MATTHEW 10:19 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.”
When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. The do not be anxious in the face of persecution echoes the do not be anxious about provision (6:25) — both forms of anxiety are addressed by the same principle: the Father provides. The specific provision promised here is the speech to give in the moment of trial. Acts 4:8–13 records Peter filled with the Holy Spirit speaking to the rulers and elders with a boldness that amazed them. The Spirit who provides the speech in the trial moment is the same Spirit who empowers the mission.
Church Fathers on Matthew 10:19
To the foregoing topics of consolation, He adds another not a little one; that they should not say, How shall we be able to persuade such men as these, when they shall persecute us? He bids them be of good courage respecting their answer, saying, 'When they shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak.'
'How or what,' one refers to the substance, the other to the expression in words. And because both of these would be supplied by Him, there was no need for the holy preachers to be anxious about either.
When then we are brought before judges for Christ’s sake, we ought to offer only our will for Christ. But Christ who dwelleth in us speaks for Himself, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will minister in our answer.
Read all 6 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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