Verse by Verse

¹⁷ Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.

¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”

²⁰ And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”

²¹ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

²² But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Also found in Matthew 19:16-22 and Luke 18:18-23.

Luke calls this young man a ruler, but doesn’t say what he was a ruler of. The word he uses can refer to a man of influence due to wealth. He was young, so that may indicate that he was not a member of the Sanhedrin or the leader of a synagogue, but we can’t know for sure. In any case, he didn’t come to Jesus looking for any material advantage.

Good Teacher (v.17) — probably sincere, but it indicates that he thought Jesus was just a good man.

“Why callest though Me good?” means not, “the epithet is not applicable to Me,but to God only, but, “do not make ascriptions of goodness a matter of mere courtesy or politeness.” The case is parallel to the unwillingness of Jesus to be called “Christ” indiscriminately. He wished no man to give Him any title of honor till he knew what he was doing. He wished this man in particular to think carefully on what is good, and who, all the more that there were competing types of goodness to choose from, that of the Pharisees, and that exhibited in His own teaching. — Wuest, pages 201-202.

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Having fixed the standard of goodness, the Lord proceeds [v.19] to rehearse the divine precepts which to the Jew were the highest expression of the good will (of God) … The Lord cites only the commandments which regulate man’s duty to his neighbor, probably because they admit of a relatively simple application of the conduct of life. — Wuest, page 202.

kept (v.20) = guarded, watched, used of sentinels keeping guard over something, took care not to break.

The man, when he heard Jesus’ answer, thought he had already met the requirements for eternal life by keeping the law.

looking at him (v.21) = fixing the eyes for a moment on an object, a searching gaze.

loved (v.21) = agape. This probably means that Jesus saw the truth about the man and loved him and his attempt to be good—loved what was good in him.

But Jesus knew a strict adherence to the Law wasn’t enough. There’s a deeper meaning that the young man didn’t grasp.

The man is conscious of his defect, an important point in his spiritual condition. … The sale and distribution of his property were the necessary preparations in his case for the complete discipleship which admits to the divine kingdom. The words are not a general counsel for perfection [in other words, they weren’t a hard and fast rule for everyone], but a test of obedience and faith which our Lord saw to be necessary in this particular instance. — Wuest, page 203.

follow (v.21) = to take the same road as another.

Jesus walked a road of self-abnegation, of self-sacrifice, of service to others, of separation. To have obeyed the instructions of Jesus, would not have given this young man eternal life. The latter can only be had in answer to personal heart faith in the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. But that obedience would have been the first and necessary step for this man to take in order to become a disciple (a learner) of Jesus. Taking the same road with Him, would have eventuated in his receiving salvation in answer to his faith in the Lord Jesus as Savior. That which was keeping him from the latter step, was his love of wealth. — Wuest, page 203.

Take up the cross (v.21) — not in the best manuscripts (It would have meant nothing to the young man at this point.)

sad (v.22) = sorrowful as a result of disappointment and grief

His hopes were dashed; the one thing he wanted was beyond his reach; the price was too great to pay even for eternal life. For the time the love of the world prevailed. Yet it is unnecessary … to characterize his sorrow as that of the world (2 Corinthians 7:10); rather it may have been the birth-pangs of a spirit struggling for release. His riches were indeed as thorns which threatened to choke the seed of the word (Mark 4:7, 19), but the end of the struggle is not revealed. — Wuest, page 204.

If the young man had kept the law perfectly, he would have had eternal life, but the Bible makes it clear that nobody achieves, or can achieve, that level (Romans 3:23).

Ultimately, although he had great regard for Jesus, respect for the Law, and a desire for eternal life, at this point anyway, his faith was in his wealth.

One of my commentaries, with no explanation or support whatsoever, suggests that the young man thought better of his decision and was saved later—and that he was, in fact, Barnabas. I doubt it.

¹³ Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

¹⁴ But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.

¹⁵ Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

¹⁶ And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.

Also found in Matthew 19:13-15 and Luke 18:15-17.

brought (v.13) – kept on bringing

It is difficult to resist the attractiveness of [an] older suggestion … which associates the children with the house in v.10. They were brought to Him to say goodnight and receive His blessing before being sent to bed. — Guthrie, page 872.

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that He might touch them (v.13) — The custom of laying on of hands with prayer upon children for the purpose of benediction, finds its archetype in Genesis 48:14-15. Such benedictions, it seems were commonly obtained by parents for their children from the ruler of the synagogue; and here was One greater than any local synagogue-ruler. — Wuest, pages 198-199.

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rebuked (v.13) = to unjustly check or blame another. The rebuke of the disciples was both unwarranted and without result. They kept on rebuking those who brought the children as fast as they came to Jesus. The disciples [probably] discouraged the attempt as idle or, more probably, as derogatory to the Master’s dignity. — Wuest, page 199.

greatly displeased (v.14) = indignant, to feel pain. This is the only place in Scripture where this word is used of Jesus. Paul used the word in 2 Corinthians 7:11 and said that it could be done in a godly manner.

do not forbid (v.14) = stop forbidding

Our Lord here (v.15) holds up a little child as a model of trusting, simple, and loving obedience, for adults to emulate as the way to appropriate the salvation God offers the believing sinner. — Wuest, page 200.

by no means enter (v.15) — In Greek, a double negative is used for emphasis.

blessed them (v.16) = blessed them fervently, again and again.

He blessed them fervently, in no perfunctory way, but with emphasis, as those who were capable of a more unreserved benediction than their elders. Instead of the mere touch for which the friends had asked, He laid His hands on them. … Jesus took each child in His arms, one by one, and blessed it. — Wuest, page 200.

1 Then He arose from there and came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan. And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again.

² The Pharisees came and asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him.

³ And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?”

⁴ They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.”

⁵ And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

⁶ But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’

⁷ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

⁸ and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.

⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

¹⁰ In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter.

¹¹ So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.

¹² And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Also found in Matthew 19:1-12.

from there (v.1) — Jesus left Galilee for the last time until after His resurrection. From here on, each step took Him closer to the cross.

multitudes gathered (v.1) — The simple verb means “to betake one’s self, to go to some place.” Thus, it refers to someone going on a journey. The prefixed preposition means “with,” making the compound verb to mean “to go with someone on a journey.” There were many caravans going to Jerusalem. Many of the people were followers of the Lord Jesus. Others were kindly disposed towards Him. These joined our Lord and His disciples along the road. As they journeyed along together, the Lord Jesus kept on teaching them. — Wuest, page 194.

testing (v.2) = putting to the test for the purpose of discovering what good or evil, what power or weakness is in a person or thing.

The Pharisees were not attempting to influence our Lord to do evil They were trying to put Him to the test as a teacher. They wanted Him to commit Himself on the law of Moses. Their purpose was an ulterior one. If they could show that He was unorthodox, that would put Him in an unfavorable light with the people. … The question [they asked] appears to have been already answered during the Galilean ministry (Matthew 5:31-32) on an occasion when probably no Pharisees were present. They may have heard a rumor as to His view of the matter and wished to verify it, but it is unlikely that they hoped to draw Him in a moment of forgetfulness into a denial of His earlier teaching. Rather, they expected a negative reply, and were prepared to turn it to their own purposes. It might be used to excite the anger of Antipas, who had put away his first wife and married again; more probably their intention was simply to place Him in apparent opposition to Moses. — Wuest, page 195.

divorce (v.2) = lit. “release,” repudiate

Moses (v.3) — Here Jesus has in view, not what Moses allowed in Deuteronomy 24:1, but what he in Genesis enjoined as the ideal state of things (Moses from the Jewish point of view, author of the Pentateuch and all its legislation). They naturally supposed He had in view the former. The use of the word “command” by our Lord, shows [that He was referring to the command in Genesis]. — Wuest, page 195.

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The Lord does not deny that Moses permitted divorce; command it he did not. The commandment consisted of “regulations tending to limit it and preclude its abuse.” No such regulations would have been necessary but for the hardness which had been innate in the Hebrew people from the first. The purpose of the legislation of Deuteronomy was to check this disposition, not to give it head; and for the Pharisees to shelter themselves under the temporary recognition of a necessary evil was to confess that they had not outgrown the moral stature of their fathers. — Wuest, page 196.

hardness of heart (v.5) — insensibility to the call of God, withering of the moral nature due to unbelief

from the beginning (v.6) — referring back to the commands on marriage in Genesis 2:24.

leave (v.7) = leave behind, depart from, forsake

be joined (v.7) = cleave, glue to, join one’s self to, stick to — joining and remaining joined.

joined together (v.9) = fastened to one yoke, yoked together, united

asked (v.10) — continuing action. They plied Him with questions.

Of simple divorce the Lord has spoken sufficiently; it is a dissolution of the divinely constituted union. He deals now with the case of marriage after divorce, and pronounces it adultery. — Wuest, page 197.

against her (v.11) = in reference to her, to the prejudice of her

It may be helpful to read what Paul wrote about divorce in the Age of Grace (1 Corinthians 7:10-16). There can be no question that God does not want married people to divorce. But for those who have … there is grace.

⁴⁹ “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.

⁵⁰ Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”

Verse 49, taken in its context, reaches back to the unquenchable fire of Gehenna (v.48), and forward to the self-discipline of verse 50. … Every one must be salted somehow, either with the unquenchable fire of Gehenna or with the severe fire of self-discipline. Wise is he who chooses the latter alternative. … Jesus once called His disciples the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). He warns them now (v.50) not to lose their saltness. … [This warning may be connected with] the dispute as to who would be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven … If the preserving principle embodied in the Apostles, and which was to emanate from them, should itself prove corrupt, then where could help be found? If they, the chosen ones, became selfish, if they wrangled about who should be greatest, then the fire which our Lord had come to send upon earth was clearly not burning in them, and whence could it be kindled afresh? — Wuest, page 193.

The words “And every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt” were probably not in the original manuscripts but were added in an attempt to make sense of the passage.

Have salt in yourselves (v.50) — Keep the seasoning power, the preserving, sacrificial Fire, within your hearts, and as first condition of its presence there, be at peace with your brethren. Thus, the discourse reverts to the point from which it started (v.33). Disputes about precedence endangered the very existence of the new life. — Wuest, page 193

it (v.50) — Greek makes it clear this is referring to the salt itself.

The salt of the illustration was salt from the Dead Sea which, unlike modern salt, contained impurities which made it lose its saltiness. — Thomas, page 126.

⁴¹ For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.

⁴² “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.

⁴³ If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—

⁴⁴ where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

⁴⁵ And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—

⁴⁶ where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

⁴⁷ And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire—

⁴⁸ where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

Also found in Matthew 18:6-9 and Luke 9:43-48.

Verse 41 picks up Jesus’ teaching interrupted in v.38 by John’s question.

will by no means lose (v.41) — In Greek, a double negative for emphasis.

causes … to stumble (v.42) — put a stumbling-block or impediment in the way upon which another may trip or fall. The noun form means “the moveable stick or rigger of a trap, a trap, snare, any impediment laced in the way causing one to stumble or fall. — Wuest, page 191.

thrown (v.42) — tense indicates that the one thrown stays thrown

A man may place moral stumbling-blocks in his own path; the temptation may proceed not from without, but from some part of his own nature. As men submit to the loss of a bodily organ or limb in order to preserve the body as a whole, so it is to their interests to sacrifice powers and functions of their spiritual nature which have been found to be inevitable occasions of sin. … The word “maimed,” in classical Greek [was used] of one who has a crushed or crippled limb.” — Wuest, page 191.

life (v.43, 45) — not eternal life, but a life that is really worthwhile.

hell (vs.43, 45, 47) — The word hell is the Greek geenna; this is a loose transliteration of the Hebrew ge-hinnom, “the valley of Hinnom,” a gorge just outside Jerusalem which had in ancient times been the scene of human sacrifices (Jeremiah 7:31), but later, during the reforms of Josiah (2 Kings 23:10), became the refuse-heap of the city. It was a natural metaphor for the place of future punishment. — Guthrie, page 871.

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[Geenna] is the name of a ravine starting from the northwest of Jerusalem, which sweeps around the southwest angle of the city, then meets the Kedron below the Pool of Silvan. This valley is the traditional site of the fire-worship which began in the reign of Ahaz, and after its desecration by Josiah, became a common receptacle for the offal of the city, and in later Jewish thought, a symbol of the place of future punishment. The city garbage, where worms gnawed and fires burned continually is a vivid picture of everlasting punishment. It is the word used in the N.T. to designate the place of the final abode of the wicked dead, the Lake of Fire of Revelation being the same place. — Wuest, pages 191-192.

Verses 44 and 46 are not in the best manuscripts. They are simply a repetition of v.48. The quote is from Isaiah 66:24. “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

Again, it’s important to understand this passage in the proper dispensational context. Jesus was speaking in, and of, the dispensation of law. The parallel thought in the dispensation of Grace would be “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1).

If a person was to attempt to achieve heaven under the Law, he or she would be better off cutting off parts of the body that caused him or her to sin. One of my commentaries (below) states that the body parts are stand-ins for the sins committed with those parts of the body.

According to Palestinian custom, Jews did not refer to the abstract sinful act but to the concrete member of the body by which it was liable to be committed. This was thus not a call to self-mutilation but to a refusal to place the body at the disposal of selfish pleasure — Thomas, page 126.

³⁸ Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.”

³⁹ But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.

⁴⁰ For he who is not against us is on our side.

Also found in Luke 9:49-50.

The apostles had been arguing about the rank they would hold in the kingdom. It is obvious that they were thinking highly of themselves, and when they saw somebody without credentials doing what they themselves did, they told him to stop.

The behavior of the disciples all through this period is unsatisfactory. From the time when Peter contradicted and rebuked Jesus, down to their final desertion, there is weakness at every turn. And this is a curious example of it, that immediately after having failed themselves, they should rebuke another for doing what their Master had once declared could not possibly be an evil work. If Satan cast out Satan his house was divided against itself … [John] first discerned the rebuke to their conduct implied in the words of Jesus [Mark 9:37]. — Chadwick, page 255.

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The sincerity of the speaker [the one who was casting out demons], saves him from censure; the Lord merely corrects the error. He does not say “Receive him,” for the man’s motive did not appear; but the attitude of His disciples towards such an one should have at least been neutral … Whatever his intention, the man is for the time practically committed to a course of action which at least cannot be unfriendly. [In other words, if someone uses] Christ’s name in exorcism [it is] incompatible with hostile or unappreciative thought and speech of Him. — Wuest, page 190.

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[John’s] words are a response to the teaching just received. He and one or more of the other disciples, probably during their recent journey through northern Galilee, had prohibited a non-disciple from using the Master’s Name for the purpose of exorcising demoniacs. Ought they rather have welcomed him as a brother? The words, “He does not follow with us,” are a frank confession of jealousy for the honor of the Apostalate. In the light of the Lord’s words, the action had begun to wear a different aspect to the mind of John. — Wuest, page 189.

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The declaration “He that is not with Me is against Me” (Matthew 12:30) seems to conflict with the words “He that is not against us is on our side” (v.40). But they coalesce when it is recognized that Christ was the Divine Object and He brought things to an issue. The world was against Him; if a man was not, he was for Him, for there was no middle position. — Williams, page 738.

Many of my commentaries use this passage to condemn sectarianism — speaking against those in other denominations. But Jesus didn’t say anything about what the man believed — only what he was doing at the time. I think a modern example would be a church that taught spotty doctrine but provided food for the homeless. You wouldn’t forbid them to serve the community, but you would warn others about their false teaching.

³³ Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?”

³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.

³⁵ And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

³⁶ Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them,

³⁷ “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”

Also found in Matthew 18:1-5 and Luke 9:46-48.

the house (v.33) — Peter’s home in Capernaum, where Jesus and the twelve lived when they were in that city.

they kept silent (v.34) = lit. “they kept on being quiet”

Jesus had just told them of His coming death, and they didn’t ask Him about it. Instead, they argued amongst themselves about which would have the greatest rank in the coming kingdom.

if (v.35) — not a conditional “if,” but a fulfilled condition — “since you desire to be first …”

servant (v.35) = one who ministers to another

child (v.36) — The answer to the question as to who is greatest is found in the character of the child, “the most childlike and trustful, the least self-conscious and self-sufficient. He who recognizes and welcomes such, because he sees in them the type of character which Christ Himself approved and exhibited, recognizes and welcomes Christ Himself — is a true and loyal disciple. — Wuest, page 189.

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It was a sweet and gentle prudence, which had not corrected them publicly nor while their tempers were still ruffled, nor in the language of severe rebuke, for by the way they had no only reasoned but disputed one with another, who was the greatest.

Language of especial honour had been addressed to Peter. Three had become possessed of a remarkable secret on the Holy Mount, concerning which hints on one side, and surmises on the other, may easily have excited jealousy. The failure of the nine to cast out the devil would also, as they were not humbled, render them irritable and self-asserting.

But they held their peace. No one asserted his right to answer on behalf of all. Peter, who was so willingly their spokesman at other times, did not vindicate his boasted pre-eminence now. The claim which seemed so reasonable while they forgot Jesus, was a thing of blush for in His presence. And they, who feared to ask Him of His own sufferings, knew enough to feel the contrast between their temper, their thoughts, and His. — Chadwick, page 252.

The issue here isn’t whether the apostles will have lofty rank in the kingdom — they will (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30). The issue is their attitude about, and motivation for, service.

³⁰ Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.

³¹ For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.”

³² But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

Also found in Matthew 17:22-23 and Luke 9:43-45.

This (v.30) is the beginning of the final journey to Jerusalem where the Lord was crucified.

betrayed (v.31) = handing someone over to another, “selling down the river.” Tense indicates an action that is imminent and in the process of accomplishment. The Lord already knew what Judas was thinking.

afraid (v.32) — Afraid possibly of again showing their ignorance, or, perhaps, afraid of knowing the worst; for they still hoped for an immediate Kingdom of outward glory. — Williams, page 737.

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In fact they comprehended enough to shrink from hearing more. They did not dare to lift the veil which covered a mystery so dreadful; they feared to ask Him. … No wonder that these Galileans recoiled from searching what was the calamity which weighed so heavily upon the mighty spirit of their Master. Do no men stifle the voice of conscience, and refuse to examine themselves whether they are in the faith, in the same abject dread of knowing the facts and looking the inevitable in the face? — Chadwick, page 250.

In other words, if you don’t want the answer, don’t ask the question.

¹⁴ And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.

¹⁵ Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.

¹⁶ And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”

¹⁷ Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.

¹⁸ And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”

¹⁹ He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”

²⁰ Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.

²² And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

²³ Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵ When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”

²⁶ Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.”

²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

²⁸ And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

²⁹ So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

Also found in Matthew 17:12-21 and Luke 9:37-43.

O, faithless generation … (v.19) — The prevalent evil weighed upon Him. And here the visible power of Satan, the hostility of the scribes, the failure of His own, the suspense and agitation of the crowd, all breathed the spirit of that evil age, alien and harsh to Him as an infected atmosphere. He blames none more than others; it is the “generation,” so faithless and perverse, which forces Him to exclaim: “How long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you?” — Chadwick, pages 241-242.

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scribes disputing with them (v.14) — This is peculiar to Mark, but the situation is easily conceivable; the disciples have tried to heal the boy and failed (v.18); the scribes, delighted with the failure, taunt them with it, and suggest by way of explanation the waning power of the Master, whose name thy had vainly attempted to conjure with. The baffled nine make the best defense they can, or perhaps listen in silence. Tho this, the crowd was listening. — Wuest, page 180.

greatly amazed (v.15) = lit. amazement so intense, it was well nigh exhausted. They had no more amazement left. They used it all up.

A surprise; which, whether sorrowful or joyful, always gives a certain emotional shock. The Master reappears, when He is  not looked for, when He is needed, and when His name is being taken in vain, perhaps not without a certain sympathy on the part of the volatile crowd not accustomed hitherto to miscarriage of attempts at healing when the name of Jesus was involved. In that case their feeling would be a compound of confusion and gladness—ashamed and yet delighted to see Him, both betrayed in their manner.” — Wuest, page 180.

greeted (v.15) — The Israelites usually greeted each other with the words “Peace unto thee,” accompanied by embracing and kissing.

He asked the scribes (v.15) — The best texts indicate that He asked the crowd.

brought You (v.17) — The man had intended to bring his son to Jesus. He didn’t know the Lord wasn’t with the disciples at this time.

it seizes him (v.17) = lays hold of so as to make one’s own, takes possession of.

becomes rigid (v.18) = wastes away,  pines away, is in a motionless stupor

they could not (v.18) = they didn’t have the power

faithless (v.19) — The word “faithless” has come to mean “treacherous, not keeping faith.” But the Greek word here means “without faith, unbelieving.” The disciples are included in this rebuke. They of all men should have had the necessary faith to cast out the demon. — Wuest, page 182.

how long shall I be with you (v.19) — lit. “How long shall I be in relations with you, how long shall I have to do with you?”

bear with (v.19) = endure

wallowed (v.20) = rolled. The tense of this word and “foaming” indicates ongoing actions

thrown him both into the fire and into the water (v.21) — The father did not believe these were mere accidents.

if You can do anything (v.22) = if You are able, if You have power. The father’s faith had been weakened by the failure of the disciples.

If you can believe (v.23) — The word “believe” is not in the best texts. Our Lords’ answer was “If thou canst.” There is a Greek idiom here which cannot be brought over into the translation. The definite article occurs before the words “If though canst.” It acts like an index finger and a pair of brackets, holding up the the father his own words for his consideration and Jesus’ comments. [To paraphrase] Jesus said, “that if thou canst of thine—as regards that, all things are possible.” In the Greek, there is a play upon the words canst, and possible. It is “If thou canst—all things can be.” Jesus puts over against the “anything” of the father, the “all things” of the Son of God. — Wuest, page 184.

cried out (v.24) — an inarticulate cry, eager and fear-stricken, showing the strength of his feeling at that moment.

with tears (v.24) — not in the best manuscripts

help my unbelief (v.24) = lit. “Be constantly helping my unbelief.” “Unbelief” is “weakness of faith.”

Jesus had apparently drawn apart from the crowd with the father and son, but when the crowd heard their cries, they came running.

rebuked (v.25) — “Rebuke” is epitimao, which refers to a rebuke that is ineffectual, and which does not bring the person to see his sin and confess it. The word elegcho which means “to rebuke a person, which rebuke is followed by that individual’s confession or at least conviction,” is not used here. Observe, if you will, the meticulous accuracy with which the Holy Spirit leads the Bible writers in their choice of synonyms. Demons are incorrigible. They will never repent. — Wuest, page 185.

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unclean (v.25) — The word “foul” [unclean] is akathartos. It is make up of the word katharos “clean, pure, free from the adhesion of anything that soils, adulterates, corrupts,” in an ethical sense, “free from corrupt desire, sin, and guilt,” and the Greek letter Alpha prefixed, which makes the word mean the opposite of everything that it mean originally. [Like “moral” and “amoral.] — Wuest, pages 185-186.

command (v.25) = order, a military term used for arranging soldiers in ranks

come out of him and enter him no more (v.25) — Perhaps the demonic possession of this boy was intermittent. The Lord was eliminating a loophole.

became as one dead (v.26) — The convulsions caused by the demon before he left the boy exhausted the boy completely.

Why could we not cast it out? (v.28) — [The disciples] had trusted in the quasi-magical power with which they thought themselves invested; there had been no preparation of heart and spirit. Spirits of such malignity were quick to discern the lack of moral power and would yield to no other. — Wuest, pages 186-187.

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The words “and of fasting” do not appear in the best manuscripts … it is clearly a late addition to help explain the failure of the disciples. Their failure was due to their prayerlessness. They lacked power because of that. — Wuest, page 187.

⁹ Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

¹⁰ So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.

¹¹ And they asked Him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹² Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him.”

Also found in Matthew 17:9-13 and Luke 9:36.

kept (v.10) = kept carefully and faithfully, kept a strong hold on, mastered

questioning (v.10) = seeking with one another, disputing among themselves with the purpose of finding something out

The apostles still didn’t understand what Jesus meant when He said “the Son of Man should rise [lit. translation] from the dead.”

the asked (v.11) — tense indicates continuous action

Literal translation: And they kept on putting the question to Him, saying, The scribes are constantly saying that it is necessary in the nature of the case for Elijah to come first. — Wuest, page 179.

indeed (v.12) = verily, truly

The Lord made two things clear: first, that ‘Elijah’ had already come in the person of John the Baptist and had been rejected and killed; secondly, the Son of Man would suffer the same fate as His forerunner. “As it is written of him” must refer to the persecutions Elijah suffered (1 Kings 19:1-3). John had found his Ahab and Jezebel in Herod and Herodias. — Guthrie, page 870.

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The aim is to awaken thought in the minds of the disciples by putting together things incongruous. All things to be restored in preparation for Messiah; Messiah Himself to suffer and be set at naught: what then can the real function and fate of Elijah the restorer be? Who is Elijah? In Matthew 11:14, our Lord identifies John the Baptist as Elijah. We are not to understand that he was the actual Elijah of the Old Testament, nor that his appearance and ministry to Israel fulfilled the prophecy of the future coming and ministry of Elijah, but that he came in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the hearts of Israel for the first Advent of Messiah as Elijah will do for His second Advent.

Elijah was persecuted by Jezebel and John was beheaded at the request of Herodias, and as Elijah will in the future be crucified by Antichrist (Revelation 11:8, “where also our Lord was crucified”). — Wuest, page 179.