH in Greek εκκλησια, occurs for the first time in Mt 16:18. The word simply means an assembly or congregation, the nature of which is to be understood from connecting circumstances; for the word εκκλησια, as well as the terms congregation and assembly, may be applied to any concourse of people, good or bad; gathered together for lawful or unlawful purposes. Hence, it is used, Ac 19:32, for the mob, or confused rabble, gathered together against Paul, εκκλησια συγκεχυμενη, which the town-clerk distinguished, Ac 19:39, from a lawful assembly, εννομω εκκλεσια. The Greek word εκκλησια seems to be derived from εκκαλεω, to call out of, or from, i.e. an assembly gathered out of a multitude; and must have some other word joined to it, to determine its nature: viz. the Church of God; the congregation collected by God, and devoted to his service. The Church of Christ: the whole company of Christians wheresoever found; because, by the preaching of the Gospel, they are called out of the spirit and maxims of the world, to live according to the precepts of the Christian religion. This is sometimes called the Catholic or universal Church, because constituted of all the professors of Christianity in the world, to whatever sects or parties they may belong: and hence the absurdity of applying the term Catholic, which signifies universal, to that very small portion of it, the Church of Rome. In primitive times, before Christians had any stated buildings, they worshipped in private houses; the people that had been converted to God meeting together in some one dwelling-house of a fellow-convert, more convenient and capacious than the rest; hence the Church that was in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, Ro 16:3; Ro 16:5, and 1Co 16:19, and the Church that was in the house of Nymphas, Col 4:15. Now, as these houses were dedicated to the worship of God, each was termed κυριου οικος kuriou oikos, the house of the Lord; which word, in process of time, became contracted into κυριοικ kurioik, and κυριακη, kuriake; and hence the kirk of our northern neighbours, and [Anglo-Saxon] kirik of our Saxon ancestors, from which, by corruption, changing the hard Saxon c into ch, we have made the word church. This term, though it be generally used to signify the people worshipping in a particular place, yet by a metonymy, the container being put for the contained, we apply it, as it was originally, to the building which contains the worshipping people.

In the proper use of this word there can be no such thing as THE church, exclusively; there may be A church, and the CHURCHES, signifying a particular congregation, or the different assemblies of religious people: and hence, the Church of Rome, by applying it exclusively to itself, abuses the term, and acts as ridiculously as it does absurdly. Church is very properly defined in the 19th article of the Church of England, to be "a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments duly administered, according to Christ's ordinance."

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

(28) There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death . . .—The immediate sequence of the vision of the Son of Man transfigured from the low estate in which He then lived and moved, into the “excellent glory” which met the gaze of the three disciples, has led not a few interpreters to see in that vision the fulfilment of this prediction. A closer scrutiny of the words must, however, lead us to set aside that interpretation, except so far as the Transfiguration bore witness to what had till then been the latent possibilities of His greatness. To speak of something that was to take place within six days as to occur before some of those who heard the words should taste of death (comp. Joh_8:52, Heb_2:9, for the form of the expression) would hardly have been natural; nor does the vision, as such, satisfy the meaning of the words “coming in His kingdom.” The solution of the problem is to be found in the great prophecy of Matthew 24. In a sense which was real, though partial, the judgment which fell upon the Jewish Church, the destruction of the Holy City and the Temple, the onward march of the Church of Christ, was as the coming of the Son of Man in His kingdom. His people felt that He was not far off from every one of them. He had come to them in “spirit and in power,” and that advent was at once the earnest and the foreshadowing of the “great far-off event,” the day and hour of which were hidden from the angels of God, and even from the Son of Man Himself (Mar_13:32). The words find their parallel in those that declared that “This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled” (Mat_24:34). That such words should have been recorded and published by the Evangelists is a proof either that they accepted that interpretation, if they wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem, or, if we assume that they were led by them to look for the “end of all things” as near at hand, that they wrote before the generation of those who then stood by had passed away; and so the very difficulty that has perplexed men becomes a proof of the early date of the three Gospels that contain the record.

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

28. Taste of death] Compare

The valiant never taste of death but once. Jul. Caes. Act. ii. 2.

St Matthew’s version of this “hard saying” indicates more plainly than the other Synoptic Gospels, the personal presence of Christ. St Mark has, “till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power;” St Luke, “till they see the kingdom of God;” but the meaning in each case is the same. Various solutions are given. The expression is referred to (1) the Transfiguration, (2) the Day of Pentecost, (3) the Fall of Jerusalem. The last best fulfils the conditions of interpretation—a judicial coming—a signal and visible event, and one that would happen in the lifetime of some, but not of all, who were present.

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.

28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

Ver. 28. Which shall not taste of death] The saints do but taste of death only, they do no more but sip of that bitter cup, which for tasting of that forbidden fruit in the garden, they should have been swilling and swallowing down for ever.

Till they see the Son of man, &c.] This verse is to be referred to the transfiguration recorded in the next chapter, where some of them had the happiness to see Christ in his kingdom; that is, in his heavenly glory, whereof they had a glimpse.

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.

Till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Some expound this, as fulfilled at his transfiguration, which follows in the next chapter. Others understand it of the glory of Christ, and of his Church, after his resurrection and ascension, when he should be owned for Redeemer of the world: and this state of the Christian Church might be called the kingdom of Christ. (Witham) --- This promise of a transitory view of his glory he makes, to prove that he should one day come in all the glory of his Father, to judge each man according to his works: not according to his mercy, or their faith, but according to their works. (St. Augustine, de verb. apos. serm. 35.) --- Again, asks St. Augustine how could our Saviour reward every one according to his works, if there were no free will? (lib. ii. chap. 4. 5. 8, de act. cum Fœlic. Manich.) (Bristow)

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).

Mark saith, Mar 9:1, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power; Luk 9:27, saith no more than till they see the kingdom of God. There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, that is, that shall not die. Heb 2:9. It is the same with not seeing death, Joh 8:51,52; Heb 11:5. The great question is, what is here meant by the

Son of man coming in his kingdom. It cannot be meant of his second coming to judgment, spoken of immediately before, for all who stood there have long since tasted of death, yet is not that day come. Some understand it of that sight of Christ’s glory which Peter, and James, and John had at Christ’s transfiguration, of which we shall read in the next chapter; and I should be very inclinable to this sense, (for there was a glimpse of the glory of the Father mentioned Mat 16:27) were it not for those words added by Mark,

till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. This inclineth others to think, that it is to be understood of Christ’s showing forth his power in the destruction of Jerusalem. But the most generally received opinion, and which seemeth to be best, is, that the coming of the Son of man here meant is, his resurrection from the dead. His ascension into heaven, and sending the Holy Spirit, after which the kingdom of grace came with a mighty power, subduing all nations to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was declared, (or determined), to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Rom 1:4. And when, after his resurrection from the dead, they asked him, Act 1:6, whether he would at that time restore the kingdom to Israel, he puts them off, and tells them for an answer, Act 1:8, But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And then, Act 1:9, he in their sight ascended up into heaven. Then did the kingdom of the Son of man come with power, Act 2:33-36, they knowing assuredly that the Son of man, whom the Jews had crucified, was made both Lord and Christ, as Act 2:36, and, as Act 2:34,35, set at God’s right hand, (according to the prophecy of David, Psa 90:1), until his enemies should be made his footstool.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

28. Verily I say — The accomplishment of the enterprise for which they toil and earn a martyr’s reward is now stated. Son of man coming — Is parallel with Mat_10:23; both are fulfilled at Christ’s resurrection. As the Son of man would be come before the apostles had gone over the cities of Israel, so these same apostles standing here should see the Son of man coming. Some standing here would refer to the eleven apostles, excluding Judas, who did not behold Christ in his resurrection power.

These eleven were only some, not all, of those standing here; for it appears by Mar_8:34, that Jesus had called the people to be present at this discourse with his disciples. The declaration that they should see the Son of man at that time is too plainly literal for any fulfilment at the destruction of Jerusalem.

Instead of the phrase “Son of man coming in his kingdom,” Saint Mark has, (Mat_9:1 :) “Until they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” Luke has: “Until they see the kingdom of God.” We may fairly suppose that our Lord used the expressions given both by Matthew and Mark, which include that of Luke. It would then be that some there standing should not taste of death until they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom; and the kingdom itself come with power. These two phrases express the commencing and continuative points of the same thing. The coming in his kingdom was at his resurrection; the coming of the kingdom of God with power was the consequent miraculous establishment of Christianity on earth. The latest surviving apostles saw both of these before their death. Our Lord’s “coming in his kingdom,” was when he came from Paradise to resume his body, now glorified, and was invested, as prophetically seen by Daniel, (Dan_7:13-14,) with “a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him.” He then declared that “ALL POWER” was given into his hands, and commissioned his disciples to go and disciple all nations. The keys of the kingdom of heaven were put into their hands, and they were to open the doors to the believers of all peoples. Compare on Mat_28:18.

It has been objected that the “phrase shall not taste of death until,” implies a considerable distance of time. This objection is correct, and it refutes the application of the passage, which some commentators have made, to the transfiguration, and even its exclusive application to the resurrection of the Lord. But of the whole then present, including the people, none but the eleven disciples saw the resurrection, which was the Son of man coming in his kingdom; and some of these same eleven lived until they saw the kingdom of God come with power by the complete miraculous establishment of Christianity in the earth, as well as the disappearance of the old dispensation before it. To this interpretation, therefore, of both phrases taken together, the implied length of time is no objection.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This verse has always been a crux to commentators, who cannot decide what is the event to which it refers. Many, taking it in connection with the preceding announcement, refer it exclusively to the day of judgment; but this idea is not compatible with Christ"s assertion that some present shall see it ere they die. Nor can it refer to Christ"s resurrection and ascension, and the mission of the Holy Ghost, which took place only half a year after this time, and the prediction of which so short a time before could not have been introduced in the terms here used. Other expositors, and some of great name, agree that the event to which Christ alludes is his transfiguration narrated in the next chapter. But there are insuperable objections to this view. How could Christ assert in the most solemn manner, Verily, I say unto you, that some of his hearers would tire to witness an event which was to occur only a week hence? Nor is it likely that he would thus publicly announce a transaction which was strictly private, seen only by three chosen witnesses, who were further charged not to reveal the vision till the Son of man was risen from the dead. The Lord had been telling of the final judgment; he now announces, with the formula used by him to present some revelation of Divine truth, that there was to be a coming of the Son of man at no very distant date. This advent is doubtless the destruction of Jerusalem, which, as it occurred only some forty years after this time, some of his auditors, apostles and the multitude, would live to behold. This great event was a type of the second advent, the two being closely connected by Christ himself. (see Mt 24) There is some truth in all the views that have obtained concerning this passage: "The prophecy unfolded itself by degrees; it has put forth buds and blossoms, but it will not be in its full bloom of accomplishment till the great day" (Wordsworth). There was some display of Christ"s kingdom at the Transfiguration; another at his resurrection, and the events consequent thereupon; but the great one was when the overthrow of Jerusalem and its temple made way for the full establishment and development of the gospel, putting an end to the first dispensation. Some standing (of them that stand) here. Among the apostles St. John certainly survived the destruction of Jerusalem. There seems to be no recondite meaning in the term "standing," as if it signified "remaining steadfastly by me, adhering to my side;" as, taste of death is merely a periphrasis for "die," and has not the sense of tasting the bitterness of death, experiencing its sting. It appears to have been originally a metaphor derived from a nauseous draught, which every one must drain. Coming in his kingdom. Not "into his kingdom," but in the power and glory that appertain to his kingdom. Not that he will personally appear, but his mystical presence will be seen by its effects, the judgment on the Jewish nation, the establishment of a spiritual, yet visible kingdom in the place of the old covenant. There may be a similar allusion in Christ"s words about St. John, "If I will that he tarry till I come", (Joh_21:23) and "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled" (Mat_24:34) where the dissolution of the Jewish polity is the event signified.

The coming of the Son of man.

"Not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." This is immediately suggested. "Christ"s coming," and "Christ"s coming in his kingdom," must be phrases used with a variety of meanings and with a variety of references. We begin to feel that it must be used as a proverbial phrase. Various explanations of our Lord"s meaning have been given. Examine three.

I CHRIST CAME IN HIS KINGDOM AT THE TRANSFIGURATION. This meaning is suggested by the fact that the narrative of the Transfiguration immediately succeeds, and the evangelist appears designedly to set them in close connection. That was a very sublime manifestation of his glory, but it is difficult to understand how it could be called a "coming of the kingdom." Moreover, there is no point in saying that some would be spared to the coming of the kingdom, when all were to be spared over the Transfiguration. That explanation cannot be regarded as satisfactory.

II CHRIST CAME IN HIS KINGDOM AT THE DAY OF PENTECOST. That is properly regarded as the actual starting of Christ"s new and spiritual kingdom. In part it may fulfil the reference of our Lord. But here again the difficulty occurs that the apostolic band was intact at the Day of Pentecost, with the exception of the traitor Judas, who had "gone to his own place." It is hardly possible to rest satisfied with this explanation.

III CHRIST CAME IN HIS KINGDOM AT THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. "This was a judicial coming, a signal and visible event, and one that would happen in the lifetime of some, but not of all, of those present." John certainly lived beyond this event. "In a sense which was real, though partial, the judgment which felt upon the Jewish Church, the destruction of the holy city and the temple, the onward march of the Church of Christ, was as the coming of the Son of man in his kingdom." This is altogether the most satisfactory suggestion; and we need only suppose that Christ was carried away in his thoughts beyond the present, and was helped in thinking of the sufferings that were immediately before him, by comforting visions of the success and glory which would follow his suffering and his sacrifice in the world"s by and by. 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.

And as an emblem of this, there are some here who shall live to see the Messiah coming to set up his mediatorial kingdom, with great power and glory, by the increase of his Church, and the destruction of the temple, city, and polity of the Jews.

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

his kingdom

(See Scofield "Mat 3:2").

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

A threefold sense and interpretation is given of these words.

1. Some will have them refer to our Saviour’s transfiguration mentioned in the next chapter: as if he had said, "Some of you, as Peter, James, and John, shall shortly see me upon mount Tabor, in such glory as I will come into judgment."

2. Others understand the words of Christ’s exercising his kingly power in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation; which St. John did have to see.

3. Others refer the words to the time of the gospel after Christ’s resurrection and ascension, when the gospel was propagated and spread far and near, There are some standing here, that shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come with power Mar 9:1; that is, till they see the increase and enlargement of the the church by the gospel.

Thence note, That where the gospel is powerfully preached, and cheerfully obeyed, there Christ cometh most gloriously in his kingdom.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. Shall not taste death, till they see the Son of man. The reference is not to his final coming to judge the world, but to his spiritual coming to establish his kingdom. This was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Mark (9:1) shows the meaning by substituting, “Till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” The “coming of the Son of man in his kingdom” means, therefore, the same as “the kingdom of God come with power.” Compare Acts 1:8, and Luke 24:49. The kingdom came with power on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1).

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.

28. οὐ μὴ γεύσωνται θανάτου κ.τ.λ. Compare

The valiant never taste of death but once.

SHAKSPEAR, Jul. Cæs. Act II, 2.

St Matthew’s version of this ‘hard saying’ indicates more plainly than the other Synoptic Gospels the personal presence of Christ. St Luke has, ἕως ἂν ἴδωσιν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ: St Mark adds to these words, ἐληλυθυῖαν ἐν δυνάμει: but the meaning in each case is the same. Various solutions are given. The expression is referred to (1) the Transfiguration, (2) the Day of Pentecost, (3) the Fall of Jerusalem. The last best fulfils the conditions of interpretation—a judicial coming—a signal and visible event, and one that would happen in the lifetime of some, but not of all, who were present. To take ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ in a literal external sense would be to repeat St Peter’s error, and to ignore the explanation of the Kingdom just given.

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.

28.] This declaration refers, in its full meaning, certainly not to the transfiguration which follows, for that could in no sense (except that of being a foretaste; cf. Peter’s own allusion to it, 2Pe 1:17, where he evidently treats it as such) be named ‘the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom,’ and the expression, τινὲς … οὐ μὴ γ. θ., indicates a distant event,—but to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the full manifestation of the Kingdom of Christ by the annihilation of the Jewish polity; which event, in this aspect as well as in all its terrible attendant details, was a type and earnest of the final coming of Christ. See Joh 21:22, and compare Deu 32:36 with Heb 10:30. This dreadful destruction was indeed judgment beginning at the house of God. The interpretation of Meyer, &c., that our Lord referred to His ultimate glorious παρουσία, the time of which was hidden from Himself (see Mar 13:32: Act 1:7), is self-contradictory on his own view of the Person of Christ.

That our Lord, in His humanity in the flesh, did not know the day and the hour, we have from His own lips: but that not knowing it, He should have uttered a determinate and solemn prophecy of it, is utterly impossible. His ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν always introduces His solemn and authoritative revelations of divine truth. The fact is, there is a reference back in this discourse to that in ch. 10, and the coming here spoken of is the same as that in ver. 23 there. Stier well remarks that this cannot be the great and ultimate coming, on account of οὐ μὴ γεύσ. θανάτου ἕως ἂν ἴδωσιν, which implies that they should taste of death after they had seen it, and would therefore be inapplicable to the final coming (Reden Jesu, ii. 224). This is denied by Wordsw., who substitutes for the simple sense of οὐ μὴ γεύσ. θαν. the fanciful expositions, “shall not feel its bitterness,” “shall not taste of the death of the soul,” and then, thus interpreting, gives the prophecy the very opposite of its plain sense: “they will not taste of death till I come: much less will they taste of it then.” It might be difficult to account for such a curious wresting of meaning, had he not added, “the signification of ἕως ἄν here may be compared to ἕως οὗ in Mat 1:25.” “Latet anguis in herba.”

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

28. Verily I say to you, That there are some of those who stand here who shall not taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.] Mk. has: “And He was saying to them, Verily I say to you, that there are some here of the bystanders who shall not taste of death until they see the kingdom of God come with power.” The ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς of Mk. may be a hint that this saying was not spoken on the same occasion as the preceding. However that may be, Mt. Omits καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς, and connects the words closely with the foregoing. By substituting τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ for τήν βασιλέαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐληλυθυῖαν ἐν δυνάμει, he makes it clear that what the “some of those who stand here” will see is the coming of the Son of Man “in the glory of His Father,” or “in His kingdom.” That is to say, he believed that that coming would take place in the lifetime of some of Christ’s contemporaries. The same belief finds expression in 10:23 and 24:34, and has an important bearing on the date of the Gospel.—ἀμήν] see on 5:18.—γεύεσθαι θανάτου] was a Jewish phrase; cf. Schlatter, Die Sprache and Heimat des Vierten Evangelisten, p. 35. It occurs in Joh 8:52, Heb 2:9.

M the Second Gospel.

E editorial passages.

al i.e. with other uncial MSS.

X passages in which Mt. and Lk. agree closely, borrowed from an unknown source or sources.

S Syriac version: Sinaitic MS.

S Syriac version: Curetonian.

Polyb. Polybius.

1 ἔχουσιν. So B. D has εἷχαν, and a b i q haberent. S1 has “there is no bread.” א A C al assimilate to Mt. by substituting ἔχομεν and inserting λέγοντες. But Mk.’s ἔχουσιν is ambiguous. The clause might be rendered, “They were disputing (cf. 9:34) because they have no bread,” without any apparent reference to the leaven of the preceding verse, which does not appear again in Mk.’s narrative. Mt. by inserting λέγοντες and changing ἔχουσιν into έλάβομεν, connects the “reasoning” with the preceding saying, and so prepares for his insertion of vv. 11, 12.

O quotations from the Old Testament borrowed from a collection of Messianic prophecies. See pp.61 f.

L the Matthæan Logia.

Win.-Schm. Winer-Schmiedel.

Dalm. Dalman.

B. Babylonian Talmud.

Ps.-Sol. The Psalms of Solomon.

Tat. Tatian.

Class. Rev. Classical Review.

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