Matthew 5:46

For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? FOR IF YE LOVE THEM WHICH LOVE YOU, WHAT REWARD HAVE YE? DO NOT EVEN THE PUBLICANS THE SAME? [ to (G3588) auto (G846). The reading houtoos (G3779) has perhaps slightly the better support.] The publicans, as collectors of taxes due to the Roman government, were even on this account obnoxious to the Jews, who sat uneasy under a foreign yoke, and disliked whatever brought this unpleasantly before them. But the extortion practiced by this class made them hateful to the community, who in their current speech ranked them with "harlots." Nor does our Lord scruple to speak of them as others did, which we may be sure He never wo...

46._Do not even the publicans the same? _In the same sense, Luke calls them _sinners, _that is, wicked and unprincipled men. Not that the office is condemned in itself; for the _publicans _were collectors of taxes, and as princes have a right to impose taxes, so it is lawful to levy them from the people. But they are so called, because men of this class are usually covetous and rapacious, nay, deceitful and cruel; and because among the Jews they were the agents of a wicked tyranny. If any one shall conclude from the words of Christ, that _publicans _are the basest of all men, he will argue ill, for our Lord employs the ordinary phraseology. His meaning is: those who are nearly devoid of humanity have some appearance of discharging mutual duties, when they see it to be for their own advantage....

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 Matthew 5:46. _FOR IF YE LOVE THEM WHICH LOVE YOU_] He who loves only his _friends_, does nothing for God's sake. He who loves for the sake of _pleasure_ or _interest_, pays himself. God has no enemy which he hates but _sin_; we should have no other. _THE PUBLICANS_] That is, _tax-gatherers_, τελωναι, from τελος a _tax_, and ωνεομαι _I buy_ or _farm_. A _farmer_ or _collector_ of the _taxes_ or _public revenues_. Of these there were two classes; the _superior_, who were Romans of the equestrian order; and the _inferior_, those mentioned in the Gospels, who it appears were mostly _Jews_. This class of men was detestable among the Romans, the Greeks, and the Jews, for their intolerable rapacity and avarice. They were abhorred in an especial manner by the Jew

WHAT REWARD HAVE YE? - The word “reward” seems to be used in the sense of “deserving of praise.” If you only love those that love you, you are selfish; it is not genuine love for the “character,” but love for the “benefit,” and you deserve no commendation. The very “publicans” would do the same. THE PUBLICANS - The publicans were tax-gatherers. Judea was a province of the Roman empire. The Jews bore this foreign yoke with great impatience, and paid their taxes with great reluctance. It happened, therefore, that those who were appointed to collect taxes were objects of great detestation. They were, besides, people who would be supposed to execute their office at all hazards; men who were willing to engage in an odious and hated employment; people often of abandoned character, oppressive in their exactions, and dissolute in their lives. By the Jews they were associated in character with th...

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 ...

FOR IF YE LOVE THEM WHICH LOVE YOU,.... That is, if ye only love such that love you; for that such who love should be loved again, is both natural and just: our Lord's meaning is not, that ye ought not to love them that love you, but that these should not be the only objects of your love; for should this be the case, WHAT REWARD HAVE YE? or "shall ye have?" Do you deserve any thanks for your love now? none at all, it is what you are obliged to by your friend's love to you. Do you expect any hereafter with God? if you do, you will be mistaken; you have your reward with men, who have loved you as much as you have done them, and therefore none can be due to you, either from God or men: besides, DO NOT EVEN THE PUBLICANS THE SAME? men of the worst characters, and who were most hateful to the Jews, upon many accounts; partly because of their business, which was to collect the Roman tax, and...

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....