Matthew 5:1._He went up into a mountain. _Those who think that Christ’s sermon, which is here related, is different from the sermon contained in the sixth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, rest their opinion on a very light and frivolous argument. Matthew states, that Christ spoke to his disciples on a moun... [ Continue Reading ]
2._Opening his mouth. _This redundancy of expression ( πλεονασμὸς) partakes of the Hebrew idiom: for what would be faulty in other languages is frequent among the Hebrews, to say, _He opened his mouth, _instead of, _He began to speak. _Many look upon it as an emphatic mode of expression, employed to... [ Continue Reading ]
3._Happy are the poor in spirit. _Luke 6:20._Happy (are ye) poor. _Luke gives nothing more than a simple metaphor: but as the poverty of many is accursed and unhappy, Matthew expresses more clearly the intention of Christ. Many are pressed down by distresses, and yet continue to swell inwardly with... [ Continue Reading ]
4._Happy are they that mourn. _This statement is closely connected with the preceding one, and is a sort of appendage or confirmation of it. The ordinary belief is, that calamities render a man unhappy. This arises from the consideration, that they constantly bring along with them _mourning _and gri... [ Continue Reading ]
5._Happy are the meek _By _the meek _he means persons of mild and gentle dispositions, who are not easily provoked by injuries, who are not ready to take offense, but are prepared to endure anything rather than do the like actions to wicked men. When Christ promises to such persons _the inheritance... [ Continue Reading ]
6._Happy are they who hunger _To _hunger and thirst _is here, I think, used as a figurative expression, (366) and means to suffer poverty, to want the necessaries of life, and even to be defrauded of one’s right. Matthew says, _who thirst after righteousness, _and thus makes one class stand for all... [ Continue Reading ]
7._Happy are the merciful _This paradox, too, contradicts the judgment of men. (367) The world reckons those men to be _happy, _who give themselves no concern about the distresses of others, but consult their own ease. Christ says that those are _happy, _who are not only prepared to endure their own... [ Continue Reading ]
8._Happy are they who are of a pure heart _We might be apt to think, that what is here stated by Christ is in accordance with the judgment of all. _Purity of heart _is universally acknowledged to be the mother of all virtues. And yet there is hardly one person in a hundred, who does not put craftine... [ Continue Reading ]
9._Happy are the peacemakers _By _peacemakers _he means those who not only seek peace and avoid quarrels, as far as lies in their power, but who also labor to settle differences among others, who advise all men to live at peace, and take away every occasion of hatred and strife. There are good groun... [ Continue Reading ]
10._Happy are they who suffer persecution _The disciples of Christ have very great need of this instruction; and the more hard and disagreeable it is for the flesh to admit it, the more earnestly ought we to make it the subject of our meditation. We cannot be Christ’s soldiers (369) on any other con... [ Continue Reading ]
11._When they shall cast reproaches on you _Luke 6:22_When men shall hate you, and separate you, and load you with reproaches, and cast out your name as evil _By these words Christ intended to comfort those who believe in him; that they may not lose courage, even though they see themselves to be det... [ Continue Reading ]
12._Rejoice ye, and leap for joy _The meaning is, a remedy is at hand, that we may not be overwhelmed by unjust reproaches: for, as soon as we raise our minds to heaven, we there behold vast grounds of joy, which dispel sadness. The idle reasonings of the Papists, about the word _reward, _which is h... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 5:13.Ye _are the salt of the earth. _What belongs to doctrine is applied to the persons to whom the administration of it has been committed. When Christ calls the apostles _the salt of the earth, _he means, that it is their office _to salt the earth: _because men have nothing in them but wha... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 5:14_Ye are the light of the world _We are all the children of light, after having been enlightened by faith, and are commanded to carry in our hands “burning lamps,” (that we may not wander in darkness,) and even to point out to others the way of life, (Luke 12:35.) But, as the preaching of... [ Continue Reading ]
16._Let your light shine before men _After having taught the apostles that, in consequence of the rank in which they are placed, both their vices and their virtues are better known for a good or bad example, he now enjoins them so to regulate their life, as to excite all to glorify God. _That they m... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 5:17._Think not. _With regard to the perfection of his life, Christ might justly have maintained that he _came to fulfill the law: _but here he treats of doctrine, not of life. As he afterwards exclaimed, that “_the kingdom of God is come_, ” (Matthew 12:28,) and raised the minds of men with... [ Continue Reading ]
18._Till heaven and earth pass _Luke expresses it a little differently, but to the same import, that _it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for one point of the law to fail _The design of Christ, in both passages, was to teach, that the truth of the law and of every part of it, is secure,... [ Continue Reading ]
19._Whoever then shall break _Christ here speaks expressly of the commandments of life, or the ten words, which all the children of God ought to take as the rule of their life. He therefore declares, that they are false and deceitful teachers, who do not restrain their disciples within obedience to... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 5:20._Unless your righteousness shall be more abundant. He _takes a passing notice of _the Scribes, _who were laboring to throw a stain on the doctrine of the Gospel, as if it were the ruin of the Law. True, he does not reason on this subject, but only points out briefly, that nothing has le... [ Continue Reading ]
21._You have heard that it was said. _This sentence, and those which immediately follow, are connected with what we have just considered: for our Lord explains more fully, by minute instances, by what tortuous methods (396) the Pharisees debase the law, so that their righteousness is mere filth. It... [ Continue Reading ]
22._But I say to you _His reply is not opposed to the command of Moses, (Exodus 20:13; Leviticus 24:21; Numbers 35:16;) but to the interpretation usually put upon it by the scribes. Now, as the Pharisees boasted of antiquity, (for it is always the custom to plead the prescription of a long period in... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 5:23._Therefore, if thou shalt bring thy gift _This clause confirms, and at the same time explains, the preceding doctrine. It amounts to this, that the precept of the law, which forbids murder, (Exodus 20:13,) is obeyed, when we maintain agreement and brotherly kindness, with our neighbor.... [ Continue Reading ]
25._Be agreed with thy adversary _Christ appears to go farther, and to exhort to reconciliation not only those who have injured their brethren, but those also who are unjustly treated. (401) But I interpret the words as having been spoken with another view, to take away occasion for hatred and resen... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 5:27._Thou shalt not commit adultery. _Christ proceeds with his subject, and shows, that the law of God not only has authority over the life, in a political view, to form the outward manners, but that it requires pure and holy affections of the heart. We must remember what I have already sta... [ Continue Reading ]
28._Whoever shall look upon a woman. _The design of Christ was to condemn generally the lust of the flesh. He says, that not only those who have seduced their neighbors’ wives, but those who have polluted their eyes by an immodest look, are adulterers before God. This is a _synec-doche: _(406) for n... [ Continue Reading ]
29._If thy right eye shall be a stumbling-block to thee. _It might be thought that, considering the weakness of the flesh and of nature, Christ pressed too severely on men, and therefore he anticipates all such complaints. The general meaning is, that however difficult, or severe, or troublesome, or... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 5:31._Whosoever shall put away his wife. _As a more suitable occasion for discussing and explaining this doctrine at greater length will afterwards occur, (Matthew 19:9,) I shall now state briefly what Christ says in this passage. As the Jews falsely imagined that they discharged their whole... [ Continue Reading ]
32._Causeth her to commit adultery. _As the _bill of divorcement _bore, that the woman had been loosed from her former husband, and might enter into a new marriage, the man who, unjustly and unlawfully, abandons the wife whom God had given him, is justly condemned for having prostituted his wife to... [ Continue Reading ]
33._Thou shalt not perjure thyself _This also is not a correction of the law, but a true interpretation of it. For God condemned in the law not only acts of perjury, but lightness in swearing, which lessens the reverence for his name. The man who _perjures himself _is not the only person who _takes... [ Continue Reading ]
34._Swear not at all _Many have been led by the phrase, _not at all, _to adopt the false notion, that every kind of swearing is condemned by Christ. Some good men have been driven to this extreme rigor by observing the unbridled licentiousness of swearing, which prevailed in the world. The Anabaptis... [ Continue Reading ]
37._But your speech shall be, Yes, yes; No, no _Christ now prescribes, in the second place, a remedy; which is, that men act towards each other sincerely and honestly: for then simplicity of speech will have quite as much weight as an oath has among those who are not sincere. Now, this is certainly... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 5:38._An eye for an eye. Here _another error is corrected. God had enjoined, by his law, (Leviticus 24:20,) that judges and magistrates should punish those who had done injuries, by making them endure as much as they had inflicted. The consequence was, that every one seized on this as a pret... [ Continue Reading ]
39._Do not resist evil. _There are two ways of resisting: the one, by warding off injuries through inoffensive conduct; the other, by retaliation. (412) Though Christ does not permit his people to repel violence by violence, yet he does not forbid them to endeavor to avoid an unjust attack. The best... [ Continue Reading ]
40._And to him who wishes to enter into a law-suit with thee. _Christ now glances at another kind of annoyance, and that is, when wicked men torment us with law-suits. He commands us, even on such an occasion, to be so patient and submissive that, when our _coat _has been _taken away, _we shall be p... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 5:42._Give to him that asketh of thee. _Though the words of Christ, which are related by Matthew, appear to command us to give to all without discrimination, yet we gather a different meaning from Luke_, _who explains the whole matter more fully. First, it is certain, that it was the design... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 5:43._Thou shalt love thy neighbor. _It is astonishing, that the Scribes fell into so great an absurdity, as to limit the word _neighbor _to benevolent persons: for nothing is more obvious or certain than that God, in speaking of our neighbors, includes the whole human race. Every man is dev... [ Continue Reading ]
44._Love your enemies. _This single point includes the whole of the former doctrine: for he who shall bring his mind to love those who hate him, will naturally refrain from all revenge, will patiently endure evils, will be much more prone to assist the wretched. Christ presents to us, in a summary v... [ Continue Reading ]
45._That ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven. _When he expressly declares, that no man will be a child of God, unless he _loves those who hate him, _who shall dare to say, that we are not bound to observe this doctrine? The statement amounts to this, “Whoever shall wish to be acco... [ Continue Reading ]
46._Do not even the publicans the same? _In the same sense, Luke calls them _sinners, _that is, wicked and unprincipled men. Not that the office is condemned in itself; for the _publicans _were collectors of taxes, and as princes have a right to impose taxes, so it is lawful to levy them from the pe... [ Continue Reading ]
48._You shall therefore be perfect. _This _perfection _does not mean _equality, _but relates solely to resemblance. (423) However distant we are from the perfection of God, we are said to be _perfect, as he is perfect, _when we aim at the same object, which he presents to us in Himself. Should it be... [ Continue Reading ]