Matthew 15:28 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Matthew 15:28
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
answered
ἀποκριθεὶςapokritheis
G611
to conclude for oneself · verb — aorist passive deponent participle, nominative singular masculine
said
εἶπενeipen
G2036
to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
her
αὐτῇ·autēa
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular feminine
O
ὦō
G5599
as a sign of the vocative case · interjection
woman
γύναι,gunai
G1135
a woman · noun — vocative singular feminine
great
μεγάληmegalē
G3173
big (literally or figuratively · adjective — nominative singular feminine
thy
σοῦsoû
G4675
of thee
faith
πίστις·pistis
G4102
persuasion · noun — nominative singular feminine
be it
γενηθήτωgenēthētō
G1096
to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — aorist passive deponent imperative, 3rd person singular
unto thee
σοίsoí
G4671
to thee
even as
ὡςhōs
G5613
which how · particle
thou wilt
θέλεις.theleis
G2309
to determine (as an active option from subjective impul… · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person singular
And
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
her
αὐτῆςautēs
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular feminine
daughter
θυγάτηρthugatēr
G2364
a female child · noun — nominative singular feminine
whole
ἰάθηiathē
G2390
to cure (literally or figuratively) · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person singular
from
ἀπὸapo
G575
"off · preposition
very
ἐκείνης.¶ekeinēs
G1565
that one (or (neuter) thing) · demonstrative pronoun — genitive singular feminine
hour
ὥραςhōras
G5610
an "hour" (literally or figuratively) · noun — genitive singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Mark 9:23-24 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Matthew 8:13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsam…
Psalms 145:19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.
Matthew 9:22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was ma…
Mark 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
John 4:50-53 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
Romans 4:19-20 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sa…
Matthew 8:10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Matthew 15:21-28
We have here that famous story of Christ's casting the devil out of the woman of Canaan's daughter; it has something in it singular and very surprising, and which looks favourably upon the poor Gentiles, and is an earnest of the mercy which Christ had in store for them. Here is a gleam of that light which was to lighten the Gentiles, Luk 2:32. Christ came to his own, and his own received him not; but many of them quarrelled with him, and were offended in him; and observe what follows, Mat 15:21.
I. Jesus went thence. Note, Justly is the light taken from those that either play by it, or rebel against it. When Christ and his disciples could not be quiet among them, he left them, and so left an…
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me--(Also see on Mar 7:26.)
Next: Matthew Chapter 16
John Gill on Matthew 15:28
Then Jesus answered, and said unto her,.... As one surprised at the strength of her faith, and the clearness and justness of her pious reasoning; and not concealing himself, and the designs of grace, any longer from her, breaks out in great admiration of her, saying,
O woman, great is thy faith! He seems surprised, that she, a woman, and a poor Gentile, should express such strong faith in him; calling him Lord, owning him to be the Messiah, worshipping him as God, believing him able to do what could not be done by human art; and though she met with such repulses, and even called a dog, yet still continued importunate with him, believing she should succeed:
be it unto thee even as thou wilt…
Matthew 15:21-28
Matthew 15:21-28
Mark 7:24-30
21. And Jesus departing thence withdrew into the territories of Tyre and Sidon. 22. And, lo, a woman of Canaan, who had come from those territories, cried saying, Have compassion on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously afflicted by a devil. 23. But he made no reply to her, and his disciples approaching implored him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24. But he answering said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25. And she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26. But he answering said, It is not seemly to take the children's bread, and throw it to the dogs. 27. But she said,…
The Church Fathers
Great indeed was her faith; for the Gentiles, neither trained in the Law, nor educated by the words of the Prophets, straightway on the preaching of the Apostles obeyed with the hearing of the ear, and therefore deserved to obtain salvation.
(Quæst. Ev. i. 18.) And that to heal the Centurion's servant, and the daughter of this Chananæan woman, He does not go to their houses, signifies that the Gentiles, among whom He Himself went not, should be saved by His word. That these are healed on the prayer of their parents, we must understand of the Church, which is at once mother and children; the whole body of those who make up the Church is the mother, and each individual of that body is a son of that mother.
What then saith Christ? "O woman, great is thy faith." Yea, therefore did He put her off, that He might proclaim aloud this saying, that He might crown the woman. "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." Now what He saith is like this: "Thy faith indeed is able to effect even greater things than these; nevertheless, Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." This was akin to that voice that said, "Let the Heaven be, and it was." "And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." Seest thou how this woman too contributed not a little to the healing of her daughter? For to this purpose neither did Christ say, "Let thy little daughter be made whole," but, "Great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt;" to teach thee that the words were not used at random, nor were they flattering words, but great was the power of her faith. The certain test, however, and demonstration thereof, He left to the issue of events. Her daughter accordingly was straightway healed. But mark thou, I pray thee, how when the apostles had failed, and had not succeeded, this woman had success. So great a thing is assiduity in prayer. Yea, He had even rather be solicited by us, guilty as we are, for those who belong to us, than by others in our behalf. And yet they had more liberty to speak; but she exhibited much endurance. And by the issue He also excused Himself to His disciples for the delay, and showed that with reason He had not assented to their request.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Woman — Was “taken out of man” (Gen. 2:23), and therefore the man has the preeminence. “The head of the woman is the man;” but yet honour is to be shown to the wife, “as unto the weaker vessel” (1 Cor. 11:3,…
Zabulon — (Matt. 4:13, 15; Rev. 7:8). See ZEBULUN.
Demons · The daughter of the Syrophoenician woman — The daughter of the Syrophoenician woman
Miracles Of Christ, The · Devils cast out — Devils cast out
Tyre · .Heals the daughter of the non-Jewish, Syrophenician woman near — .Heals the daughter of the non-Jewish, Syrophenician woman near
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Jews often referred to pagans as dogs, which are ceremonially unclean (Lev 11:27). Jesus was speaking to the woman of her spiritual condition as a Gentile—as unclean and separated from God (cp. Matt 7:6).
