The gospel of Matthew 8:1-17

Matthew

8:1-17

4. Salvation by grace through faith, 8:1-9:34

i] The way of grace through faith apart from the law

Synopsis

Having completed his account of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew now begins a narrative section which runs through to the end of chapter nine. In the passage before us Matthew briefly records three healings: the healing of the leper, v1-4; the healing of the centurion's servant, v5-13; the healing of Peter's mother in law and all the sick gathered outside Peter's home, v14-17.

Teaching

In Jesus we overcome the curse of the law, by grace through faith, because he takes upon himself our weaknesses and removes our infirmities.

Issues

i] Context: See 1:1-17 . Matthew, having completed his first teaching unit -the sayings on law and grace / the Great Sermon - follows up with a narrative unit, 8:1-9:34, which is itself followed by a teaching unit on discipleship - sayings on mission and martyrdom, 9:35-10:42. The narrative unit is linked to the 1st. Discourse and serves as a paradigm of salvation. It records ten miracles / signs which demonstrate the power of the kingdom of God - how its existential reality is forcing its way into the normality of happenstance. The miracles serve to answer the problem posed by the Great Sermon, namely how sin has eroded covenant standing and left God's children facing a divine curse, rather than a blessing. So, having established that a person's full appropriation of God's promised blessings cannot be attained by works of the law, this partnered narrative section reveals that the blessings of the covenant are received on the basis of divine grace through faith. The grace of God operative in Christ appropriates the gift of freedom, life, forgiveness, sight, ...... through faith, and not by works of the law.

This narrative section is not chronological, but is topical. It falls naturally into three teaching units:

a) A day of miracles which reveal how it is possible to access the promised blessings of the covenant, namely, by grace through faith; "He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases", 8:1-17;

b) Three works of authority which teach that the way for a disciple is by faith, not works, 8:18-9:8;

c) Four miracles that demonstrate the central role of faith in the Christian life, 9:9-34.

Carson notes that "although Matthew's pericopes cohere nicely, he intertwines his themes, keeping several going at once like a literary juggler. Thus, these chapters are best approached inductively." Some commentators have suggested that the ten miracles recorded in this narrative section are based on the ten plagues of the Exodus, ie., Jesus is the new Moses - interesting, but a stretch!

ii] Structure: Three miracle stories:

The healing of the leper, v1-4;

The healing of the centurion's servant, v5-13;

The healing of Peter's mother-in-law, v14-15;

Other healings, v16-17.

iii] Interpretation:

A Day in the Life of Jesus, 8:1-17, answers the problem posed by the Great Sermon - how can members of the covenant community, who stand under the curse of the law, escape the terrible day? Certainly not by the law, for it only confirms the curse! In the healing of the leper we learn that Jesus can make us clean and chooses to do so. In the healing of the centurion's servant we learn that faith is the key by which we unlock God's healing grace. In the healing of Peter's mother in law and the sick in the crowd gathered outside his home, we learn that it was revealed by the prophets long ago that Jesus takes upon himself our weaknesses and removes our infirmities.

The interpretive challenge posed by chapters 8 and 9: At one level, the miracles recorded in 8:1-9:34 reveal that Christ is the messiah who, at this moment in history, is inaugurating his kingdom: they "demonstrate the power of the Kingdom in action", Hill; they reveal Jesus as a "compassionate healer and extraordinary miracle worker", D&A; they demonstrate his "matchless power, power over disease and even the forces of nature", Morris; they present Jesus "as the Messiah of both word and deed", Schniewind. Yet, it seems likely that Matthew's selection and arrangement of gospel tradition serves not just to tell us who Jesus is, but how Jesus' life and teachings act upon the reader, ie., they are "applicable to the life and discipleship of Matthew's community (ie., the reader)", Hagner.

Chapters 8 and 9 reveal to us "the story of Jesus with his people", Luz, yet, in what particular way do the ten miracles impact on the reader? Most commentators follow Kingsbury who argues that "paradigmatically, these chapters set forth for the members of Matthew's church the cost and commitment of discipleship", Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1978, ie., they set the ground for discipleship, which subject is covered in Matthew's second teaching section, 9:35-10:42 - mission and martyrdom. Yet, as already argued, the Great Sermon leaves the reader up in the air facing the great crash, 8:27. The Sermon, in Pauline terms, proclaims that righteousness / right-standing in the sight of God, is not realized by obedience to the law. The law can guide, but primarily it accentuates sin, progressing its inevitable consequence, namely judgment. The law serves to expose sin and thus drive the sinner to seek divine grace, Gal.3:24. The reader stands as one of those "who hears the words of mine and does not act on them." We are one of the "everyone" who has fallen short of the glory of God and needs to find their security in someone who has heard the divine words and poiei autouV, "does them" / is righteous, someone who has built their house on rock and will open his door to those who seek, knock and ask to come in for shelter from that terrible day. So, chapters 8 and 9 look backward rather than forward, and in so doing demonstrate the central role of faith in achieving covenant standing - the business of accessing righteousness / right-standing in the sight of God, by grace through faith, apart from works of the law.

Chronology: Matthew presents this set of miracles as a package occurring over a single day. Jesus comes down from the mountain and heals the paralytic, enters Capernaum and heals the centurion's son / servant, visits Peter's home and heals his mother-in-law and then that evening he heals the sick in the crowd who have gathered outside Peter's home. Unlike Mark's Day in the Life of Jesus, 1:21-34, the day may, or may not be, a Sabbath day. At any rate, the events of the day answer the problem posed by the Great Sermon.

iv] Synoptics:

See note Matthew 9:27-34. Most commentators argue that Matthew has followed Mark, significantly editing his account. This assumption is less than convincing. Refer to the works of Lohmeyer and Schlatter who argue that Matthew is independent of Mark, and also Bonnard who argues for the place of oral tradition in the formation of Matthew's gospel.

Text - 8:1

i] The healing of the leper, v1-4. At face value this miracle story speaks of Jesus' person, but as noted above, if we assume that Matthew arranges the gospel material to establish particular truths, and that the truth to be drawn from v1-17 is dictated by the Great Sermon and its identification of sin and thus the judgment facing God's people, then this first miracle establishes that there is one who is "willing", and obviously able, to make us "clean".

de "-" - but/and. Here transitional, indicating a step in the narrative.

katabantoV (katabainw) gen. aor. part. "when [Jesus] came down" - [and] he [coming down]. Genitive absolute participle, usually taken to introduce a temporal clause, as NIV.

apo + gen. "from" - from [the mountain]. Expressing separation; "away from."

autw/ dat. pro. "[followed] him" - [many crowds followed] him. Dative of direct object after the verb "to follow after." "Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears", Peterson.

proselqwn (prosercomai) aor. part. "came and [knelt]" - [and behold a leper] having approached [bowed before]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to fall down before", as NIV, but it could also be treated as adverbial, temporal.

autw/ dat. pro. "him" - Dative of direct object after the proV prefix verb "to fall down before."

legwn (legw) pres. part. "and said" - saying. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to fall down before", as NIV.

ean + subj. "if [you are willing]" - Introducing a 3rd. class conditional clause where the condition has the possibility of coming true; "if, as may be the case, you are willing, then you are able to cleanse me."

kaqarisai (kaqarizw) aor. inf. "[you can make me] clean" - [you are able] to cleanse [me]. Complementary infinitive completing the sense of the verb dunasai, "you are able."

ekteinaV (ekteinw) aor. part. "Jesus reached out" - [and] having reached out, stretched out [the hand he touched]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to touch."

autou gen. pro. "[touched] the man" - him. Genitive of direct object after the verb "to touch."

legwn (legw) "he said" - saying [i will, be cleansed]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to touch", "he touched him and said", but it can also be treated as adverbial, modal, expressing the manner of his touching, "touched him, saying", ESV.

euqewV adv. "immediately" - Temporal adverb. The problem was sorted immediately; not only is Jesus willing to sort the problem, he does it without hesitation.

ekaqarisqh (kaqarizw) aor. pas. "he was cleansed" - [the leprosy of him] was cleansed. Matthew has repeated this catchword three times giving emphasis to it. This is all about being made clean. The leper may have had leprosy or some other skin disease, either way he was considered as good as dead, alienated from society, both social and religious; a man to be avoided at all cost. Jesus actually brakes the law by touching him, but in that touch there is cleansing power.

autou gen. pro. "his [leprosy]" - of him. The genitive is adjectival, possessive, but may also be treated as attributive, idiomatic, "he was cleansed from the leprosy which had inflicted him."

autw/ dat. pro. "to him" - [and jesus said] to him. Dative of indirect object.

o{ra (oJraw) pres. imp. "see that" - look, see. Giving the sense "see to it that ....."

eiphV (legw) aor. subj. "you don't tell [anyone]" - you tell [no one]. Subjunctive of prohibition. This is the first time in Matthew we see Jesus enacting the messianic secret. "Jesus desires simply to avoid inflaming popular, but mistaken, messianic expectations that looked for an immediate national-political deliverance", Hagner.

alla "but" - Adversative.

tw/ iJerei (euV ewV) dat. "to the priest" - [go show yourself] to the priest. Dative of indirect object.

o} pro. "-" - [and offer the gift] which [moses commanded]. Accusative direct object of the verb "to offer." Jesus' instruction to the leper follows the direction found in Leviticus chapter 13-14.

eiV + acc. "as [a testimony to them]" - to [a testimony to them]. Usually taken here to express purpose, "in order to provide a proof to them (the priests??) that the leprosy is completely healed"; "for a proof to them", ESV - autoiV, "them", being a dative of interest; "for them." Cranfield, in his commentary on Mark, lists most of the possible meanings of this phrase, p.95. He suggests that the most likely sense is "evidence for the priests or the people generally of the fact of the cure." Once the fact of the cure is confirmed, the religious authorities can provide certification to the local community for the return of the leper.

ii] The healing of the centurion's servant, v5-13. Matthew continues to address the problem facing God's people, of a people who are not covenant compliant and so are bound under the curse of the law. In his selection of the second pericope, the centurion's servant, Matthew reveals that the problem is solved through faith in the grace of God operative in Christ. It is interesting how Jesus is approached by a secular official, in this case a centurion, an officer in charge of 100 soldiers (the number can vary). It is also interesting how the NT has a positive view toward these military men.

de "-" - but/and. Here transitional, indicating a step in the narrative, best left untranslated.

eiselqontoV (ercomai) gen. aor. part. "when [Jesus] had entered" - [he] entering [into capernaum]. The participle stands in a genitive absolute construction, best taken as temporal, as NIV.

autw/ dat. pro. "[came to] him" - [a centurion came to, approached] him. Dative of direct object after the proV prefix verb "to come to."

parakalwn (parakalew) pres. part "asking for help" - urging, exhorting = begging [him]. The participle is best taken as adverbial, modal, expressing the manner of his coming to Jesus; he came "appealing to him", ESV.

legwn (legw) pres. part. "he said" - [and] saying. The participle as for "begging", v5; "begging and saying."

oJ paiV "[my] servant" - [lord] the servant, son [of me]. Nominative subject of the verb "to throw." It seems likely that "son" is intended, so Hagner, but "servant / house slave" is possible, so D&A. The word is ambiguous, although Luke opts for douloV, "slave / servant."

beblhtai (ballw) perf. mid./pas. "lies" - having been put, thrown. Idiomatic for "having been bedridden."

en + dat. "at [home]" - in [the house paralyzed]. Local; expressing space.

paralutikoV adj. "paralyzed" - It seems best to take "paralyzed" as an attributive adjective limiting "servant"; "my servant who is paralyzed. The participle "suffering", with its modifying adverb "terribly", similarly serves as an attributive adjective, limiting "servant"; "my servant, who is paralyzed and suffering terribly, is bedridden at home." Olmstead classifies it as the nominative complement of the subject "servant", standing in a double nominative construction.

basanizomenoV (basanizw) pres. mid./pas. part. "suffering [terribly]" - [in the house paralyzed] being tormented [terribly]. Olmstead suggests that the participle, with its modifying adverb "terribly", is adverbial, modal, expressing the manner of the servant's "having been thrown / bedridden"; "the centurion's servant is lying at home suffering." See "paralyzed" above.

autw/ dat. pro. "to him" - [and he said] to him. Dative of indirect object.

egw pro. "I" - Emphatic by use.

elqwn (ercomai) aor. part. "come" - coming [will heal him]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to heal"; "I will come and heal him", ESV. Often expressed as a question to indicate some hesitation on Jesus' part; "Should I (a Jew) come and heal him (a servant / son who is a Gentile)?" Jesus' ministry of signs is for the lost house of Israel; it is not a ministry for Gentiles - Jews first and then Gentiles, cf., 15:21-28. Hesitation is certainly implied by the centurion's answer. The centurion possibly reads Jesus' reaction as if he doesn't want to put himself out, prompting the response "just say the word."

apokriqeiV (apokrinomai) aor. pas. part. "[the centurion] replied" - [and] having answered [the centurion said]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to say", redundant (pleonastic); a Semitic construction.

iJna + subj. "to [have you come under]" - [lord, I am not worthy] that [you might come under]. Here epexegetic explaining / specifying what the centurion is not worthy of, namely, for Jesus to come under his roof. The adjective iJkanoV carries a number of meanings, but the construction ouk eimi iJkanoV, is idiomatic; "I am not worthy." "I'm not important enough for you to come under my roof", Phillips.

mou gen. pro. "my [roof]" - [the roof] of me. Possessive pronoun; the forward placement is emphatic; ".... entering my house", Cassirer.

alla "but" - Adversative / contrastive, as NIV, standing within a counterpoint construction, "not ...... but ......"

logw/ (oV) dat. "the word" - [only say] in a word. The dative is instrumental, expressing means; "by means of a word." "Just give the order", CEV.

kai "and" - and [the slave / child of me will be healed]. Sitting with the imperative "say [by a word]", the conjunction has conditional force; "if you only say the word, then my servant will be healed."

gar "for" - Introducing a causal clause explaining why Jesus need only say the word.

egw pro. "I myself" - Emphatic by use and position.

kai "-" - [am] and. Adjunctive; "for I am also a man under authority."

uJpo + acc. "under [authority]" - [a man] under [authority]. Here expressing subordination; "I have officers who give orders to me", CEV.

ecwn pres. part. "with" - having [soldiers under myself]. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "man"; "I too am a man ..... who has soldiers subject to me."

toutw/ dat. pro. "[I tell] this one" - [and I say] to this one [go, and he goes]. Dative of indirect object.

allw/ dat. adj. "[and] that one" - [and] to another [come, and he comes]. Dative of indirect object.

tw/ doulw/ (oV) dat. "I say to my servant" - [and] to the servant, slave [of me, do this, and he does]. Dative of indirect object.

v10

"Jesus now marvels .... at the noble simplicity of the centurion's faith", D&A. This is the necessary response of a child of God seeking to be covenant compliant. The righteousness that exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees can only be had by receiving, not doing, and the instrument of the receiving is faith in Jesus.

de "-" - but/and. Indicating a step in the narrative / argument, here the conclusion of the pericope.

akousaV (akouw) aor. part. "when [Jesus] heard this" - having heard, [jesus was amazed]. The participle is adverbial, best taken as temporal, as NIV. It is not often that we find in Matthew an emotional response attributed to Jesus.

toiV akolouqousin (akolouqew) pres. part. "to those following him" - [and said] to the ones following. The participle serves as a substantive.

amhn legw uJmin "truly I tell you" - truly I say to you. This introductory statement serves to give weight to the following words.

par (para) + dat. "with" - [i have found no one] with [so much, so great faith in israel]. Here basically expressing association, "with, among", but as Olmstead notes, in this context it serves as a "marker of connection of a quality or characteristic with a person", BDAG. The word pistin, "faith", is mentioned only 8 times in Matthew. It expresses trust in Jesus, here in Jesus' "ability and readiness to give help in unexpected ways", Morris.

v11

The independent saying of Jesus covering v11-12 certainly suits the context and so it may have attached early to the story of the healing of the centurion's servant / son, or it may have been placed here by Matthew - Luke uses the saying in a different context and doesn't use it with his account of the healing, cf., Lk.13:28f. None-the-less, it is not unreasonable for Jesus to have made this comment to his disciples on this occasion. The saying is a powerful example of the great reversal theme, of the sons of the kingdom loosing the kingdom, excluded from the banquet hall and left in distress, while the Gentiles enter the kingdom and partake of its blessings. It seems likely that Matthew, in line with the apostle Paul, identifies the law as the key factor in this reversal. The nomism (sanctification by obedience) of the "righteous" (self-righteous, eg., the Pharisees) serves only to enact the curse of the law and thus exclusion from the kingdom of God. On the other hand, those outside the gate, Gentiles, respond in faith to the gospel of God's grace, and so discover with Abraham a righteousness that is by faith and not of works of the law.

de "-" - but/and. Transitional, indicating a step in the narrative / argument.

uJmin dat. pro. "[I say] to you" - Dative of indirect object.

oJti "that" - Introducing a dependent statement of indirect speech expressing what Jesus says.

polloi adj. "many" - Nominative subject of the verb "to come." Indicating a large number of Gentiles from East and West = the whole world. Luke adds North and South to emphasize the point. Gentiles are surely implied by the context, but the same language is used of the restoration of the lost tribes of Israel, Isa.43:5-6.

apo + gen. "from" - [many will come] from [sunrise (East) and sunset (West)]. Expressing source / origin.

anakliqhsontai (anaklinw) fut. "will take their places at the feast" - [and] will recline at table. The blessings of the kingdom are often expressed in the terms of participating in a feast attended by God's redeemed people.

meta + gen. "with" - with [abraham, and isaac and jacob]. Expressing accompaniment / association.

en "in" - Local, expressing space.

twn ouranwn gen. "[the kingdom] of heaven" - [the kingdom] of the heavens. The plural "heavens" is idiomatic. "Heaven" is deferential, thus "the kingdom of God" = the eschatological reign of God (if dominion is emphasized over domain); see 3:2.

v12

de "but" - but, and. Here adversative, as NIV.

thV basileiaV (a) gen. "[the subjects] of the kingdom" - [the sons] of the kingdom [will be cast into outermost darkness]. The genitive is adjectival, relational, possibly idiomatic / identification, "the sons who are members of the kingdom; the "natural and rightful heirs of the kingdom", D&A. "Sons of" is Semitic / colloquial , eg., "sons of the covenant", "sons of the age to come" = related to / part of - "one who shares in this thing or who is worthy of it, or who stands in some close relation to it", BAGD. Luke has "yourselves", which is appropriate to the context. The blanket condemnation applies to would-be "sons", Jews whose heritage gave them automatic access to kingdom membership, "but whose lack of faith means that they forfeit their place", Morris. "Outermost darkness" figuratively expresses exclusion - lost to God.

twn odontwn (ouV odoV) gen. "of teeth" - [there will be weeping and grinding] of the teeth. The genitive is usually treated as verbal, objective, but some suggest subjective, eg., Quarles. The grinding of teeth is used figuratively in the NT to express extreme grief. The presence of the article in oJ kalauqmoV, "weeping, wailing", "indicates the unique and extreme character of the action", BAGD. Together both descriptives express the terror of exclusion.

v13

tw/ eJkatontarch/ (hV ou) dat. "[then Jesus said] to the centurion" - Dative of indirect object.

wJV "just as" - [go], as [you believed let it be]. Comparative, expressing like manner; the healing was expedited in like manner to the centurions faith, "as you believed, so be it." Possibly here taking a causal sense, "because you believed, so be it"; "As you have had faith, your prayer is granted", Moffatt. An equative sense is unlikely, namely that the healing is enacted to the degree of the centurion's faith.

soi dat. pro. "-" - for you. Dative of interest, advantage.

en + dat. "at [that hour]" - [and the child / slave of him was healed] in [that hour]". Adverbial use of the preposition, temporal, as NIV.

v14

iii] Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law, v14-15. While still in Capernaum, Jesus visits the home of Peter and discovers that Peter's mother-in-law is laying in bed with a fever (often fatal in the ancient world). Matthew records her matter-of-fact healing in as few words as possible.

elqwn (ercomai) aor. part. "When [Jesus] came" - [and jesus] coming.. The participle is adverbial, best treated as temporal, as NIV.

eiV + acc. "into" - into [the house of peter, he saw]. Spacial.

autou gen. pro. "Peter's [mother-in-law]" - [the mother-in-law] of him. The genitive is adjectival, relational.

beblhmenhn (ballw) perf. mid./pas. part. "lying in bed [with a fever]" - having been thrown to bed, bedridden [and having a fever]. Here with the particular idiomatic sense of having been thrown on a bed, made ill, made sick, so "bedridden"; as in v6. This participle, along with puressousan, "having a fever", forms a dependent statement of perception expressing what Jesus saw, namely, "Peter's mother-in-law bedridden and feverish." Some translators treat the participle "having a fever" adverbially, eg., instrumental expressing means, "prostrated by fever", Rieu, or causal, "because she had a fever", expressed idiomatically in English, "with a fever" - that's why she's in bed, she has a fever. Olmstead treats both participles as adjectival, attributive, limiting Peter's mother-in-law, "who was lying down and suffering from a fever."

v15

thV ceiroV (r roV) gen. "[her] hand" - [and he touched] the hand [of her and the fever left her]. Genitive of direct object after the verb "to touch." In Luke's account Jesus rebukes the fever, possibly indicating a demonic cause (in Luke's opinion???), cf., Lk.4:39.

autw/ dat. pro. "him" - [and she arose and was serving] him. Dative of direct object after the dia prefix verb "to wait on." In later tradition it was viewed as demeaning for a man to allow himself to be waited on by a mere woman, but given that no object is recorded on those occasions when such occurred in the NT indicates that it was a later tightening of insect law. That she "waited on him" indicates that the healing was complete.

v16

iv] Other healings, v16-17. Matthew continues to address the problem of the erosion of covenant inclusion by sin. In these two verses he reminds us that Jesus has taken upon himself our weakness and removed our sickness. Mark's account of this incident in 1:29-34 is usually viewed as the source, a source redacted by Matthew. This may, or may not be the case; see above. Matthew includes the rather free formula quotation from Isaiah 53:4 which is not found in Mark's account. Given the wider context, the quotation applies to Jesus person and ministry as it relates, not so much to sickness, but the curse of the law. Matthew is not providing scriptural warrant for Jesus' healing ministry, but rather his redemptive ministry - the forgiveness of all our iniquities and thus the authorizing of our covenant standing.

de "-" - but, and. Here indicating a step in the narrative.

genomenhV (ginomai) gen. aor. part. "when [evening] came" - [evening] having come. The genitive absolute participle serves to introduce a temporal clause, as NIV.

autw/ dat. pro. "[were brought] to him" - [they brought] to him. Dative of indirect object.

daimonizomenouV (daimonizomai) aor. mid./pas. part. "[many] who were demon-possessed" - [many] having been demon-possessed. If we take the adjective pollouV, "many", as a substantive, "many people", then the participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "many people".

logw/ (oV) dat. "with a word" - [and he cast out the spirits] with a word. The dative is instrumental, expressing means, as NIV.

touV .... econtaV (ecw) pres. part. "[healed] all the sick" - the ones having [badly = sickness he healed]. The participle serves as a substantive modified by the adverb "badly"; "the ones badly having" = "the sick."

v17

Quoting from the MT (here probably an independent translation of the Hebrew text) of Isaiah 53:4, Matthew makes the point that Jesus, as the Servant of the Lord, fulfills the words of the prophet in the healing of others. Isaiah 53 reveals the truth of the atonement fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Christ, the Servant who vicariously suffers by carrying our infirmities in himself. The taking up of our infirmities and the bearing of our diseases therefore relates to the taking up / bearing of the infirmity / disease of sin and its inevitable curse under the law. Some commentators are somewhat surprised by Matthew's choice of this fulfillment text in this particular context; "it is unusual to see it (this text) applied to illness rather than moral evil", Morris. But of course, for Matthew, the infirmities and diseases in v1-17 are all analogous of the stain of sin which Jesus is willing and able, through the instrument of faith, to take up and carry on our behalf, thus solving the problem exposed by the Great Sermon. It is clear that in this particular context, Jesus healing ministry serves as a type of his redemptive ministry - "he has born our griefs and carried our sins"; See D&A, p38, vol.2.

oJpwV + subj. "this [was to fulfill]" - in order that [may be fulfilled]. This construction serves to produce a final clause expressing purpose, "in order that there might be fulfilled"; "this happened that the statement made by the prophet Isaiah might come true", Barclay. The use of iJna + subj. is a more common way to introduce a final clause.

to rJhqen (legw) aor. pas. part. "what was spoken" - the thing being said. The participle serves as a substantive.

dia + gen. "through" - through [isaiah the prophet]. Instrumental, expressing agency; "through".

legontoV (legw) gen. pres. part. "-" - saying. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "the prophet Isaiah", "who said ...."

hJmwn gen. pro. "our" - [he took the weaknesses] of us. The genitive is adjectival, probably possessive, as NIV, but a more idiomatic sense may be intended, "the illnesses from which we suffered", Olmstead.

taV asqeneiaV (a) "infirmities" - the weaknesses. Accusative direct object of the verb "to take." The sense is "sicknesses", but the meaning can extend to "suffering", "grief".

taV nosouV (oV ou) "diseases" - [and bore, removed] the diseases of us. Accusative direct object of the verb "to remove." The sense is "illness", but can extend to "anguish".

Matthew Introduction

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