Commentary Critical and Explanatory
on the Whole Bible
BEARING UPON THE
1. And seeing the multitudes--those mentioned in
he went up into a mountain--one of the dozen mountains which
says there are in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee, any one of them
answering about equally well to the occasion. So charming is the whole
landscape that the descriptions of it, from
[Wars of the Jews, 4.10,8], are apt to be thought a little colored.
and when he was set--had sat or seated Himself.
his disciples came unto him--already a large circle, more or less
attracted and subdued by His preaching and miracles, in addition to the
smaller band of devoted adherents. Though the latter only answered to
the subjects of His kingdom, described in this discourse, there were
drawn from time to time into this inner circle souls from the outer one,
who, by the power of His matchless word, were constrained to forsake
their all for the Lord Jesus.
2. And he opened his mouth--a solemn way of arousing the reader's
attention, and preparing him for something weighty.
Ac 8:35; 10:34).
and taught them, saying--as follows.
3. Blessed--Of the two words which our translators render "blessed,"
the one here used points more to what is inward, and so might be
rendered "happy," in a lofty sense; while the other denotes rather what
comes to us from without (as
But the distinction is not always clearly carried out. One
Hebrew word expresses both. On these precious Beatitudes,
observe that though eight in number, there are here but seven
distinct features of character. The eighth one--the "persecuted for
righteousness' sake"--denotes merely the possessors of the seven
preceding features, on account of which it is that they are persecuted
Accordingly, instead of any distinct promise to this class, we have
merely a repetition of the first promise. This has been noticed by
several critics, who by the sevenfold character thus set forth
have rightly observed that a complete character is meant to be
depicted, and by the sevenfold blessedness attached to it, a
perfect blessedness is intended. Observe, again, that the
language in which these Beatitudes are couched is purposely fetched
from the Old Testament, to show that the new kingdom is but the old in
a new form; while the characters described are but the varied forms of
that spirituality which was the essence of real religion all
along, but had well-nigh disappeared under corrupt teaching. Further,
the things here promised, far from being mere arbitrary rewards, will
be found in each case to grow out of the characters to which they are
attached, and in their completed form are but the appropriate
coronation of them. Once more, as "the kingdom of heaven," which is the
first and the last thing here promised, has two stages--a present and a
future, an initial and a consummate stage--so the fulfilment of each of
these promises has two stages--a present and a future, a partial and a
3. Blessed are the poor in spirit--All familiar with Old Testament
phraseology know how frequently God's true people are styled "the poor"
(the "oppressed," "afflicted," "miserable") or "the needy"--or both
together (as in
The explanation of this lies in the fact that it is generally "the poor
of this world" who are "rich in faith"
while it is often "the ungodly" who "prosper in the world"
Lu 6:20, 21,
it seems to be this class--the literally "poor" and "hungry"--that are
specially addressed. But since God's people are in so many places
styled "the poor" and "the needy," with no evident reference to their
temporal circumstances (as in
Ps 68:10; 69:29-33; 132:15;
Isa 61:1; 66:2),
it is plainly a frame of mind which those terms are meant to
express. Accordingly, our translators sometimes render such words "the
(Ps 10:12, 17),
as having no reference to outward circumstances. But here the
explanatory words, "in spirit," fix the sense to "those who in their
deepest consciousness realize their entire need" (compare the
Joh 11:33; 13:21;
This self-emptying conviction, that "before God we are void of
everything," lies at the foundation of all spiritual excellence,
according to the teaching of Scripture. Without it we are inaccessible
to the riches of Christ; with it we are in the fitting state for
receiving all spiritual supplies
(Re 3:17, 18;
Mt 9:12, 13).
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven--(See on
The poor in spirit not only shall have--they already have--the kingdom.
The very sense of their poverty is begun riches. While others "walk in
a vain show"--"in a shadow," "an image"--in an unreal world, taking a
false view of themselves and all around them--the poor in spirit are
rich in the knowledge of their real case. Having courage to look this
in the face, and own it guilelessly, they feel strong in the assurance
that "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness"
and soon it breaks forth as the morning. God wants nothing from us as
the price of His saving gifts; we have but to feel our universal
destitution, and cast ourselves upon His compassion
(Job 33:27, 28;
So the poor in spirit are enriched with the fulness of Christ, which is
the kingdom in substance; and when He shall say to them from His great
white throne, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you," He will invite them merely to the full
enjoyment of an already possessed inheritance.
4. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted--This
"mourning" must not be taken loosely for that feeling which is wrung
from men under pressure of the ills of life, nor yet strictly for sorrow
on account of committed sins. Evidently it is that entire feeling which
the sense of our spiritual poverty begets; and so the second beatitude
is but the complement of the first. The one is the intellectual, the
other the emotional aspect of the same thing. It is poverty of spirit
that says, "I am undone"; and it is the mourning which this causes that
makes it break forth in the form of a lamentation--"Woe is me! for I am
undone." Hence this class are termed "mourners in Zion," or, as we
might express it, religious mourners, in sharp contrast with all other
(Isa 61:1-3; 66:2).
Religion, according to the Bible, is neither a set of intellectual
convictions nor a bundle of emotional feelings, but a compound of both,
the former giving birth to the latter. Thus closely do the first two
beatitudes cohere. The mourners shall be "comforted." Even now they get
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness. Sowing in tears, they reap even here in
joy. Still, all present comfort, even the best, is partial,
interrupted, short-lived. But the days of our mourning shall soon be
ended, and then God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. Then, in
the fullest sense, shall the mourners be "comforted."
5. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth--This
promise to the meek is but a repetition of
only the word which our Evangelist renders "the meek," after the
Septuagint, is the same which we have found so often translated
"the poor," showing how closely allied these two features of character
are. It is impossible, indeed, that "the poor in spirit" and "the
mourners" in Zion should not at the same time be "meek"; that is to
say, persons of a lowly and gentle carriage. How fitting, at least, it
is that they should be so, may be seen by the following touching
appeal: "Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers,
to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of
no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all
men: FOR WE OURSELVES WERE ONCE FOOLISH,
disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures
. . . But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour
toward man appeared: . . . according to His mercy He saved
But He who had no such affecting reasons for manifesting this beautiful
carriage, said, nevertheless, of Himself, "Take My yoke upon you, and
learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest
unto your souls"
and the apostle besought one of the churches by "the meekness and
gentleness of Christ"
In what esteem this is held by Him who seeth not as man seeth, we may
where the true adorning is said to be that of "a meek and quiet spirit,
which in the sight of God is of great price." Towards men this
disposition is the opposite of high-mindedness, and a quarrelsome and
revengeful spirit; it "rather takes wrong, and suffers itself to be
it "avenges not itself, but rather gives place unto wrath"
like the meek One, "when reviled, it reviles not again; when it
suffers, it threatens not: but commits itself to Him that judgeth
"The earth" which the meek are to inherit might be rendered "the
land"--bringing out the more immediate reference to Canaan as the
promised land, the secure possession of which was to the Old Testament
saints the evidence and manifestation of God's favor resting on them,
and the ideal of all true and abiding blessedness. Even in the Psalm
from which these words are taken the promise to the meek is not held
forth as an arbitrary reward, but as having a kind of natural
fulfilment. When they delight themselves in the Lord, He gives them the
desires of their heart: when they commit their way to Him, He brings it
to pass; bringing forth their righteousness as the light, and their
judgment as the noonday: the little that they have, even when despoiled
of their rights, is better than the riches of many wicked
All things, in short, are theirs--in the possession of that favor which
is life, and of those rights which belong to them as the children of
God--whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things
to come; all are theirs
(1Co 3:21, 22);
and at length, overcoming, they "inherit all things"
Thus are the meek the only rightful occupants of a foot of ground or a
crust of bread here, and heirs of all coming things.
6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:
for they shall be filled--"shall be saturated." "From this verse,"
says THOLUCK, "the reference to the Old Testament background ceases."
Surprising! On the contrary, none of these beatitudes is more manifestly
dug out of the rich mine of the Old Testament. Indeed, how could any one
who found in the Old Testament "the poor in spirit," and "the mourners
in Zion," doubt that he would also find those same characters also
craving that righteousness which they feel and mourn their want of?
But what is the precise meaning of "righteousness" here? Lutheran
expositors, and some of our own, seem to have a hankering after that
more restricted sense of the term in which it is used with reference to
the sinner's justification before God. (See
But, in so comprehensive a saying as this, it is clearly to be
also--in a much wider sense, as denoting that spiritual and entire
conformity to the law of God, under the want of which the saints groan,
and the possession of which constitutes the only true saintship. The
Old Testament dwells much on this righteousness, as that which alone
God regards with approbation
(Ps 11:7; 23:3; 106:3;
Pr 12:28; 16:31;
&c.). As hunger and thirst are the keenest of our appetites, our Lord,
by employing this figure here, plainly means "those whose deepest
cravings are after spiritual blessings." And in the Old Testament we
find this craving variously expressed: "Hearken unto Me, ye that follow
after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord"
"I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord," exclaimed dying Jacob
"My soul," says the sweet Psalmist, "breaketh for the longing that it
hath unto Thy judgments at all times"
and in similar breathings does he give vent to his deepest longings in
that and other Psalms. Well, our Lord just takes up here--this blessed
frame of mind, representing it as--the surest pledge of the coveted
supplies, as it is the best preparative, and indeed itself the
beginning of them. "They shall be saturated," He says; they shall not
only have what they so highly value and long to possess, but they shall
have their fill of it. Not here, however. Even in the Old Testament
this was well understood. "Deliver me," says the Psalmist, in language
which, beyond all doubt, stretches beyond the present scene, "from men
of the world, which have their portion in this life: as for me, I shall
behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake,
with Thy likeness"
The foregoing beatitudes--the first four--represent the saints rather
as conscious of their need of salvation, and acting suitably to
that character, than as possessed of it. The next three are of a
different kind--representing the saints as having now found
salvation, and conducting themselves accordingly.
7. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy--Beautiful
is the connection between this and the preceding beatitude. The one has
a natural tendency to beget the other. As for the words, they seem
directly fetched from
"With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful." Not that our
mercifulness comes absolutely first. On the contrary, our Lord Himself
expressly teaches us that God's method is to awaken in us compassion
towards our fellow men by His own exercise of it, in so stupendous a
way and measure, towards ourselves. In the parable of the unmerciful
debtor, the servant to whom his lord forgave ten thousand talents was
naturally expected to exercise the small measure of the same compassion
required for forgiving his fellow servant's debt of a hundred pence;
and it is only when, instead of this, he relentlessly imprisoned him
till he should pay it up, that his lord's indignation was roused, and
he who was designed for a vessel of mercy is treated as a vessel of
Mt 5:23, 24; 6:15;
"According to the view given in Scripture," says TRENCH most justly, "the Christian stands in a middle
point, between a mercy received and a mercy yet needed. Sometimes the
first is urged upon him as an argument for showing mercy--'forgiving
one another, as Christ forgave you'
sometimes the last--'Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain
mercy'; 'Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven'
And thus, while he is ever to look back on the mercy received as the
source and motive of the mercy which he shows, he also looks forward to
the mercy which he yet needs, and which he is assured that the
merciful--according to what BENGEL beautifully
calls the benigna talio ('the gracious requital') of the kingdom
of God--shall receive, as a new provocation to its abundant exercise."
The foretastes and beginnings of this judicial recompense are richly
experienced here below: its perfection is reserved for that day when,
from His great white throne, the King shall say, "Come, ye blessed of
My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world; for I was an hungered, and thirsty, and a stranger, and
naked, and sick, and in prison, and ye ministered unto Me." Yes, thus
He acted towards us while on earth, even laying down His life for us;
and He will not, He cannot disown, in the merciful, the image of
8. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God--Here, too,
we are on Old Testament ground. There the difference between outward and
inward purity, and the acceptableness of the latter only in the sight of
God, are everywhere taught. Nor is the "vision of God" strange to the
Old Testament; and though it was an understood thing that this was not
possible in the present life
Job 19:26, 27;
yet spiritually it was known and felt to be the privilege of the saints
6:9; 17:1; 48:15;
Ps 27:4; 36:9; 63:2;
Isa 38:3, 11,
&c.). But oh, with what grand simplicity, brevity, and power is this
great fundamental truth here expressed! And in what striking contrast
would such teaching appear to that which was then current, in which
exclusive attention was paid to ceremonial purification and external
morality! This heart purity begins in a "heart sprinkled from an evil
conscience," or a "conscience purged from dead works"
(Heb 10:22; 9:14;
and this also is taught in the Old Testament
(Ps 32:1, 2;
The conscience thus purged--the heart thus sprinkled--there is light
within wherewith to see God. "If we say that we have fellowship with
Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk
in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with the
other"--He with us and we with Him--"and the blood of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanseth us"--us who have this fellowship, and who, without such
continual cleansing, would soon lose it again--"from all sin"
(1Jo 1:6, 7).
"Whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him"
"He that doeth evil hath not seen God"
The inward vision thus clarified, and the whole inner man in sympathy
with God, each looks upon the other with complacency and joy, and we
are "changed into the same image from glory to glory." But the full and
beatific vision of God is reserved for that time to which the Psalmist
stretches his views--"As for me, I shall behold Thy face in
righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness"
Then shall His servants serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His
name shall be in their foreheads
(Re 22:3, 4).
They shall see Him as He is
But, says the apostle, expressing the converse of this
beatitude--"Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord"
9. Blessed are the peacemakers--who not only study peace, but diffuse
for they shall be called the children of God--shall be called sons
of God. Of all these beatitudes this is the only one which could hardly
be expected to find its definite ground in the Old Testament; for that
most glorious character of God, the likeness of which appears in the
peacemakers, had yet to be revealed. His glorious name, indeed--as "The
Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant
in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin"--had been proclaimed in a very imposing manner
and manifested in action with affecting frequency and variety in the
long course of the ancient economy. And we have undeniable evidence
that the saints of that economy felt its transforming and ennobling
influence on their own character. But it was not till Christ "made
peace by the blood of the cross" that God could manifest Himself as
"the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
--could reveal Himself as "in Christ reconciling the world unto
Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them," and hold Himself
forth in the astonishing attitude of beseeching men to be "reconciled
(2Co 5:19, 20).
When this reconciliation actually takes place, and one has "peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ"--even "the peace of God which
passeth all understanding"--the peace-receivers become transformed into
peace-diffusers. God is thus seen reflected in them; and by the family
likeness these peacemakers are recognized as the children of God. In
now coming to the eighth, or supplementary beatitude, it will be seen
that all that the saints are in themselves has been already
described, in seven features of character; that number indicating
completeness of delineation. The last feature, accordingly, is a
passive one, representing the treatment that the characters already
described may expect from the world. He who shall one day fix the
destiny of all men here pronounces certain characters "blessed"; but He
ends by forewarning them that the world's estimation and treatment of
them will be the reserve of His.
10. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
&c.--How entirely this final beatitude has its ground in the Old
Testament, is evident from the concluding words, where the encouragement
held out to endure such persecutions consists in its being but a
continuation of what was experienced by the Old Testament servants of
God. But how, it may be asked, could such beautiful features of
character provoke persecution? To this the following answers should
suffice: "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." "The world cannot hate
you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof
are evil." "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you." "There is yet one man (said wicked Ahab
to good Jehoshaphat) by whom we may inquire of the Lord: but I hate him;
for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil"
(Joh 3:20; 7:7; 15:19;
But more particularly, the seven characters here described are all in
the teeth of the spirit of the world, insomuch that such hearers of
this discourse as breathed that spirit must have been startled, and had
their whole system of thought and action rudely dashed. Poverty of
spirit runs counter to the pride of men's heart; a pensive disposition,
in the view of one's universal deficiencies before God, is ill relished
by the callous, indifferent, laughing, self-satisfied world; a meek and
quiet spirit, taking wrong, is regarded as pusillanimous, and rasps
against the proud, resentful spirit of the world; that craving after
spiritual blessings rebukes but too unpleasantly the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eye, and the pride of life; so does a merciful spirit
the hard-heartedness of the world; purity of heart contrasts painfully
with painted hypocrisy; and the peacemaker cannot easily be endured by
the contentious, quarrelsome world. Thus does "righteousness" come to
be "persecuted." But blessed are they who, in spite of this, dare to be
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven--As this was the reward promised
to the poor in spirit--the leading one of these seven beatitudes--of
course it is the proper portion of such as are persecuted for
11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you--or abuse you to your
face, in opposition to backbiting. (See
and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you,
falsely, for my sake--Observe this. He had before said, "for
righteousness' sake." Here He identifies Himself and His cause with that
of righteousness, binding up the cause of righteousness in the world
with the reception of Himself. Would Moses, or David, or Isaiah, or
Paul have so expressed themselves? Never. Doubtless they suffered for
righteousness' sake. But to have called this "their sake," would, as
every one feels, have been very unbecoming. Whereas He that speaks,
being Righteousness incarnate (see
when He so speaks, speaks only like Himself.
12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad--"exult." In the corresponding
passage of Luke
(Lu 6:22, 23),
where every indignity trying to flesh and blood is held forth as the
probable lot of such as were faithful to Him, the word is even stronger
than here: "leap," as if He would have their inward transport to
overpower and absorb the sense of all these affronts and sufferings;
nor will anything else do it.
for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you:--that is, "You do but serve yourselves heirs to
their character and sufferings, and the reward will be common."
13-16. We have here the practical application of the foregoing
principles to those disciples who sat listening to them, and to their
successors in all time. Our Lord, though He began by pronouncing certain
characters to be blessed--without express reference to any of His
hearers--does not close the beatitudes without intimating that such
characters were in existence, and that already they were before Him.
Accordingly, from characters He comes to persons possessing them,
saying, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you," &c.
And now, continuing this mode of direct personal address, He startles
those humble, unknown men by pronouncing them the exalted benefactors of
their whole species.
Ye are the salt of the earth--to preserve it from corruption, to
season its insipidity, to freshen and sweeten it. The value of salt for
these purposes is abundantly referred to by classical writers as well as
in Scripture; and hence its symbolical significance in the religious
offerings as well of those without as of those within the pale of
revealed religion. In Scripture, mankind, under the unrestrained
workings of their own evil nature, are represented as entirely corrupt.
Thus, before the flood
(Ge 6:11, 12);
after the flood
in the days of David
(Ps 14:2, 3);
in the days of Isaiah
(Isa 1:5, 6);
and in the days of Paul
Job 14:4; 15:15, 16;
Tit 3:2, 3).
The remedy for this, says our Lord here, is the active presence of His
disciples among their fellows. The character and principles of
Christians, brought into close contact with it, are designed to arrest
the festering corruption of humanity and season its insipidity. But
how, it may be asked, are Christians to do this office for their fellow
men, if their righteousness only exasperate them, and recoil, in every
form of persecution, upon themselves? The answer is: That is but the
first and partial effect of their Christianity upon the world: though
the great proportion would dislike and reject the truth, a small but
noble band would receive and hold it fast; and in the struggle that
would ensue, one and another even of the opposing party would come over
to His ranks, and at length the Gospel would carry all before it.
but if the salt have lost his savour--"become unsavory" or "insipid";
losing its saline or salting property. The meaning is: If that
Christianity on which the health of the world depends, does in any age,
region, or individual, exist only in name, or if it contain not
those saving elements for want of which the world languishes,
wherewith shall it be salted?--How shall the salting qualities be
restored to it? (Compare
Whether salt ever does lose its saline property--about which there is a
difference of opinion--is a question of no moment here. The point of
the case lies in the supposition--that if it should lose it, the
consequence would be as here described. So with Christians. The
question is not: Can, or do, the saints ever totally lose that grace
which makes them a blessing to their fellow men? But, What is to be the
issue of that Christianity which is found wanting in those elements
which can alone stay the corruption and season the tastelessness of an
all-pervading carnality? The restoration or non-restoration of
grace, or true living Christianity, to those who have lost it,
has, in our judgment, nothing at all to do here. The question is not,
If a man lose his grace, how shall that grace be restored to
him? but, Since living Christianity is the only "salt of the earth," if
men lose that, what else can supply its place? What follows is
the appalling answer to this question.
it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out--a figurative
expression of indignant exclusion from the kingdom of God (compare
Mt 8:12; 22:13;
Joh 6:37; 9:34).
and to be trodden under foot of men--expressive of contempt and scorn.
It is not the mere want of a certain character, but the want of it in
those whose profession and appearance were fitted to beget
expectation of finding it.
14. Ye are the light of the world--This being the distinctive title
which our Lord appropriates to Himself
(Joh 8:12; 9:5;
Joh 1:4, 9; 3:19; 12:35, 36)
--a title expressly said to be unsuitable even to the highest of all
--it must be applied here by our Lord to His disciples only as they
shine with His light upon the world, in virtue of His Spirit dwelling
in them, and the same mind being in them which was also in Christ
Jesus. Nor are Christians anywhere else so called. Nay, as if to avoid
the august title which the Master has appropriated to Himself,
Christians are said to "shine"--not as "lights," as our translators
render it, but--"as luminaries in the world"
and the Baptist is said to have been "the burning and shining"--not
"light," as in our translation, but "lamp" of his day
Let it be observed, too, that while the two figures of salt and
sunlight both express the same function of Christians--their blessed
influence on their fellow men--they each set this forth under a
different aspect. Salt operates internally, in the mass with
which it comes in contact; the sunlight operates externally,
irradiating all that it reaches. Hence Christians are warily styled
"the salt of the earth"--with reference to the masses of mankind
with whom they are expected to mix; but "the light of the
world"--with reference to the vast and variegated surface which
feels its fructifying and gladdening radiance. The same distinction is
observable in the second pair of those seven parables which our Lord
spoke from the Galilean Lake--that of the "mustard seed," which grew to
be a great overshadowing tree, answering to the sunlight which invests
the world, and that of the "leaven," which a woman took and, like the
salt, hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened
A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid--nor can it be supposed
to have been so built except to be seen by many eyes.
15. Neither do men light a candle--or, lamp.
and put it under a bushel--a dry measure.
but on a candlestick--rather, "under the bushel, but on the lampstand."
The article is inserted in both cases to express the familiarity of
everyone with those household utensils.
and it giveth light--shineth "unto all that are in the house."
16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven--As nobody lights a
lamp only to cover it up, but places it so conspicuously as to give
light to all who need light, so Christians, being the light of the
world, instead of hiding their light, are so to hold it forth before men
that they may see what a life the disciples of Christ lead, and seeing
this, may glorify their Father for so redeeming, transforming, and
ennobling earth's sinful children, and opening to themselves the way to
like redemption and transformation.
THOSE OF THE
CONTRAST WITH THE
Exposition of Principles
17. Think not that I am come--that I came.
to destroy the law, or the prophets--that is, "the authority and
principles of the Old Testament." (On the phrase, see
Mt 7:12; 22:40;
This general way of taking the phrase is much better than understanding
"the law" and "the prophets" separately, and inquiring, as many good
critics do, in what sense our Lord could be supposed to meditate the
subversion of each. To the various classes of His hearers, who might
view such supposed abrogation of the law and the prophets with very
different feelings, our Lord's announcement would, in effect, be such
as this--"Ye who tremble at the word of the Lord, fear not that
I am going to sweep the foundation from under your feet: Ye restless
and revolutionary spirits, hope not that I am going to head any
revolutionary movement: And ye who hypocritically affect great
reverence for the law and the prophets, pretend not to find
anything in My teaching derogatory to God's living oracles."
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil--Not to subvert, abrogate,
or annul, but to establish the law and the prophets--to unfold them, to
embody them in living form, and to enshrine them in the reverence,
affection, and character of men, am I come.
18. For verily I say unto you--Here, for the first time, does that
august expression occur in our Lord's recorded teaching, with which we
have grown so familiar as hardly to reflect on its full import. It is
the expression manifestly, of supreme legislative authority; and as
the subject in connection with which it is uttered is the Moral Law, no
higher claim to an authority strictly divine could be advanced. For
when we observe how jealously Jehovah asserts it as His exclusive
prerogative to give law to men
(Le 18:1-5; 19:37; 26:1-4, 13-16,
&c.), such language as this of our Lord will appear totally unsuitable,
and indeed abhorrent, from any creature lips. When the Baptist's
words--"I say unto you"
--are compared with those of his Master here, the difference of the two
cases will be at once apparent.
Till heaven and earth pass--Though even the Old Testament announces
the ultimate "perdition of the heavens and the earth," in contrast with
the immutability of Jehovah
the prevalent representation of the heavens and the earth in Scripture,
when employed as a popular figure, is that of their stability
Jer 33:25, 26).
It is the enduring stability, then, of the great truths and principles,
moral and spiritual, of the Old Testament revelation which our Lord
one jot--the smallest of the Hebrew letters.
one tittle--one of those little strokes by which alone some of the
Hebrew letters are distinguished from others like them.
shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled--The meaning
is that "not so much as the smallest loss of authority or vitality shall
ever come over the law." The expression, "till all be fulfilled," is
much the same in meaning as "it shall be had in undiminished and
enduring honor, from its greatest to its least requirements." Again,
this general way of viewing our Lord's words here seems far preferable
to that doctrinal understanding of them which would require us to
determine the different kinds of "fulfilment" which the moral and
the ceremonial parts of it were to have.
19. Whosoever therefore shall break--rather, "dissolve,"
"annul," or "make invalid."
one of these least commandments--an expression equivalent to "one of
the least of these commandments."
and shall teach men so--referring to the Pharisees and their teaching,
as is plain from
but of course embracing all similar schools and teaching in the
he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven--As the thing
spoken of is not the practical breaking, or disobeying, of the law, but
annulling or enervating its obligation by a vicious system of
interpretation, and teaching others to do the same; so the thing
threatened is not exclusion from heaven, and still less the lowest place
in it, but a degraded and contemptuous position in the present stage of
the kingdom of God. In other words, they shall be reduced by the
retributive providence that overtakes them, to the same condition of
dishonor to which, by their system and their teaching, they have brought
down those eternal principles of God's law.
but whosoever shall do and teach them--whose principles and teaching
go to exalt the authority and honor of God's law, in its lowest as well
as highest requirements.
the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven--shall, by that
providence which watches over the honor of God's moral administration,
be raised to the same position of authority and honor to which they
exalt the law.
20. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees--The superiority to the
Pharisaic righteousness here required is plainly in kind, not
degree; for all Scripture teaches that entrance into God's kingdom,
whether in its present or future stage, depends, not on the degree of
our excellence in anything, but solely on our having the character
itself which God demands. Our righteousness, then--if it is to contrast
with the outward and formal righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees--must be inward, vital, spiritual. Some, indeed, of the
scribes and Pharisees themselves might have the very righteousness here
demanded; but our Lord is speaking, not of persons, but of the
system they represented and taught.
ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven--If this refer,
rather to the earthly stage of this kingdom, the meaning is that
without a righteousness exceeding that of the Pharisees, we cannot be
members of it at all, save in name. This was no new doctrine
(Ro 2:28, 29; 9:6;
But our Lord's teaching here stretches beyond the present scene, to
that everlasting stage of the kingdom, where without "purity of heart"
none "shall see God."
The Spirituality of the True Righteousness in Contrast with That of
the Scribes and Pharisees, Illustrated from the Sixth Commandment.
21. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time--or, as in
the Margin, "to them of old time." Which of these translations is
the right one has been much controverted. Either of them is
grammatically defensible, though the latter--"to the ancients"--is
more consistent with New Testament usage (see the Greek of
Ro 9:12, 26;
Re 6:11; 9:4);
and most critics decide in favor of it. But it is not a question of
Greek only. Nearly all who would translate "to the ancients"
take the speaker of the words quoted to be Moses in the law;
"the ancients" to be the people to whom Moses gave the law; and
the intention of our Lord here to be to contrast His own teaching, more
or less, with that of Moses; either as opposed to it--as some go the
length of affirming--or at least as modifying, enlarging, elevating it.
But who can reasonably imagine such a thing, just after the most solemn
and emphatic proclamation of the perpetuity of the law, and the honor
and glory in which it was to be held under the new economy? To us it
seems as plain as possible that our Lord's one object is to contrast
the traditional perversions of the law with the true sense of it as
expounded by Himself. A few of those who assent to this still think
that "to the ancients" is the only legitimate translation of the words;
understanding that our Lord is reporting what had been said to the
ancients, not by Moses, but by the perverters of his law. We do not
object to this; but we incline to think (with BEZA, and after him with FRITZSCHE,
OLSHAUSEN, STIER, and BLOOMFIELD) that "by the ancients" must have been what
our Lord meant here, referring to the corrupt teachers rather than the
Thou shall not kill:--that is, This being all that the law requires,
whosoever has imbrued his hands in his brother's blood, but he only, is
guilty of a breach of this commandment.
and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment--liable
to the judgment; that is, of the sentence of those inferior courts of
judicature which were established in all the principal towns, in
Thus was this commandment reduced, from a holy law of the
heart-searching God, to a mere criminal statute, taking cognizance only
of outward actions, such as that which we read in
22. But I say unto you--Mark the authoritative tone in which--as
Himself the Lawgiver and Judge--Christ now gives the true sense, and
explains the deep reach, of the commandment.
That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca!
shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool!
shall be in danger of hell-fire--It is unreasonable to deny, as
ALEXANDER does, that three degrees of punishment are here meant to be
expressed, and to say that it is but a threefold expression of one and
the same thing. But Romish expositors greatly err in taking the first
two--"the judgment" and "the council"--to refer to degrees of temporal
punishment with which lesser sins were to be visited under the Gospel,
and only the last--"hell-fire"--to refer to the future life. All three
clearly refer to divine retribution, and that alone, for breaches of
this commandment; though this is expressed by an allusion to Jewish
tribunals. The "judgment," as already explained, was the lowest of
these; the "council," or "Sanhedrim,"--which sat at Jerusalem--was the
highest; while the word used for "hell-fire" contains an allusion to the
"valley of the son of Hinnom"
In this valley the Jews, when steeped in idolatry, went the length of
burning their children to Molech "on the high places of Tophet"--in
consequence of which good Josiah defiled it, to prevent the repetition
of such abominations
and from that time forward, if we may believe the Jewish writers, a
fire was kept burning in it to consume the carrion and all kinds of
impurities that collected about the capital. Certain it is, that while
the final punishment of the wicked is described in the Old Testament by
allusions to this valley of Tophet or Hinnom
(Isa 30:33; 66:24),
our Lord Himself describes the same by merely quoting these terrific
descriptions of the evangelical prophet
What precise degrees of unholy feeling towards our brothers are
indicated by the words "Raca" and "fool" it would be as useless as it
is vain to inquire. Every age and every country has its modes of
expressing such things; and no doubt our Lord seized on the then
current phraseology of unholy disrespect and contempt, merely to
express and condemn the different degrees of such feeling when brought
out in words, as He had immediately before condemned the feeling
itself. In fact, so little are we to make of mere words, apart
from the feeling which they express, that as anger is expressly
said to have been borne by our Lord towards His enemies though mixed
with "grief for the hardness of their hearts"
and as the apostle teaches us that there is an anger which is not
so in the Epistle of James
we find the words, "O vain (or, empty) man"; and our Lord Himself
applies the very word "fools" twice in one breath to the blind guides
of the people
(Mt 23:17, 19)
--although, in both cases, it is to false reasoners rather than
persons that such words are applied. The spirit, then, of the whole
statement may be thus given: "For ages ye have been taught that the
sixth commandment, for example, is broken only by the murderer, to pass
sentence upon whom is the proper business of the recognized tribunals.
But I say unto you that it is broken even by causeless anger, which is
but hatred in the bud, as hatred is incipient murder
and if by the feelings, much more by those words in which all
ill feeling, from the slightest to the most envenomed, are wont to be
cast upon a brother: and just as there are gradations in human courts
of judicature, and in the sentences which they pronounce according to
the degrees of criminality, so will the judicial treatment of all the
breakers of this commandment at the divine tribunal be according to
their real criminality before the heart-searching Judge." Oh, what holy
teaching is this!
23. Therefore--to apply the foregoing, and show its paramount
if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy
brother hath aught--of just complaint "against thee."
24. Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be
reconciled to thy brother--The meaning evidently is--not, "dismiss
from thine own breast all ill feeling," but "get thy brother to dismiss
from his mind all grudge against thee."
and then come and offer thy gift--"The picture," says
THOLUCK, "is drawn from life. It transports us to
the moment when the Israelite, having brought his sacrifice to the
court of the Israelites, awaited the instant when the priest would
approach to receive it at his hands. He waits with his gift at the
rails which separate the place where he stands from the court of the
priests, into which his offering will presently be taken, there to be
slain by the priest, and by him presented upon the altar of sacrifice."
It is at this solemn moment, when about to cast himself upon divine
mercy, and seek in his offering a seal of divine forgiveness, that the
offerer is supposed, all at once, to remember that some brother has a
just cause of complaint against him through breach of this commandment
in one or other of the ways just indicated. What then? Is he to say, As
soon as I have offered this gift I will go straight to my brother, and
make it up with him? Nay; but before another step is taken--even before
the offering is presented--this reconciliation is to be sought, though
the gift have to be left unoffered before the altar. The converse of
the truth here taught is very strikingly expressed in
Mr 11:25, 26:
"And when ye stand praying (in the very act), forgive, if ye
have aught (of just complaint) against any; that your Father also which
is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive,
neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive you," &c. Hence the
beautiful practice of the early Church, to see that all differences
amongst brethren and sisters in Christ were made up, in the spirit of
love, before going to the Holy Communion; and the Church of England has
a rubrical direction to this effect in her Communion service.
Certainly, if this be the highest act of worship on earth, such
reconciliation though obligatory on all other occasions of
worship--must be peculiarly so then.
25. Agree with thine adversary--thine opponent in a matter cognizable
quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him--"to the magistrate," as
lest at any time--here, rather, "lest at all," or simply "lest."
the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge--having
pronounced thee in the wrong.
deliver thee to the officer--the official whose business it is to
see the sentence carried into effect.
26. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence,
till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing--a fractional Roman
coin, to which our "farthing" answers sufficiently well. That our Lord
meant here merely to give a piece of prudential advice to his hearers,
to keep out of the hands of the law and its officials by settling all
disputes with one another privately, is not for a moment to be
supposed, though there are critics of a school low enough to suggest
this. The concluding words--"Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no
means come out," &c.--manifestly show that though the language
is drawn from human disputes and legal procedure, He is dealing with a
higher than any human quarrel, a higher than any human tribunal, a
higher than any human and temporal sentence. In this view of the
words--in which nearly all critics worthy of the name agree--the spirit
of them may be thus expressed: "In expounding the sixth commandment, I
have spoken of offenses between man and man; reminding you that the
offender has another party to deal with besides him whom he has wronged
on earth, and assuring you that all worship offered to the Searcher of
hearts by one who knows that a brother has just cause of complaint
against him, and yet takes no steps to remove it, is vain: But I cannot
pass from this subject without reminding you of One whose cause of
complaint against you is far more deadly than any that man can have
against man: and since with that Adversary you are already on the way
to judgment, it will be your wisdom to make up the quarrel without
delay, lest sentence of condemnation be pronounced upon you, and then
will execution straightway follow, from the effects of which you shall
never escape as long as any remnant of the offense remains unexpiated."
It will be observed that as the principle on which we are to
"agree" with this "Adversary" is not here specified, and the precise
nature of the retribution that is to light upon the despisers of
this warning is not to be gathered from the mere use of the word
"prison"; so, the remedilessness of the punishment is not in so
many words expressed, and still less is its actual cessation
taught. The language on all these points is designedly general; but it
may safely be said that the unending duration of future
punishment--elsewhere so clearly and awfully expressed by our Lord
Himself, as in
Mt 5:29, 30,
and Mr 9:43, 48
--is the only doctrine with which His language here quite naturally and
fully accords. (Compare
Mt 18:30, 34).
The Same Subject Illustrated from the Seventh Commandment
27. Ye have heard that it was said--The words "by," or "to them of old
time," in this verse are insufficiently supported, and probably were not
in the original text.
Thou shall not commit adultery--Interpreting this seventh, as they did
the sixth commandment, the traditional perverters of the law restricted
the breach of it to acts of criminal intercourse between, or with,
married persons exclusively. Our Lord now dissipates such delusions.
28. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust
after her--with the intent to do so, as the same expression is used
or, with the full consent of his will, to feed thereby his unholy
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart--We are
not to suppose, from the word here used--"adultery"--that our Lord
means to restrict the breach of this commandment to married persons, or
to criminal intercourse with such. The expressions, "whosoever
looketh," and "looketh upon a woman," seem clearly to extend the
range of this commandment to all forms of impurity, and the counsels
which follow--as they most certainly were intended for all, whether
married or unmarried--seem to confirm this. As in dealing with the
sixth commandment our Lord first expounds it, and then in the four
following verses applies His exposition
so here He first expounds the seventh commandment, and then in the four
following verses applies His exposition
29. And if thy right eye--the readier and the dearer of the two.
offend thee--be a "trap spring," or as in the New Testament, be "an
occasion of stumbling" to thee.
pluck it out and cast it from thee--implying a certain indignant
promptitude, heedless of whatever cost to feeling the act may involve.
Of course, it is not the eye simply of which our Lord speaks--as if
execution were to be done upon the bodily organ--though there have been
fanatical ascetics who have both advocated and practiced this, showing a
very low apprehension of spiritual things--but the offending eye, or
the eye considered as the occasion of sin; and consequently, only the
sinful exercise of the organ which is meant. For as one might put
out his eyes without in the least quenching the lust to which they
ministered, so, "if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of
light," and, when directed by a holy mind, becomes an "instrument of
righteousness unto God." At the same time, just as by cutting off a
hand, or plucking out an eye, the power of acting and of seeing
would be destroyed, our Lord certainly means that we are to
strike at the root of such unholy dispositions, as well as cut off
the occasions which tend to stimulate them.
for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell--He who despises
the warning to cast from him, with indignant promptitude, an offending
member, will find his whole body "cast," with a retributive promptitude
of indignation, "into hell." Sharp language, this, from the lips of Love
30. And if thy right hand--the organ of action, to which the eye
offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is
profitable, &c.--See on
The repetition, in identical terms, of such stern truths and awful
lessons seems characteristic of our Lord's manner of teaching. Compare
31. It hath been said--This shortened form was perhaps intentional,
to mark a transition from the commandments of the Decalogue to a civil
enactment on the subject of divorce, quoted from
The law of divorce--according to its strictness or laxity--has so
intimate a bearing upon purity in the married life, that nothing could
be more natural than to pass from the seventh commandment to the loose
views on that subject then current.
Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of
divorcement--a legal check upon reckless and tyrannical separation.
The one legitimate ground of divorce allowed by the enactment just
quoted was "some uncleanness"--in other words, conjugal infidelity. But
while one school of interpreters (that of SHAMMAI)
explained this quite correctly, as prohibiting divorce in every case
save that of adultery, another school (that of
HILLEL) stretched the expression so far as to
include everything in the wife offensive or disagreeable to the
husband--a view of the law too well fitted to minister to caprice and
depraved inclination not to find extensive favor. And, indeed, to this
day the Jews allow divorces on the most frivolous pretexts. It was to
meet this that our Lord uttered what follows:
32. But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving
for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery--that is,
drives her into it in case she marries again.
and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced--for anything short of
committeth adultery--for if the commandment is broken by the one
party, it must be by the other also. But see on
Whether the innocent party, after a just divorce, may lawfully marry
again, is not treated of here. The Church of Rome says, No; but the
Greek and Protestant Churches allow it.
Same Subject Illustrated from the Third Commandment
33. Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time,
Thou shalt not forswear thyself--These are not the precise words of
but they express all that it was currently understood to condemn,
namely, false swearing
&c.). This is plain from what follows.
But I say unto you, Swear not at all--That this was meant to condemn
swearing of every kind and on every occasion--as the Society of Friends
and some other ultra-moralists allege--is not for a moment to be
thought. For even Jehovah is said once and again to have sworn by
Himself; and our Lord certainly answered upon oath to a question put to
Him by the high priest; and the apostle several times, and in the most
solemn language, takes God to witness that he spoke and wrote the truth;
and it is inconceivable that our Lord should here have quoted the
precept about not forswearing ourselves, but performing to the Lord our
oaths, only to give a precept of His own directly in the teeth of it.
Evidently, it is swearing in common intercourse and on frivolous
occasions that is here meant. Frivolous oaths were indeed severely
condemned in the teaching of the times. But so narrow was the circle of
them that a man might swear, says
LIGHTFOOT, a hundred thousand times
and yet not be guilty of vain swearing. Hardly anything was regarded as
an oath if only the name of God were not in it; just as among ourselves,
as TRENCH well remarks, a certain lingering reverence for the name of
God leads to cutting off portions of His name, or uttering sounds nearly
resembling it, or substituting the name of some heathen deity, in
profane exclamations or asseverations. Against all this our Lord now
speaks decisively; teaching His audience that every oath carries an
appeal to God, whether named or not.
neither by heaven; for it is God's throne--(quoting
35. Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool--(quoting
neither by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great King--(quoting
36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make
one hair white or black--In the other oaths specified, God's name was
profaned quite as really as if His name had been uttered, because it was
instantly suggested by the mention of His "throne," His "footstool,"
His "city." But in swearing by our own head and the like, the
objection lies in their being "beyond our control," and therefore
profanely assumed to have a stability which they have not.
37. But let your communication--"your word," in ordinary intercourse,
Yea, yea; Nay, nay--Let a simple Yes and No suffice in
affirming the truth or the untruth of anything. (See
2Co 1:17, 18).
for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil--not "of the evil
one"; though an equally correct rendering of the words, and one which
some expositors prefer. It is true that all evil in our world is
originally of the devil, that it forms a kingdom at the head of which he
sits, and that, in every manifestation of it he has an active part. But
any reference to this here seems unnatural, and the allusion to this
passage in the Epistle of James
seems to show that this is not the sense of it: "Let your yea be yea;
and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation." The
untruthfulness of our corrupt nature shows itself not only in the
tendency to deviate from the strict truth, but in the disposition to
suspect others of doing the same; and as this is not diminished, but
rather aggravated, by the habit of confirming what we say by an oath,
we thus run the risk of having all reverence for God's holy name, and
even for strict truth, destroyed in our hearts, and so "fall into
condemnation." The practice of going beyond Yes and No in affirmations
and denials--as if our word for it were not enough, and we expected
others to question it--springs from that vicious root of untruthfulness
which is only aggravated by the very effort to clear ourselves of the
suspicion of it. And just as swearing to the truth of what we say
begets the disposition it is designed to remove, so the love and reign
of truth in the breasts of Christ's disciples reveals itself so plainly
even to those who themselves cannot be trusted, that their simple Yes
and No come soon to be more relied on than the most solemn
asseverations of others. Thus does the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
like a tree cast into the bitter waters of human corruption, heal and
We have here the converse of the preceding lessons. They were
negative: these are positive.
38. Ye have heard that it hath been said--
Le 24:19, 20;
An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth--that is, whatever penalty
was regarded as a proper equivalent for these. This law of
retribution--designed to take vengeance out of the hands of private
persons, and commit it to the magistrate--was abused in the opposite way
to the commandments of the Decalogue. While they were reduced to the
level of civil enactments, this judicial regulation was held to be a
warrant for taking redress into their own hands, contrary to the
injunctions of the Old Testament itself
(Pr 20:22; 24:29).
39. But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall
smite thee on thy right check, turn to him the other also--Our Lord's
own meek, yet dignified bearing, when smitten rudely on the cheek
(Joh 18:22, 23),
and not literally presenting the other, is the best comment on
these words. It is the preparedness, after one indignity, not to invite
but to submit meekly to another, without retaliation, which this strong
language is meant to convey.
40. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy
coat--the inner garment; in pledge for a debt
(Ex 22:26, 27).
let him have thy cloak also--the outer and more costly garment. This
overcoat was not allowed to be retained over night as a pledge from the
poor because they used it for a bed covering.
41. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him
twain--an allusion, probably, to the practice of the Romans and
some Eastern nations, who, when government despatches had to be
forwarded, obliged the people not only to furnish horses and carriages,
but to give personal attendance, often at great inconvenience, when
required. But the thing here demanded is a readiness to submit to
unreasonable demands of whatever kind, rather than raise quarrels, with
all the evils resulting from them. What follows is a beautiful
extension of this precept.
42. Give to him that asketh thee--The sense of unreasonable asking
is here implied (compare
and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away--Though the
word signifies classically "to have money lent to one on security," or
"with interest," yet as this was not the original sense of the word, and
as usury was forbidden among the Jews
&c.), it is doubtless simple borrowing which our Lord here means, as
indeed the whole strain of the exhortation implies. This shows that
such counsels as "Owe no man anything"
are not to be taken absolutely; else the Scripture commendations of the
righteous for "lending" to his necessitous brother
(Ps 37:36; 112:5;
would have no application.
turn not thou away--a graphic expression of unfeeling refusal to
relieve a brother in extremity.
Same Subject--Love to Enemies
43. Ye have heard that it hath been said--
Thou shalt love thy neighbour--To this the corrupt teachers added,
and hate thine enemy--as if the one were a legitimate inference from
the other, instead of being a detestable gloss, as
calls it. LIGHTFOOT quotes some of the cursed maxims inculcated by those
traditionists regarding the proper treatment of all Gentiles. No wonder
that the Romans charged the Jews with hatred of the human race.
44. But I say unto you, Love your enemies--The word here used denotes
moral love, as distinguished from the other word, which expresses
personal affection. Usually, the former denotes "complacency in the
character" of the person loved; but here it denotes the benignant,
compassionate outgoings of desire for another's good.
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you, and persecute you--The best commentary
on these matchless counsels is the bright example of Him who gave them.
Ro 12:20, 21;
But though such precepts were never before expressed--perhaps not even
conceived--with such breadth, precision, and sharpness as here, our
Lord is here only the incomparable Interpreter of the law in force from
the beginning; and this is the only satisfactory view of the entire
strain of this discourse.
45. That ye may be the children--sons.
of your Father which is in heaven--The meaning is, "that ye may show
yourselves to be such by resembling Him" (compare
for he maketh his sun--"your Father's sun." Well might
to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and
on the unjust--rather, (without the article) "on evil and good, and on
just and unjust." When we find God's own procedure held up for imitation
in the law, and much more in the prophets
(Le 19:2; 20:26;
1Pe 1:15, 16),
we may see that the principle of this surprising verse was nothing new:
but the form of it certainly is that of One who spake as never man
46. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not
even the publicans the same?--The publicans, as collectors of taxes
due to the Roman government, were ever on this account obnoxious to the
Jews, who sat uneasy under a foreign yoke, and disliked whatever brought
this unpleasantly before them. But the extortion practiced by this class
made them hateful to the community, who in their current speech ranked
them with "harlots." Nor does our Lord scruple to speak of them as
others did, which we may be sure He never would have done if it had been
calumnious. The meaning, then, is, "In loving those who love you, there
is no evidence of superior principle; the worst of men will do this:
even a publican will go that length."
47. And if ye salute your brethren only--of the same nation and
religion with yourselves.
what do ye more than others?--what do ye uncommon or extraordinary?
that is, wherein do ye excel?
do not even the publicans so?--The true reading here appears to be,
"Do not even the heathens the same?" Compare
where the excommunicated person is said to be "as an heathen man and a
48. Be ye therefore--rather, "Ye shall therefore be," or "Ye are
therefore to be," as My disciples and in My kingdom.
perfect--or complete. Manifestly, our Lord here speaks, not of
degrees of excellence, but of the kind of excellence which was
to distinguish His disciples and characterize His kingdom. When
therefore He adds,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect--He refers to
that full-orbed glorious completeness which is in the great Divine
Model, "their Father which is in heaven."