Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 10:18

"yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles." — Matthew 10:18 (ASV)

As the witness would extend at some future time beyond Galilee and the Jewish race to Gentiles, so also would the opposition (cf. “governors” and “kings”). As in 8:4 and 24:14, the “witness” (GK 3457) is not against people but to them; it becomes either the means by which they accept the truth or, when they reject it, a condemnation. The disciples would be harassed and persecuted, not on account of who they are but on account of who Christ is .