Q
Luke 6:40 ~ Mt 10:24-25a
The Disciple and the TeacherThis saying has a different position, and indeed a different meaning, in Matthew and Luke; see again the Lukan Sermon outline.
IQP. A disciple is not superior to <one's> teacher. [It is enough for the disciple that he become] like his teacher.
- Mt 10:24 (ASV): A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord. [25] It is enough for the disciple that he be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household! [26] Fear them not, therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid, that shall not be known. [27] What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light, and what ye hear in the ear, proclaim upon the house-tops.
- Lk 6:40 (ASV): The disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is perfected shall be as his teacher.
Comment. The Matthean passage follows the Charge to the Twelve (Mt 10:5-23), and Matthew continues with other advice to future apostles. The part about the disciple not being above his teacher is all but irrelevant to this context, with which its only connection is the idea that the reputation of the teacher may adversely affect that of his disciples. The Lukan passage is part of the section of the Sermon on the Plain which warns against judging, and in this case, the connection is easier to see: Jesus is the Teacher (he is regularly so called in Mark, by those outside as well as inside his movement), and to teach others - to define doctrine or interpret the Scriptures - is to do Jesus's work. Similarly, to judge others is to anticipate God's work at the Final Judgement (see James 5:7-10). The Lukan parts of the Sermon fit together very well if we keep in mind the advice, and even the form, of the Epistle of James. It is then probable that the Lukan version of this saying, connected as it is with what looks like Jesus tradition, is earlier, and that the awkward Matthean adaptation to a different context is later, whence Lk > Mt.
To complete that argument requires that we give a motive, not so much for where Matthew has put the saying, as for why he removed it from the cluster in which he found it. We note that in the course of his relocation, he has deprived the saying of its prohibition of teaching (which is to say, of judging). This may well have been ungrateful to Matthew, who in Mt 16:18-19 (this being a unique Matthean saying inserted into the middle of a Markan passage) makes a point of giving Peter the right to "bind and loose" on earth (that is, to condemn a sinner or to forgive sins). So whatever injunctions Matthew may inherit forbidding the criticism of fellow Christians, he reserves to the Church (here symbolized by Peter, the acknowledged leader of the Apostles) the right of judgement. Then the transposition of our passage, however unsuccessful in its new location, does make Matthean sense as limiting the meaning which that passage had in its old location. The above decision is supported by these considerations.
Authenticity. As a piece of advice warning apostles of future dangers (including accusations of sorcery, for which see Mark 3:22, which like Mt 10:24 occurs not long after Mark's version of the Calling of the Twelve; see Mt 10:1-4), this saying would seem to be addressed to a post-Jesus generation. As a warning against presuming to teach others (and thus usurping the place of Jesus, the ultimate teacher, compare James 3:1 and 4:11-12), which, at earliest, is a rebuke to early congregations after Jesus himself has passed from the scene. In either case, the saying is unlikely to have been first said by Jesus.
12 May 2011 / Contact The Project / Exit to Alpha Page
