In Matthew 28.5, the angel says to the women: “As for you, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified.”
The expression “as for you” (in Greek: ὑμεῖς, hymeïs, an emphatic personal pronoun) is a deliberate contrast, full of meaning. Here is what we need to understand:
A contrast with the guards
Just before (v. 4), the soldiers who were guarding the tomb fell to the ground, paralyzed with terror before the angel. The expression “as for you” directly sets the women against the guards:
- The guards: frozen with fear, unable to react, overwhelmed by the event.
- The women: the angel addresses them too, but in a completely different way — one of reassurance and joyful announcement.
A distinction of spiritual posture
This emphatic pronoun underlines that the women’s fear is of a different nature from that of the guards. The guards are struck with a profane terror, that of the unknown and the threatening supernatural. The women, for their part, are in a reverent fear — that of someone who finds themselves face to face with the sacred — but they are seeking Jesus. It is precisely this step of faith that justifies the “as for you”: they deserve a word, whereas the guards receive none.
Valuing the women’s testimony
Matthew stresses this “you” because it is these women — and not the male disciples, who are absent — who are the first recipients of the Easter announcement. The angel explicitly designates them as the recipients of the message. It is to them that he says to go and announce the resurrection (v. 7). The emphatic pronoun therefore also has a missionary function: you, be the first witnesses and the first to be sent.
In summary, this little word concentrates the whole reversal of the scene: where the mighty guardians collapse, the frail and faithful women receive the Good News. It is a rhetoric typical of Matthew, that of the reversal brought by the gospel.
Must we necessarily conclude that they saw the petrified soldiers?
No, this deduction is not necessary — and it is a legitimate exegetical question.
What the text actually says
Matthew 28.2-4 describes the descent of the angel, the rolling away of the stone and the prostration of the guards. Then, in verse 5, the angel addresses the women. The text does not explicitly state that the women saw the soldiers in that condition.
Two possible readings
1- They saw the guards — this is possible if we consider the scene to be simultaneous or nearly so: the women arrive, the guards are still on the ground, and the angel’s “as for you” refers to what they themselves have before their eyes. The distinction would then be visual and immediate.
2- They did not see the guards — this is equally defensible. The contrast of “as for you” may be purely rhetorical and narrative, constructed for the reader of the gospel rather than for the women themselves. The angel would then be setting two categories of people against each other in the face of the supernatural, without the women necessarily having witnessed the fall of the soldiers.
What Greek syntax settles — and does not settle
The emphatic pronoun ὑμεῖς indicates a strong contrast, but it does not specify on what basis this contrast is perceived. It may be a contrast of experience (the women see the guards) just as well as a contrast of spiritual nature (those who seek Jesus vs the indifferent guardians), known to the angel but not necessarily staged before the women.
Conclusion
The text allows the hypothesis that the women saw the petrified soldiers, but does not require it. To claim one or the other categorically would be to go beyond what Matthew writes. Honest exegesis must maintain this ambiguity.