Matthew 28: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary go to Jesus' tomb. An earthquake happens, an angel rolls the stone back, and the guards collapse in fear. The angel tells the women that Jesus has risen and sends them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee; Jesus meets them on the way. The chief priests pay the soldiers to say the body was stolen, and in Galilee Jesus tells the eleven disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptize them, and teach them what he commanded.

Claim by Claim

1. 28:1
   • The sabbath came to its end.
   • It began to dawn toward the first day of the week.
   • Mary Magdalene came to see the tomb.
   • The other Mary came with her to see the tomb.
2. 28:2
   • There was a great earthquake.
   • An angel of the Lord descended from heaven.
   • The angel came and rolled back the stone.
   • The King James says the stone was rolled back from the door of the tomb.
   • The angel sat upon the stone.
3. 28:3
   • The angel's appearance was like lightning.
   • The angel's clothing was white as snow.
4. 28:4
   • The guards shook for fear of the angel.
   • The guards became as dead men.
5. 28:5
   • The angel spoke to the women.
   • The angel told the women not to fear.
   • The angel said he knew that they were seeking Jesus.
   • The angel said Jesus had been crucified.
6. 28:6
   • The angel said Jesus is not there.
   • The angel said Jesus has been raised.
   • The angel said Jesus had said this would happen.
   • The angel told the women to come and see the place where he lay.
   • The King James says the place is where the Lord lay.
7. 28:7
   • The angel told the women to go quickly.
   • The angel told the women to tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead.
   • The angel said Jesus goes before them into Galilee.
   • The angel said they will see him in Galilee.
   • The angel said he had told them this.
8. 28:8
   • The women departed quickly from the tomb.
   • The women had fear.
   • The women had great joy.
   • The women ran to tell his disciples.
9. 28:9
   • Jesus met the women.
   • The King James says this happened as they went to tell his disciples.
   • Jesus greeted them.
   • The women came to him.
   • The women took hold of his feet.
   • The women worshipped him.
10. 28:10
    • Jesus told the women not to be afraid.
    • Jesus told them to go and tell his brothers.
    • Jesus said his brothers should go into Galilee.
    • Jesus said they will see him there.
11. 28:11
    • The women were going.
    • Some of the guard came into the city.
    • The guards reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.
12. 28:12
    • The chief priests assembled with the elders.
    • They took counsel together.
    • They gave a large sum of money to the soldiers.
13. 28:13
    • They instructed the soldiers to say that his disciples came by night and stole him away.
    • They instructed the soldiers to say this happened while the soldiers were asleep.
14. 28:14
    • They said that if this came to the governor's hearing, they would persuade him.
    • They said they would keep the soldiers free from trouble.
15. 28:15
    • The soldiers took the money.
    • The soldiers did as they were taught.
    • This account was spread abroad among the Jews.
    • The account is reported among the Jews until this day.
16. 28:16
    • The eleven disciples went into Galilee.
    • They went to the mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
17. 28:17
    • They saw Jesus.
    • They worshipped him.
    • Some doubted.
    • The Greek is ambiguous as to whether those who doubted were among the same group that worshipped or a separate group.
18. 28:18
    • Jesus came to them.
    • Jesus spoke to them.
    • Jesus said all authority has been given to him.
    • Jesus said this authority is in heaven and on earth.
19. 28:19
    • Jesus commanded them to go.
    • Jesus commanded them to make disciples of all nations.
    • Jesus commanded them to baptize them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
20. 28:20
    • Jesus commanded them to teach the disciples to observe all things he had commanded them.
    • Jesus said he is with them all the days.
    • Jesus said this lasts until the completion of the age.
    • The King James closes the chapter with Amen.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

28:1

The Jewish sabbath ran from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, so "the first day of the week" is what we call Sunday. The Greek phrase behind "In the end of the sabbath" is genuinely ambiguous: it can mean "late on the sabbath" or "after the sabbath," and the second half of the verse, about the dawn, is what fixes the time to early Sunday morning. The "sepulchre" is a burial chamber cut into rock, not a dug grave; Matthew has just described Joseph of Arimathea laying the body in his own new tomb and closing it with a stone.

28:2

Tombs of this kind were closed with a large stone slab or disc set against the entrance, heavy enough that the women had been wondering who would move it. "Behold" is the King James rendering of a Greek attention word, closer to "look" or "suddenly" than to any instruction to the reader.

28:3

"Countenance" means face, and "raiment" means clothes. Both were ordinary English words in 1611.

28:4

"The keepers" are the guard detail Pilate had allowed the chief priests to post at the tomb, described a few verses earlier. They are soldiers on watch, not tomb attendants.

28:5

"The angel answered" translates a Greek idiom in which "answered" can mean simply "responded" or "spoke up." No question has been asked. In "Fear not ye" the King James keeps an emphatic pronoun that is in the Greek: you, as distinct from the guards lying there like dead men.

28:6

"He is risen" translates a Greek verb form that can be read either as "he has risen" or as "he was raised," and translators have gone both ways.

28:7

Galilee is the northern region where Jesus had grown up and done most of his teaching, roughly seventy miles north of Jerusalem, several days' walk. "Goeth before you" means going on ahead, the way a shepherd or a guide goes first.

28:8

Their fear was not the scared kind. It was the shaky feeling you get when something huge and wonderful happens.

28:9

"All hail" was the ordinary Greek hello, a word meaning something like "rejoice," used the way we use "good morning." It is not a solemn formula. Taking hold of someone's feet was a recognized gesture of homage or urgent appeal. The verb behind "worshipped" means to bow low or prostrate oneself, and in Greek of this period it covers everything from deep respect shown to a superior to the worship given a god; the gesture itself does not settle which is meant.

28:10

"Brethren" is simply the older plural of "brother." Here it refers to the disciples rather than to members of Jesus's family.

28:11

"The watch" is the guard detail again. The "chief priests" were the senior priestly officials in Jerusalem, the men who ran the temple and who, with the elders, formed the leadership that had brought Jesus before Pilate.

28:12

The "elders" were the lay heads of leading families who sat with the chief priests on the ruling council. "Large money" in 1611 English means a large amount of money, not oversized coins.

28:13

A sleeping sentry was a serious military offense under Roman discipline, which is why the soldiers need the promise in the next verse before they will repeat this story.

28:14

"The governor" is Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect who had ordered the crucifixion and had authorized the guard. "We will persuade him" translates a phrase that can mean talk him round or satisfy him, and satisfying an official could include paying him off. "Secure you" means keep you safe from punishment, not lock you up; the word has shifted sense since 1611.

28:15

"Until this day" means up to the time Matthew was writing, decades after the events. The Greek word translated "the Jews" is the same one used elsewhere for Judeans, the people of the region; Matthew is reporting a rival explanation still in circulation among his neighbors.

28:16

"The eleven" is the group of twelve disciples minus Judas, who is gone by this point in the story. "Where Jesus had appointed them" means the place he had arranged with them beforehand, not that he had appointed the men.

28:17

The Greek here is ambiguous in a way English struggles to keep. It can mean that some of the eleven doubted while others did not, or that they worshiped and yet wavered. The verb itself means to hesitate or be in two minds rather than to disbelieve outright.

28:18

"Power" here translates a Greek word meaning authority, the right to act and to command, rather than raw strength or force.

28:19

"Teach all nations" renders a single Greek verb meaning to make disciples, that is, to make learners or followers; the teaching proper is named separately in the next verse. "Nations" translates a word for peoples or ethnic groups, often used for non-Jews. To baptize is to dip or wash in water; ritual washings were already familiar in Jewish practice, and John had used immersion in the Jordan. "In the name of" translates a phrase that is literally "into the name," wording used in the period for handing something over into someone's ownership or allegiance. "Holy Ghost" is the older English for Holy Spirit; "ghost" once meant spirit in general, with no suggestion of a haunting.

28:20

"Alway" is the older form of "always," not a shortening of "all the way." "The end of the world" translates a phrase meaning the completion of the age, that is, the close of the present era rather than the destruction of the planet; the Greek word is about time, not about the earth. "Amen" is a Hebrew word carried over untranslated, meaning roughly "so be it" or "this is sure." It is missing from the earliest manuscripts here and is generally thought to have been added by scribes copying the book for reading aloud.