Matthew 20:27

And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
whosoever	ὃς hos	G3739	the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun · relative pronoun — nominative singular masculine
will	θέλῃ thelē	G2309	to determine (as an active option from subjective impul… · verb — present active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
be	εἶναι einai	G1511	to exist · verb — present active infinitive
chief	πρῶτος, prōtos	G4413	foremost (in time · adjective — nominative singular masculine
among	ἐν en	G1722	"in · preposition
you	ὑμῖν hymîn	G5213	to (with or by) you
let him be	ἔστω éstō	G2077	be thou
your	ὑμῶν hymōn	G5216	of (from or concerning) you
servant	δοῦλος· doulos	G1401	a slave (literal or figurative · noun — nominative singular masculine

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

Luke 22:26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
Mark 9:33-35 And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
Matthew 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
2 Corinthians 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
Acts 20:34-35 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
Romans 1:14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
2 Corinthians 11:5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 20:16

So the last shall be first, and the first last--that is, "Take heed lest by indulging the spirit of these murmurers at the penny given to the last hired, ye miss your own penny, though first in the vineyard; while the consciousness of having come in so late may inspire these last with such a humble frame, and such admiration of the grace that has hired and rewarded them at all, as will put them into the foremost place in the end." for many be called, but few chosen--This is another of our Lord's terse and pregnant sayings, more than once uttered in different connections. (See Mat 19:30; Mat 22:14). The "calling" of which the New Testament almost invariably speaks is what divines call effec…

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John Gill on Matthew 20:27

And whosoever will be chief among you,.... Or first, or have the pre-eminence, the first place in the kingdom of the Messiah, let him be your servant; or, as in Mark, shall be servant of all: not only a minister, but a servant; not a servant of some only, but of all. This was verified in the Apostle Paul, who became a servant to all men, though he was free, that he might gain some to Christ; and by so doing was the chief, though he reckoned himself the least of the apostles, yea, less than the least of all saints. The Jews have a saying somewhat like this, that (h). "everyone that makes himself as a servant, for the words of the law in this world, shall be made free in the world to come.…

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John Calvin on Matthew 20:24-28

Matthew 20:24-27 Matthew 20:24-27 Mark 10:41-45 Luke 22:24-27 24. And when the ten heard it, [659] they were displeased with the two brethren. 25. And Jesus called them to him, and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles rule over them, and they who are great exercise authority over them. 26. It shall not be so among you: but whoever wishes to be great among you, let him be your minister; 27. And he that wishes to be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28. Even as the Son of man came not that he might be served, but that he might serve, and that he might give his life a ransom for many. 41. And when the ten heard it, they began to be displeased with James and John 42. And…

The Church Fathers

A hermit was asked, 'What is humility?' He answered, 'Humility is a great work, and a work of God. The way of humility is to undertake bodily labour, and believe yourself a sinner, and make yourself the servant of all.' A brother said, 'What does it mean, to be the servant of all?' He answered, 'To be the servant of all is not to look at the sins of others, always to look at your own sins, and to pray to God without ceasing.'
— Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

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

Apostles, The · Humility urged upon — Humility urged upon
Commandments · DISCOURSE — DISCOURSE
Fellowship · OF THE RIGHTEOUS — OF THE RIGHTEOUS
Humility · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Man · EQUALITY OF — EQUALITY OF
Pride · 4:1; — 4:1;

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).

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 20:16

John Gill on Matthew 20:27

John Calvin on Matthew 20:24-28

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 20:16

John Gill on Matthew 20:27

John Calvin on Matthew 20:24-28

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 20:27