The Meaning of Matthew 11:14 Explained

Matthew 11:14

KJV: And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

YLT: and if ye are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who was about to come;

Darby: And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, who is to come.

ASV: And if ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, that is to come.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  if  ye will  receive  [it], this  is  Elias,  which  was for  to come. 

What does Matthew 11:14 Mean?

Study Notes

this is Elias
. Also, Matthew 17:12 ; Malachi 4:5
Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come
Cf Matthew 11:14 ; Mark 9:11 ; Mark 9:12 ; Mark 9:13 ; Luke 1:17 ; Malachi 3:1 ; Malachi 4:5 ; Malachi 4:6 All the passages must be construed together.
(1) Christ confirms the specific and still unfulfilled prophecy of Malachi 4:5 ; Malachi 4:6 : "Elias shall truly first come and restore all things." Here, as in Malachi, the prediction fulfilled in John the Baptist, and that yet to be fulfilled in Elijah, are kept distinct.
(2) But John the Baptist had come already, and with a ministry so completely in the spirit and power of Elijah's future ministry Luke 1:17 that in an adumbrative and typical sense it could be said: "Elias is come already." Cf; Matthew 10:40 ; Philemon 1:12 ; Philemon 1:17 where the same thought of identification, while yet preserving personal distinction, occurs. John 1:27

Context Summary

Matthew 11:11-19 - The Last Of The Prophets
The least in a higher dispensation has great advantages over the greatest in a lower one. A child on a hill can see farther than a giant in the valley. Many have tried to right the world by violence, by the vehemence of their speech and acts. But it is not so that the Kingdom comes. Its weapon is not the sword, but the cross. Its advent is not as the thunder shower, but as the summer dew or the opening of the dawn.
Our Lord truly estimated the temper of His age. It was fickle, changeable, and hard to please; but beneath its evident superficiality there was a substratum of rock. They refused John because of his austerity, and they refused Jesus because of His human kindness and gentleness. Never trim your sails for the world's breath. The breeze springs up and soon dies away. Do God's will!
O sinful brother and sister, can we ever estimate enough the assurance that Jesus is the friend of our souls? He does not disown, withdraw, or reproach. He knows what our temptations are, and makes allowances, and loves us steadfastly forever. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 11

1  John sends his disciples to Jesus
7  Jesus' testimony concerning John
16  The perverse judgment of the people concerning the Son
20  Jesus upbraids Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum;
25  and praising his Father's wisdom in revealing the Gospel to the simple,
28  he calls to him those who are weary and burdened

Greek Commentary for Matthew 11:14

This is Elijah [αυτος εστιν Ελειας]
Jesus here endorses John as the promise of Malachi. The people understood Malachi 4:1 to mean the return of Elijah in person. This John denied as to himself (John 1:21). But Jesus affirms that John is the Elijah of promise who has come already (Matthew 17:12). He emphasizes the point: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” [source]
If ye will [εἰ θέλετε]
More correctly, Rev., If ye are willing or disposed. For there would naturally be an unwillingness to receive the statement about John's high place, in view of John's imprisonment. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 11:14

Matthew 11:11 He that is but little [ο μικροτερος]
The Authorized Version here has it better, “he that is least.” The article with the comparative is a growing idiom in the vernacular Koiné for the superlative as in the modern Greek it is the only idiom for the superlative (Robertson, Grammar of the Greek N.T., p. 668). The papyri and inscriptions show the same construction. The paradox of Jesus has puzzled many. He surely means that John is greater (μειζων — meizōn) than all others in character, but that the least in the kingdom of heaven surpasses him in privilege. John is the end of one age, “until John” (Matthew 11:14), and the beginning of the new era. All those that come after John stand upon his shoulders. John is the mountain peak between the old and the new. [source]
Hebrews 1:14 Ministering spirits [λειτουργικα πνευματα]
Thayer says that λειτουργικος — leitourgikos was not found in profane authors, but it occurs in the papyri for “work tax” (money in place of service) and for religious service also. The word is made from λειτουργια — leitourgia (Luke 1:23; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:21). Sent forth Present passive participle of αποστελλω — apostellō sent forth repeatedly, from time to time as occasion requires. For the sake of With the accusative, the usual causal meaning of δια — dia That shall inherit “That are going to inherit,” common idiom of μελλω — mellō (present active participle) with the infinitive (present active here), “destined to inherit” (Matthew 11:14). Salvation Here used of the final salvation in its consummation. Only here in the N.T. do we have “inherent salvation,” but see Hebrews 6:12; Hebrews 12:17. We do not have here the doctrine of special guardian angels for each of us, but simply the fact that angels are used for our good. “And if so, may we not be aided, inspired, guided by a cloud of witnesses - not witnesses only, but helpers, agents like ourselves of the immanent God?” (Sir Oliver Lodge, The Hibbert Journal, Jan., 1903, p. 223). [source]

What do the individual words in Matthew 11:14 mean?

And if you are willing to receive [it] he is Elijah the one being about to come
καὶ εἰ θέλετε δέξασθαι αὐτός ἐστιν Ἠλίας μέλλων ἔρχεσθαι

θέλετε  you  are  willing 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: θέλω  
Sense: to will, have in mind, intend.
δέξασθαι  to  receive  [it] 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Middle
Root: δέχομαι  
Sense: to take with the hand.
Ἠλίας  Elijah 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: Ἠλίας  
Sense: a prophet born at Thisbe, the unflinching champion of the theocracy in the reigns of the idolatrous kings Ahab and Ahaziah.
  the  one 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
μέλλων  being  about 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: μέλλω  
Sense: to be about.
ἔρχεσθαι  to  come 
Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Middle or Passive
Root: ἔρχομαι  
Sense: to come.