Matthew 5:43

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. YE HAVE HEARD THAT IT HATH BEEN SAID ( ), THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR. [TO THIS THE CORRUPT TEACHERS ADDED], AND HATE THINE ENEMY - as if the one were a legitimate inference from the other, instead of being a detestable gloss, as Bengel indignantly calls it. Lightfoot quotes some of the cursed maxims inculcated by those traditionists regarding the proper treatment of all Gentiles. No wonder that the Romans charged the Jews with hatred of the human race....

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 devoted to himself; and whenever a regard to personal convenience occasions an interruption of acts of kindness, there is a departure from that mutual intercourse, which nature itself dictates. To keep up the exercise of brotherly love, God assures us, that all men are our brethren, because they are related to us by a common nature. Whenever I see a man, I must, of necessity, behold myself as in a mirror: for he is my _bone and my flesh, _(Genesis 29:14.) Now, though the greater part of men break off, in most instances, fro

43-48 The Jewish teachers by "neighbour" understood only those who were of their own country, nation, and religion, whom they were pleased to look upon as their friends. The Lord Jesus teaches that we must do all the real kindness we can to all, especially to their souls. We must pray for them. While many will render good for good, we must render good for evil; and this will speak a nobler principle than most men act by. Others salute their brethren, and embrace those of their own party, and way, and opinion, but we must not so confine our respect. It is the duty of Christians to desire, and aim at, and press towards perfection in grace and holiness. And therein we must study to conform ourselves to the example of our heavenly Father, 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Peter 1:16. Surely more is to be expected from the followers of C...

Verse 43. _THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR, AND HATE THINE ENEMY._] Instead of πλησιαν _neighbour_, the Codex Graevii, a MS. of the eleventh century, reads φιλον _friend_. Thou shalt love thy friend, and hate thine enemy. This was certainly the meaning which the Jews put on it: for neighbour, with them, implied those of the Jewish race, and all others were, considered by them as _natural_ _enemies_. Besides, it is evident that πλησιον, among the Hellenistic Jews, meant _friend_ merely: Christ uses it precisely in this sense in Luke 10:36, in answer to the question asked by a certain lawyer, Matthew 5:29. Who of the three was neighbour (πλησιον friend) to him who fell among the thieves? He who showed him mercy; i.e. he who acted the _friendly_ part. In Hebrew, רע _rea_,...

YE HAVE HEARD THAT IT HATH BEEN SAID, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR, AND HATE THINE ENEMY - The command to love our neighbor was a law of God, Leviticus 19:18. That we must therefore hate our enemy was an inference drawn from it by the Jews. They supposed that if we loved the one, we must of course hate the other. They were total strangers to that great, special law of religion which requires us to love both. A neighbor is literally one that lives near to us; then, one who is near to us by acts of kindness and friendship. This is its meaning here. See also Luke 10:36....

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 5:1 AND SEEING THE MULTITUDES; _i.e. _those spoken of in Matthew 4:25—the multitudes who were at that point of time following him. HE WENT UP. From the lower ground by the lake. INTO A MOUNTAIN; Revised Version, _into the mountain _(εἰς τὸ ὄρος);_ i.e. _not any special mountain, but "the mountain nearest the place spoken of—the mountain near by" (Thayer); in contrast to any lower place, whether that was itself fairly high ground (as probably Luke 9:28) or the shore of the lake. The actual spot here referred to may have been far from, or, and more probably ...

YE HAVE HEARD THAT IT HATH BEEN SAID,.... By, or to them of old time. This law has been delivered to them, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR, with this appendage to it, or false gloss upon it, AND HATE THINE ENEMY; for the first of these only is the law of Moses, Leviticus 19:18, the other is the addition, or wrong interpretation of the Scribes and Pharisees: wherefore the Jew o has no reason to charge Christ, or the Evangelist, with a false testimony, as he does, because the latter is no where written in the law, nor in the prophets: nor does Christ say it is; he only observes, that it had been traditionally handed down to them from the ancients, by the masters of the traditions of the elders, that the law of loving the neighbour was so to be understood as to allow, and even enjoin, hatred of enemies: in proof of which, take the following instances p

Matthew 5:17. _Think not that I am came to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill._ The life, work, and words of Christ are not an emendation of the Old Testament, or an abrogation of it. It stands fast and firm, fulfilled, carried to perfection, filled to the full in Christ. Matthew 5:18. _For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven._ It is vain to teach the commandments without first doing them. The doi

5. THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KING CONCERNING HIS KINGDOM. CHAPTER S 5-7 _ 1. The Characteristics of the heirs of the Kingdom.(Matthew 5:1 .) 2. The Confirmation of the Law and its Expansion.(Matthew 5:17 .)_ CHAPTER 5 In the closing of the last chapter we saw our Lord Jesus Christ surrounded by a great multitude of people, which followed Him and who were attracted by the King's presence, before whom the various diseases had to flee. If we turn to the eighth chapter we find the continuation of these scenes we had in the last half of the fourth chapter. Between these two Chapter s are three very important ones, which are as such found only in this Gospel. The contents of the fifth, sixth and seventh Chapter s are in the form of a continued discourse of our Lord, commonly called “t

LOVING ONE'S NEIGHBOUR (_cf._ Luke 6:27 f., Matthew 5:32).Thou shalt love thy neighbour (_i.e._ fellow Israelite) is the precept of the Law (Leviticus 19:18); and hate thine enemy is a Rabbinic inference from, _e.g._ Deuteronomy 23:3, which found much support in apocalyptic writings (_cf._ pp. 623f.). As in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus sweeps away all distinctions. The additions to Matthew 5:44 in AV are due to Luke 6:27 f....