Matthew 5:18 - Exposition

Cf. Luke 16:17 , "But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the Law to fail" (Revised Version). The words are so similar that the two evangelists probably record the same utterance, the difference in the form of the sentence pointing rather to an oral than a written common source. St. Luke places it in an attack on the Pharisees, who had scoffed at our Lord for his parable of the dishonest steward. Verily ; ἀμήν ( נם ) , literally, "established," "sure"). It has hardly been sufficiently noticed by commentators that the New Testament usage of the word "Amen" often slightly differs from that found in the Old Testament. "Amen" in the Old Testament always involves the personal acceptance of the statement to which it refers ("so be it"), whether this be a statement upon oath ( Numbers 5:22 , perhaps), or a statement of penalties incurred under certain circumstances ( Numbers 5:22 , probably; Deuteronomy 27:15-26 ; Nehemiah 5:13 ); or a statement expressing a pious hope uttered either by another ( 1 Kings 1:36 ; Jeremiah 28:6 ; Jeremiah 11:5 (?); of. Nehemiah 8:6 ; cf. also 1 Corinthians 14:16 ); or by one's self ( Psalms 41:13 ). Hence the LXX . either leaves it untranslated or, with but one exception, translates it by γένοιτο . In Hellenistic Greek, however, it became often used as little more than a mere asseveration ("verily"). The earliest trace of this usage is found in Jeremiah 28:6 , where the LXX . renders נם ) by ἀληθῶς (Aquila much better πιστθήτω , though generally elsewhere πεπιστωμένως ), and it is frequent in the New Testament, cf. especially Luke 9:27 , λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ἀληθῶς , with parallels, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν . Yet this usage of "Amen" in Hellenistic Greek does not seem to have ever spread into Hebrew or Aramaic. W. H. Lowe says, and apparently truly, "The Jews never used 'amēn in the sense of 'verily.' They say תמאב , be'emeth , 'in truth,' אתונמיה , hemānuthā , 'Faith!' or מנם ) , 'omnām , 'verily.'" If so, the fact is interesting, for it implies that, notwithstanding the usage of "Amen" in Greek, our Lord himself, as speaking Aramaic, probably did not use it in the mere sense of strong asseveration, but rather always with its connotation of his entire concurrence in the statement he was making. In his mouth, that is to say, it always emphasized the thought of his personal acceptance of the statement with its legitimate issue. Observe that it makes no difference (cf. Jeremiah 28:6 ) whether the "Amen" comes at the beginning or at the end of his utterance. N.B.— ναί ( Luke 11:51 ; cf. Matthew 23:36 ) may be taken as intermediate between ἀληθῶς and ἀμήν . ἀληθῶς states a truth; ναί assents with the intellect; ἀμήν , in at least Hebrew and Aramaic usage, accepts it with all its consequences (cf 2 Corinthians 1:19 , 2 Corinthians 1:20 ). Till heaven and earth pass ; Revised Version, pass away ( παρέλθῃ ); and so in the next clause. The same almost archaic sense of "pass" recurs in Psalms 148:6 , Authorized Version (Revised Version, "pass away"). Observe that our Lord does not say that the Law will then pass away. He says, not till then; i.e. he affirms, as in Luke 16:17 , that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the Law. For, in fact, as being constantly fulfilled in its ideal and therefore permanent character, it must necessarily remain in the new world; cf. 1 Peter 1:25 (the everlasting duration of the word of the Lord); 1 Corinthians 13:13 (love); 2 Peter 3:13 (righteousness); cf. Meyer. The belief in the permanence of the Law which the Jews had ( vide references in Meyer, and especially Weber, 'Altsynag. Theol.,' §§ 5, 84) here finds its true satisfaction. "The least element of holiness which the Law contains has more reality and durability than the whole visible universe" (Godet on Luke). Comp. also Mark 13:31 , "My words shall not pass away"—a claim only seen in its full three when put beside these words about the Law. One jot . The permanence of even every yod ( y , j ), though the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, is not infrequently referred to by Jewish writers (cf. e.g. in Lightfoot, 'Hor. Hebr.;' Edersheim, 'Life,' 1.537). Observe:

We may, perhaps, see in our Lord's reference to yod and a "tittle" an indication that even already scrupulous care was taken of the text. The objection to this, derived from the non-literal quotations in the New Testament is due to a misunderstanding of Jewish methods of quotation. Or one tittle . So Wickliffe and Tyndale downwards; "apparently a diminutive of tit , small" (Aid. Wright, 'Bible WordBook'); κεραία , probably "a horn," then anything projecting like a horn. Used by the early Greek grammarians, like apex by the Latin, to designate:

This double use of the Greek word forbids absolute certainty as to what our Lord was referring to, especially as the Hebrew word ( צוק , literally, "thorn") of which κεραία is a translation has itself a double sense, viz.: