Matthew 5:46

Matthew 5:46. For refers back to Matthew 5:44: if your action is simply in accordance with the precept of the Pharisees, what reward have ye? What merit is there in it?

The publicans, the taxgatherers who collected the revenue for the Romans. The term was odious, because these men were the agents of the hated Romans, and because the system of letting out the collection of taxes to the highest bidder led to great abuses. The obnoxious office would soon be filled by a disreputable class; hence the phrase,' publicans and sinners.' Even such could love those that loved them, practising in this respect a morality as high as that of the Pharisees, who despised them. It is a poor religion which does not beget a higher love than is natural to worldly men.