Mark 10:28

Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28-31) Then Peter began to say unto him.—See Notes on Matthew 19:27-30. St. Mark omits the question which St. Matthew adds to St. Peter’s words, “What shall we have therefore?”

Benson Commentary

Mark 10:28-31. Peter began to say, Lo, we have left all — Though the young man would not. Jesus said, There is no man that hath left house, &c. — This is explained Matthew 19:27-29. “Our Lord is not here speaking of such as have actually separated themselves from the persons, and parted with the possessions, here mentioned; for if that had been his meaning, he would not have said that wives and children were to be forsaken, having himself, on a former occasion, expressly prohibited divorce, on any account, except fornication. But he is speaking of those who, for his sake and the gospel’s, have renounced the pleasures and satisfactions which relations and possessions usually afford.” But he shall receive a hundred-fold now in this time, houses, &c. — Not in the same kind; for it will generally be with persecutions: but in value: a hundred-fold more happiness than any or all of these did or could afford. But let it be observed, None is entitled to this happiness, but he that will accept of it with persecutions. “They who have forsaken all for my sake, shall be no losers in the issue; because God, who designs to admit them into heaven, will give them the comforts necessary to support them in their journey thither, and will raise them up friends, who shall be as serviceable to them as their nearest kindred, whom they have forsaken. By the special benignity of his Providence, they shall have every thing valuable that relations or possessions could administer to them. And, besides, shall have persecutions, whose heat will nourish virtues in them of such excellent efficacy, as to yield them, even in this present world, joys a hundred times better than all earthly pleasures; so that they shall be fed by the bread of sorrows. But, above all, in the world to come they shall have everlasting life. Their afflictions contributing to the growth of their graces, which are the wings of the soul, they shall in due time be raised on them even up to heaven, leaving all sorrows behind them, and shall fly swiftly into the bosom of God, the fountain of life and joy, where they shall have full amends made them for all the evils they had undergone on account of Christ and his gospel.” — Macknight. But many that are first, &c. See on Matthew 19:30.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:23-31 Christ took this occasion to speak to his disciples about the difficulty of the salvation of those who have abundance of this world. Those who thus eagerly seek the wealth of the world, will never rightly prize Christ and his grace. Also, as to the greatness of the salvation of those who have but little of this world, and leave it for Christ. The greatest trial of a good man's constancy is, when love to Jesus calls him to give up love to friends and relatives. Even when gainers by Christ, let them still expect to suffer for him, till they reach heaven. Let us learn contentment in a low state, and to watch against the love of riches in a high one. Let us pray to be enabled to part with all, if required, in Christ's service, and to use all we are allowed to keep in his service.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Out of measure - Very much, or exceedingly. The Greek means no more than this.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mr 10:17-31. The Rich Young Ruler. ( = Mt 19:16-30; Lu 18:18-30).

See on [1473]Lu 18:18-30.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 28-31. See Poole on "Matthew 19:27", and following verses to Matthew 19:30. Our Saviour having blessed the poor, especially such as had stripped themselves of all for his sake and the gospel’s, Peter raised up hopes to himself, who had no riches to trust in or have his heart cleave unto, and had stripped himself of all that little he had to follow Christ. Christ assures him that neither he, nor any other that had done so, should by it lose any thing; for though in this life they should have persecutions, yet they should be amply rewarded in value, if not in kind, in this world, and with infinite happiness in the next.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then Peter began to say unto him,.... only observing that Christ promised treasure in heaven to the young man, provided he sold all that he had, and gave it to the poor; but being, in some measure, freed from that surprise and astonishment, which had seized him, and his fellow disciples, at the representation of the difficulty of a rich man's entering into the kingdom of God, by the last words; and taking heart from thence, began to take notice of the following case, as an instance and illustration of what Christ had said; for that same power, which had caused them to quit all their worldly substance for Christ, though it was but small, could also work a like effect upon the heart of a man ever so rich:

lo! we have left all, and have followed thee: in Matthew it is added, "what shall we have therefore?" See Gill on Matthew 19:27.

Geneva Study Bible

{5} Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.

(5) To neglect everything in comparison with Christ is a sure way unto eternal life, so that we do not fall away along the path.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Mark 10:28-31. See on Matthew 19:27-30; Luke 18:28-30. Matthew is in part more complete (Mark 10:28 coming certainly under this description), in part abridging (Mark 10:29), but, even with this abridgment, more original. See on Matthew 19:29.

ἤρξατο] “spe ex verbis salvatoris concepta,” Bengel.

The question in Matthew, τί ἄρα ἔσται ἡμ., is obvious of itself, even although unexpressed (not omitted by Mark in the Petrine interest, as Hilgenfeld thinks), and Jesus understood it.

Mark 10:29 f. The logical link of the two clauses is: No one has forsaken, etc., if he shall not have (at some time) received, i.e. if the latter event does not occur, the former has not taken place; the hundredfold compensation is so certain, that its non-occurrence would presuppose the not having forsaken. The association of thought in Mark 4:22 (not in Matthew 26:42) is altogether similar. Instead of the ἤ, there is introduced in the second half of the clause καί; which is: and respectively. The principle of division of Mark 10:30 is: He is (1) to receive a hundredfold now, in the period prior to the manifestation of the Messiah, namely, a hundred times as many houses, brothers, etc.; and (2) to receive in the coming period (“jam in adventu est,” Bengel), after the Parousia, the everlasting life of the Messiah’s kingdom.

The plurals, which express the number a hundred, plainly show that the promised compensation in the καιρὸς οὗτος is not to be understood literally, but generally, of very abundant compensation. Nevertheless, the delicate feeling of Jesus has not said γυναῖκας also. So much the more clumsy was Julian’s scoff (see Theophylact) that the Christians were, moreover, to receive a hundred wives! The promise was realized, in respect of the καιρὸς οὗτος, by the reciprocal manifestations of love,[138] and by the wealth in spiritual possessions, 2 Corinthians 6:8-10; by which passage is illustrated, at the same time, in a noble example, the μετὰ διωγμε͂ν (comp. Matthew 5:10 ff; Matthew 10:23; Matthew 13:21; Matthew 23:34). The latter does not mean: after persecutions (Heinsius conjectured μετὰ διωγμόν, as also a few min. read), but: inter persecutiones (in the midst of persecutions, where one “omnium auxilio destitui videtur,” Jansen), designating the accompanying circumstances (Bernhardy, p. 255), the shadow of which makes prominent the light of the promise.

Mark 10:31. But many—so independent is the greater or lower reception of reward in the life eternal of the earlier or later coming to me—many that are first shall be last, and they that are last shall in many cases be first (see on Matthew 19:30; Matthew 20:16); so that the one shall be equalized with the other in respect of the measuring out of the degree of reward. A doctrine assuredly, which, after the general promise of the great recompense in Mark 10:29 f., was quite in its place to furnish a wholesome check to the ebullition of greediness for reward in the question of the disciples, Mark 10:28 (for the disciples, doubtless, belonged to the πρῶτοι). There is therefore the less reason to attribute, with Weiss, a different meaning to the utterance in Mark from that which it has in Matthew.

[138] Comp. Luther’s gloss: “He who believeth must suffer persecution, and stake everything upon his faith. Nevertheless he has enough; whithersoever he comes, he finds father, mother, brethren, possessions more than ever he could forsake.” See, e.g., on μητέρας, Romans 16:13; on τέκνα, 1 Corinthians 4:14 ff.; on ἀδελφούς, all the Epistles of the New Testament and the Acts of the Apostles (also Acts 2:44).

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 10:28-31. Peter’s question (Matthew 19:27-30, Luke 18:28-30).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. and have followed thee] adding, as St Matthew relates, “what shall we have therefore?” In reply to which our Lord uttered glorious words respecting the Twelve Thrones to be occupied by the Apostles “in the Regeneration,” or “restoration of all things” (Matthew 19:28).

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 10:28. Ἤρξατο, began) as having been led to entertain hope from the words of the Saviour.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 28. - Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. Peter began to say unto him. He had been thinking of himself and his companions, the other disciples.. He in reference to these last words of our Lord. It is probable that the sacrifice which Peter and the rest of the disciples had made when they became his followers, was small, compared with the sacrifice which our Lord demanded of the rich young ruler. Nevertheless they forsook their all, whatever it was. They had forsaken their boats and their nets. They had forsaken their means of subsistence. They had forsaken things which, though they were not much in themselves, were nevertheless such things as they would have desired to keep. Cornelins a Lapide says, "Such things are forsaken by those who follow Christ, as are capable of being desired by those who do not follow him." St. Augustine says, "St. Peter not only forsook what he had, but also what he desired to have. But who does not desire daily to increase what he has? That desire is cut off. Peter forsook the whole world, and he received in return the whole world. They were as those who had nothing, and yet were possessing all things." Mark 10:28