Matthew 9:8

But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) They marvelled.—The better reading, adopted by most editors, gives they were afraid. This agrees better with St. Mark’s “they were amazed, and glorified God,” and St. Luke’s “they were filled with fear.” St. Mark gives the words they uttered, “We never saw it after this fashion;” St. Luke, “We saw strange things to-day.”

Which had given such power unto men.—It was natural that this should be the impression made on the great body of the hearers. They rested in the thought of a delegated authority, a “power given to men,” as such, without passing on to the deeper truth of the union of the manhood with God.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:1-8 The faith of the friends of the paralytic in bringing him to Christ, was a strong faith; they firmly believed that Jesus Christ both could and would heal him. A strong faith regards no obstacles in pressing after Christ. It was a humble faith; they brought him to attend on Christ. It was an active faith. Sin may be pardoned, yet the sickness not be removed; the sickness may be removed, yet the sin not pardoned: but if we have the comfort of peace with God, with the comfort of recovery from sickness, this makes the healing a mercy indeed. This is no encouragement to sin. If thou bring thy sins to Jesus Christ, as thy malady and misery to be cured of, and delivered from, it is well; but to come with them, as thy darlings and delight, thinking still to retain them and receive him, is a gross mistake, a miserable delusion. The great intention of the blessed Jesus in the redemption he wrought, is to separate our hearts from sin. Our Lord Jesus has perfect knowledge of all that we say within ourselves. There is a great deal of evil in sinful thoughts, which is very offensive to the Lord Jesus. Christ designed to show that his great errand to the world was, to save his people from their sins. He turned from disputing with the scribes, and spake healing to the sick man. Not only he had no more need to be carried upon his bed, but he had strength to carry it. God must be glorified in all the power that is given to do good.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They glorified God - See the notes at Matthew 5:16. To "glorify" God, here, means to "praise him," or to acknowledge his power. The expression, "which had given such power to people," was a part of "their" praise. It expresses no sentiment of the evangelist about the nature of Christ, but is a record of their feelings and their praise.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 9

Mt 9:1-8. Healing of a Paralytic. ( = Mr 2:1-12; Lu 5:17-26).

This incident appears to follow next in order of time to the cure of the leper (Mt 8:1-4). For the exposition, see on [1239]Mr 2:1-12.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 7,8. Mark saith. And immediately he arose, took up his bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion, Mark 2:12. Luke saith, And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, we have seen strange things today, Luke 5:25,26. They all agree in sense, though not in words. With Christ’s word there went out a power, enabling him to do what he had commanded him. He immediately stands upon his feet, takes up his bed, or couch, that whereon he lay, ( saith Luke), and went home in the sight of them all, so as none could doubt concerning the cure. What effect hath this upon the people?

They marvelled, saith Matthew; they were amazed, and filled with fear, saith Luke. Here is not a word of their believing and owning Christ as the Son of God, which was the great thing the miracle was wrought to bring them to; but blindness was happened to Israel, seeing they saw and could not perceive. The miracle wrought in them an awe and reverence of him as an extraordinary person, and put them into a kind of ecstasy and admiration; and the text saith they

glorified God; but not aright: they praised God, not for sending his Son into the world to save sinners, but for giving such power unto men; they would still own Christ no more than a man, though a man to whom God had given great power.

No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost, 1 Corinthians 12:3. Truly to believe, own, and receive Christ as our Lord, requireth the operation of the Spirit of grace, working such a faith and persuasion in us.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But when the multitude saw it,.... The miracle that was wrought; when they saw the man take up his bed, and carry it home, which was done by Christ, as a proof of his having power to forgive sin,

they marvelled, and glorified God: they were struck with amazement and astonishment at the sight, it being what was strange and unusual; the like to which they had never seen before, nor heard of: and concluding it to be more than human; they ascribed it to God; they praised, and adored the divine goodness,

which had given such power unto men; of working miracles, healing diseases, and delivering miserable mortals from such maladies, as were otherwise incurable; still looking upon Christ as a mere man, by whom God did these things; not knowing yet the mystery of the incarnation, God manifest in the flesh.

Geneva Study Bible

But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Matthew 9:8. Ἐφοβήθησαν] not equivalent to ἐθαύμασαν (not even in Mark 4:41; Luke 8:35), but they were afraid. This was naturally the first impression produced by the extraordinary circumstance; and then they praised God, and so on.

τοῖς ἀνθρώποις] Not the plural of category (Matthew 2:20), so that only Jesus is meant (Kuinoel), but men generally,—the human race. In one individual member of the human family they saw this power actually displayed, and regarded it as a new gift of God to humanity, for which they gave God praise.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 9:8. ἰδόντες οἱ ὄχλοι. The people are free from the petty jealousies and pedantic theories of the professional class; broad facts settle the matter for them. They probably had no scruples about the forgiving, but if they, had the miracle would put an end to them: the manifest authority and power a witness of the non-apparent (ποιεῖται τὴν φανερὰν [ἐξουσίαν] τεκμήριον τῆς ἀφανοῦς. Euthy.).—ἐφοβήθησαν, they feared; may point to a change of mind on the part of some who at first were influenced by the disapproving mood of the scribes. The solemn frown of those who pass for saints and wise men is a formidable thing, making many cowards. But now a new fear takes the place of the old, perhaps not without a touch of superstition.

Bengel's Gnomen

Matthew 9:8. Ἐξουσίαν τοιαύτην, such authority) sc. to heal and save (see Matthew 9:6), and that close at hand in the man Jesus Christ.—τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, to men) so long afflicted with sin.[400] An expansive expression (lata oratio), as in Matthew 9:6.[401] They rejoiced that there was one of the human race endued with this authority.

[400] A Dativus Commodi.—V. g. i.e. for the good of men.—ED.

[401] Beng seems to me, not to take ἀνθρώποις as Engl. V., “God who had given such power to men,” but, as the Dative of advantage, “Who had bestowed such power (in the person of the man Christ Jesus) for the benefit of men, so long afflicted as they had been with sin. Thus the meaning of Bengel’s “lata oratio, uti v. 6” is, that the words “on earth,” in Matthew 9:6, imply the same wide range of the Saviour’s power for the good of men as ἀνθρώποις here.—ED.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled; were afraid (Revised Version); ἐφοβήθησαν. A more solely physical effect than the ἐθαύμασαν of the Textus Receptus. (For a similar instance of fear at miraculous events, cf. Mark 5:15.) Resch's supposition ('Agrapha,' p. 62), that the difference of words here and in the parallel passages is due to various translations of the Aramaic, or rather of the Hebrew according to his theory, is in this case not improbable (cf. supra, ver. 4, and Introduction, p. 14.). And glorified God (cf Matthew 15:31), which had given such power (authority, as ver. 6) unto men (τοῖς ἀνθρώποις); i.e. the human race. Observe that though the phrase recalls ver. 6, there is here no mention of forgiving sins: the multitudes appear to have thought only of authority to perform the miracle; further, that although the multitudes seem to have heard Christ's words, they did not understand his expression to refer to Messiah. Matthew 9:8