Matthew 10:12 Commentary and Bible Study

Clearly, Christ’s instruction is that they greet the household as a whole, the people in the house, although the Greek is ‘house’, as in the phrase ‘house of Israel’. But whose house is this? Is this about evangelising door to door, house to house, or is it about the household which God has led them to, where they are to accept hospitality? Surely the latter since their ministry was to preach and not to go house to house. The article is definite – ‘when ye come into the house’ – which is a further reason for seeing this as the house of the one acting as host to the pair of apostles, and referring back to Christ’s direction in the previous verse; Luke uses the word ‘house’ in the previous verse in his parallel account – ‘whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart’ (Luke 9:4). As Hendriksen points out, this was the standard form of greeting (Genesis 43:23; Judges 6 23; 19:20; … Luke 24:35; John 20:19, 21, 26). In 1 Samuel 25:6, peace is specifically said to be to the house, using the same figure as here. But this standard greeting is in the case of the disciples not to be just idle words, as it so often was in ordinary society. Everything that comes from the mouths of the apostles must have meaning, including this customary greeting of peace. Their words are to count because it is through their mouths that the everlasting gospel is being preached in the people. There is to be an initial assumption that the house is worthy of the blessing, although their initial judgment will not be infallible. This apostolic greeting has great value. What they have come to bring to that city or town is the everlasting gospel. Their blessing is a gospel blessing, and it is God’s blessing on that household. It is their peace, the peace they have come to bring through the gospel of peace. It is peace, not just between men, but peace with heaven. Christ will be with them to make this peace a reality on the household in question. The apostles, however, were exercising limited knowledge when they first came to the house, and therefore they needed to be able to change their minds about the household. They were to exercise discernment about who was worthy of this blessing and who was not. Being worthy cannot be understood in a way that is inconsistent with the terms of the gospel. This is not about personal worthiness, but about receiving the message by faith. They are to avoid pronouncing peace on those who are not worthy of it, because, in the mouths of the disciples, this are not to be just an empty greeting. The apostles are to exercise discernment, and they are also to be seen to exercise it. They are to consider carefully the behaviour of their hosts. If the house is not worthy of it, their peace must be withdrawn; the power to withdraw blessing must be exercised as well. The world must learn that the blessing of the gospel is not given to those who are not worthy; there is no taking advantage of Christ in order to carry on with an unworthy life.There is a reward for those offering hospitality to the Lord’s servants (2 Timothy 1:16; Philemon 1:7). These hosts would discover in time to come that they had given hospitality to the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, a great honour which God would certainly not forget (Matthew 10:42).