Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 4:23

"And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people." — Matthew 4:23 (ASV)

Preaching the gospel of the kingdom — In Matthew's Gospel, this is the first time this phrase appears. It points to a vast amount of unrecorded teaching that, while varying in form, was essentially the same: a call to repentance, the good news of a kingdom of heaven that was near, and the witness—mostly through actions rather than words—that He Himself was the Head of that kingdom.

Regarding the phrase "healing all manner of sickness," there is a noteworthy distinction in the language. In both the original Greek and in English, “sickness” implies a less serious form of suffering than “disease,” just as the “torments” mentioned in the next verse suggest something even more acute. Matthew's first mention of our Lord’s miracles is significant in this regard.

The miracles are presented not as direct evidence of a supernatural mission, but as the natural accompaniments of His work. They are signs not chiefly of power, but of the love, tenderness, and pity that were the true marks of the kingdom of heaven.

This restoration to physical health was therefore both a pledge that the Son of Man had not come to destroy people's lives but to save them, and it undoubtedly served to strengthen faith in the Father's love. Indeed, some degree of this faith was almost always required as a precondition for the miracle (Matthew 13:58).