Little faith - Matthew 8:26
You of little
faith. This expression appears several times in Matthew to refer to the disciples (Matt. 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8). In the Gospels the disciples are shown to have faith in Jesus but who struggle to understand and follow, not like Jesus' enemies who are shown to be faithless.
What sort of man? – Matthew 8:27
What
sort of man is this? The Gospel of Matthew, at the highest, level focuses on this question, showing Jesus to be the incarnation of God himself, the Messiah, the Son of God. In chapters 5–9 Matthew is highlighting Jesus' authority — in teaching (Matt. 7:29), in healing people (Matt. 8:13), over demons Matt. (8:32), to forgive sins (Matt. 9:6), and even over creation itself (Matt. 8:27) by still the sea, something only God can do (Ps, 29:3-4; 65:5-7; 89:9; 107:23-30).
Demon - Matthew 8:28
Demons. Demons are spiritual beings who oppose God and have some power to do evil in the world, also called evil spirits (Matt. 10:1). The prince of demons is Satan (Matt. 9:34; 12:24-28), who opposed Jesus from the beginning and was unsuccessful in tempting him (Matt. 4:1-11). Jesus has all authority over any demons and can control and command them.
Son of God – Matthew 8:29
Son of
God. The demons recognize the truth about Jesus even when people do not (Matt. 3:17; 4:1-11).
Herd of pigs - Matthew 8:31
Herd of
pigs. Jesus was ministering in the region of Gadarenes, which was mostly Gentile. The Jewish people considered pigs as unclean. When these Gentiles saw the power of this Jewish miracle worker they were afraid and asked him to leave their region (Matt. 8:34).
His own city – Matthew 9:1
His
own city. Though Jesus was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth, at the beginning of his public ministry he resettled in Capernaum alongside the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 4:13), in fulfillment of the promise of God's light coming to Gentiles (Matt. 4:14-16).
This man is blaspheming - Matthew 9:3
"
This man is
blaspheming." To blaspheme means to speak irreverently or defiantly against God. Blasphemy was a serious crime in the OT, resulting in death (Lev. 24:10-16). The scribes accused Jesus of blasphemy because he pronounced God's forgiveness of sins even though he was not a priest nor had the paralyzed man offered the necessary sacrifices to be pronounced as forgiven. This is blasphemy according to the Law. They will also accuse Jesus as blasphemy at the end of his life when he claims to be the Son of Man in the presence of God (Matt. 26:64-66).
For any cause – Matthew 9:3
For
any cause. There was debate among different Jewish groups in Jesus' day about what constituted sufficient grounds for a divorce. The Hillel group tended to be very open and allowed a man to divorce his wife for nearly any reason. The Shammai group was narrower in its interpretation and Jesus' own view was closer to theirs.
The Son's authority - Matthew 9:6
The
Son of
Man has
authority on
earth to
forgive sins. The Son of Man was Jesus' self-designation. Here Jesus claimed for himself an action that only God can do in his own authority. Jesus is acting as the high priest of God, but even more, he is claiming to have this authority in himself (Matt. 7:26; 12:8; 17:5; 28:18).
Matthew - Matthew 9:9
A
man named Matthew. Jesus called people to become his disciples regardless of their backgrounds. A Jewish tax-collector in Jesus' day was a person despised by other Jews because they were employed by the Roman government and contributed to the oppression of their own people. Matthew responded in faith to Jesus' call and became a disciple and the author of this Gospel.
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