19. Whosoever therefore shall break--rather, "dissolve,"
"annul," or "make invalid."
one of these least commandments--an expression equivalent to "one of
the least of these commandments."
and shall teach men so--referring to the Pharisees and their teaching,
as is plain from
Mt 5:20,
but of course embracing all similar schools and teaching in the
Christian Church.
he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven--As the thing
spoken of is not the practical breaking, or disobeying, of the law, but
annulling or enervating its obligation by a vicious system of
interpretation, and teaching others to do the same; so the thing
threatened is not exclusion from heaven, and still less the lowest place
in it, but a degraded and contemptuous position in the present stage of
the kingdom of God. In other words, they shall be reduced by the
retributive providence that overtakes them, to the same condition of
dishonor to which, by their system and their teaching, they have brought
down those eternal principles of God's law.
but whosoever shall do and teach them--whose principles and teaching
go to exalt the authority and honor of God's law, in its lowest as well
as highest requirements.
the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven--shall, by that
providence which watches over the honor of God's moral administration,
be raised to the same position of authority and honor to which they
exalt the law.
JFB.
Picture Study Bible