Matthew 11:27

πάντα, all things necessary for the realisation of the kingdom (Holtz., H.C.). The πάντα need not be restricted to the hiding and revealing functions (Weiss, Nösgen). Hiding, indeed, was no function of Christ's. He was always and only a revealer. For the present Jesus has only a few babes, but the future is His: Christianity the coming religion. παρεδόθη, aorist, were given. We might have expected the future. It may be another instance of the aorist used for the Hebrew prophetic future (vide ad Matthew 11:19). In Matthew 28:18 ἐδόθη again to express the same thought. The reference probably is to the eternal purpose of God: on the use of the aorist in N. T., vide note on this passage in Camb. G. T. ἐπιγινώσκει, thoroughly knows. τὸν υἱὸν … πατήρ, Christ's comfort amid the widespread unbelief and misunderstanding in reference to Himself is that His Father knows Him perfectly. No one else does, not even John. He is utterly alone in the world. Son here has a Godward reference, naturally arising out of the situation. The Son of Man is called an evil liver. He lifts up His heart to heaven and says: God my Father knows me, His Son. The thought in the first clause is connected with this one thus: the future is mine, and for the present my comfort is in the Father's knowledge of me. οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα … ὁ υἱὸς : a reflection naturally suggested by the foregoing statement. It is ignorance of the Father that creates misconception of the Son. Conventional, moral and religious ideals lead to misjudgment of one who by all He says and does is revealing God as He truly is and wills. The men who know least about God are those supposed to know most, and who have been most ready to judge Him, the “wise and understanding”. Hence the additional reflection, κοὶ ᾧ ἐὰν βούληται ὁ υ. ἀποκαλύψαι. Jesus here asserts His importance as the revealer of God, saying in effect: “The wise despise me, but they cannot do without me. Through me alone can they attain that knowledge of God which they profess to desire above all things.” This was there and then the simple historic fact. Jesus was the one person in Israel who truly conceived God. The use of βούληται is noticeable: not to whomsoever He reveals Him, but to whomsoever He is pleased to reveal Him. The emphasis seems to lie on the inclination, whereas in Matthew 1:19 θέλων appears to express the wish, and ἐβουλήθη rather the deliberate purpose. Jesus meets the haughty contempt of the “wise” with a dignified assertion that it depends on his inclination whether they are to know God or not. On the distinction between βούλομαι and θέλω, vide Cremer, Wörterbuch, s. v. βούλομαι. According to him the former represents the direction of the will, the latter the will active (Affect, Trieb). Hence βουλ. can always stand for θελ., but not vice versâ.