Matthew 5

Mt 5:1-16.

THE

BEATITUDES, AND

THEIR

BEARING UPON THE

WORLD.

1. And seeing the multitudes--those mentioned in

Mt 4:25.

he went up into a mountain--one of the dozen mountains which

ROBINSON

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

JOSEPHUS downwards

[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.

(Job 9:1;

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

Mt 25:34).

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

(2Ti 3:12).

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

perfect stage.

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

Ps 40:17;

Isa 41:17).

The explanation of this lies in the fact that it is generally "the poor

of this world" who are "rich in faith"

(Jas 2:5;

compare

2Co 6:10;

Re 2:9);

while it is often "the ungodly" who "prosper in the world"

(Ps 73:12).

Accordingly, in

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

humble"

(Ps 10:12, 17),

"the meek"

(Ps 22:26),

"the lowly"

(Pr 3:34),

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

Greek of

Lu 10:21;

Joh 11:33; 13:21;

Ac 20:22;

Ro 12:11;

1Co 5:3;

Php 3:3).

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

Mt 3:2).

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"

(Ps 112:4);

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;

1Jo 1:9).

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

sorts

(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

Ps 37:11;

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

us," &c.

(Tit 3:1-7).

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"

(Mt 11:29);

and the apostle besought one of the churches by "the meekness and

gentleness of Christ"

(2Co 10:1).

In what esteem this is held by Him who seeth not as man seeth, we may

learn from

1Pe 3:4,

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

defrauded"

(1Co 6:7);

it "avenges not itself, but rather gives place unto wrath"

(Ro 12:19);

like the meek One, "when reviled, it reviles not again; when it

suffers, it threatens not: but commits itself to Him that judgeth

righteously"

(1Pe 2:19-22).

"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

(Ps 37:1-24).

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"

(Re 21:7).

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

Jer 23:6;

Isa 45:24;

Ro 4:6;

2Co 5:21).

But, in so comprehensive a saying as this, it is clearly to be

taken--as in

Mt 5:10

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;

Isa 64:5,

&c.). As hunger and thirst are the keenest of our appetites, our Lord,

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"

(Isa 51:1);

"I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord," exclaimed dying Jacob

(Ge 49:18);

"My soul," says the sweet Psalmist, "breaketh for the longing that it

hath unto Thy judgments at all times"

(Ps 119:20):

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"

(Ps 17:13-15).

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

Ps 18:25,

"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

wrath

(Mt 18:23-35;

and see

Mt 5:23, 24; 6:15;

Jas 2:13).

"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'

(Col 3:13;

Eph 4:32):

sometimes the last--'Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain

mercy'; 'Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven'

(Lu 6:37;

Jas 5:9).

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

Himself.

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

(Ex 33:20;

and compare

Job 19:26, 27;

Isa 6:5),

yet spiritually it was known and felt to be the privilege of the saints

even here

(Ge 5:24;

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 see

Ac 15:9);

and this also is taught in the Old Testament

(Ps 32:1, 2;

compare

Ro 4:5-8;

Isa 6:5-8).

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"

(1Jo 3:6);

"He that doeth evil hath not seen God"

(3Jo 11).

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"

(Ps 17:15).

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

(1Jo 3:2).

But, says the apostle, expressing the converse of this

beatitude--"Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord"

(Heb 12:14).

9. Blessed are the peacemakers--who not only study peace, but diffuse

it.

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

(Ex 34:6),

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

covenant"

(Heb 13:20)

--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

to Himself"

(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;

2Ch 18:7).

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

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

righteous.

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

exemplifying them.

11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you--or abuse you to your

face, in opposition to backbiting. (See

Mr 15:32).

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

Mr 1:24;

Ac 3:14;

Re 3:7),

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.

(Mt 5:11).

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

(Ge 8:21);

in the days of David

(Ps 14:2, 3);

in the days of Isaiah

(Isa 1:5, 6);

and in the days of Paul

(Eph 2:1-3;

see also

Job 14:4; 15:15, 16;

Joh 3:6;

compared with

Ro 8:8;

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

Mr 9:50).

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;

and see

Joh 1:4, 9; 3:19; 12:35, 36)

--a title expressly said to be unsuitable even to the highest of all

the prophets

(Joh 1:8)

--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"

(Php 2:15);

and the Baptist is said to have been "the burning and shining"--not

"light," as in our translation, but "lamp" of his day

(Joh 5:35).

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

(Mt 13:31-33).

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.

Mt 5:17-48.

IDENTITY OF

THESE

PRINCIPLES WITH

THOSE OF THE

ANCIENT

ECONOMY; IN

CONTRAST WITH THE

REIGNING

TRADITIONAL

TEACHING.

Exposition of Principles

(Mt 5:17-20).

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;

Lu 16:16;

Ac 13:15).

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"

(Mt 3:9)

--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

(Ps 102:24-27),

the prevalent representation of the heavens and the earth in Scripture,

when employed as a popular figure, is that of their stability

(Ps 119:89-91;

Ec 1:4;

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

thus expresses.

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

Mt 5:20,

but of course embracing all similar schools and teaching in the

Christian Church.

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,

as in

Mt 5:19,

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;

Php 3:3).

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.

(Mt 5:21-26).

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

perverted people.

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

compliance with

De 16:16.

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

Ex 21:12;

Le 24:17.

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"

(Jos 18:16).

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

(2Ki 23:10);

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

(Mr 9:43-48).

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"

(Mr 3:5),

and as the apostle teaches us that there is an anger which is not

sinful

(Eph 4:26);

so in the Epistle of James

(Jas 2:20)

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

(1Jo 3:15);

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

importance.

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

in

Lu 12:58.

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

(Mt 5:27-32).

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

in

Mt 6:1;

or, with the full consent of his will, to feed thereby his unholy

desires.

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

(Mt 5:21-25),

so here He first expounds the seventh commandment, and then in the four

following verses applies His exposition

(Mt 5:28-32).

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

incarnate!

30. And if thy right hand--the organ of action, to which the eye

excites.

offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is

profitable, &c.--See on

Mt 5:29.

The repetition, in identical terms, of such stern truths and awful

lessons seems characteristic of our Lord's manner of teaching. Compare

Mr 9:43-48.

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

De 24:1.

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

conjugal infidelity.

committeth adultery--for if the commandment is broken by the one

party, it must be by the other also. But see on

Mt 19:4-9.

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

(Mt 5:33-37).

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

Ex 20:7;

but they express all that it was currently understood to condemn,

namely, false swearing

(Le 19:12,

&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

Isa 66:1);

35. Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool--(quoting

Isa 66:1);

neither by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great King--(quoting

Ps 48:2).

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,

be,

Yea, yea; Nay, nay--Let a simple Yes and No suffice in

affirming the truth or the untruth of anything. (See

Jas 5:12;

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

(Jas 5:12)

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

sweeten them.

Same Subject--Retaliation

(Mt 5:38-42).

We have here the converse of the preceding lessons. They were

negative: these are positive.

38. Ye have heard that it hath been said--

(Ex 21:23-25;

Le 24:19, 20;

De 19:21).

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

Lu 6:30).

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

(Ex 22:25,

&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"

(Ro 13:8),

are not to be taken absolutely; else the Scripture commendations of the

righteous for "lending" to his necessitous brother

(Ps 37:36; 112:5;

Lu 6:37)

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

(Mt 5:43-48).

43. Ye have heard that it hath been said--

(Le 19:18).

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

BENGEL indignantly

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.

(See

1Pe 2:21-24;

and compare

Ro 12:20, 21;

1Co 4:12;

1Pe 3:9).

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

Mt 5:9;

Eph 5:1).

for he maketh his sun--"your Father's sun." Well might

BENGEL exclaim,

"Magnificent appellation!"

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;

and compare

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

spake.

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

Mt 18:17,

where the excommunicated person is said to be "as an heathen man and a

publican."

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."