VII. (1) The plan and sequence of the discourse is, as has been said, less apparent in this last portion. Whether this be the result of omission or of insertion, thus much at least seems clear, that while Matthew 5 is mainly a protest against the teaching of the scribes, and Matthew 6 mainly a prot... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH WHAT JUDGMENT YE JUDGE.... — Here again truth takes the form of a seeming paradox. The unjust judgment of man does not bring upon us a divine judgment which is also unjust; but the severity which we have unjustly meted out to others, becomes, by a retributive law, the measure of that which is j... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY BEHOLDEST THOU THE MOTE ...? — The Greek noun so translated means a “stalk” or “twig” rather than one of the fine particles of dust floating in the sun to which we attach the word “mote.” The illustration seems to have been a familiar one among the Jews, and a proverb all but verbally identical... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW WILT THOU SAY — _i.e.,_ how wilt thou have the face to say.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HYPOCRITE. — The man deserves this name, because he acts the part of a teacher and reformer, when he himself needs repentance and reform the most. The hypocrisy is all the greater because it does not know itself to be hypocritical. THEN SHALT THOU SEE CLEARLY. — Here the teaching of the Sermon... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WHICH IS HOLY. — The words point to the flesh which has been offered for sacrifice, the “holy thing” of Leviticus 22:6; Leviticus 22:10; Leviticus 22:16, of which no un clean person or stranger, and _à fortiori_ no unclean beast, was to eat. To give that holy flesh to dogs would have seemed to... [ Continue Reading ]
ASK, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN. — The transition is again abrupt, and suggests the idea that some links are missing. The latent sequence of thought would seem to be this, “If the work of reforming others and ourselves,” men might say, “is so difficult, how shall we dare to enter on it? Where shall we fi... [ Continue Reading ]
OR WHAT MAN IS THERE OF YOU. — The meaning of the illustrations is obvious enough, yet their homeliness is noticeable as addressed to the peasants of Galilee, who found in fish and bread, as in the miracles of the Five thousand and the Four thousand, the staple of their daily food.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE THEN, BEING EVIL. — The words at once recognise the fact of man’s depravity, and assert that it is not total. In the midst of all our evil there is still that element of natural and pure affection which makes the fatherhood of men a fit parable of the Fatherhood of God. We mount from our love... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE... WHATSOEVER. — The sequence of thought requires, perhaps, some explanation. God gives His good things in answer to our wishes, if only what we wish for is really for our good. It is man’s highest blessedness to be like God, to “be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect,” and therefor... [ Continue Reading ]
ENTER YE IN AT THE STRAIT GATE. — The figure was possibly suggested by some town actually in sight. Safed, the “city set on a hill,” or some other, with the narrow pathway leading to the yet narrower gate, the “needle’s eye” of the city, through which the traveller entered. Such, at any rate, was th... [ Continue Reading ]
NARROW IS THE WAY. — Literally, _pressed_, or hemmed in between walls or rocks, like the pathway in a mountain gorge. WHICH LEADETH UNTO LIFE. — Noteworthy as the first passage in our Lord’s recorded teaching in which the word “life” appears as summing up all the blessedness of the kingdom. The ide... [ Continue Reading ]
BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS. — The sequence again is below the surface. How was the narrow way to be found? Who would act as guide? Many would offer their help who would simply lead men to the destruction which they sought to escape. Such teachers, claiming authority as inspired, there had been in the... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS. — The question, What are the fruits? is not directly answered. Those who attach most importance to the ethical side of religion, see in them the practical outcome of doctrine in life, character, and deeds. Others, who live in a constant dread of heresy, dwell on d... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN SO EVERY GOOD TREE.... — The two verses state nearly the same fact, but each presents a different aspect. First it is stated as a matter of practical experience, then the general fact is referred to a necessary law. If the tree is corrupt, _i.e.,_ rotten or decayed at the core, it cannot bring... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY TREE THAT BRINGETH NOT FORTH GOOD FRUIT. — The crowds who listened must, for the most part, have recognised the words as those which they had heard before from the lips of the Baptist, and they served accordingly as a link connecting the teaching of our Lord with that of the forerunner. (Comp.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL KNOW THEM. — As before, in Matthew 7:16, the word is one which implies knowledge that is full, clear, decisive — such as that to which St. Paul looks forward in the life to come (1 Corinthians 13:12).... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER. — The continued stress laid on the ethical side of religion, on the nullity of the confession of a true faith (as embodied in the “Lord, Lord”) without doing the will of God, more than confirms the interpretation of Matthew 7:16 above given. A further development... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY WILL SAY TO ME IN THAT DAY. — No part of the Sermon on the Mount is more marvellous in its claims than this; to those who see in Christ only a human Teacher with a higher morality than Hillel or Seneca, none more utterly incomprehensible. At the commencement of His ministry, in a discourse whic... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WILL I PROFESS UNTO THEM. — The words form a remarkable complement to the promise, “Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). The confession there recognised is more than lip-homage, and implies the loyal service of obed... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER. — The Greek is more emphatically universal, _every one whosoever._ THESE SAYINGS OF MINE. — The reference to what has gone before tends, so far as it goes, to the conclusion that we have in these Chapter s a continuous discourse, and not a compilation of fragments. On the assumption that... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN JESUS HAD ENDED THESE SAYINGS. — The words again point to the conclusion that the Evangelist believed that he had been recording one continuous discourse. THE PEOPLE WERE ASTONISHED AT HIS DOCTRINE. — Better, _at his teaching;_ with greater prominence given, as the words that follow show, to i... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TAUGHT THEM. — The Greek implies continuity, _He was teaching._ AS ONE HAVING AUTHORITY, AND NOT AS THE SCRIBES. — Some instances have been already pointed out: the “I say unto you,” which is contrasted with what had been said “to them of old time”; the assumption that He, the speaker, was the He... [ Continue Reading ]