Matthew 28:17

Matthew 28:17 is the seventeenth verse of the twenty-eighth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. This verse is part of the resurrection narrative, recording the meeting of the resurrected Jesus with the disciples.

Matthew 28:17
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Risen Jesus and the disciples. The ideal Holy Bible self-pronouncing, self-interpreting, self-explanatory. 1908
Book	Gospel of Matthew
Christian Bible part	New Testament

Content

The original Koine Greek, according to Westcott and Hort/[NA27 and UBS4 variants], reads:[1]

17: καὶ ἰδόντες αὐτὸν προσεκύνησαν, οἱ δὲ ἐδίστασαν.

In the King James Version of the Bible it is translated as:

17: And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

The modern World English Bible translates the passage as:

17: When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted.

For a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 28:17

Analysis

The verse shortly states that "they saw him" then "they worshipped him", concluded by a puzzling phrase "but some doubted" (hoi de edistasan).[2] The Greek root word for "doubted" is distazō, which is only used here and in Matthew 14:31 when Jesus rebuked Simon Peter for having "doubt" after he lost his confidence during his walk on the water toward Jesus.[2] The "doubt" here does not denote intellectual disbelief ("refuse to believe"), but "hesitation".[3]

R. T. France notes that the "hesitation" is linked with "worship" in this verse as well as in the event of Peter's attempt to walk on the water ("hesitation" in Matthew 14:31; "worship" in Matthew 14:33).[4]

The Greek word translated as "worshipped" comes from the verb proskuneó, indicating 'the homage and prostration before a king'.[5] It occurs twelve times in the Gospel of Matthew, whereas it is found only twice each in the Gospel of Mark and in the Gospel of Luke.[5]

References

1. Greek Text Analysis: Matthew 28:17. Biblehub
2. Phillips, John (2005). Exploring the Gospel of Matthew: An Expository Commentary. The John Phillips Commentary Series. Volume 1 (reprint ed.). Kregel Academic. p. 546. ISBN 9780825433924.
3. Carson, D. A. (2017). Matthew. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Contributors: Tremper Longman III, David E. Garland (revised ed.). 1. Jesus in Galilee (28:16–17): Zondervan Academic. ISBN 9780310531982.CS1 maint: location (link)
4. France 2007, p. 1111.
5. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Matthew 28. Accessed 28 April 2019.

Sources

• France, R.T. (2007). Bruce, Frederick Fyvie (ed.). The Gospel of Matthew. New international commentary on the New Testament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 9780802825018.