Matthew 10


Matthew 10 is the tenth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. This chapter opens with Jesus calling some of his disciples and sending them out to preach and heal. This chapter is also known as the Mission Discourse, the Apostolic Discourse, or the Little Commission, in contrast to the Great Commission at the end of the gospel. The Apostles receiving the Little Commission are directed to enter only the towns of the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" in verse 6, but verse 18 mentions that they will also be a witness to "governors, kings and the Gentiles" while in those towns. In contrast, the Great Commission is specifically directed to all nations. This has led to debate as to whom the target audience of Jesus' original, pre-resurrection ministry was.
Matthew names the twelve apostles, or "twelve disciples", in verses 2 to 4, and gives them careful instruction as they travel around Israel. The remainder of the chapter consists almost entirely of sayings attributed to Jesus. Many of the sayings found in Matthew 10 are also found in Luke 10 and the Gospel of Thomas, which is not part of the accepted canon of the New Testament.

Text

The oldest known texts were written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 42 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
  • Papyrus 110
  • Uncial 0171
  • Codex Vaticanus
  • Codex Sinaiticus
  • Codex Bezae
  • Papyrus 19
  • Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
  • Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus

    The twelve (verses 1–15)

The text in verse 1 refers to "his twelve disciples". Verse 2 calls them "the twelve apostles" :
Verse 5 refers to them simply as "the twelve" but the verb which follows is "ἀπέστειλεν", meaning "sent forth". Dale Allison observes that they are implicitly called "to imitate Jesus the missionary". Peter is named first because he would go on to lead the church. Judas is named last, because he was the most dishonoured.

Verses 17–39

The Jerusalem Bible refers to these verses as a "missionary's handbook", and suggests that their scope is wider than that of the "first mission of the apostles" in verses 1–16.

Verse 34

This is a much-discussed passage, often explained in terms of the "apocalyptic-eschatological" context of the 1st century.
R. T. France explains the verse, in context with the subsequent verse 35: "The sword Jesus brings is not here military conflict, but, as vv. 35–36 show, a sharp social division which even severs the closest family ties. … Jesus speaks here, as in the preceding and following verses, more of a division in men’s personal response to him."
The text of Matthew's Gospel in the Book of Kells alters gladium, the Vulgate translation of "sword", to gaudium, "joy", resulting in a reading of "I came not to bring peace, but joy".

Verse 38

  • "Take his cross": is in the sense of "willingly to undergo the severe trials that fall to his lot" ; a figurative expression taken from the practice that "condemned criminals were compelled to take up their own cross and carry it to the place of execution".

    Parallels in the Gospel of Thomas

Matthew 10 contains many parallels found in the Gospel of Thomas.
  • Matthew 10:16 parallels saying 39 in the Gospel of Thomas.
  • Matthew 10:37 parallels sayings 55 and 101
  • Matthew 10:27b parallels saying 33a.
  • Matthew 10:34–36 parallels saying 16.
  • Matthew 10:26 parallels saying 5b.