<p>13:52- see on 9:9.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>And he said to them: Therefore every scribe-</em>&nbsp;All of the other occurrences of the word in the Gospels refer to the Jewish scribes who spiritually lorded it over the masses of secular Jewish people. The Lord is inviting the disciples, who were largely secular men and women, to believe that if they did indeed 'understand' the things which the scribes did not- then&nbsp;<em>they</em>&nbsp;were the new scribes, the new religious leaders and interpreters of the Law, in the new Israel which the Lord was creating based around Him rather than Moses. The force of &quot;<em>every</em>&nbsp;scribe&quot; would be to assure the disciples that every single one of them was included in this new vision of leadership.</p>
<p><em>Who has been made a disciple of the kingdom of heaven-</em>&nbsp;The Greek&nbsp;<em>matheteuo</em>&nbsp;specifically means 'to disciple', and thereby the Lord is making clear the connection He sees between being a scribe (a teacher) and being a disciple (learner). Perhaps 'Matthew' saw the play on his own name. We cannot simply learn of Him; the nature of the understanding we receive is such that we must share it with others by teaching. The Lord uses the same word in telling the disciples to go out and make disciples (Mt. 28:19). We are to seek to make men learners, not give them a set of theological truth which they are to grip on to in an unthinking manner. We are to lead them to the feet of Jesus and to a position wherein they accept&nbsp;<em>Him</em> as their teacher. Distributing New Testaments and persuading people to accept the message seems to me a classic way in which we can do this in our generation. And we wonder whether Matthew,&nbsp;<em>Matthaios</em>, specifically records this saying of the Lord which none of the other Gospel writers do exactly because he perceived the connection between his own name and the concept of discipleship. For the words are related. Remember that his Jewish name was Levi (Mk. 2:14), but Matthew seems to call himself 'Matthew', as if after his conversion, his very name and public image before men was now to be that of 'disciple'. Discipleship was a major concept for him.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Instruction in the things of the Kingdom in the context of Matthew 13 surely means to be instructed through correctly understanding the parables of the Kingdom which the chapter is full of. Because the disciples understood them, they were thereby instructed in the things of the Kingdom. We note that the things of the Kingdom which were explained by the parables were not simply details of the future Kingdom of God to be established on earth. They taught about the Lord Jesus and His ways amongst men- right now. It's quite possible that &quot;the things of the Kingdom&quot; and &quot;the [things of the] name of Jesus Christ&quot; (Acts 8:12) are not two separate groups of theological teachings but rather are the two phrases put in parallel as referring to the same things. For the Lord Jesus was and is the essence of His Kingdom and the living exemplification of God's dominion / king-dom over men.</p>
<p><em>Is like a man who is a householder-</em>&nbsp;The &quot;householder&quot;, the head of the household, is a term used repeatedly by the Lord with reference to Himself personally; He considered the disciples to be the members of the new household over which He was head. Only a few verses earlier He has likened Himself to such a &quot;householder&quot;, using the same word (Mt. 13:27; also in Mt. 10:25; 20:1,11; 21:33; Lk. 13:25; 14:21). Without any doubt, the Lord used this term about Himself. So He is saying that if they understood the essence of the parables of the Kingdom, they were not only as scribes, teachers, but like unto the head of the house Himself- the Lord Jesus personally. This is the specific teaching of Mt. 10:25: &quot;It is enough for the disciple that he be[come] as his master&quot;. The Lord's teaching of others was not an end in itself; to know the mind of Christ and thus become as the teacher is a real possibility. The height of the calling and possibility is breath-taking. Correct 'understanding' of the Lord's teaching could not be given a higher importance and end result; although as I have tried to explain, 'understanding' is not the same as grasping academic theory. By its nature, it involves action. &quot;A man, a householder&quot; perhaps emphasizes the humanity of the Lord Jesus in order to demonstrate that rising up to His status is not at all out of the question for us who are human.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Who brings out-&nbsp;</em>This was what the Lord was doing there and then in His teaching, bringing forth things of the new covenant and the old. And He is saying that if they are instructed in the things of the Kingdom, then they can do the same. The idea of bringing forth things out of a treasure must surely be connected with the Lord's usage of the very same words earlier that same day (13:1) in His teaching that &quot;a good man out of the good&nbsp;<em>treasure</em>&nbsp;of his heart&nbsp;<em>brings forth</em>&nbsp;good things&quot; (Mt. 12:35). The heart is also called the &quot;treasure&quot; in Mt. 6:21. In the context of 12:35, the Lord is referring to Himself as the &quot;good man&quot;, who was doing good things- despite being accused of doing 'evil things' by the Jewish leaders. The ultimate 'treasure' of the Lord at this time was His heart, His mind. And thus the invitation to be &quot;like&quot; the Lord becomes even more intimate and meaningful. We are being invited here to have the mind of Christ. He has already explained that the learner [disciple] is to be the scribe [the teacher]. If we have the mind of Christ, then just as He brought forth things new and old from the treasure of that mind / heart, then we shall do likewise. Yet we note that the householder, the Lord Jesus, brings forth these things out of&nbsp;<em>His</em> treasure. And He has just spoken of how He finds His treasure- us- in the field of the world (Mt. 13:44 s.w.). The idea is that if the disciples understood, then He would bring forth out of&nbsp;<em>them</em>&nbsp;&quot;things new and old&quot; with which to impress the watching world. Again- the learners [disciples] were to be used by Him as scribes [teachers]. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3 s.w.), but He reveals these things to the world through His followers.</p>
<p><em>From his treasure- </em>Every one who is taught the Gospel will naturally&nbsp;<em>bring forth out of his treasure</em>&nbsp;(his innermost heart- Lk. 6:45) things new and old- his new knowledge, plus his old things of the old covenant (Mt. 13:52 cp. Song 7:13). The Lord said that a scribe (one who knows well the Old Testament scriptures) who also knows the Gospel of the Kingdom is like a man who brings out of &ldquo;his treasure&rdquo; things new and old (Mt. 13:52). But Jesus had just defined the &ldquo;treasure&rdquo; as the Gospel of the Kingdom (Mt. 13:44). If we make that &lsquo;treasure&rsquo;&nbsp;<em>our</em>&nbsp;personal treasure, the most valuable thing in our whole being, then out of the basic Gospel that is in our hearts we will bring forth things &ldquo;new and old&rdquo;. Our treasure is where our heart is (Mt. 6:21). Yet the treasure is the basic Gospel, i.e., that Gospel lodged in our deepest hearts. The old things of basic certainties; and the new things relating to our increasing appreciation of what they really mean, these will come out of us in our lives and feeling and being.</p>
<p><em>Things new and old-</em>&nbsp;The Lord's previous use of these terms in Mt. 9:17 was in the context of the things of the old and new covenants. Matthew's Gospel was clearly aimed at Jews, and his point in recording this was surely to assure them that not everything from the &quot;old&quot; way had been rejected.</p>