the Second Week after Easter
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Revised Standard Version
Matthew 20:26
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It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
But it shall not be so among you: But whosoeuer will bee great among you, let him be your minister.
But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
"It is not this way among you, but whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant,
But it should not be that way among you. Whoever wants to become great among you must serve the rest of you like a servant.
"It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,
But it shall not be so among you: but whosoeuer will be great among you, let him be your seruant.
"It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,
It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,
It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
But don't act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others.
Among you, it must not be like that. On the contrary, whoever among you wants to be a leader must become your servant,
It shall not be thus amongst you, but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your servant;
But it should not be that way with you. Whoever wants to be your leader must be your servant.
Let not this be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you, let him be a minister to you;
This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest;
It will not be like this among you! But whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
But it will not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister;
Let it not be so among you: but if anyone has a desire to become great among you, let him be your servant;
It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.
That's not the way it should be among you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant,Matthew 23:11; Mark 9:35; 10:43; 1 Peter 5:3;">[xr]
but it shall not be so among you; but whoever among you willeth to be great, let him be minister to you.
Not so shall it be among you. But whoever among you desireth to be great, let him be to you, a ministerer:
It shall not be so among you: But whosoeuer wyll be great among you, let hym be your minister:
Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister;
It shall not be so among you, but whoever would become great among you will be your servant.
It shall not be so among you; but whosoever desireth to be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever desireth to be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Not so shall it be among you; but whoever desires to be great among you shall be your servant,
It schal not be so among you; but who euer wole be maad gretter among you, be he youre mynystre;
It shall not be so among you: but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant;
But it shall not be so among you: but whoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
It must not be this way among you! Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant,
Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,
It must not be that way with you. But whoever wants to be great among you, let him care for you.
It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant,
Not so, is it, among you, - but, whosoever shall desire, among you, to become, great, shall be, your minister;
It shall not be so among you: but whosoever is the greater among you, let him be your minister.
It shall not be so amoge you. But whosoever wyll be greate amoge you let him be youre minister:
but not so shall it be among you, but whoever may will among you to become great, let him be your ministrant;
It shal not be so amonge you. But whoso euer wyl be greate amonge you, let him be youre mynister:
but it must not be so among you: on the contrary, whoever would rise among you, let him be your minister.
This ain't the way it works with y'all. If any of you want to become a top hand, you must serve and help the other cowboys, not tell them what to do.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
it: Matthew 23:8-12, Mark 9:35, Mark 10:43, Mark 10:45, Luke 14:7-11, Luke 18:14, John 18:36, 2 Corinthians 1:24, 2 Corinthians 10:4-10, 1 Peter 5:3, 3 John 1:9, 3 John 1:10, Revelation 13:11-17, Revelation 17:6
minister: Matthew 25:44, Matthew 27:55, Ezekiel 24:13, Acts 13:5, 2 Timothy 1:18, Philemon 1:13, Hebrews 1:14, 1 Peter 4:11
Reciprocal: Joshua 1:1 - Moses' minister 2 Kings 6:15 - servant Matthew 5:19 - great Matthew 6:32 - after Matthew 18:4 - greatest Matthew 23:11 - General Luke 4:20 - and he John 13:14 - I then Romans 12:10 - in honour 1 Corinthians 9:19 - I made Philippians 2:5 - General
Gill's Notes on the Bible
But it shall not be so among you,.... This is not to be extended to Christian nations, as if there were to be no order of magistracy subsisting in them; but that all must be on a level, and no distinction of princes and subjects, of governors and governed; nor to Christian churches, as if there was no ecclesiastical authority to be used, or any church government and power to be exercised; none to rule, whom others are to obey and submit themselves to; but is to be restrained to the apostles as such, among whom there was an entire equality; being all apostles of Christ, being equally qualified and sent, and put into the selfsame office by him: the same holds good of all pastors of churches, who have no superintendency and pre-eminence over one another, or can, or ought to exercise any lordly power and authority, one, or more, over the rest; being equally invested with the same office power, one as another: for otherwise Christ's kingdom would appear like the nations of the world, and to be of a worldly nature; whereas it is spiritual, and does not lie in worldly pomp and grandeur, and in external superiority and pre-eminence of one another; but in the spiritual administration of the word and ordinances; which every pastor of a church has an equal right to exercise, and obedience to them lies in a submission to these things:
but whosoever will be great among you, let him be, or, as in Mark,
shall be your minister: whoever would be reckoned a great man in the kingdom of Christ, or under the Gospel dispensation, must be a minister to others if he is desirous of being truly great in the esteem of God, and of men, he must do great service for Christ, and to the souls of men; and seek to bring great glory to God, by faithfully ministering the word and ordinances, and by denying himself worldly honour and glory, and by serving others, through much reproach, difficulty, and opposition.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
See also Mark 10:35-45.
Matthew 20:20
Then came to him give mother of Zebedee’s children ... - This was probably Salome, Mark 15:40; Mark 16:1.
With her sons - The names of these sons were James and John, Mark 10:35
Mark says they came and made the request. That is, they made it, as appears from Matthew, through the medium of their mother; they requested her to ask it for them. It is not improbable that she was an ambitious woman, and was desirous to see her sons honored.
Worshipping him - Showing him respect; respectfully saluting him. In the original, kneeling. See the notes at Matthew 8:2.
Matthew 20:21
Grant that these my two sons may sit ... - They were still looking for a temporal kingdom.
They expected that he would reign on the earth with great pomp and glory. They anticipated that he would conquer as a prince and a warrior. They wished to be distinguished in the day of his triumph. To sit on the right and left hand of a prince was a token of confidence, and the highest honor granted to his friends, 1 Kings 2:19; Psalms 110:1; 1 Samuel 20:25. The disciples, here, had no reference to the kingdom of heaven, but only to the kingdom which they supposed he was about to set up on the earth.
Matthew 20:22
Ye know not what ye ask - You do not know the nature of your request, nor what would be involved in it.
You suppose that it would be attended only with honor and happiness if the request was granted, whereas it would require much suffering and trial.
Are ye able to drink of the cup ... - To drink of a cup, in the Scriptures, often signifies to be afflicted, or to be punished, Matthew 26:39; Isaiah 51:17, Isaiah 51:22; Psalms 73:10; Psalms 75:8; Jeremiah 25:15; Revelation 16:9. The figure is taken from a feast, where the master of a feast extends a cup to those present. Thus God is represented as extending to his Son a cup filled with a bitter mixture - one causing deep sufferings, John 18:11. This was the cup to which he referred.
The baptism that I am baptized with - This is evidently a phrase denoting the same thing. Are ye able to suffer with me - to endure the trials and pains which shall come upon you and me in endeavoring to build up my kingdom? Are you able to bear it when sorrows shall cover you like water, and you shall be sunk beneath calamities as floods, in the work of religion? Afflictions are often expressed by being sunk in the floods and plunged in deep waters, Psalms 69:2; Isaiah 43:2; Psalms 124:4-5; Lamentations 3:54.
Matthew 20:23
Ye shall indeed drink of my cup ... - You will follow me, and you will partake of my afflictions, and will suffer as I shall.
This was fulfilled. James was slain with the sword by Herod, Acts 12:2. John lived many years; but he attended the Saviour through his sufferings, and was himself banished to Patmos, a solitary island, for the testimony of Jesus Christ - a companion of others in tribulation, Revelation 1:9.
Is not mine to give ... - The translation of this place evidently does not express the sense of the original. The translation expresses the idea that Jesus has nothing to do in bestowing rewards on his followers. This is at variance with the uniform testimony of the Scriptures, Matthew 25:31-40; John 5:22-30. The correct translation of the passage would be, “To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, except to those for whom it is prepared by my Father.” The passage thus declares that Christ would give rewards to his followers, but only to such as should be entitled to them according to the purpose of his Father. Much as he might be attached to these two disciples, yet he could not bestow any such signal favors on them out of the regular course of things. Rewards were prepared for his followers, and in due time they should be bestowed. He would bestow them according as they had been provided from eternity by God the Father, Matthew 25:34. The correct sense is seen by leaving out that part of the verse in italics, and this is one of the places in the Bible where the sense has been obscured by the introduction of words which have nothing to correspond with them in the original. See a similar instance in 1 John 2:23.
Matthew 20:24
The ten heard it - That is, the ten other apostles.
They were moved with indignation - They were offended at their ambition, and at their desire to be exalted above their brethren.
The word “it” refers not to what Jesus said, but to their request. When the ten heard the request which they had made they were indignant.
Matthew 20:25-27
But Jesus called them unto him - That is, he called all the apostles to him, and stated the principles on which they were to act.
The princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them - That is, over their subjects. “You know that such honors are customary among nations. The kings of the earth raise their favorites to posts of trust and power they give authority to some over others; but my kingdom is established in a different manner. All are to be on a level. The rich, the poor, the learned, the unlearned, the bond, the free, are to be equal. He will be the most distinguished that shows most humility, the deepest sense of his unworthiness, and the most earnest desire to promote the welfare of his brethren.”
Gentiles - All who were not Jews - used here to denote the manner in which human governments are constituted.
Minister - A servant. The original word is deacon - a word meaning a servant of any kind; one especially who served at the table, and, in the New Testament, one who serves the church, Acts 6:1-4; 1 Timothy 3:8. Preachers of the gospel are called minister’s because they are the servants of God and of the church 1Co 3:5; 1 Corinthians 4:1; 2Co 3:6; 2 Corinthians 6:4; Ephesians 4:12; an office, therefore, which forbids them to lord it over God’s heritage, which is the very opposite of a station of superiority, and which demands the very lowest degree of humility.
Matthew 20:28
Even as the Son of man ... - See the notes at Matthew 8:20. Jesus points them to his own example. He was in the form of God in heaven, Philippians 2:6. He came to people in the form of a servant, Philippians 2:7. He came not with pomp and glory, but as a man in humble life; and since he came he had not required them to minister to him. “He labored for them.” He strove to do them good. He provided for their needs; fared as poorly as they did; went before them in dangers and sufferings; practiced self-denial on their account, and for them was about to lay down his life. See John 13:4-5.
To give his life a ransom for many - The word “ransom” means literally a price paid for the redemption of captives. In war, when prisoners are taken by an enemy, the money demanded for their release is called a ransom; that is, it is the means by which they are set at liberty. So anything that releases anyone from a state of punishment, or suffering, or sin, is called a ransom. People are by nature captives to sin. They are sold under it. They are under condemnation, Ephesians 2:3; Romans 3:9-20, Romans 3:23; 1 John 5:19. They are under a curse, Galatians 3:10. They are in love with sin They are under its withering dominion, and are exposed to death eternal, Ezekiel 18:4; Psalms 9:17; Psalms 11:6; Psalms 68:2; Psalms 139:19; Matthew 25:46; Romans 2:6-9. They must have perished unless there had been some way by which they could he rescued. This was done by the death of Jesus - by giving his life a ransom. The meaning is, that he died in the place of sinners, and that God was willing to accept the pains of his death in the place of the eternal suffering of the redeemed. The reasons why such a ransom was necessary are:
1.That God had declared that the sinner shall die; that is, that he would punish, or show his hatred to, all sin.
2.That all people had sinned, and, if justice was to take its regular course, all must perish.
3.That man could make no atonement for his own sins. All that he could do, were he holy, would be only to do his duty, and would make no amends for the past. Repentance and future obedience would not blot away one sin.
- No man was pure, and no angel could make atonement. God was pleased, therefore, to appoint his only-begotten Son to make such a ransom. See John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 13:8; John 1:29; Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 8:2-7; Isaiah 53:1-12; This is commonly called the atonement. See the notes at Romans 5:2.
For many - See also Matthew 26:28; Joh 10:15; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1Jo 2:2; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Hebrews 2:9.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Matthew 20:26. 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 Matthew 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, Acts 6:1-6; they had the care of the poor, and preached occasionally.
