마태복음 Chapter 10

Translation: ESV

1

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

Key Message

Jesus answers the prayer for laborers by delegating his own authority to the Twelve; mission is not self-generated but derived from and empowered by his commission.

▸The Mission Discourse of chapter 10 is the second of Matthew's five great discourses.

The Mission Discourse of chapter 10 is the second of Matthew's five great discourses. It is the direct answer to the prayer of 9:38 ('pray for laborers'). Jesus gives the Twelve the same authority he himself exercises (9:35): over unclean spirits and every disease. Authority is delegated, derived from his own, and exercised in his name. This commissioning establishes the pattern for all subsequent Christian mission.

Related Verses

Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases.
2

The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

Key Message

The twelve disciples become apostles — the transformation from learners to sent representatives marks the beginning of the church's universal mission.

▸The term 'apostles' (ἀπόστολοι, apostoloi) appears here for the first time in Matthew — those who are 'sent' (from ἀποστέλλω, apostellō).

3

Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

Key Message

The diverse backgrounds of the twelve — including a tax collector who collaborated with Rome — demonstrate that Jesus builds his mission community from the transformed, not the already respectable.

▸The list continues with the second and third groups of four.

4

Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Key Message

The twelve include the politically irreconcilable (Zealot and tax collector) and the tragically faithless (Judas); Jesus' community transcends human divides and contains human frailty.

▸The list ends with Simon the Zealot (associated with the nationalist Zealot movement that violently opposed Roman rule) and Judas Iscariot, identified immediately as 'who betrayed him.

5

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,

Key Message

The initial mission to Israel is the first stage of a universal mission; the restriction is temporary, not ethnic — the Great Commission will remove it entirely.

▸The initial mission is explicitly limited to Israel ('the lost sheep of the house of Israel,' v.

6

but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Key Message

Israel's priority in the first mission is not privilege but urgency: God's covenant people are themselves lost and need the rescue mission before it extends to others.

▸'The lost sheep of the house of Israel' frames the mission in terms of pastoral rescue: Israel is not the deserving recipient of reward but the lost flock needing a shepherd.

7

And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

Key Message

Disciples proclaim the same message as Jesus — the kingdom's arrival; Christian mission extends the announcement rather than replacing it with a new message.

▸The disciples' proclamation is identical to Jesus' (4:17) and John's (3:2): 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.

Key Message

Kingdom ministry is gracious gift extended freely; the attempt to monetize grace betrays its character and corrupts the mission.

▸The disciples' deeds mirror Jesus' own works in chapters 8-9: healing sick, raising dead, cleansing lepers, casting out demons.

9

Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts,

Key Message

The missioner's financial vulnerability is a feature, not a flaw: dependence on local hospitality and divine provision embodies the kingdom trust that the mission announces.

▸The mission requires a distinctive simplicity of provision.

10

no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.

Key Message

Radical simplicity in mission equipment forces appropriate dependence on local hospitality and establishes the principle that kingdom workers deserve community support.

▸The list of prohibited provisions extends to bags, extra clothing (two tunics), sandals (or extra sandals), and a staff.

11

And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.

Key Message

Mission requires stable, relational roots in a community; finding a worthy household and remaining creates the trust network through which the kingdom spreads.

▸The disciples are to identify a 'worthy' household — one receptive to the kingdom message — and use it as a residential base for ministry in that community.

12

As you enter the house, greet it.

Key Message

The disciples' greeting is a genuine offer of kingdom peace — shalom — that transforms a social custom into a kingdom act.

▸The greeting of a household was a significant act in the ancient world — it invoked blessing and established the terms of the relationship.

13

And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

Key Message

Kingdom peace is a genuine offer that requires genuine reception; it is not coerced but freely given and freely receivable — or declineable.

▸Peace is not automatically bestowed but responds to receptivity: if the household is worthy (open, receptive), the peace remains; if not, it returns to the one who offered it.

14

And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.

Key Message

Rejection of the mission is a serious matter; the symbolic response is not anger but solemn testimony that the offered peace and kingdom have been declined.

▸When rejected, the disciples are to perform the symbolic act of shaking dust from their feet — a gesture used by pious Jews when leaving Gentile territory, to avoid carrying even their dust into the holy land.

15

Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Key Message

The rejection of kingdom proclamation accompanied by miraculous evidence carries greater guilt than the sins of those who never received such revelation; privilege intensifies accountability.

▸The severity of rejecting the kingdom's messengers exceeds even Sodom and Gomorrah's judgment — those cities had no kingdom heralds, no explicit offer of salvation, no miraculous evidence of divine power.

16

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Key Message

Mission in a hostile world requires wisdom without manipulation and purity without naivety; serpent-shrewdness and dove-innocence must be held together.

▸The mission's risk is named honestly: the disciples go as sheep (vulnerable, non-violent) into a world of wolves (hostile, predatory powers).

17

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,

Key Message

Persecution is not a surprise for the kingdom missioner but an anticipated feature of faithful witness in a hostile world; Jesus prepares his disciples in advance.

▸The discourse now moves from the immediate first mission to the broader experience of Christian mission across time.

18

and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.

Key Message

Imperial courts intended for the disciples' condemnation become platforms for kingdom witness; persecution accomplishes the mission's expansion to the highest levels of power.

▸The scope of witness expands from local courts to imperial powers: 'governors and kings.

19

When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.

Key Message

Anxiety about what to say in the moment of crisis is replaced by trust in the Spirit's provision; the crisis of persecution becomes the occasion for the Spirit's clearest speech.

▸The prohibition of anxiety about testimony parallels 6:25-34's prohibition of anxiety about provision.

20

For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Key Message

In the moment of persecutory crisis, the disciples are not abandoned to their own resources — the Father's Spirit speaks through them, turning human vulnerability into divine testimony.

▸The theological ground for the promise of v.

21

Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,

Key Message

The kingdom's radical claim creates division even within families; disciples must be prepared for the most intimate betrayals as a feature of faithful mission in a divided world.

▸The social disruption caused by the kingdom mission reaches into the most intimate bonds: family.

22

and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Key Message

Universal hatred is the disciple's social reality; endurance through it to the end is the path to salvation — suffering and hope held together in the same promise.

▸'Hated by all' for Jesus' sake is a comprehensive and sobering description of the disciple's social situation in a hostile world.

23

When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Key Message

Flight from persecution is mission strategy, not failure; the mission must continue to other towns, for there is more to accomplish than any single location's opposition can stop.

▸The instruction to flee persecution is not cowardice but wisdom: the mission moves on.

24

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.

Key Message

The disciple's lot is determined by the master's; to be treated as Jesus was treated is to share his identity, which is both the cost and the honor of discipleship.

▸The principle of identification with one's master provides the framework for understanding persecution: if Jesus is persecuted, his followers should expect the same.

25

It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

Key Message

The worst slanders directed at Jesus become the measure of what his disciples should expect; sharing his name means sharing both his honor and his disgrace.

▸The worst insult the religious authorities have directed at Jesus (Beelzebul accusation, 9:34; 12:24) becomes the standard for what his disciples will experience.

26

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

Key Message

The eschatological revelation of all truth provides courage for persecuted disciples; what is suppressed now will be fully vindicated then.

▸Three times in vv.

27

What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

Key Message

Private instruction leads to public proclamation; disciples receive in intimate discipleship what they are commissioned to announce openly to the world.

▸The disciples receive Jesus' teaching in the intimacy of private instruction ('in the dark,' 'whispered') and are commissioned to proclaim it publicly ('in the light,' 'on the housetops').

28

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Key Message

Persecutors hold power only over the body; ultimate power — over both body and soul — belongs to God alone. Right fear of God displaces all other fear.

▸The second ground for fearlessness is anthropological: persecutors can only kill the body; they cannot touch the soul.

29

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

Key Message

Divine providence extends to the least significant creature; the Father's detailed attentiveness to sparrows grounds the disciples' confidence in his care for them.

▸The third ground for fearlessness is the Father's detailed providential care.

30

But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Key Message

The Father's knowledge of each disciple is hyperparticular — down to the number of hairs; this radical personal attention grounds the most intimate fearlessness.

▸The Father's knowledge extends to the enumeration of each disciple's hairs — an image of hyperdetailed, individual attention.

31

Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Key Message

Fear is displaced by the knowledge of the Father's immeasurable love; disciples are of far greater value than the sparrows whose every fall he observes.

▸The third 'fear not' draws the argument to its conclusion: the Father who numbers hairs and cares for sparrows cares immeasurably more for his disciples.

32

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,

Key Message

Public confession of Jesus before hostile men is met by Jesus' public acknowledgment of the confessor before the Father; earthly courage has heavenly reciprocation.

▸The courage for public confession is grounded in the promise of Jesus' corresponding confession before the Father.

33

but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Key Message

The symmetry is solemn: denial of Jesus before men results in Jesus' denial before the Father; the stakes of the confession-or-denial choice are eternal.

▸The reverse is equally sobering: denial of Jesus before men results in Jesus' denial before the Father.

34

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Key Message

Jesus brings ultimate peace through inevitable immediate conflict; those who expect comfortable religion must reckon with the kingdom's divisive demands on human allegiance.

▸One of Jesus' most shocking statements.

35

For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

Key Message

The kingdom's claims divide the most intimate human relationships; this is not a peripheral risk of discipleship but its inevitable social consequence.

▸Jesus quotes Micah 7:6 to describe the family divisions his mission creates.

36

and a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

Key Message

The disciple must be psychologically and spiritually prepared for opposition from within the most intimate relationships; this is the hardest front of the kingdom conflict.

▸The conclusion of the Micah quotation crystallizes the social reality: one's enemies may be found within one's own home, not in the world outside.

37

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

Key Message

Jesus demands the primary love that transcends even the most sacred human bonds; his claim to ultimate allegiance is the criterion of discipleship.

▸Jesus demands primary love — love for him that exceeds love for the most beloved human relationships.

38

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Key Message

Discipleship is cruciform — it involves taking up the cross of self-denial and social vulnerability, following Jesus on the path that leads through suffering to life.

▸The cross is introduced before the crucifixion as a metaphor for the disciple's self-denial and willingness to suffer.

39

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Key Message

The paradox of cruciform life: clinging to life loses it; releasing it for Jesus' sake finds it. Self-preservation destroys; self-giving creates the life that endures.

▸This paradox of life-through-death is the central logic of the cross.

40

Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

Key Message

The missioner fully represents the sender; to receive or reject the disciple is to receive or reject Jesus himself, and through him, the Father.

▸The principle of representation closes the discourse: to receive the disciples is to receive Jesus; to receive Jesus is to receive the Father who sent him.

41

The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.

Key Message

Those who receive and support God's messengers participate in their mission and share in its reward; hospitality to the missioner is itself a kingdom act.

▸Hospitality motivated by recognition of the missioner's identity ('because he is a prophet,' 'because he is a righteous person') carries its own reward.

42

And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."

Key Message

The kingdom's economy honors even the smallest acts of recognition and kindness toward Jesus' representatives; no act of love done in his name falls outside divine notice and reward.

▸The discourse concludes with the most minimal act of hospitality: a cup of cold water to 'one of these little ones' (τῶν μικρῶν τούτων, tōn mikrōn toutōn).