Matthew 11:27

Are delivered (παρεδόθη) More lit., were delivered, as of a single act at a given time, as in this case, where the Son was sent forth by the Father, and clothed with authority. Compare Matthew 28:18. Knoweth (ἐπιγινώσκει) The compound indicating full knowledge. Others behold only in part, "through a glass, darkly."

Matthew 11:27 . All things are delivered unto me, &c. — Here our Lord seems to address, not so much his disciples, as those of the people that stood near him, with a reference to what he had last spoken. As if he had said, Do not be led, by the example of your great and learned men, to slight and despise me; for mean and humble as my circumstances now appear, all things relating to the salvation of mankind are delivered into my hands, even all authority, power, and judgment. And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father — No one knoweth the mystery of his person, his character, and dignity; no one knoweth what he has done, and what he is yet to do, for the salvation of the world; save the Father that sent him. “These words evidently declare that there is something inexplicably mysterious in the nature and person of Christ; which indeed appears in the most convincing manner, from the account elsewhere given of his Deity in Scripture.” Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, &c. — Neither can any one savingly know God the Father, but the Son, by whom alone he is fully comprehended in his nature and attributes, his counsels and dispensations, his works and ways; and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him — Or make him savingly known by the gospel, and the illumination of the Spirit. Thus John, The Son of God hath given us an understanding to know, ( τον αληθινον ,) the true one; and we are in the true one in, or through, his Son Jesus Christ.

The worship, therefore, of the Jews, who reject Christ, and consequently do not receive the knowledge of the living and true God through him, of modern Deists, and of all unbelievers, is in fact rendered to an imaginary deity; the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ being to them an unknown God.

Matthew 11:27 . πάντα , all things necessary for the realisation of the kingdom (Holtz., H.C.). The πάντα need not be restricted to the hiding and revealing functions (Weiss, Nösgen). Hiding, indeed, was no function of Christ’s. He was always and only a revealer. For the present Jesus has only a few babes , but the future is His: Christianity the coming religion.— παρεδόθη , aorist, were given. We might have expected the future. It may be another instance of the aorist used for the Hebrew prophetic future ( vide ad Matthew 11:19 ). In Matthew 28:18 ἐδόθη again to express the same thought. The reference probably is to the eternal purpose of God: on the use of the aorist in N. T., vide note on this passage in Camb. G. T.— ἐπιγινώσκει , thoroughly knows.— τὸν υἱὸν … πατήρ , Christ’s comfort amid the widespread unbelief and misunderstanding in reference to Himself is that His Father knows Him perfectly. No one else does, not even John. He is utterly alone in the world. Son here has a Godward reference, naturally arising out of the situation. The Son of Man is called an evil liver. He lifts up His heart to heaven and says: God my Father knows me, His Son. The thought in the first clause is connected with this one thus: the future is mine, and for the present my comfort is in the Father’s knowledge of me.— οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα … ὁ υἱὸς : a reflection naturally suggested by the foregoing statement. It is ignorance of the Father that creates misconception of the Son.

Conventional, moral and religious ideals lead to misjudgment of one who by all He says and does is revealing God as He truly is and wills. The men who know least about God are those supposed to know most, and who have been most ready to judge Him, the “wise and understanding”. Hence the additional reflection, κοὶ ᾧ ἐὰν βούληται ὁ υ . ἀποκαλύψαι . Jesus here asserts His importance as the revealer of God, saying in effect: “The wise despise me, but they cannot do without me. Through me alone can they attain that knowledge of God which they profess to desire above all things.” This was there and then the simple historic fact. Jesus was the one person in Israel who truly conceived God. The use of βούληται is noticeable: not to whomsoever He reveals Him, but to whomsoever He is pleased to reveal Him. The emphasis seems to lie on the inclination , whereas in Matthew 1:19 θέλων appears to express the wish, and ἐβουλήθη rather the deliberate purpose. Jesus meets the haughty contempt of the “wise” with a dignified assertion that it depends on his inclination whether they are to know God or not. On the distinction between βούλομαι and θέλω , vide Cremer, Wörterbuch, s. v. βούλομαι . According to him the former represents the direction of the will, the latter the will active (Affect, Trieb). Hence βουλ . can always stand for θελ ., but not vice versâ .

(27) All things are delivered. —Literally, were delivered, as looking back on the moment of the gift. The “all things,” though not limited by the context, are shown by it to refer specially to the mysteries of the kingdom implied in the word “reveal.” The wider meaning of the words appears more clearly in Matthew 28:18 , and in both passages we may trace a formal denial of the claim of the Tempter resting on the assertion that the power and glory of the world had been committed to him ( Luke 4:6 ). Neither knoweth any man the Father.—The Greek implies full and complete knowledge, and in that sense it was true that no one knew the Son as such in all the ineffable mystery of His being and His work but the Father; that no one fully entered into the Fatherhood of God but He whose relation to Him had been from eternity one of Sonship. To those only who knew God in Christ was the Fatherhood of which Jews and Gentiles had had partial glimpses revealed in all its completeness. To whomsoever the Son will reveal him.—The Greek gives more than the mere future—is willing to reveal.

27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father—He does not say, They are revealed—as to one who knew them not, and was an entire stranger to them save as they were discovered to Him—but, They are "delivered over," or "committed," to Me of My Father; meaning the whole administration of the kingdom of grace. So in Joh 3:35, "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand" (see on [1267]Joh 3:35). But though the "all things" in both these passages refer properly to the kingdom of grace, they of course include all things necessary to the full execution of that trust—that is, unlimited power. (So Mt 28:18; Joh 17:2; Eph 1:22). and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will—willeth to reveal him—What a saying is this, that "the Father and the Son are mutually and exclusively known to each other!" A higher claim to equality with the Father cannot be conceived. Either, then, we have here one of the revolting assumptions ever uttered, or the proper divinity of Christ should to Christians be beyond dispute. "But, alas for me!" may some burdened soul, sighing for relief, here exclaim. If it be thus with us, what can any poor creature do but lie down in passive despair, unless he could dare to hope that he may be one of the favored class "to whom the Son is willing to reveal the Father." But nay.

Matthew 11:27 . Πάντα , all things ) Here our Lord changes the direction of His words, and accosts His human auditors. After His resurrection, He more expressly said that all things in heaven and in earth were delivered to Him; see ch. Matthew 28:18 ; but in the present passage the same truth is implied; cf. Matthew 11:25 . All things are delivered unto Him; also the authority to reveal them. All things are delivered unto Him; and therefore all men . See John 13:3 ; John 17:2 ; 1 Corinthians 15:25 ; 1 Corinthians 15:27 .— παρεδόθη , have been delivered ) The Father reserved nothing for Himself which He did not give to the Son. Cf. John 13:3 ; Matthew 28:18 . The intimate relation of the Father and the Son is implied in Matthew 11:25-27 , John 6:39-40 , and so throughout the Apocalypse. See my exposition of the Apocalypse, p. 65.— οὐδεὶς — οὐδὲ , no one—neither ) On the order of the words, cf. John 8:19 .— εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ , except the Father ) He does not add, “ and he to whomsoever the Father chooses to reveal Him ,” because He has said that in Matthew 11:25 , and here He is teaching us what the Father has delivered to Him. The Holy Spirit is not excluded; He is not, however, mentioned here, because His office was not as yet so well known to men.— βούληται , may will) shall choose . To whom, however, He wishes to do so, is clear from the following verse.

John saith, John 3:35 , The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. Matthew 28:18 , All power is given unto me. John 17:2 , Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. God is the Fountain of power, Psalm 62:11 . He hath committed also power to Christ as Mediator, Psalm 2:7-9 , more particularly the power of life and eternal salvation, as John 17:2 ; he hath the keys of hell and death, Revelation 1:18 , and all the means that lead to eternal life are in his power and disposal. And no man knoweth the Son but the Father; no man knoweth his Divine essence, his eternal generation; and therefore men are not to listen to what the scribes and Pharisees say of him, but to attend to and to believe what the Father hath revealed from heaven concerning him, who best knoweth him. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son: no man knoweth the essence of the Father, or the counsels of the Father, as to the dispensations of the gospel. Save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. The prophets inquired and searched diligently concerning this salvation, searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, 1 Peter 1:10-12 . Mr.