The treatment of those who injure us. (Cf. supra , Matthew 5:38 .) Our Lord now turns from the reception of injuries to the treatment of those who injure us. We are not to injure them in return, nor merely to keep aloof from them, but to show them positive kindness. The Law, in the natural development of it current at the time, taught very differently. read more
Loving one's enemy. This is another instance of the way in which Christian righteousness is to exceed the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees. Let us consider the duty and the motives that urge it. I. THE DUTY . 1 . Positive. This carries us beyond patience under insult and nonresistance to injury. The previous passage insisted on those duties only. It was negative in character, forbidding a wrong course of conduct; therefore obedience to it would be purely passive. Now we... read more
The perfect fulfilling of Law: Christ's sixth illustration. This last illustration makes two advances upon even those foregoing. From the negative course, of not resisting evil, Christ proceeds to teach the high and moral principle of doing good for evil, positively and practically. Further, this illustration moves in that highest sphere where law merges in love. It finds its material in that law of love which comprehends the perfect fulfilling of law. The words of Chrysostom are well worth... read more
Perfection. Here is an attainable perfection, for it comes to us as a promise as well as a command. But what is it? I. IT CANNOT BE THE ABSOLUTE PERFECTION OF GOD . 1 . There is an infinite difference between God and man in their being. 2 . There is an infinite difference in their presence. 3 . There is an infinite difference in their power. 4 . There is an infinite difference in their holiness. II. IF THE PERFECTION BE NOT ABSOLUTE ... read more
Matthew 5:46 , Matthew 5:47 ; parallel passage: Luke 6:32 , Luke 6:33 . For if , etc. The principle of the Law, reciprocity—love your neighbour and him only—is in reality no better than the principle adopted by those who are renegades to true religion ( οἱτελῶναι ), or by those who have no knowledge of it ( οἱἐθνικοί ) . Such a principle brings with it no other corresponding effect ( μισθός , Luke 6:12 , note) than such as even these receive. You aim at more, the... read more
And if ye salute . It seems almost a bathos after "love." But it expresses love publicly showing itself by kindly greeting. Your brethren ; with whom you have the fellow-feeling of common origin—in this case not national, but spiritual (cf. Matthew 5:22 , note). What do you more than others? ( τί περισσὸν ποιεῖτε ); Tyndale," What singuler thynge doe ye?" Do not even the publicans? Revised Version, the Gentiles ? with the manuscripts. "The form used ( ἐθνικός ) ... read more
What reward have ye? - The word “reward” seems to be used in the sense of “deserving of praise.” If you only love those that love you, you are selfish; it is not genuine love for the “character,” but love for the “benefit,” and you deserve no commendation. The very “publicans” would do the same.The publicans - The publicans were tax-gatherers. Judea was a province of the Roman empire. The Jews bore this foreign yoke with great impatience, and paid their taxes with great reluctance. It happened,... read more
And if you salute your brethren ... - The word “salute” here means to show the customary tokens of civility, or to treat with the common marks of friendship. See the notes at Luke 10:4. The Saviour says that the worst men, the very publicans, would do this. Christians should do more; they should show that they have a different spirit; they should treat their “enemies” as well as wicked people do their “friends.” This should be done:Because it is “right;” it is the only really amiable spirit;... read more
40. Legal obedience is not enough (Matthew 5:21-48; Luke 6:27-36; Luke 12:57-59)After his explanation concerning right and wrong attitudes to the law, Jesus gives a number of examples. He introduces these examples with statements such as ‘You have heard that it was said in the past’. This is not the same as ‘It is written’. Jesus is not quoting from the Old Testament but from the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees. He is not contradicting the law but the interpretations of the law that the... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 5:38-48
The two remaining examples of the current teaching of the Law are very closely connected together, and, in fact, our Lord's corrections of them are intermingled in Luke 6:27-36 . Yet the subjects are really distinct. In the first ( Luke 6:38-42 ) our Lord speaks of the reception of injuries, in the second ( Luke 6:43-48 ) of the treatment of those who do them. Godet's remarks (in his summary of Luke 6:27-45 ) on the use made by St. Luke of these examples are especially instructive.... read more