Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Matthew 12:8
8. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day—In what sense now is the Son of man Lord of the sabbath day? Not surely to abolish it—that surely were a strange lordship, especially just after saying that it was made or instituted for MAN—but to own it, to interpret it, to preside over it, and to ennoble it, by merging it in the "Lord's Day" (Revelation 1:10), breathing into it an air of liberty and love necessarily unknown before, and thus making it the nearest resemblance to the eternal... read more
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Matthew 12:8
Matthew 12:8. For the Son of man is Lord, &c.— See on Mark 2:27-28. The expression even of the sabbath-day, και του σαββατου, certainly implies, that the sabbath was an institution of great and distinguished importance. It may perhaps also refer to that signal act of authority which Christ afterwards, by the ministry of his apostles, exerted over it in changing it from the seventh to the first day of the week. read more