Matthew 28:15

Matthew 28:15
←  28:14 28:16  →
Book	Gospel of Matthew
Christian Bible part	New Testament

Matthew 28:15 is the fifteenth verse of the twenty-eighth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. This verse is part of the resurrection narrative, providing the story on how the unbelievers treated the facts.

Content

The original Koine Greek, according to Westcott and Hort/[NA27 and UBS4 variants], reads: ^[1]

15: οἱ δὲ λαβόντες [τὰ] ἀργύρια ἐποίησαν ὡς ἐδιδάχθησαν. Καὶ διεφημίσθη ὁ λόγος οὗτος παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις μέχρι τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας.

In the King James Version of the Bible this verse is translated as:

15: So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

The modern World English Bible translates the passage as:

15: So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until this day. ^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Analysis

The phrase "until this day" indicates a long interval, probably fifteen or twenty years between the events and the composition of the narrative in the Gospel of Matthew. ^[2] Justin Martyr mentions the report still circulating among the Jews of his time (in the second century), that the Jews sent "chosen men" to all parts of the world to propagate it ( Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 108. ^[3] c. 160 CE). ^[2]

The Jewish opponents of the Christianity (for example, Reimarus, centuries later) evidently did not dispute the historicity of the empty tomb, but rather assigned its cause to theft. ^[4] This verse shows the origin of this "widely circulated" rumor of theft ^[5] and answers it by showing that it was a self-serving lie fortified by money. ^[4] Dale Allison argues that Matthew's Christian community definitely cared about what the contemporary Jewish community was saying. ^[4]

R. T. France notes that the verb didaskō ("to teach") was used (the soldiers did as they were taught) to spread the lie, in contrast to the use of the same verb for the true teaching of Jesus in verse 20. ^[6]

Notes

1. For a collection of other versions, see BibleHub: Matthew 28:15

References

1. Greek Text Analysis: Matthew 28:15. Biblehub
2. Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers. Matthew 28. London : Cassell and Company, Limited, [1905-1906] Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019.
3. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypo. Quote: Chap. cviii.—The resurrection of Christ did not convert the Jews. But through the whole world they have sent men to accuse Christ. "And though all the men of your nation knew the incidents in the life of Jonah, and though Christ said amongst you that He would give the sign of Jonah, exhorting you to repent of your wicked deeds at least after He rose again from the dead, and to mourn before God as did the Ninevites, in order that your nation and city might not be taken and destroyed, as they have been destroyed; yet you not only have not repented, after you learned that He rose from the dead, but, as I said before,[cf. Chapter xvii.—The Jews sent persons through the whole earth to spread calumnies on Christians.] you have sent chosen and ordained men throughout all the world to proclaim that a godless and lawless heresy had sprung from one Jesus, a Galilæan deceiver, whom we crucified, but his disciples stole him by night from the tomb, where he was laid when unfastened from the cross, and now deceive men by asserting that he has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven."
4. Allison, Jr., Dale C. (2007). "57. Matthew". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 885. ISBN   978-0199277186 . Retrieved February 6, 2019.
5. Carson, D. A. (2017). Matthew. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Contributors: Tremper Longman III, David E. Garland (revised ed.). 3. First fraudulent denials of Jesus' resurrection (28:11–15): Zondervan Academic. ISBN   9780310531982.
6. France 2007, p. 1106.

Sources

• France, R.T. (2007). Bruce, Frederick Fyvie (ed.). The Gospel of Matthew. New international commentary on the New Testament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN   9780802825018.

Preceded by Matthew 28:14

Gospel of Matthew Chapter 28

Succeeded by Matthew 28:16