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But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."
Verse Takeaways
1
The Two Kinds of "Dead"
Commentators explain that Jesus uses the word "dead" in two ways. He is telling the disciple to let the "spiritually dead" (those who are not alive in Christ) handle the affairs of the "physically dead." This shocking statement highlights the radical difference between worldly concerns and the life of the kingdom.
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Matthew
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12
18th Century
Presbyterian
Let the dead bury their dead. The word dead is used in this passage in two different senses. It is apparently a paradox, but is f…
Leave the dead to bury their own dead (αφες τους νεκρους θαψα τους εαυτων νεκρους). The spiritually dead are always on hand to bur…
19th Century
Anglican
Let the dead bury their dead — The point of this half-epigrammatic, half-proverbial saying lies in the contrast between the two meanings o…
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Baptist
Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. And a certain scribe came, and said unto him,…
If the scribe was too quick in promising, this “disciple” was too slow in performing. Palestinian piety, basing itself on the fifth commandment ([R…
16th Century
Protestant
Allow the dead to bury their dead. By these words Christ does not condemn burial: for it would have been shameful and cruel to throw away …
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17th Century
Reformed Baptist
But Jesus said to him, follow you me Christ would not excuse him on this account, but insists on what he had before …
One of the scribes was too hasty in his promise; he offered himself as a close follower of Christ. He seemed very resolute. Many resolutions regard…
13th Century
Catholic
And when Jesus had come into Simon Peter’s house, etc. Christ’s power is commended in the cure of the leper; it is also c…
