< Matthew 10 >

Jesus chose twelve of his disciples to be apostles, special witnesses of all that he taught and did including, later, his resurrection from the dead. He sent these twelve apostles to preach the same gospel of the kingdom of God that he himself taught, but initially only to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. Gentiles were specifically excluded.

Let this motivate us to receive the word of the apostles written in the New Testament, for this is a dire warning to rejectors of their teaching: it will be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for them.

Jesus instructed his apostles to preach the gospel and predicted how they would be received, not only on that particular occasion, but also after his resurrection. Generally, he said, they would be rejected as he was hated even by their own families, persecuted, and put to death. They were not, however, to fear what men could do to them because they could not kill the soul. “Soul” in the scriptures is used in the same way as those in peril on the sea say: “Save Our Souls”. It never refers to “immortal souls”, which none of us has, but to our psyche, the Greek word in the original. This is the content in our minds, our memory and character, our essential identity. While enemies may kill our bodies, God is able to remember all that is in our minds and later, at the resurrection, impress this upon reformed bodies. The Greek word psyche is translated “life” in the warning that we could lose it, v.39Waiting for response for Matthew 10:39 which proves that the soul is not immortal because it would be impossible to lose an immortal soul. However, God is able to destroy our psyche for ever and therefore he should be feared rather than any man. If we develop minds and characters which are pleasing to God, i.e. we lose our psyche to him now, then it will be restored to us in the resurrection in immortal bodies.

Jesus spoke of the recipients of the apostles’ message. Those welcoming the apostles would, in effect, be receiving Christ himself and his Father, and for responding with righteous acts they will receive in due course a righteous person’s reward and even small acts of kindness will be acknowledged by Jesus and be rewarded.