Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 5:19

"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." — Matthew 5:19 (ASV)

Shall break. To violate or disobey.

These least commandments. The Pharisees, it is probable, divided the precepts of the law into lesser and greater, teaching that those who violated the former were guilty of a trivial offense only . Christ teaches that in His kingdom, those who make this distinction, or who taught that any laws of God might be violated with impunity, should be called least; while those who observed all the laws of God without distinction would be held in high regard.

Shall be called the least. That is, one shall be least. The meaning of this passage seems to be this: "In the kingdom of heaven" (that is, in the kingdom of the Messiah, or in the church which He is about to establish—see the commentary on Matthew 3:2), whoever breaks the least of these commandments shall be held in no esteem, or shall not be regarded as a proper religious teacher.

The Pharisees divided the law into greater and lesser precepts. They made no small part of it void by their traditions and divisions (Matthew 23:23; Matthew 15:3–6). Jesus says that in His kingdom all this vain division and tradition should cease. Such divisions and distinctions should be a small matter. Whoever attempted it should be the least of all. People would be engaged in yielding obedience to all the law of God, without any such vain distinctions.

Shall be called great. He who teaches that all the law of God is binding, and that all of it should be obeyed—without attempting to specify what is most important—shall be a teacher worthy of his office, shall teach the truth, and shall be called great. From this, we learn:

1. That all the law of God is binding on Christians .
2. That all the commands of God should be preached, in their proper place, by Christian ministers.
3. That those who pretend that there are any laws of God so small that they need not obey them are unworthy of His kingdom. And,
4. That true piety has respect to all the commandments of God and keeps them (Psalms 119:6).