Matthew 5:12

Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.

The apostles took to heart this admonition of the Saviour to rejoice in persecutions. James (James 1:2-4), Paul (1 Timothy 3:12; Colossians 1:24), and the Twelve (Acts 5:41) were happy in persecutions. In this passage, Christ firmly underscored the principle motive undergirding human submissiveness to God. There were, in fact, three of these: love, fear, and hope of reward. There is nothing dishonorable about any of these motives. If there had been, Christ would not have appealed to all three. His emphasis in this place is on the hope of heaven (see under Matthew 6:9).

So persecuted they the prophets that were before you ... Christ in this place puts the same dignity upon the apostles as pertained to the prophets of the Old Testament, ranking them, in fact, higher, and showing that they also are to be heeded as inspired men. Dummelow said, "It is this possession of prophetic gifts by the first disciples which justifies the church in regarding the New Testament as the inspired word of God"[7] (Acts 11:27; 13:1; 15:32). (Also 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; 4:11, etc.).

There are also many other New Testament passages which indicate most emphatically that the New Testament is God's true word. Some of these are Jude 1:1:3; 2 Timothy 3:17; 2 Peter 3:2; John 12:48; 1 Corinthians 14:37; Hebrews 2:1-3; Galatians 1:6-9; Revelation 22:18,19, etc.

THE RELATION OF THE DISCIPLES TO THE WORLD (MATT. 5:13-16)

In the Beatitudes, Christ emphasized the inner character of Christians and gave the beatitudes as identification marks of his true followers. The importance of the inner life is seen in that this was the first thing outlined. Next, Christ turned his attention to the disciples' relation to the world.