This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:This phrase indicates the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, a common theme in the Gospel of Matthew, which often emphasizes how Jesus' life and ministry fulfill Hebrew Scriptures. The reference to Isaiah highlights the continuity between the Old and New Testaments, showing that Jesus' actions were part of God's redemptive plan. Isaiah was a major prophet whose writings are often seen as messianic, pointing to the coming of a savior. This connection underscores the divine authority and mission of Jesus.
“He took up our infirmities
This part of the verse refers to Jesus' role as a healer and His compassion for human suffering. The term "infirmities" can be understood as physical illnesses or weaknesses, which Jesus addressed through His healing miracles. This action is not only a demonstration of His power but also a fulfillment of the messianic expectation that the Messiah would bring restoration and healing. It reflects the holistic nature of Jesus' ministry, addressing both spiritual and physical needs.
and carried our diseases.”
The imagery of carrying diseases suggests a deeper theological significance, pointing to the concept of substitutionary atonement. Just as Jesus physically healed the sick, He also bore the weight of human sin and suffering on the cross. This phrase echoes the Suffering Servant motif found inIsaiah 53, where the servant bears the iniquities of others. It highlights Jesus' sacrificial love and His willingness to take on the burdens of humanity, ultimately leading to spiritual healing and redemption.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
Jesus ChristCentral figure in the Gospel of Matthew, performing miracles and fulfilling Old Testament prophecies.
2.
Prophet IsaiahAn Old Testament prophet whose writings include prophecies about the Messiah, quoted here in Matthew.
3.
CapernaumA town where Jesus performed many miracles, including healing the sick, as described in the surrounding context of
Matthew 8.
4.
The Sick and AfflictedIndividuals who were healed by Jesus, demonstrating His compassion and divine authority.
5.
Matthew the EvangelistThe author of the Gospel, who connects Jesus' actions to Old Testament prophecies.
Teaching Points
Fulfillment of ProphecyJesus' healing ministry is a direct fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, affirming His identity as the Messiah.
Compassion of ChristJesus' willingness to heal the sick demonstrates His deep compassion and love for humanity, encouraging us to trust in His care.
Spiritual and Physical HealingWhile Jesus healed physical ailments, His ultimate mission was to address the root of human suffering—sin. This calls us to seek both physical and spiritual healing in Him.
Role of FaithThe healings in
Matthew 8 often involved an element of faith, reminding us of the importance of faith in receiving God's promises.
Christ's AuthorityJesus' ability to heal and fulfill prophecy underscores His divine authority, calling us to submit to His lordship in every area of our lives.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of Matthew 8:17?
2.How does Matthew 8:17 fulfill Isaiah's prophecy about Jesus' healing ministry?
3.What does "He took our infirmities" reveal about Jesus' compassion and mission?
4.How can we apply Jesus' example of healing in our daily lives?
5.How does Matthew 8:17 connect to the overall theme of Jesus as Messiah?
6.In what ways can we trust Jesus with our physical and spiritual ailments today?
7.How does Matthew 8:17 fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah regarding Jesus' healing ministry?
8.What does "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases" mean in a literal sense?
9.How does Matthew 8:17 support the belief in Jesus' divine authority to heal?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Matthew 8?
11.What does "He took our infirmities" mean?
12.If Christians reject other religious texts as unreliable, why should non-Christians accept the Bible?
13.What does 'He took our infirmities' mean?
14.What was the purpose of Jesus' miracles?What Does Matthew 8:17 Mean
This was to fulfillMatthew often pauses his narrative to point out how Jesus’ actions line up with earlier prophecy. By writing, “This was to fulfill,” he signals that the healings in verses 14-16 were neither random acts of kindness nor mere demonstrations of power; they were deliberate steps in God’s redemptive timetable.
•Matthew 1:22-23 shows the same pattern when Joseph learns that Mary’s child will be “Immanuel.”
•Matthew 4:14-16 links Jesus’ early ministry in Galilee toIsaiah 9:1-2.
•Luke 4:21 records Jesus announcing, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” confirming a conscious commitment to prophetic fulfillment.
Through each fulfilled word, God underlines the reliability of every promise He has ever made.
What was spoken through the prophet IsaiahMatthew treats Isaiah’s words as God’s own voice, binding and trustworthy. He is not merely quoting a beloved poet; he is citing divine revelation.
•2 Peter 1:21 affirms that “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
•John 12:38-41 explicitly ties Isaiah’s vision of the Lord to Jesus, uniting prophet and Messiah.
By appealing to Isaiah, Matthew calls his readers to anchor their understanding of Christ in Scripture, not in shifting cultural opinions.
He took up our infirmitiesImmediately before this verse, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law and then “all who were ill” brought to Him (Matthew 8:14-16). Those physical healings illustrate Isaiah’s phrase in real time:
• Fever, demon oppression, paralysis—each sickness in the chapter highlights a different kind of “infirmity.”
•Isaiah 53:4, “Surely He took on our infirmities,” foretells that the Servant would personally shoulder what afflicts us.
•1 Peter 2:24 echoes the same thought on the spiritual level: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree.”
Jesus lifts human weakness off the sufferer and places it on Himself, revealing a substitutionary pattern that culminates at the cross.
And carried our diseases“To carry” pictures sustained, purposeful bearing. Jesus does not merely brush past disease; He hoists it onto His own shoulders.
• InMatthew 8 He carries it away by instantly restoring bodies.
• At Calvary He carries away sin, the root of every disease, making final healing certain (Revelation 21:4).
•Isaiah 35:5-6 envisions the future kingdom where “the eyes of the blind will be opened” and “the lame will leap like a deer,” promises grounded in the Servant’s earlier, literal acts of deliverance.
The same compassion that moved Him in Capernaum guarantees a coming day when every consequence of the Fall is reversed.
summaryMatthew 8:17 ties Jesus’ evening of healings toIsaiah 53, proving that the Messiah’s mission includes taking our weaknesses upon Himself. Each word—“fulfill,” “spoken,” “took,” “carried”—presses the point that Scripture is precise, Jesus is obedient, and our redemption is comprehensive: spiritual, physical, and eternal.
(17)
Himself took our infirmities.--The citation is interesting as showing St. Matthew's way of dealing with Messianic prophecies. We see in Isaiah 53 throughout a picture of our Lord's spiritual work of redemption, and the words quoted are almost the cardinal text for the special view of the atonement, which sees in the sufferings of Christ the freely accepted penalty that was due for the transgressions of mankind. The Evangelist, with the memory of that evening present to his mind, saw them fulfilled in this removal of the "infirmities" and "sicknesses" that oppressed the bodies of men. It was not merely that He came, as one of boundless wealth, who might scatter alms broadcast, but that He Himself "took" and "bore" the sufferings which He removed. He suffered with those He saw suffer. The power to heal was intimately connected with the intensity of His sympathy, and so was followed (as analogous works of love are followed in those who are most Christ-like in their lives) by weariness and physical exhaustion. What is related by St. Mark and St. Luke of our Lord's seeking out the refuge of solitude at the earliest dawn of the day that followed, is entirely in harmony with the view thus suggested.
Verse 17. - Matthew only. A summary statement of Christ's relation to diseases.
That it might be fulfilled (
o%pw plhrwqh = "");
Matthew 2:23, note.
Which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities,and bare our sicknesses;diseases (Revised Version);
Isaiah 53:4, from the Hebrew.
Took (
ἔλαβεν) regards the transference, the assumption;
bare (
ἐβάστασεν), the oppressiveness;
infirmities, negative;
diseases, positive. St. Matthew in this verse calls attention to two points. First, that prophecy had foretold that Christ would heal the sick. For this he might have adduced
Isaiah 35:5, 6, and similar passages; but as one verse will serve his double purpose, he prefers it. Secondly, that the method by which Christ did this was specially noteworthy. He did not perform miracles by magic (as is commonly asserted of him in the Talmud; cf. Laible, 'Jesus Christ in Talmud,' p. 44: Berlin, 1891),nor by the power of God exerted as it were externally on his behalf, nor by his own inherent Divine power, but by himself bearing the sicknesses that he removed. He wrought his miracles at his own expense,and that expense the greatest. The thought is far-reaching, and implies both that he bore the ultimate cause of sickness, the sin of the world (
John 1:29), and also that each miracle of healing meant for him a fresh realization of what bearing the sin of the world included. In other words, the passage in Isaiah, as interpreted by St. Matthew, refers, not only to the Passion as such, but also to Christ's suffering an earnest and a foretaste of it at each miracle. May not this have been in part the cause of his sigh at one miracle (
Mark 7:34), and his deep emotion at another (
John 11:33)? Observe that this may be the complementary side of his experience recorded in
Mark 5:30 (parallel passage:
Luke 8:46), that "power" went out of him. A miracle of healing, though performed in momentary unconsciousness of what was taking place, still necessitated personal contact with sin, which to Christ's whole nature meant moral effort. The utterance recorded by Origen, "For those that are sick! was sick, and' for those that hunger I suffered hunger, and for those that thirst I suffered thirst" (Bishop Westcott, 'Introd.,' Appendix C; Resch, 'Agmpha,' Log. 47), probably expresses the same thought as our verse, though in the language of
Matthew 25:35, 36. A similar idea seems to underlie the well-known saying of Talm. Bab., 'Sanh.,' 98b, with reference to Messiah, "The Leper of the house of Rabbi is his name; for it is said, 'Surely he hath berne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.'" On this and on Raymund Martini's false reading, "the Sick One,"
vide Dalman ('Leid. Mess.,' p. 36: 1888).
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
This wasὅπως(hopōs)Conjunction
Strong's 3704:From hos and pos; what(-ever) how, i.e. In the manner that (as adverb or conjunction of coincidence, intentional or actual).to fulfillπληρωθῇ(plērōthē)Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 4137:From pleres; to make replete, i.e. to cram, level up, or to furnish, satisfy, execute, finish, verify, etc.whatτὸ(to)Article - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.was spokenῥηθὲν(rhēthen)Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 2046:Probably a fuller form of rheo; an alternate for epo in certain tenses; to utter, i.e. Speak or say.throughδιὰ(dia)Preposition
Strong's 1223:A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.theτοῦ(tou)Article - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.prophetπροφήτου(prophētou)Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 4396:From a compound of pro and phemi; a foreteller; by analogy, an inspired speaker; by extension, a poet.Isaiah:Ἠσαΐου(Ēsaiou)Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2268:Isaiah, the prophet. Of Hebrew origin; Hesaias, an Israelite.“He took onἔλαβεν(elaben)Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2983:(a) I receive, get, (b) I take, lay hold of.ourἡμῶν(hēmōn)Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473:I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.infirmities,ἀσθενείας(astheneias)Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 769:From asthenes; feebleness; by implication, malady; morally, frailty.andκαὶ(kai)Conjunction
Strong's 2532:And, even, also, namely.carriedἐβάστασεν(ebastasen)Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 941:Perhaps remotely derived from the base of basis; to lift, literally or figuratively.ourτὰς(tas)Article - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.diseases.”νόσους(nosous)Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3554:A disease, malady, sickness. Of uncertain affinity; a malady.
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NT Gospels: Matthew 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was (Matt. Mat Mt) 
