Matthew 22:40

22:40 are based on: Jesus’ statement affirmed the unity and coherence of God’s will, as recorded in Scripture.

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

Mat 22:40. Κρέμαται—καὶ οἱ προφῆται,[976] hangs[977]—and the prophets. The Latin Codices have pendet, et prophetæ—hangs, and the prophets: whence the Canterbury MS. has the reading κρέμαται καὶ οἱ προφῆται. The question was concerning the law: the reply concerns the law especially: see Mat 22:36; Mat 22:40. The Anglo-Saxon version has not καὶ οἱ προφῆται; and it might seem a gloss from ch. Mat 7:12, because the verb κρέμαται is in the singular number, and the disputed clause follows afterwards. The fathers, however, have it, including even Tertullian, if the copies of him are not corrupt. And again, the Anglo-Saxon version frequently omits something which is found in the Latin. The matter requires further consideration, κρέμαται is an elegant verb. He who takes away either of these commandments, takes away the law.[978]

[976] E. M. reads καὶ οἱ προφῆται κρέμανται.—(I. B.)

[977] E. V. has “hang,” which agrees with the reading of E. M., q. v. supra.—(I. B.)

[978] Which comprises so many commandments.—V. g.

BDLZabc Vulg. Syr. and Hil. read κρέμαται. Orig. 3, 981b supports Rec. text, κρέμανται after προφῆται—ED.

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

Mat_22:40. Those two commandments contain the fundamental principle of the whole of the commandments in the Old Testament.

ταύταις] with emphasis: these are the two commandments on which, etc.

κρέμαται] depends thereon, so that those commandments constitute the basis and essential condition of the moral character of all the others, Rom_13:8 f.; Gal_5:14. Comp. Plat. Legg. viii. p. 831 C: ἐξ ὧν κρεμαμένη πᾶσα ψυχὴ πολίτου. Pind. Ol. vi. 125; Xen. Symp. viii. 19; Gen_44:30; Jdt_8:24.

καὶ οἱ προφῆται] so far as the preceptive element in them is concerned. Comp. on Mat_5:17. Thus Jesus includes more in His reply than was contemplated by the question (Mat_22:36) of the νομικός.

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 22:40 . ὁ . ὁ νόμος κρέμαται . Jesus winds up by declaring that on these two hangs, is suspended, the whole law, also the prophets = the moral drift of the whole O. T. is love ; no law or performance of law of any value save as love is the soul of it. So Jesus soars away far above the petty disputes of the schools about the relative worth of isolated precepts; teaching the organic unity of duty.

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

Verse 40. On these two - hang all the law and the prophets.] They are like the first and last links of a chain, all the intermediate ones depend on them. True religion begins and ends in love to God and man. These are the two grand links that unite God to man, man to his fellows, and men again to God.

Love is the fulfilling of the law, says St. Paul, Ro 13:10; for he who has the love of God in him delights to obey the Divine precepts, and to do all manner of kindness to men for God's sake.

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

(40) All the law and the prophets.—The words are coupled, as in Mat_5:17; Mat_7:12, to indicate the whole of the revelation of the divine will in the Old Testament. The two great commandments lay at the root of all. The rest did but expand and apply them; or, as in the ceremonial, set them forth symbolically; or, as in the law of slavery and divorce, confined their application within limits, which the hardness of men’s hearts made necessary. For the glowing assent of the scribe to our Lord’s teaching, and our Lord’s approval of him, see Notes on Mar_12:32-34.

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

He saith unto them,.... Not denying it to be a truth they affirmed; but rather granting and allowing it: he argues upon it, though he tacitly refuses their sense and meaning of the phrase, thus,

how then doth David in spirit call him Lord? that is, if he is a mere man, if he is only the son of David, according to the flesh, if he has no other, or higher descent than from him, how comes it to pass, that David, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, by which he wrote his book of Psalms, see Sa2 23:1 where the passage, after cited, stands, to call him Lord; which supposes him to be more than barely his son, and to be a greater person than himself, one superior in nature and dignity to him? for the phrase "in spirit", is not to be connected with the word Lord; as if the design of it was to show, that the Messiah was Lord, or God, in spirit, or with respect to his divine nature, but, with the word "call", expressing the influence of the Spirit of God, under which David wrote; otherwise the Pharisees would have had a direction how to have answered the question, which much puzzled them:

saying, as in Psa 110:1.

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

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Ver. 40. Hang all the law and prophets] Yea, and the gospel too; for love is both the complement of the law and the supplement of the gospel, Rom 13:10; Joh 13:34. It is the filling up of the law (as the word πληρωμα signifieth), for that it clotheth the duties of the law with the glory of a due manner, and seateth them upon their due subjects, with unwearied labours of constant well doing. The prophets also hang (κρεμανται) upon the same nail of love with the law, so some frame the metaphor here used. As some others rather think that our Saviour in this expression alludeth to the Jewish phylacteries, Heb. Totaphoth, which were scrolls of parchment having the commandments written in them, which the Pharisees wear about their heads and arms to remind them of obedience to the law.

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.

On these two, &c. Whereby it is evident that all dependeth not upon faith only, though faith be the first, but much more upon charity, which is the love of God and of our neighbour, and which is the sum of all the law and the prophets; because he that hath this double charity, expressed here by these two principal commandments, fulfilleth all that is commanded in the law and the prophets. (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).

40. On these two… hang — They are the statement of that temper of heart from which we all acknowledge that the keeping of all the law and prophets would arise. Law and the prophets — The law given by God, with the prophets to enforce and predict the consequences of obedience or infringement.

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

Hang all the Law and the prophets; i.e. all Scripture, which is comprised in these terms; (comp. Mat_5:17 Mat_7:12) in other words, all the revelations which God has made to man in every age. The clause is peculiar to St. Matthew. It signifies that on love of God and love of man depend all the moral and religious, ceremonial and judicial precepts contained in the Law, all the utterances of the prophets, all the voices of history. Scripture enunciates the duty to God and our neighbour, shows the right method of fulfilling it, warns against the breach of it, gives examples of punishment and reward consequent upon the way in which the obligation has been treated. Thus the unity and integrity of revelation is demonstrated. Its Author is one; its design is uniform; it teaches one path, leading to one great end.

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

40. ἐν ταύταις κρέμαται. The classical expression would be ἐκ τοῦτων κρέμανται.

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.

40. ὁ ν. κ. οἱ πρ.] in the sense of ch. 5:17; 7:12—all the details of God’s ancient revelation of His will, by whomsoever made.

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

40. On these two commandments hangeth the whole law, and the prophets.] Mk. has: “Greater than these is no other commandment.”

Mt. here postpones Mk 34b to the end of the next section, where it suitably closes the whole series of questions.

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