Matthew 20:26

Mat_20:26-28

And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

True greatness

Greatness a word often used, and peoples ideas of it differ much.

Some regard it as consisting in wealth, social position, physical strength. Christ places it in service, springing from love in the heart. Mans true greatness must be in himself.

1. The importance of a true ideal of life.

2. This true ideal can be realized by every one of us. No life need be a failure. (C. O. Bridgman, D. D.)

Greatness measured by service

I. Greatness is to be measured by service. No man lives or dies to himself. Florence Nightingale moved other women most when she herself went to minister on battle fields.

II. The greater men are in intellect and culture, the more imperative it is that they become leaders and helpers. If a man has power to do good and refuses, he is not guiltless.

III. Those who thus labour for the good of their fellow-men are the greatest. Love is the greatest power on the earth. (G. Anderson, D. D.)

Basis of true greatness

1. Our Lord does not condemn the spirit of ambition, but simply aims to point out the basis of real greatness. He regarded His disciples, in a certain sense, as kings, but He would have them establish their regal right in a different manner from the princes of this world.

2. In how many scriptural promises do we find this principle recognized. They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever: St. Paul says, There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, etc.

3. Rank in the kingdom of heaven will be measured by humility. Condescension is the measure of exaltation. The way up to the glory of the Exalted One is through humble, self-denying love. (R. W. Clark, D. D.)

The greatness of being useful

Yet what has the patriot made himself but the servant of his countrymen: It was in order to the ministering to the well-being of thousands, that he threw himself into the breach, and challenged tyranny to the battle. It was for the sake of securing the rights of those who trod the same soil with himself, that he arose as the champion of the wretched and injured. The case is the same with the philosopher as with the patriot. Accordingly, he who labours in the mine of truth, and presents to the world the results of his investigations, furnishes his fellow-men with new principles on which to act in the business of life, and thus equips them for fresh enterprises, and instructs them how to add to the sum total of happiness. We need not exemplify this in particular instances. You are all aware how scientific research is turned to account in everyday life, and how the very lowest of our people enjoy, in one way or another, the fruits of discoveries which are due to the marvellous sagacity, and the repeated experiments, of those who rank foremost in the annals of philosophy. And thus it is evident that the man who is great in science, is great in the power of serving his fellow-men, and that it is this latter greatness which insures him their applauses. If his discoveries were of no benefit to the many; if they opened no means by which enjoyments might be multiplied, toil diminished, or danger averted; his name would be known only within a limited circle, and there would be nothing that approached to a general recognition of superiority. The individual again who gains renown as a statesman, who serves his country in the senate as the warrior in the field, is the minister to all classes, so that the very lowest have the profit of his toils. And in proportion as the service wore the aspect of selfishness, would the tribute of applause be diminished: we should be less and less disposed to allow, that, in making himself a servant, he had made himself great, if we had increasing cause to think that his main design was the serving himself. But there is no room for suspicions of this class, when the exhibition is that of a fine Christian philanthropy, leading a man to give his assiduity to the sick-beds of the poor, or the prisons of the criminal. Accordingly, when an individual is manifestly and strongly actuated by this philanthropy, there is an almost universal consent in awarding him the appellation of great: even those who would be amongst the last to imitate are amongst the first to applaud. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Pride destroys the best elements of character

The rebel against lawful authority cannot be truly great: the slave of his own passions cannot be truly great: the idolater of his own powers cannot be truly great. And the proud man is this rebel, this slave, this idolater; for pride spurns at the Divine dominion, gives vigour to depraved affections, and exaggerates all our powers. What, then, can be more accurate than that pride destroys the chief elements of which a great character is compounded, so that it must be to direct a man in the way to eminence, to prescribe that he be clothed with humility? (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Christ our Redeemer because our servant

But if Christ thus made Himself servant to the human race, it is this very fact which is to draw to Him finally universal homage. Had He not been their servant, He could not have been their Redeemer; and, if not their Redeemer, then at His name would not every knee have bowed, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. Thus He illustrates His own precept: He became great through redeeming; but since lie redeemed through making Himself the minister to a lost world, lie became great through becoming a servant. (H. Melvill, B. D. )

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

Mat 20:26. Οὐχ οὕτως δὲ ἔσται ἐν ὑμῖν, but it shall not be so among you) “It appears to me not at all natural to suppose that all use and exercise of civil authority is in this passage utterly forbidden to those to whom these words apply, and much less so that our Lord meant to forbid, by these words, all precedence and inequality amongst His followers, since He Himself both expressly recognises degrees amongst them, by which some are preferred to others, as greater to less (see Luk 22:26), and also proposes Himself to them as an example (ὑπόδειγμα); see ibid. 27; Mat 20:28. Christ therefore, by this prohibition, did not derogate more from the authority of His followers over each other, than He did from His own over them.”—GATAKER: hierarchically enough.—ἐν ὑμῖν, amongst you) These words “seem to apply to all Christians, whether princes or plebeians.”—Ibid. “Christ teaches that His kingdom is carried on upon different principles from those of this world; for that in those there were external dignities, princedoms, and satrapies, which the respective kings were in the habit of conferring, according to their caprice, upon those whom they wished to honour; but that in His kingdom nothing of this sort was to be found; not because those things were not to be met with, or might not be lawfully exercised in the Church of Christ or amongst the professors of the Christian name, but because they do not pertain to, or arise from, the spiritual kingdom of Christ, to which He invites His followers. Moreover, that there was no reason why any one, in following Him, should promise himself the possession of such dignities, since He neither promised such things to any one, nor took or exercised them Himself: that He professed Himself, by practice as well as precept, to be, not the dispenser of secular dignities, but the author and teacher of humility and spiritual modesty. He exhorts all His followers, therefore, that (utterly laying aside all ambition) they should conform themselves to these virtues, of which they have an example in Himself.”—Ibid.—μέγας, great) the minister of a great king is him self great.

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

Mat 20:26 . οὐχ οὔτως ἐστὶν ἐ . ὑ . It is not so among you. The ἔσται of T. R. is probably conformed to the two following ἔσται , but it is true to the meaning. Jesus speaks of a state of matters He desires, but which does not yet exist. The present spirit of the Twelve is essentially secular and pagan. μέγας , διάκονος : greatness by service the law of the Kingdom of God, whereby greatness becomes another thing, not self-asserted or arrogated, but freely conceded by others.

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

Verse 26. It shall not be so among you] Every kind of lordship and spiritual domination over the Church of Christ, like that exercised by the Church of Rome, is destructive and anti-christian.

Your minister] Or, deacon, διακονος. I know no other word which could at once convey the meaning of the original, and make a proper distinction between it and δουλος, or servant, in Mt 20:27. The office of a deacon, in the primitive Church, was to serve in the agapae, or love feasts, to distribute the bread and wine to the communicants; to proclaim different parts and times of worship in the churches; and to take care of the widows, orphans, prisoners, and sick, who were provided for out of the revenues of the Church. Thus we find it was the very lowest ecclesiastical office. Deacons were first appointed by the apostles, Ac 6:1-6; they had the care of the poor, and preached occasionally.

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

(26) Whosoever will be great.—Better, whosoever wisheth to be great. The man who was conscious, as the disciples were, of the promptings of ambition was at once to satisfy and purify them by finding his greatness in active service; not because that service leads to greatness of the type which natural ambition seeks for, but because it is in itself the truest and highest greatness.

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

And whosoever will be chief among you,.... Or first, or have the pre-eminence, the first place in the kingdom of the Messiah,

let him be your servant; or, as in Mark,

shall be servant of all: not only a minister, but a servant; not a servant of some only, but of all. This was verified in the Apostle Paul, who became a servant to all men, though he was free, that he might gain some to Christ; and by so doing was the chief, though he reckoned himself the least of the apostles, yea, less than the least of all saints. The Jews have a saying somewhat like this, that (h).

"everyone that makes himself as a servant, for the words of the law in this world, shall be made free in the world to come.''

(h) T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 35. 2.

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

26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

Ver. 26. But it shall not be so among you] How express is that against Papal primacy and lordly prelacy. When the duke shall be damned, what will become of the bishop? said the clown to the Bishop of Cullen. Mr Whitehead refused a bishopric, because he liked not to be lorded. And Mr Coverdale being deprived of his bishopric in Queen Mary’s days, would not (for the same cause) be reinvested in Queen Elizabeth’s, but taught a school. Mr Knox would not have a bishopric, because it had aliquid commune cum antichristo somewhat with the common antichrist.

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.

26. Shall not be so among you — Our Lord does not here mean that there shall be no orders in the Christian Church, or even in heaven. But these Church orders are founded on the principle of service rather than lordship.

The officer of the Church is truly the servant of the Church; and if he exercise authority from any other motive he is guilty of worldly ambition. He is repeating the misdoing of James and John.

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

It shall not be so among you. There is good authority for reading "is" instead of "shall be." The new order of things was already prepared. In Messiah"s kingdom a contrary rule holds good. There the governors rule solely for the good of the flock, with no self-seeking, and serving no private interests. Whosoever will be (ov ealh ... genesyai : whosoever would fain become) great among you... minister (diakonov). Taking for granted that there will be ranks and gradations of office in the Church, Christ lays down the rule that men become governors therein in order that they may serve their brethren, be the ministers of those who are subject to them. So the pope, in his official documents, with a verbally proper humility, terms himself, "Servus servorum Dei."

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

Your minister - That is, your servant. Matt. xxiii, 11.

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

26. It shall not be so among you. No such lordship, no such authority, can be tolerated in your fraternity. The case is a rebuke of unhallowed ambition. Men prominent in the church should be the first to heed the admonition. Such priestly despotism as the absolute rule of the Catholic, Greek, and of some Protestant churches is at variance with this principle. Whosoever will be great … let him be your minister. Your deacon, servant. Greatness in the kingdom of heaven consists in doing, rather than in being, and in doing for others, rather than for self. Greatness is to be found in service. Only those men are truly great who are the servants of their race, helpers of mankind.

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.

26-28.] μέγας.… πρῶτος, i.e. in the next life, let him be διάκ. and δοῦλος here. Thus also the ἦλθεν, ver. 28, applies to the coming of the Son of man in the flesh only.

λύτρον ἀντὶ πολ. is a plain declaration of the sacrificial and vicarious nature of the death of our Lord. The principal usages of λύτρον are the following:—(1) a payment as equivalent for a life destroyed, Exo 21:30; (2) the price of redemption of a slave, Lev 25:51 al.; (3) ‘propitiation for,’ as in Pro 13:8, where Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have ἐξίλασμα.

λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν here = ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων 1Ti 2:6. No stress is to be laid on this word πολλῶν as not being πάντων here; it is placed in opposition to the one life which is given—the one for many—and not with any distinction from πάντων. (I may observe once for all, that in the usage of these two words, as applied to our redemption by Christ, πάντων is the objective, πολλῶν the subjective designation of those for whom Christ died. He died for all, objectively; subjectively, the great multitude whom no man could number, πολλοί, will be the saved by Him in the end.) ‘As the Son of man came to give His life for many and to serve many, so ye, being many, should be to each one the object of service and self-denial.’ Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, ii. 1, p. 197, argues for ἀντὶ πολλῶν being taken with δοῦναι, not with λύτρον. But Meyer well remarks, 1) that the sense of ἀντί will not be altered by this, and 2) that this sense is clearly marked by λύτρον to be that of substitution, not, as Hofm., that of compensation merely.

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

26. Not so is it amongst you. But whosoever wishes amongst you to be great shall be your minister.] So Mk. with δέ after οὕτως, and ἐν ὑμῖν after γενέσθαι instead of before μέγας.

(M)

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

Will be great [θελη ειναι] . See on ver. 14. Rev. would be.

Minister [διακονος] . Servant, ver. 27 [δουλος] . Doulov, perhaps from dew, to bind, is the bondman, representing the permanent relation of servitude. Diakonov, probably from the same root as diwkw, to pursue, represents a servant, not in his relation, but in his activity. The term covers both slaves and hired servants. The attendants at the feast at Cana (Joh 2:5) are called diakonoi. In the epistles diakonov is often used specifically for a minister of the Gospel (1Co 3:5; 2Co 3:6; Eph 3:7). The word deacon is, moreover, almost a transcription of it (Phi 1:1; 1Ti 3:8, 12). It is applied to Phoebe (Rom 16:1).

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.