the Second Week after Easter
Click here to learn more!
Read the Bible
Revised Standard Version
Matthew 20:27
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalDevotionals:
- ChipParallel Translations
and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave;
And whosoeuer will be chiefe among you, let him be your seruant.
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,
and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your slave;
Whoever wants to become first among you must serve the rest of you like a slave.
and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your [willing and humble] slave;
And whosoeuer will be chiefe among you, let him be your seruant.
and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;
and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;
and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave-
And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest.
and whoever wants to be first must be your slave!
and whosoever will be first among you, let him be your bondman;
Whoever wants to be first must serve the rest of you like a slave.
And whoever wishes to be first among you, let him be a servant to you;
and if one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of the others—
and whoever wants to be most prominent among you must be your slave—
And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your servant;
and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant:
And whoever has a desire to be first among you, let him take the lowest place:
Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,
and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave.Matthew 18:4;">[xr]
And whoever among you willeth to be first, let him be to you the servant.
and whoever among you desireth to be first, let him be your servant:
And who so wyl be chiefe among you, let hym be your seruaunt.
and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant:
Whoever would be first among you will be your bondservant,
Even as the Son of man came not to be served,
and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant;
and who euer among you wole be the firste, he schal be youre seruaunt.
and whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave:
And whoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave—
And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave--
and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.
Whoever wants to be first among you, let him be your servant.
and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave;
And, whosoever shall desire, among you, to be first, shall be, your servant: -
And he that will be first among you shall be your servant.
and whosoever wil be chefe let him be youre servaut
and whoever may will among you to be first, let him be your servant;
& who soeuer wyl be chefe, let him be youre seruaunt:
and whoever would be chief among you, let him be your servant.
A top hand is a slave to all the others.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
whosoever: Matthew 18:4, Mark 9:33-35, Luke 22:26, Acts 20:34, Acts 20:35, Romans 1:14, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, 2 Corinthians 4:5, 2 Corinthians 11:5, 2 Corinthians 11:23-27, 2 Corinthians 12:15
Reciprocal: Joshua 1:1 - Moses' minister Psalms 85:13 - shall set Matthew 23:11 - General Mark 10:43 - whosoever
Gill's Notes on the Bible
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 כעבד, 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.
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 20:27. Your servant — δουλος the lowest secular office, as deacon was the lowest ecclesiastical office: δουλος is often put for slave.
From these directions of our Lord, we may easily discern what sort of a spirit his ministers should be of.
1. A minister of Christ is not to consider himself a lord over Christ's flock.
2. He is not to conduct the concerns of the Church with an imperious spirit.
3. He is to reform the weak, after Christ's example, more by loving instruction than by reproof or censure.
4. He should consider that true apostolic greatness consists in serving the followers of Christ with all the powers and talents he possesses.
5. That he should be ready, if required, to give up his life unto death, to promote the salvation of men.
