Matthew 10:28 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 10:28

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What Christ is not saying is, stop yourself fearing those who persecute you and who may try to kill you, but quake before him who can send you to hell. We believe in final perseverance; God is not going to change his mind about who he loves and lash out and destroy them. The Lord is speaking to his disciples who have already trusted in him and been forgiven. The reason he speaks of the one who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell is not to give a motive for fearing him because of what he might do to them, a motive of dread. The Father has loved them and revealed Christ to them. But God most certainly does punish the wicked in this way. Christ means fear the one who casts those who do not believe into hell. Why should the disciples be told to fear God if he is not going to treat them like the lost? Because they are not to think like unbelievers, like those who make a foolish evaluation. The unbeliever fears the death of the body. If placed in a situation where his life is threatened, he would set little store by his soul, and would soon abandon it in order to save his skin. That is because he worries about the destruction of the body and does not think about the destruction of the soul, and that is a great miscalculation, because the soul is worth so much more than the body. The disciple is not to think like that, but is to realise the greater value of the soul. It is for the salvation of his soul that he has come to Christ. If the body is destroyed God will raise it from the dead, but if sins are not forgiven, and we do not know Christ, and the soul perishes, then there is no remedy – God will destroy both body and soul in hell. If the unbeliever were to start to understand this, it might drive him to seek for salvation; he might get his thinking straight and understand the relative value of body and soul. Not that the body is unimportant – man is not complete without it, but God is able to raise it from the dead. The soul however must be saved in this life or not at all. It is too late to come to Christ after we have left this world in a state of unbelief. This fear has gripped the believer at the point in his life when he first began to awaken spiritually. However, when he repented and trusted in Christ and understood the grace of God, his fear was replaced by appreciation of the mercy and love of God towards him. But the same calculation which awoke him spiritually is still true – the soul is what matters most.The soul is out of reach of men. If our lives are hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1), then there is nothing they can do to harm us. They have reached the end of their power in killing the body, and the soul of the faithful martyr is now marvellously free. What little the malice of men was able to do – kill the body – is easily reversed by God. The result is that the martyr has got his life back again, body and soul, and he has proved his faithfulness to God when faced with the ultimate test. He shall receive a crown of life.

Application

If you fear to witness – and only a minority do not – then don’t try to quell your fear: you cannot. Instead, redirect it. Christ is teaching his disciples how to cope with the fear of death. He recognises that that fear is a reality, but the Christian must be prepared to love the Lord more than he loves his own life, and to be willing to lay down his life for the Lord if called upon to do so. The power of the world to hurt us is limited. Set that power against the far greater power of God to hurt those who do not trust in him. It is easy to see which is to be preferred. Christ requires his disciples to lay down their lives for him, but he has promised he will never forsake us. These words are solemn and deep, but they have been of comfort to many who have found themselves facing the powerful dilemma of whether to choose faithfulness to the Lord or the preservation of their own lives.

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Matthew 10:28 Commentary and Bible Study