THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT John 5:1 to John 7:29. The Sermon on the Mount: see Luke 6:20. This sermon is so similar to the sermon reported by St. Luke (Luke 6:20), that it is best to regard them as identically the same. It is true that it has been plausibly suggested that our Lord during His preaching... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BEATITUDES. Properly speaking, the beatitudes are seven in number, Matthew 5:10; Matthew 5:12, forming an appendix. These three vv. being counted in, the number of beatitudes is raised, according to different methods of division, to eight, or nine, or ten, the last corresponding to the number of... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROPHETS WHICH WERE BEFORE YOU] By ranking His disciples with the OT. prophets, Jesus seems to imply that they also are prophets. It is this possession of prophetical gifts by the first disciples which justifies the Church in regarding the NT. as the inspired Word of God: see Acts 11:27; Acts 13... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREWITH, etc.] i.e. either, 'Wherewith shall the world be salted?' or 'Wherewith shall the salt' (i.e. the disciples) 'be salted?' cp. Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34. Salt in Palestine, being gathered in an impure state, often undergoes chemical changes by which its flavour is destroyed while its appearanc... [ Continue Reading ]
THE RELATION OF CHRIST'S DISCIPLES TO THE WORLD. Nothing corresponding to this section is found in St. Luke's sermon, but parallels occur in Luke 14:34 and Luke 11:33. The section is well placed by St. Matthew. The connexion of thought is clear and natural. Having spoken of their persecutions, Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
A CANDLE] RV 'a lamp': see Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16; Luke 11:33. A BUSHEL (Lat. _modius_)] RV 'the bushel,' i.e. the one which is kept in the house for measuring the corn or meal for the daily provision of bread. The _modius_ here is probably the Heb. _seah_ = 1½ pecks.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET YOUR LIGHT] This is not inconsistent with the command to be humble and to do good by stealth, especially as the collective good works of the Christian brotherhood as a whole are chiefly spoken of. 'Our light is to shine forth though we conceal it,' says St. Hilary. Origen and other writers testi... [ Continue Reading ]
CHRISTIANITY AS THE FULFILMENT OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS. This section is especially appropriate in St. Matthew's Jewish Gospel. St. Luke's sermon, being for Gentile readers, has nothing similar, and in his whole Gospel there is only one parallel v. (Luke 16:17). In one aspect Christ's attitude to... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE JOT (Gk. _iota_)] stands for _Yod_, the smallest letter in the Heb. alphabet. TITTLE (lit. 'little horn')] is one of those minute projections by which otherwise similar Heb. letters are distinguished: cp. Luke 16:17. The rabbis taught, 'Not a letter shall perish from the Law for ever.' 'Everythi... [ Continue Reading ]
IT WAS SAID BY THEM OF OLD TIME] RV 'to them of old time.' It was said by God Himself. Hence Christ, in adding to it by His own authority ('But _I_ say unto you'), claims to be equal to God. So also in Matthew 5:28; Matthew 5:32; Matthew 5:34; Matthew 5:39; Matthew 5:43 : see Exodus 20:13. THE JUDGM... [ Continue Reading ]
REVISION OF THE LAW OF MURDER (not in St. Luke's sermon, but a parallel to Matthew 5:25 occurs in Luke 12:58). Christ now shows by a few illustrative examples how the Law is to be understood and practised by His disciples; in other words, how it is to be 'fulfilled.' The old law punished only the ac... [ Continue Reading ]
BROTHER] either a fellow-Christian or a fellow-man. WITHOUT A CAUSE] RV omits. RACA (Aramaic)] i.e. 'Empty-head': cp. Judges 9:4; Judges 11:3. THE COUNCIL] i.e. the supreme Sanhedrin of seventy-one members at Jerusalem having cognisance of the most serious offences, such as blasphemy. THOU FOOL] i.e... [ Continue Reading ]
THINE ADVERSARY] The injured brother of Matthew 5:22 is now represented under the figure of a creditor who has power to bring the debtor before the judge, and to cause him to be cast into prison. PRISON] i.e. divine punishment in general, whether in this world or beyond the grave in the intermediate... [ Continue Reading ]
FARTHING (Lat. _quadrans_)] about half-a-farthing. Lk (Luke 12:59) has _lepton_, i.e. about a quarter of a farthing.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THEM OF OLD TIME] RV omits: see Exodus 20:14. 29-30. This saying is found in Mark 9:43, but in a less natural connexion. It is repeated Matthew 18:8. Its meaning is that those who are seriously tempted should discipline themselves with the greatest severity, depriving themselves even of lawful pl... [ Continue Reading ]
REVISION OF THE LAW OF ADULTERY. Jesus expands the Mosaic prohibition of adultery into a law of inward purity of the strictest kind, and gives important counsel to the tempted.... [ Continue Reading ]
HELL] i.e. Gehenna, the place of final punishment. 31, 32. REVISION OF THE LAW OF DIVORCE. Christ restrained the excessive licence of divorce which existed at the time, and declared marriage to be (with possibly a single exception) absolutely indissoluble. Since St. Matthew alone mentions the except... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL MARRY HER THAT IS DIVORCED] i.e. for adultery; or, 'shall marry a divorced woman.'... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THEM] RV 'to them': see Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21, etc. 34. Oaths that did not expressly invoke the name of God were considered less binding than those that did. Jesus cuts at the root of the practice by showing that the oaths 'by heaven,' etc., were really in essence, if not in form, oath... [ Continue Reading ]
REVISION OF THE LAW OF OATHS. The prohibition 'Swear not at all' is to be taken in its widest sense, and not simply as forbidding the common oaths of conversation. Christ looks forward to a time when truthfulness will be so binding a duty that oaths will no longer be necessary even in courts of just... [ Continue Reading ]
ABOLITION OF THE LAW OF RETALIATION: cp. Luke 6:29; Luke 6:30. It is a difficulty to some that God should ever have sanctioned the barbarous principle of 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' (Exodus 21:24). They do not reflect that in its own age this principle represented a farreaching moral... [ Continue Reading ]
RESIST NOT EVIL] RV 'Resist not him that is evil,' i.e. the person that would injure you. RIGHT CHEEK] This is only a figurative illustration of the general principle: cp. Matthew 5:40; Matthew 5:42.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY COAT (Gk. _chiton_)] 'Vest' or 'shirt' would be better. The CLOKE (_himation_) is the outer garment, used also as a covering by night: see on John 19:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL COMPEL] RM 'impress.' When Roman troops passed through a district, the inhabitants were compelled to carry their baggage. This compulsory transport was a recognised form of taxation, and is probably what is alluded to here. Translated into modern language, the saying, means that Christians oug... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE TO HIM, etc.] Not an exhortation to indiscriminate charity, but to that brotherly love which Christians ought to feel even towards the improvident and wicked. It is right to give to him that asks, but not always right to give him what he asks. The best form of giving or lending is that which he... [ Continue Reading ]
HATRED OF ENEMIES FORBIDDEN, LOVE ENJOINED (Luke 6:27). The maxim 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour' is found in Leviticus 19:18. The words 'Thou shalt hate thine enemy' are nowhere found in the Pentateuch, which indeed contains isolated texts of an opposite tendency, e.g. Exodus 23:4. Nevertheless, ou... [ Continue Reading ]
LOVE YOUR ENEMIES] The word for 'love' is carefully chosen. It is not demanded that we should love our enemies with a natural and spontaneous affection (_philein_), but with the supernatural Christian love that comes by grace (_agapan_). PRAY FOR THEM, etc.] Jesus fulfilled His own injunction when H... [ Continue Reading ]
PUBLICANS] In classical literature 'publicans' are wealthy Bomans who bought from the Roman government the right of collecting the taxes in a certain district. The publicans of the NT. are the actual tax-collectors. In NT. times only duties on exports, not direct taxes, were collected by publicans.... [ Continue Reading ]
PERFECT] Glorious words! The perfection spoken of is the perfection of Love, the supreme virtue both of God and man (1 Corinthians 13:13; 1 John 4:16).... [ Continue Reading ]