Matthew 26:53

Mat_26:53

Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father?

War opposed to the precepts and spirit of Christianity

Show that war is opposed to the spirit of Christianity.

I. Offer such reasons as prove this.

1. The toleration of war under the New Testament dispensation is contrary to what Christianity was expected to be by the prophet who foretold the coming of the Messiah, and by the Church of the Jews, to whom they were sent (Isa_9:6; Zec_9:9-10).

2. The advent of the Saviour was attended with revelations, which indicated peace. The angels sang of peace on earth.

3. The doctrine which Christ taught condemns war (Mat_5:3-9, etc.)

4. The example of Christ teaches the same truth. His life was unresisting.

5. War originates in a passion which Christianity condemns.

6. It can only be carried on by the use of those means which Christianity must condemn.

`II. Answers objections.

1. It is said that war was allowable under the Old Testament dispensation, that therefore it cannot be wrong in the abstract.

2. It is said that the predictions of the New Testament foretell wars in the course of Christianity through the world.

3. It is said that the civil magistrate shall not bear the sword in vain.

4. It is said that to argue in favour of these principles is a proof of cowardice and imbecility.

5. What will be the consequences if men act in this way?

III. Make a few reflections.

1. It calls for a close examination of the subject.

2. It is the duty of parents to be careful in training up their children.

3. I would urge that no professor of Christianity should think of bearing arms. (N. M. Harry.)

The willing surrender

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. The glory of Christ is in His willing surrender of that which belonged to Him, and which He might have always had and enjoyed. The multitude whom the chief priests had sent was arresting Jesus. Then one of His disciples drew the sword. Jesus bade him put his sword into its place again. He tells His eager followers that if He wants He can protect Himself. Thinkest thou, etc. The helpless prisoner looked up and saw the air thick with angels hurrying to His relief. A word from Him and they would have been His warriors. He had the power, but would not use it. The nobleness of this surrender of Jesus; no man becomes really noble who has not its repetition in himself. To give up some precious thing which is legitimately yours; to shut your eyes upon visions of glory, or safety, or luxury, which you might make your own without blame, that is one of the marks of nobleness. The man who is taking all that he has a right to take in life is always touched with a shade of baseness. Let us study the nobleness of voluntary surrender.

I. We want to feel how definite and distinct it is. There are base imitations of it. There are two kinds of renunciation of things which have this origin in unworthy motives.

1. The first is the renunciation which comes from idleness or lack of spirit. There will always be people who might be rich, learned, famous, who despise these things simply because of the trouble they involve. The surrender they make is a loss not a gain; it has nothing in common with the Divine relinquishment of Jesus.

2. The second of the two base forms of voluntary surrender is what we may call the ascetic form. It includes the renunciation of legitimate enjoyments, that we may be chastened by disappointment. Now turn back to Jesus. When He said, I will not call the angels, it was no pusillanimous submitting to His fate; nor was it any unnatural submitting of Himself to suffering that He might be cultivated and purified, or that the release from suffering when it came might be more sweet. It was the quiet surrender of what was His, because He could not have it and yet do His work and save the world. No man in this world has a right to all his rights. Here is really the key to the question of voluntary abstinence from certain innocent indulgences for the sake of others. Voluntariness lies at the root of it all. We talk of the glory of resignation to the inevitable; but the true glory is in resignation to the inevitable. To stand unchained, with perfect power to go away, and so standing to let the fire creep up to the heart-that is the truer heroism. Christ knew what it was to gain the life He lost, to have the thing that He surrendered. When He refused to call the angels to His help, the strength which was the meaning of the angels was surely entering into Him, and making Him ready for the battle which He was just about to fight. (P. Brooks, D. D.)

Self-surrender under the influence of a higher purpose

When a man who might be rich deliberately gives up the chance of wealth that he may be a scholar, men whose object in life is wealth, and who know that he has the same power to get wealth which they have if he should give himself to its pursuit, must honour him and feel the influence of his renunciation. It is not laziness, for he goes to work harder than any of them. It is not asceticism, for he has no foolish sweeping abuse of wealth with which to insult his fellow-mens intelligence, It is not incapacity, for he is as bright as the brightest. It is simply the power of a higher purpose. It is the calm, manly, uncomplaining choice to do this greater thing, and to surrender whatever would hinder the doing of it most faithfully and well. The man goes off into his study, and thinks that nobody sees him-indeed, does not think for a moment whether anybody is seeing him or not; but his life and such lives as his are the salt of the society in which they live. (P. Brooks, D. D.)

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

26:53 thousands (literally twelve legions): Jesus used Roman military language (a legion consisted of approximately 6,000 soldiers) to describe the aid he could receive from God. Jesus was not a helpless victim; he permitted his own arrest.

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

Mat 26:53. Ἄρτι, now) Even now.—τὸν Πατέρα Μου, My Father) Jesus even, when He is just about to drink the cup, retains that filial disposition which He had previously and always towards the Father; see Mat 26:42.—πλείους ἤ δώδεκα λεγεῶας, more than twelve legions) A legion consisted of six thousand; twelve legions therefore of seventy-two thousand. A legion is contrasted with each of the twelve apostles; a thousand angels with each of the seventy disciples. The angels are divided into their numbers and ranks.

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

Mat_26:53. Ἤ] or, in case this should not be sufficient to induce thee to thrust back thy sword.

ἄρτι] this instant. See on Gal_1:10.

The interrogation does not extend merely as far as μου, in which case it would lose much of its significance, while the language would be rendered too abrupt, but on to ἀγγέλων; yet not as though καί (for that, ὅτι) introduced a broken construction, but thus: Thinkest thou that I am not able … and He will (not) place at my side, etc.? so that I can thus dispense entirely with thy protection! The force of the negative runs through the whole sentence.

πλείω δώδεκα λεγεώνας ἀγγέλων (see the critical remarks) is a genuine Attic usage, according to which it is permissible to have the neuter πλεῖον or πλείω without a change of construction, or even without inserting ἤ. Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 410 f.; Stallbaum, ad Plat. Apol. p. 17 D; Kühner, II. 2, p. 847. The number twelve corresponds to the number of the apostles, because of these only one had shown a disposition to defend him.

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 26:53 gives another reason for not using the sword: if it were God’s will that His Son should be rescued it could be done in a different way. he way suggested is described in military language, the verbs παρακαλεῖν and παριστάναι being both used in classics in connection with military matters, and the word λεγεῶνας suggesting the battalions of the Roman army. δώδεκα , twelve legions, one for each of the twelve disciples. πλείω , even more than that vast number, Divine resources boundless. The free play of imagination displayed in this conception of a great army of angels evinces the elasticity of Christ’s spirit and His perfect self-possession at a critical moment.

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

Christ was taken, because he was willing to be taken.

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

Verse 53. More than twelve legions of angels?] As if he had said, Instead of you twelve, one of whom is a traitor, my Father can give me more than twelve legions of angels to defend me. A legion, at different times, contained different numbers; 4,200, 5,000, and frequently 6,000 men; and from this saying, taking the latter number, which is the common rate, may we not - safely believe that the angels of God amount to more than 72,000?

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

(53) Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray . . .?—There is a strange and suggestive blending of the possible and the impossible in these words. Could He have brought Himself to utter that prayer, it would have been answered. But He could not so pray unless He knew it to be in harmony with His Father’s will, and He had been taught, in that hour of agony, that it was not in harmony, and therefore He would not utter it.

Presently.—The modern English reader needs to be reminded once more that the word means immediately, without a moment’s delay.

Twelve legions.—The number is probably suggested by that of the Apostles. Not twelve weak men, one a traitor and the others timorous, but twelve legions of the armies of the Lord of Hosts. Note the Roman word appearing here, as in Mar_5:9; Mar_5:15, as the representative of warlike might.

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

53. presently] = “immediately”; see ch. Mat_21:19.

twelve legions of angels] It is characteristic of this gospel that the authority and kingly majesty of Jesus should be suggested at a moment when every hope seemed to have perished.

legions] In contrast to the small company of Roman soldiers.

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.

But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled,.... That is, should Christ make such a request to his Father, and he should grant it, and an host of angels should be sent to rescue him, and he should be rescued by them; how then should the Scriptures, which speak of Christ's being taken, and led as a lamb to the slaughter, and of his various sufferings, and the circumstances of them, have their accomplishment? "declaring", as the Arabic version supplies, or as the Ethiopic version, "which say",

that thus it must be; that the Messiah must be apprehended, and suffer, and die. The several parts of the sufferings of the Messiah are foretold in the writings of the Old Testament; the spirit of Christ, in the prophets, testified before hand of them; as that he should be reproached and despised of men, Psa 22:6, be spit upon, smote, and buffeted, Isa 1:5, be put to death, Psa 22:15, and that the death of the cross,

Psa 22:15, and be buried, Isa 53:9, and also the several circumstances of his sufferings, which led on to them, or attended them; as the selling him for thirty pieces of silver,

Zac 11:12, the betraying him by one of his familiar friends,

Psa 41:9, the seizing and apprehending him, and which is particularly referred to here, Isa 53:7, his disciples forsaking him, Zac 13:7, and even his God and Father, Psa 22:1, his suffering between two thieves, Isa 53:12, the parting of his garments, and casting lots on his vesture, Psa 22:18, the giving him gall and vinegar when on the cross, Psa 69:21, and not breaking any of his bones, Psa 34:20, yea, the Scriptures not only declared, that these things should be; but the necessity of them also, that they must be; because of the purposes and decrees of God, which are eternal, immutable, and unfrustrable; for as God had determined on his salvation of his people by Christ, and that through his sufferings and death, these were determined by him also, even the time, nature, manner, and circumstances of them; and which the Scriptures declare, and therefore must be likewise; and because of the covenant of grace, which is sure, unalterable, and unchangeable; in which Christ agreed to assume human nature, to obey, suffer, and die in it, and so do his Father's will, which was to bear the penalty of the law, and undergo the sufferings of death, and which therefore must be, or Christ's faithfulness fail. Moreover, on account of the law and justice of God, which required his bearing the curse, as well as fulfilling the precept of the law: and especially on account of the salvation of his people, which could not be effected without them, they must be. Christ, in these words, discovers a very great concern for the fulfilling of Scripture; and that because it is the word of God, which must not be broken; and because throughout it he is spoken of, in the volume of it, it is written of him, to do the will of God; even in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms: and besides, he was the minister of the circumcision, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers; and even agreeably to them, and upon the foundation of them, he had himself predicted his own sufferings: and as those were to be the rule of the faith and practice of his people in all ages, he was concerned for their accomplishment in every point; and which may teach us to value the Scriptures, and to be confident of the fulfilment of them in things yet future.

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

53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

Ver. 53. Thinkest thou that I cannot pray] q.d. Need I be beholden to thee for help? Luther very boldly told his patron and protector, the elector of Saxony, that he, by his prayers, gained him more help and safeguard than he received from him; and that this cause of Christ needeth not the help of man to carry it on, but the power of God, set to work by the prayer of faith. {a} And this way, saith he, I will undertake to secure your highness’s soul, body, and estate, engaged in the cause of the gospel, from whatsoever danger or disaster, Sive id credat C. V. sive non credat, whether your highness believe me herein or not.

More than twelve legions] A legion is judged to be six thousand foot and seven hundred horse. And this great army of angels is by prayer despatched from heaven in an instant. Are we then in any imminent danger? send up to heaven for help by prayer, and God will send from heaven and help us. We need not help ourselves by seeking private revenge, as Peter here, or using sinister shifts, as David, Psa 34:1, for in the same Psalm men are exhorted to ensue peace and pass by private wrongs; because the "angels of the Lord encamp round about them that fear him, and deliver them."

{a} Iudico Celsitud. Vest. plus a me praesidii et tutelae habituram esse, quam mihi praestare. Huic causae nullus gladius consulere aut opem ferre potest, &c. Luth. epist,

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.

More than twelve legions of angels. A legion was computed about 6,000. (Witham) --- These would amount to 72,000; but our Lord means no more than a great number.

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).

53. Thinkest thou — Addressed to Peter to show him that there was no place for, because no need of, a human sword. How contemptible to suppose that He needs thy sword, at whose prayer legions of angels would troop from the skies.

Twelve legions — A legion to each apostle, naming the official number notwithstanding the defection of Judas.

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

Thinkest thou that I cannot now (arti) pray to (parakalesai , beseech) my Father? Jesus proceeds to show that he needs not Peter"s puny assistance. H dokeiv ; An putas? Or thinkest thou? The particle, neglected by the Authorized Version, marks the transition to a new motive. The verb parakalein has the special meaning of "to summon with authority," "to call upon as an ally." Peter needed still to learn the lesson of Christ"s Divinity, his oneness with the Father; and this is furnished by the right interpretation of this word, which was not, as our version seems to make it, the cry of an inferior to one mightier than himself, but the summons of an equal to his great Ally in heaven. So Jesus virtually says, "Have I not power through my own Godhead to summon my Father to support me?" (Sewell, "Microscope of the New Testament"). Shall presently give me (parasthsei moi arti ). The Authorized Version seems to have read arti twice, "now... presently." The manuscripts show it only once, but vary its position. It most probably belongs to the first clause. The verb rendered "give" has a more pregnant meaning. It is a military term meaning "to place by the side," "to post on one"s flank." Hence the Lord implies that at a word the serried ranks of angels would range themselves at his side, true flank comrades, to defend and support him. Twelve legions of angels. Not a dozen weak men. He employs the Roman term "legion" with intention. He had been arrested by a cohort, (Joh_18:3, Joh_18:12, speira) the tenth part of the legion, which numbered six thousand men; he could, it he chose, call to his aid twelve times six thousand angels, who would deliver their Lord from his enemies. If there was to be an appeal to force, which Peter"s rash assault suggested, what could withstand his angelic allies, the heavenly hosts, infinitely more numerous, better disciplined, more effectively officered, prompt and happy to do the will of the great Commander?

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

He will presently give me more than twelve legions of angels - The least of whom, it is probable, could overturn the earth and destroy all the inhabitants of it.

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

angels

(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").

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

53, 54. Or thinkest thou not? etc. The Lord needed no human defenders, had it been the Divine purpose that he should not die. More than twelve legions of angels? A Roman legion contained from six thousand men upwards. The idea here is a mighty host. He and his eleven faithful apostles are twelve. There is more than a legion for each one of them. He could have evaded the enemies had he chosen; the angels would have come to his rescue, if he had willed it, but he gave himself unto death.

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.

53. ἄρτι placed after παραστήσει μοι on the evidence of אBL against the other important uncials, in which it precedes παρακαλέσαι. The omission of ἢ before δώδεκα gives the classical idiom. Here AC and a large majority of MSS. retain ἢ against אBDL.

53. δοκεῖς ὅτι οὐ δύναμαι … καὶ παραστήσει. The form of the sentence is Aramaic, the real subject of the whole sentence being ὁ πατήρ: a regular Greek construction would express the thought of παρακαλέσαι by a participle or by a conditional clause. But though the form is irregular it throws into emphasis the certainty that the prayer would be granted. ‘Can I not summon my Father to my aid as an ally in my extremity, and swiftly He will draw up by my side twelve legions of angels against the single maniple of the Roman guard.’ παρακαλεῖν and παριστάναι are both military terms: cp. Hdt. XVII. 158, ἐτολμήσατε ἐμὲ σύμμαχον παρακαλέοντες ἐλθεῖν, advocantes socium, ‘Summoning me to be your ally.’ For παριστάναι cp. Polyb. III. 72. 9, τοὺς ἱππεῖς διελὼν ἐφʼ ἑκάτερον παρέστησε τὸ κέρας, ‘posted them,’ &c., and Hdt. VIII. 80, ἔδεε γὰρ ὅτε οὐκ ἑκόντες ἔθελον ἐς μάχην κατίστασθαι, ἀέκοντας παραστήσασθαι. For the omission of ἢ after πλείω, the usual Attic construction, cp. Plato, Apol. Socr., p. 17, ἔτη γεγονὼς πλείω ἑβδομήκοντα. So also in Latin, ‘plus septima ducitur æstas,’ Verg. Georg. IV. 207. For the neuter pl. πλείω (instead of πλεῖον), standing independent of the construction, see Lob. Phryn, p. 410, where several instances are given of constructive laxity in the case of numerals, e.g. οὐσίᾳ πλεῖον ἢ δέκα ταλάντων, Dem. c. Aphob. II. 341; ὑπὲρ τετρακισχίλιοι ὄντες, Joseph. Ant. XVIII. 1. 871. But none of the instances there given precisely meet this case.

δώδεκα λεγεῶνας κ.τ.λ. It is characteristic of this gospel that the authority and kingly majesty of Jesus should be suggested at a moment when every hope seemed to have perished.

λεγεῶνας. One of the few Latin words in this gospel, perhaps used with a special reason, as in the case of κῆνσον (ch. Mat 22:17). Here probably the intention was to preserve the very term used by Jesus. The word might be suggested by the sight of the maniple (σπεῖρα) of the Roman soldiers; see note above.

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.

53.] The Majesty of our Lord, and His Patience are both shewn here.

πλείω δώδ. is a strictly Attic idiom, the neuter πλεῖον or πλείω, and the unchanged construction omitting the ἤ. So Plato, Legg. vi. p. 759, ἔτη μὴ ἔλαττον ἑξήκοντα γεγονώς: Paus. x. 57. 295, οἱ ἄνθρωποι πλέον ἡμίσεις ἁλιεῖς εἰσι. See the matter discussed, and more examples given, in Phryn. Lobeck, p. 410.

δώδεκα—not perhaps so much from the number of the Apostles, who were now οἱ ἕνδεκα, but from that of the then company, viz. the Lord and the eleven.

λεγεῶνας—because they were Roman soldiers who were taking Him. The complement of the legion was about 6000 men. The power, implied in δοκεῖς ὅτι οὐ δύναμαι, shews the entire and continued free self-resignation of the Lord throughout—and carries on the same truth as He expressed Joh 10:18.

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

Twelve legions of angels. Compare the story of Elisha at Dothan (2Ki 6:17).

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