Matthew 5:12

Matthew 5:12. Rejoice, etc. An exhortation based on the declaration of blessedness in Matthew 5:11, and confirming it. Needful, because the prospect of persecution is far from awakening joy.

For great is your reward in heaven. The reason both for rejoicing and for the blessedness. ‘Reward,' i.e. , recompense; but of grace, not of debt ‘Great' implies that it would be beyond merit ‘In heaven:' either, in heaven, given in a future state of blessedness, or heavenly, spiritual, i.e., in the enjoyment of the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. The latter sense accords best with the language of the discourse, and culminates in the former one.

For so persecuted they, i.e. , the unbelieving Jews, (as in Matthew 5:11), the prophets who were before you. Not an express assertion that the disciples were prophets. It, however, puts them on the same level, establishes the connection between the Old and the New Testaments, showing that the old antagonism remains. A permanent reason for rejoicing, not for the greatness of the reward.

Matthew 5:13-16 teach the relation of the disciples, as thus described, to the world, under the two figures of salt and light.