Matthew 12:39 Commentary and Bible Study

Christ deals with them as they deserve. Those who speak softly and deceptively should not be answered according to the softness of their speech but according to the malice in their hearts. They are, he says, an evil generation and an adulterous generation, not literally, though they were guilty of that also, but in the Old Testament sense of the word: they were guilty of idolatry, departure from the one true God. Christ has condemned their blasphemy against him, and now he condemns their request for a sign. For their asking under such circumstances they are identified as an evil and adulterous generation. Why does an evil generation seek after a sign, and why in that case did Christ do so many signs? They seek a sign because they are looking for an excuse not to believe. Their attitude is the opposite of those who are hungering and thirsting after the truth. The true seeker after God clings onto every word of God, every encouragement to believe, every morsel of truth he can find; but these are always claiming they have not yet had enough evidence. It is a technique for putting God’s messengers on the defensive. But God knows how much we know; he knows how much he has revealed to us; he knows what we are doing with the evidence we have already received. He knows if we are treasuring it up in our hearts, or thrusting it away from us and pretending we never saw it.Christ could certainly have given them a sign that would have overwhelmed even their cynical unbelief, but it would not have led to genuine conversion and faith, so they are not given a sign at the asking. It would have led to them yielding out of fear as no doubt many on Mount Carmel did at the sign given by Elijah long before. It would have brought about only outward turning to God, but would have left the heart unchanged. They would have believed against their will, and there would have been no true, voluntary act of faith. And yet, enigmatically, Christ says that they will be given a sign: the sign of the prophet Jonah. They would not then have understood what this meant, even with the explanation that follows, but later some of them would have remembered these words and understood their meaning. This sign would be given to an evil generation, because that evil generation would be responsible for putting to death the Messiah, and so they would trigger this sign themselves.