Matthew 7:29

Matthew 7:29 is the twenty-ninth (and the last) verse in the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It ends a two verse conclusion following the Sermon on the Mount.

Content

In the Westcott-Hort edition of the original Greek, this verse reads:

ην γαρ διδασκων αυτους ως εξουσιαν

εχων και ουχ ως οι γραμματεις αυτων

In the King James Version of the Bible, the text reads:

For he taught them as one having

authority, and not as the scribes.

The English Standard Version translates the passage as:

for he was teaching them as one who

had authority, and not as their scribes.

For a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 7:29.

Analysis

In the previous verse, the crowd of onlookers were described as astonished at Jesus' sayings (Greek: τους λογους τουτους, tous logous toutous) which complete Matthew's narrative known as the "Sermon on the Mount", and this verse explains why. The final phrase is a verbatim copy of Mark 1:22, set in a very different context. Mark's Gospel simply asserts Jesus' authority; Matthew uses it as a concluding argument after presenting the Sermon on the Mount as evidence.

In some translations this verse refers to their scribes. Ulrich Luz suggests that this is a clear indicator that Jesus' followers saw themselves as separate from the mainstream Jewish community at the time this gospel was written.