Bible Commentaries
Matthew 5

Verses 1-48

1-2 Compare Luke 6:20-23.

1 The “Sermon on the Mount” was probably varied and repeated many times. Luke gives one of these. That was given on an “even place” (Luke 6:17) after His calling of the apostles. It is much abridged. Mark gives scattered allusions here and there. It is fitting that the fullest proclamation of the laws of the kingdom should be given in this account, for it is concerned with the Son of David.

5 The Beatitudes will find their fulfillment in the kingdom of the heavens, when Messiah comes again and establishes His millennial reign. Till then most of them prove to be a practical disappointment. The merciful often do not obtain mercy. The meek do not receive an allotment in the land or the earth. Not only that, but they never shall. A meek unbeliever will receive no allotment whatever. A meek believer is promised every blessedness among the celestials (Ephesians 1:3). It would be a bitter disappointment to him to have an allotment on the earth or in the land of Israel. There is no happiness in this beatitude for us.

12 All blessing comes from heaven, but it is not all enjoyed in heaven. The kingdom will be the days of heaven on earth, for the blessing will be heavenly in source and character, though located on earth. The heavenly city, new Jerusalem, is heavenly but comes down out of heaven to the earth. English has no way of distinguishing that which is heavenly in character from that which has its place in heaven, so special care is needed to avoid confusion in thought on this theme.

13 See Mark 9:50 Luke 14:34-35.

13 The salt of Palestine was usually gathered from marshes. Contact with the ground or exposure to rain or sun soon spoiled it, so that it lost its saltness. As it was very harmful to growing vegetation it was carefully swept up and thrown into the street, and thus trodden under foot.

14 Compare Mark 4:21-22; Luke 8:16-17; Luke 11:33

17 See Luke 16:16-17; Romans 3:31.

18 See Matthew 24:35.

18 The yod or iota was the smallest of the Hebrew letters. The ceriphs were probably the small projections which distinguished some of the Hebrew letters. The idea of the Massorah, that they were small meaningless ornaments like horns is hardly in line with the spirit of Christ's teaching. He denounced unwarranted, uninspired additions to the Scriptures.

19 To obey is always better than sacrifice. The very least precept of the Lord calls for implicit,

unquestioning response.

21 Compare Exodus 20:13.

22 Gehenna, the valley of the son of Hinnom, just below the city of Jerusalem, where idolatrous worship was once carried on and where the city offal was burned, will once more become the incinerator for Jerusalem. In the kingdom it will consume the carcases of criminals as well as the rubbish of the city. It should not be confounded with the unseen, or hades, which is often translated “hell”, or with tartarus, similarly translated. Neither is it the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14), which follows the great white throne judgment for wicked. Its operation is confined to the temporal judgments of the millennial kingdom. It does not fix ultimate destiny, for it disappears long before the consummation.

22 Raka seems to be a contemptuous epithet from the Aramaic, meaning empty.

23 Instead of removing His hearers from beneath the thunders of the law (as grace has since done), He makes its precepts more pressing, its prohibitions more searching. The appearance counts for nothing with Him unless the heart is also right. He will not even allow them to approach God by means of an oblation, unless they are on terms with their brethren. There is no lenience in this kingdom proclamation. Those who are cast into jail are not delivered until the demands of righteousness have been fully met. A lustful look is a sin of the heart which will not be tolerated in His dominions. The criminals of that day will be executed and their corpses consigned to the vale of Hinnom, where the offal of Jerusalem is burned. So stringent is this law that if a member of the body sins, the whole is in danger of death in the kingdom.

27 See Exodus 20:14.

31 See Matthew 19:3-9 Deuteronomy 24:1-2; Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18; 1 Corinthians 7:10-11.

31 Because of the hardness of their hearts, Moses made divorce an easy matter. Not so in the kingdom of the heavens. Only one cause will be a ground for separation then. Now, in grace death alone can come between those whom the Lord has made one flesh (1 Corinthians 7:39). We are not living under the law of Sinai or under the kingdom code, but under the far more beneficent reign of grace (Romans 5:21).

25-26 Compare Luke 12:58-59. See Proverbs 25:8.

33 Compare Leviticus 19:12. See Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23.

34-37 From our Lord's time down to the present, cursing and swearing have been so common in Palestine that little notice is taken of it. They continually profane the name and attributes of God, and swear by anything that comes into their minds. In fact, to swear fluently and artistically is considered quite an accomplishment which deserves cultivation.

38 Compare Exodus 21:23-25; Leviticus 24:19-20; Deuteronomy 19:21.

38 Many futile attempts have been made to carry out the principle of nonresistance here laid down, by those who did not see its relation to the kingdom. When the righteous King is on the throne such conduct will be not only right but rational. Grace, however, goes much further than more non-resistance. It demands active effort on behalf of those who seek to injure or oppress. Recognizing the grave practical difficulty of practising those precepts at the present time, theologians assure us that “these expressions, in their paradox form, must not be taken literally.” If these are not plain examples, it is impossible to form any definite idea of the Lord's meaning. It is ideal conduct for an ideal government, such as will be in actual operation when Christ comes again and Satan is bound for the thousand years.

39 Compare Luke 6:27-31.

43 Compare Leviticus 19:18. See Deuteronomy 23:6.

43 We are exhorted to imitate God, as beloved children, and walk in love, even as Christ loves us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a fragrant odor (Ephesians 5:1-2). The sons of the kingdom are here exhorted to imitate Him in His beneficence in nature. The sun and rain bring all blessing in the physical sphere. Christ brings all blessing in the spiritual sphere. Great is the gift of sunshine, yet how much greater is the gift of Christ! Yet so much brighter is the standard for conduct today as compared with the longed for millennium. The saints should always imitate God; yet this should ever be in accord with the particular revelation of Himself given for the time. The kingdom will be, in a special sense, the display of God's goodness on earth; we will be the highest exhibition of God's grace among the celestials (Ephesians 2:7). Hence it is most fitting that conduct, in each case, should correspond to the sphere and character of God's operations. The standard for us is as far beyond these precepts as these are beyond the law. The law demanded love, but limited it to neighbors. In their hard-heartedness they inferred that others should be hated. The Lord does not hesitate to enlarge the law. God is good to all. But we look to the cross and know that there are none righteous in His sight, and see His sacrifice for all. Here alone do we find the motive which should control our conduct. God's perfection in nature is not sufficient to provide the sweet smelling perfume which pleases Him today. It seems to be without any practical effect on the hard hearts of humanity.

44 Compare Luke 6:27-28; Luke 6:32-36; Luke 23:34; Acts 7:60; 1 Peter 2:18-23.