Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 5:12
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great [is] your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
12. so persecuted they the prophets ] Persecution is a test and token of true discipleship, that which naturally brings distress and despair to men will bring delight in the kingdom of God. The passion and death of Christ gave a fresh force to these words, see 1Pe 4:13-14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad – Regard it as a great privilege thus to be persecuted and to suffer – a thing not to be mourned over, but as among the chief blessings of life.
For great is your reward in heaven – That is, your reward will be great in the future world. To those who suffer most, God imparts the highest rewards. Hence, the crown of martyrdom has been thought to be the brightest that any of the redeemed shall wear; and hence many of the early Christians sought to become martyrs, and threw themselves in the way of their persecutors, that they might be put to death. They literally rejoiced, and leaped for joy, at the prospect of death for the sake of Jesus. Though God does not require us to seek persecution, yet all this shows that there is something in religion to sustain the soul which the world does not possess. Nothing but the consciousness of innocence, and the presence of God, could bear up the sufferers in the midst of these trials; and the flame, therefore, kindled to consume the martyr, has also been a bright light, showing the truth and power of the gospel of Jesus.
The prophets … – The holy men who came to predict future events, and who were the religious teachers of the Jews. For an account of their persecution, see Heb. 11.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 5:12
Great is your reward.
The reward of the saints
I. Consider its preciousness. It is shown-
1. By remembering who bestows it.
2. It is in heaven.
3. It meets and satisfies the yearning of the saints here.
4. It exceeds our power to measure.
5. It is connected with recognition of service.
6. It is freed from all admixture of sorrow.
7. It is carefully prepared for us.
8. It is certain.
9. It is the highest elevation.
II. Consider it as a legitimate motive to action (Heb 10:35; Heb 11:26).
III. Concluding reflections.
1. The saints great reward, not in this life.
2. They have an ever-brightening prospect.
3. Gods desire to stimulate us to a better life by revealing to us the great reward.
4. A support in trial. (J. W. Hussey, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. Rejoice] In the testimony of a good conscience; for, without this, suffering has nothing but misery in it.
Be exceeding glad] , leap for joy. There are several cases on record, where this was literally done by the martyrs, in Queen Mary’s days.
Great is your reward in heaven] In the Talmudical tract Pirkey Aboth, are these words: “Rabbi Tarpon said, The day is short: the work is great: the labourers are slow: the REWARD IS GREAT: and the father of the family is urgent.”
The followers of Christ are encouraged to suffer joyfully on two considerations.
1. They are thereby conformed to the prophets who went before.
2. Their reward in heaven is a great one.
God gives the grace to suffer, and then crowns that grace with glory; hence it is plain, the reward is not of debt, but of grace: Ro 6:23.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Be so far from being troubled, as to count it all joy, when you fall into these trials, Jam 1:2. Let it be music in your ears to hear that the drunkards make you their song. Rejoice in your hearts, express it in your lips and behaviour,
for great is your reward, not of debt, but of grace; for our light and momentary afflictions are not worthy to be compared with an eternal and exceeding weight of glory; where there is no proportion, there can be no merit: especially, when it is given to us on the behalf of Christ to suffer, Phi 1:29. Peter upon this argument saith, The spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you, 1Pe 4:14. Our Saviour adds,
for so persecuted they the prophets before you. The magistrates, and the rulers of the Jews, persecuted Elijah, Micaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and the rest of the prophets, whom you succeed, not in time only, but in the same office of revealing the mind of God to the people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. Rejoice, and be exceedingglad“exult.” In the corresponding passage of Luke(Luk 6:22; Luk 6:23),where every indignity trying to flesh and blood is held forth as theprobable lot of such as were faithful to Him, the word is evenstronger than here: “leap,” as if He would have theirinward transport to overpower and absorb the sense of all theseaffronts and sufferings; nor will anything else do it.
for great is your reward inheaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were beforeyou:that is, “You do but serve yourselves heirs to theircharacter and sufferings, and the reward will be common.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Rejoice and be exceeding glad,…. Because of the honour put upon them, the glory they bring to Christ and his cause, by cheerfully suffering for it; and because of the glory and happiness that shall follow upon their sufferings:
for great is your reward in heaven; not of debt, but of grace; for there is no proportion or comparison between what the saints suffer for Christ, and the glory that shall be revealed in them by him; not in earth, but in heaven. Saints must not expect their reward here, but hereafter, when God himself will be their reward; he will be all in all; Christ and all his glory, glory and all the riches of it will be the reward of the inheritance, and which must needs be a “great” one. And the more to animate them to suffer with joyfulness, and to support them under all their reproaches and persecutions, it is added;
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you; as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and others; which shows, that what should befall them was no new and strange thing, but what had been the lot of the most eminent servants of God in former ages.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “Rejoice and be exceeding glad:” (chairete kai agalliasthe) “You all ‘ (the church, now referred to first as the kingdom of heaven) rejoice and be glad,” be filled with a state of gladness, accept persecution as proof of your sonship and identity with the bridegroom in His work; 1Th 5:16; Rev 18:7-9.
2) “For great is your reward in heaven” (hot! ho misthos humon polus en tois ouranois) “Because the reward of you all is much in heaven,” in spite of your being hated of all men, Mat 10:22; Mr 13:13; Luk 21:17; 1Co 3:8; 1Co 3:14-15.
3) “For so persecuted they,” (houtos gar edioksan) “For they (of the world) in like manner persecuted,” they of the Messiah-rejecting world persecuted. The persecuted have an illustrious history.
4) “The prophets which were before you.” (tous prophetas tous pro hymon) “The prophets (of Israel) who were before you all,” in the Mosaic or law age, a matter of recorded Biblical and Secular history, 2Ch 36:16; Neh 9:26; Mat 23:34; Act 7:52; 1Th 2:15.
The church disciples He had personally addressed in the beatitudes were now and here reminded that others in the former era had also been persecuted for their true worship and service through the house that Moses built, as surely as they should hereafter in the house or now organized program of worship and service He had built and was building, Heb 3:1-7; Joh 15:20.
THE CHURCH “YE” — AS SALT AND LIGHT
V. 13-16
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. Rejoice ye, and leap for joy The meaning is, a remedy is at hand, that we may not be overwhelmed by unjust reproaches: for, as soon as we raise our minds to heaven, we there behold vast grounds of joy, which dispel sadness. The idle reasonings of the Papists, about the word reward, which is here used, are easily refuted: for there is not (as they dream) a mutual relation between the reward and merit, but the promise of the reward is free. Besides, if we consider the imperfections and faults of any good works that are done by the very best of men, there will be no work which God can judge to be worthy of reward.
We must advert once more to the phrases, on my account, or, on account of the Son of Man, (Luk 6:22😉 and lying, shall speak every evil word against you; that he who suffers persecution for his own fault (1Pe 2:20) may not forthwith boast that he is a martyr of Christ, as the Donatists, in ancient times, were delighted with themselves on this single ground, that the magistrates were against them. And in our own day the Anabaptists, (370) while they disturb the Church by their ravings, and slander the Gospel, boast that they are carrying the banners of Christ, when they are justly condemned. But Christ pronounces those only to be happy who are employed in defending a righteous cause.
For so did they persecute This was expressly added, that the apostles might not expect to triumph without exertion and without a contest, and might not fail, when they encountered persecutions. The restoration of all things, under the reign of Christ, being everywhere promised in Scripture, there was danger, lest they might not think of warfare, but indulge in vain and proud confidence. It is evident from other passages, that they foolishly imagined the kingdom of Christ to be filled with wealth and luxuries. (371) Christ had good reason for warning them, that, as soon as they succeeded to the place of the prophets, they must sustain the same contests in which the prophets were formerly engaged. The prophets who were before you This means not only, that the prophets were before them with respect to the order of time, but that they were of the same class with themselves, and ought therefore to be followed as their example. The notion commonly entertained, of making out nine distinct beatitudes, is too frivolous to need a long refutation.
(370) The Anabaptists here named must not be confounded with the Baptists or Anti-poedo-baptists of the present day, who are, indeed, at issue with Calvin as to the subjects and mode of baptism, but who utterly disown the Anabaptists of the sixteenth century. Our notes are restricted by the plan of this work to the elucidation of our author, and to matters of criticism and history. It would, therefore, be out of place to enter here into the merits of a doctrinal controversy, or to vindicate brethren from the heavy charge which is here implied. But we are at liberty to say, that against them Calvin brings no such charge. Nowhere does he represent a departure from his views on the ordinance of Baptism as a fundamental error, or as necessarily connected with danger to society. He alludes to sentiments, which were openly avowed by the Anabaptists, and which he viewed as striking at the root of civil government. To any one at all conversant with their history, the name instantly awakens the recollections of Munster, and of the enormities which were perpetrated there, to the disgrace of the Christian name, — enormities which none are more ready to condemn than the esteemed brethren to whom we have referred. If we seem to discover excessive solicitude to remove the appearance of calumny, our apology must be found in our deep veneration for the author, and in our conviction that he was not less distinguished by a Catholic spirit than by the other great excellencies of his character. Never was there a human breast, in which there dwelt a stronger affection for all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. — Ed.
(371) “ Plein de richesses, magnificences, et delices terriennes;” — “full of riches, magnificence, and earthly luxuries.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) Rejoice, and be exceeding glad.The second word implies a glorious and exulting joy. The same combination is found, possibly as an actual echo of its use here, in 1Pe. 1:8; 1Pe. 4:13; Rev. 19:7.
Your reward.The teaching of Luk. 17:10 shows that even here the reward is not of debt, but of grace (Rom. 4:4). It may be added that the temper to which the reward is promised practically excludes the possibility of such claim as of right. The reward is for those only who suffer for righteousness, for Christ, not for those who are calculating on a future compensation.
In heaven.Literally, in the heavens, as in the phrase, the kingdom of heaven. the plural being used possibly with reference to the Jewish belief in three (2Co. 12:2) or seven heavens, more probably as implying, in its grand vagueness (like the many mansions of Joh. 14:2), the absence of any space limits to the promised reward. As with the kingdom of heaven, so here, the word is not to be thrown forward into the far-off future, but points to the unseen eternal world which is even now present to us, and of which all true disciples of Christ are citizens (Php. 3:20).
So persecuted they the prophets.Zechariah the son of Jehoiada (2Ch. 24:21), Jeremiah (Jer. 11:21; Jer. 20:2), and the sufferers in the reign of Ahab (1Ki. 18:4), are the great historical instances. Isaiah may be added from tradition. But the words were, we can hardly doubt, true of the prophetic order as a whole. The witnesses for unwelcome truths have never had, anywhere or at any time, a light or easy task. In the words the prophets which were before you there is a tacit assumption that the disciples also to whom He spake were called to a prophetic work. There was to be, in part at least, a fulfilment of the old grand wish, Would God that all the Lords people were prophets! (Num. 11:29). The Church of Christ, endowed with the Pentecostal gift, was to be as a prophet to the nations.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Rejoice and be exceeding glad This verse may be most easily explained by reversing the order of its clauses. As your sufferings associate you with the prophets which were before you, so like their’s your reward in heaven is great; therefore Rejoice, etc.
2 . Woes pronounced upon the opposite characters.
To three of these benedictions, St. Luke’s report of the discourse contains three counter woes. They are so presented as to suggest that Luke reports but a part, and that our Lord uttered an antithetic woe for each benediction.
Luke (Luk 6:24-25) pronounces a woe upon the rich and the full; that is, upon those who have made this world’s goods, or some other satisfaction, a substitute for the Gospel grace and blessedness. Their case we have sufficiently explained in our comment on Mat 5:3.
Luk 6:25: Woe unto you that laugh in opposition to the penitents of Mat 5:4. The evil of sin makes no impression upon their revelling merriment; or instead of mourning for sin, they drown the commencing grief with laughter, and perhaps riot. Christ pronounces upon them WOE; a word in which grief and authority in him are combined, and in which future sorrow and vain weeping are predicted for them.
Luk 6:26: Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you This woe stands opposed to the blessed, spoken of those who are reviled for righteousness’ sake in Mat 5:11. The phrase all men (like the term the world) is used to distinguish the great ungodly mass as opposed to the righteous few. The phrase alludes to the fact that, in Jewish history, the mass of the nation the all men reviled the prophets, and persecuted the righteous few. Woe to that preacher who wins applause by whitewashing sin.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Rejoice, and be extremely glad,
For great is your reward in Heaven,
For so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.’
And when persecution happens they should rejoice. Indeed they should be deliriously happy. For it will indicate that they are deserving people, and it will mean that their reward in Heaven will be great. To them will belong the Kingly Rule of Heaven which has been given to the persecuted ones of Mat 5:10. Eternal blessedness will be theirs. For such treatment will put them into the same category as the great prophets of the past. For the prophets too were persecuted by the fathers of these people in the same way as they will shortly be. This last statement parallels that in Mat 5:10. Those prophets were ‘blessed ones’ as well.
Here then Jesus’ current disciples are paralleled with the prophets. They are presumably indeed to see themselves as prophetic men. Theirs is to be the privilege of carrying on in the train of the prophets, and indeed, because of their present position in the Kingly Rule of God, to be at present of an even higher status than they (Mat 11:11).
And here He stops, on a high note with no jarring thought of false prophets. But later He will add a warning. He will introduce the thought that they must take heed to themselves. For towards the end of Jesus’ message the contrast will be brought out of false prophets. Sadly they too will arise. And they will be known by their fruits (Mat 7:15-23). It will then be brought out that it was important therefore that His disciples recognise the danger of becoming false prophets. They were to ensure that if they were persecuted and insulted it was for the right reason. They must look to the fruit that will be borne in their lives in the doing of the will of Jesus’ Father in Heaven (Mat 7:21). By ensuring that they do His will, they will then ensure that they remain as true prophets. However, this is not part of Jesus’ message yet. At present He is speaking with positive confidence in His disciples, and showing them what kind of people they are and must be. For their present status demonstrates that they have been truly blessed by God.
‘Your reward in Heaven.’ That is, ‘your reward stored up for you by God’. This is another example of the desire to avoid using God’s name more than necessary. The point is that no one will lose out, however much they are called on to suffer.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
In spite of the persecutions, then:
v. 12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Joy, gladness in the highest measure is possible, an irrepressible exhibition of exultation is expected of Christ’s followers. For all the hatred that can be poured out by the enemies cannot be measured against, cannot come into consideration in comparison with, the reward of grace in heaven. They will be more than amply repaid for all the disagreeable show of hatred which they were compelled to endure here, Rom 8:17-18; 2Co 4:17. Another comfort which upholds them in their trial: they thereby become, in that respect at least, the equals of the prophets. It cannot be a source of lasting sorrow to endure for a time, knowing that the prophets of old were martyred in the same way, and yet endured the afflictions gladly for His name’s sake, 2Ch 36:16; Heb 11:33-40. Therefore, take up the work and endure the suffering of those that were before you, knowing that their reward will be yours also.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 5:12 . ] comp. , 2Co 4:17 , and remarks thereon. The article denotes: the reward which is destined, kept in readiness for you (Mat 25:34 ; Col 1:5 ), and that for the indignities, persecutions, and lies borne through faith in me.
] is great in heaven. A reference to the book of life (Fritzsche, Gratz), Phi 4:3 , Rev 3:5 ; Rev 20:15 ; Rev 21:27 , Dan 12:1 , is not yielded by the text, which only presents the idea that the reward is laid, up in heaven until the future communication of it, which begins with the establishment of the kingdom, and therefore not , but , is to be supplied; and this is to be taken not as irrespective of time (de Wette), but as present.
] assigns the reason from the recognised certainty (Mat 10:41 ) that to the prophets , who formerly were persecuted in like manner (Mat 23:29 ff.), great reward is reserved in heaven for future communication in the kingdom of the Messiah.
The prophets (comp. Mat 7:12 ) are a typical example for the disciples. On the conception of , which (Rom 4:4 ), comp. Mat 20:1 ff.; Luk 17:10 ; see generally Weiss in d. Deutsch. Zeitschr . 1853, p. 40 ff.; Bibl. Theol. p. 104 ff.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
We have here the opening of our LORD’S Sermon, and, a most blessed sermon it is. Let the Reader observe how JESUS opens it in pronouncing blessings. JESUS himself is the great comprehensive blessing of all blessings, and the blessedness of his people. It is worthy remark that the Old Testament ended, yea in the very last word of it, with the LORD’S threatenings of a Curse. Mal 4:6 . The first word of CHRIST’S Gospel is Blessing. CHRIST himself is the WORD, the Uncreated Word, and the Blessing. Joh 1:1 . How truly delightful is it to look at the Old Testament through the New, and to view the Law by the Gospel.
If the Reader looks attentively to this opening of our LORD’S sermon, be will find no less than eight distinct characters JESUS speaks of as blessed; namely, poor in spirit; they that mourn; the meek; they who hunger and thirst after righteousness; the merciful; the pure in heart; the peace-makers; and the persecuted (and falsely reviled) for righteousness’ sake. Now the question instantly ariseth; where are these characters to be found? Not in themselves it must be immediately confessed; for when the LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that would understand and seek after God, we are told from the Word of God, that the result of that enquiry was, that there was none that did good, no not one. Psa 14:1-3 ; Rom 3:10 , etc. Hence therefore when the Lord came himself from heaven, and came, as he himself saith, to seek and save that which was lost, could JESUS mean, in coming, not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance, that his should find such characters as he hath here declared to be blessed. Oh! how plain, how very plain is it, that the persons here spoken of are the redeemed given by the FATHER, made blessed in the righteousness of the SON, and regenerated and sanctified by the HOLY GHOST. Reader! If we read the precious words of JESUS in this true gospel sense, we shall, under divine teaching; discover that all such as are here spoken of, are blessed in JESUS indeed. The first feature of character the Lord takes notice of them is, that they are poor in spirit, not poor in pocket; for outward circumstances, either in poverty or riches, have nothing to do with inward grace. Many that are poor in worldly things, are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom. And many it is to be feared, by what we behold in the world, are poor in this life, and will be poor to all eternity in the life to come, But the poor in spirit, means poor in soul concerns. They know, through the Lord’s teaching, their spiritual poverty, their lost, their undone estate before GOD. They are conscious they owe ten thousand talents, and have nothing to pay. Ruined in Adam, they view their lost estate, and are convinced that there can be no salvation but in CHRIST. Such JESUS declares to be blessed, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They were chosen in CHRIST, and are thus training for the everlasting enjoyment of CHRIST, to all eternity.
The Lord next describes them (for they are all one and the same persons, all that he hath here declared to be blessed:) as mourners. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. And this mark of grace follows the former. The eye of the soul is no sooner opened to see his state of poverty and wretchedness before Cod, but the heart melts at the view of it. Sin; in-dwelling, in-bred sin, opens a constant spring of sorrow. Like Paul they cry out, Oh! wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? And never, until JESUS is opened to their view, in all the glories of his person, blood, and righteousness: yea, until by the HOLY GHOST, CHRIST is brought personally home, and applied to the heart, and formed in the heart the hope of glory, can any comfort be found. And even to the close of life, the conscious sense of the remains of in-dwelling corruption, tends, under grace, to keep open an unceasing spring of our repentance towards Cod, while the soul is supported in the assured interest in CHRIST; by which, Christ. is more and more endeared to the heart, to be more in love with him, and more out of love with themselves, until grace is finished in everlasting glory. It is such holy mourners, the Lord Jesus said, shall be comforted. All the persons of the GODHEAD do now comfort them: the word of GOD is their comfort: ordinances are their comfort: the promises are their comfort: all the discoveries of pardoning love, grace, mercy, refreshments, manifestations of divine love, providences; all and every tendency of the Lord towards them are full of comfort: and, at length, when they come to drop the body in the grave, they will be indeed comforted, for they will be introduced unto the general assembly of the first-born, and dwell forever in the joy of their Lord, Isa 61:1 ; Jas 2:5 .
In like manner, the whole of the features of character, which follow, if construed with an eye to the whole tenor of CHRIST’S gospel, plainly shew forth whom the Lord JESUS had in view. Blessed are the meek: not the meekness of suppressed anger induced by the tight constraints of philosophy; but the meekness induced by the fruits of the Spirit of Cod. Had CHRIST meant the mere moral virtue of meekness, such as it is called of the Stoic; who so much esteemed as the Romans and the Lacedemonians of old? But yet they perished in their heathenism and sins. The meekness the SON of God pronounced blessed, is the meekness inwrought in the soul, by the gracious influence of GOD the HOLY GHOST. It is learnt of JESUS. Mat 11:29 . It is wholly from Jesus. Joh 15:4-5 . And it is his regenerated members of whom he saith, the LORD will beautify the meek with salvation. Psa 149:4 . This meekness of the LORD’S own creating in the soul is of great price. 1Pe 4:3 .
So again, the blessedness pronounced on them who hunger and thirst after righteousness. It were a weakness of judgment indeed, to suppose, that the righteousness such souls most earnestly desire, is the righteousness of mere moral honesty and justice between man and man in life. These things the laws among men enforce, and the Scribes and Pharisees of our LORD’S days, prided themselves upon them. Surely no one who reads his Bible can for a moment, if he thinks rightly, suppose that the SON of God came upon earth to preach what even unenlightened heathens had always insisted upon. This would be indeed to run back to the law of Moses, instead of preaching the Gospel of Christ. But the righteousness the SON of GOD had in view, when declaring these souls blessed which hungered and thirsted for it, was his own complete righteousness, which alone can justify a poor sinner in the sight of GOD. So that in the hungering for it, the soul gave evident proofs that he had no righteousness of his own to appear in before God, and therefore earnestly longed to be clothed with CHRIST’S robe of righteousness, and garment of salvation. And graciously the Lord JESUS here declares all such shall not hunger in vain. He who excites the hunger in the soul, is He who also satisfieth it. And hence the promises and the performance. Psa 132:9-16 ; Isa 61:10-11Isa 61:10-11 .
I must not trespass in my Poor Man’s Commentary, to explain to the full on gospel principles the whole of the characters which the LORD JESUS hath here drawn, but were it not for enlarging, I might otherwise show how beautiful a correspondence they all bear to each other. Blessed are the merciful. Not merely kindness to the bodies of men, no nor to the souls of men only. These are the fruits and effects of the mercifulness the LORD JESUS speaks of; and not the thing itself. But the mercifulness JESUS pronounceth blessed, is that mercy of soul inwrought by the regenerating influence of the HOLY GHOST, and from an union with CHRIST, the mercy of mercies. And from this source within, this union and communion with CHRIST, all the gracious acts will flow forth in mercy to others, and which the blessed souls themselves are receiving from their glorious merciful Head.
Blessed are the pure in heart; made so by regenerating grace; for by nature the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Jer 17:9 . Hence the LORD promiseth his people to take away the heart of stone, and give them an heart of flesh. Eze 36:25-26 . The people that are blessed are those whose hearts the Lord hath changed, who are indeed holy and pure in the cleansing and justifying purity and holiness of the LORD, their righteousness; but who feel conscious of the remains of indwelling corruption under which they groan. They see God in CHRIST in all the blessedness of salvation here in the life that now is, and they shall See him in the complete enjoyment of him in the life of glory that is to come.
The peace-makers are said to be blessed. But of whom doth CHRIST speak? Not simply peace-makers between man and man in the strifes of the world, for there is no peace saith my GOD to the wicked. Neither can it mean a man making his own peace with God, for that is impossible. CHRIST is the alone peace-maker, in making our peace in the blood of his cross. But the peace-makers here said to be blessed, shalt be called the children of GOD. They are proved to be so by adoption and grace. And that peace of GOD which ruleth in their hearts, will manifest itself in acts of peace among them which make peace.
And the blessedness to those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and reviled falsely for CHRIST’S sake, very plainly refer not to the mere act of persecution or reviling, but when those acts of cruelty are shewn to the followers of the Lord Jesus on his account, and for their attachment to him. Then, and then only, is it said by the LORD to be blessed.
I have studied as much brevity as possible in my illustration of those characters, that I might not unnecessarily swell the pages of the Poor Man’s Commentary. But I hope enough hath been said in proof that our LORD’S expressions are wholly to be considered on Gospel principles, and that the blessedness he pronounceth is the privilege of his redeemed in him.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Ver. 12. Rejoice and be exceeding glad ] Leap and skip for joy, as frolicing young cattle use to do in the spring, when everything is in its prime and pride. ( , Heb. et Psal. cxliv. Significat proprie saltum animalium prae luxu. Lorin. Dicuntur lascivientes pecudes . Beza. Neh 8:10 ) Thus George Roper, at his coming to the stake, let a great leap. So soon as the flame was about him, he put out both his arms from his body, like a rood, and so stood steadfast, “the joy of the Lord being his strength,” not plucking his arms in till the fire had consumed and burnt them off. So Doctor Taylor going toward his death, and coming within a mile or two of Hadley (where he was to suffer), he leapt and fetched a frisk or twain, as men commonly do in dancing. “Why, Master Doctor,” quoth the sheriff, “how do you now?” He answered, “Well, God be praised, good Master Sheriff, never better; for now I know I am almost at home. I lack not past two stiles to go over, and I am even at my Father’s house.” Likewise Rawlins White, going to the stake, whereas before he was wont to go stooping, or rathed crooked, through infirmity of age, having a sad countenance, and a very feeble complexion, and also very soft in speech and gesture, -now he went and stretched up himself bolt upright, and bare also a most pleasant and comfortable countenance, not without great courage and audacity, both in speech and behaviour. (Acts and Mon.) It were easy to instance the exceeding great joy of the apostles, Act 5:41 , who went from the council rejoicing that they were so far honoured as to be dishonoured for the name of Jesus; which Casaudon calleth Elegantissimum oxymoron. So Bradford: “God forgive me,” saith he, “mine unthankfulness for this exceeding great mercy, that, among so many thousands, he chooseth me to be one in whom he will suffer.” And in a letter to his mother: “For Christ’s sake I suffer,” saith he, “and therefore should be merry and glad; and indeed, good mother, so I am, as ever I was; yea, never so merry and glad was I as now I should be, if I could get you to be merry with me, to thank God for me, and to pray on this sort: Ah, good Father, that dost vouchsafe that my son, being a grievous sinner in thy sight, should find this favour with thee, to be one of thy Son’s captains and men of war, to fight and suffer for his Gospel’s sake; I thank thee, and pray thee in Christ’s name, that thou wouldst forgive him his sins and unthankfulness, and make him worthy to suffer, not only imprisonment, but even very death for thy truth, religion, and gospel’s sake,” &c. Whether Bradford’s mother did thus or no, I know not; but William Hunter’s mother (that suffered under Bonnet) told him that she was glad that ever she was so happy as to bear such a child, as could find in his heart to lose his life for Christ’s name’s sake. Then William said to his mother, “For my little pain which I shall suffer, which is but for a little braid, Christ hath promised me a crown of joy. May not you be glad of that, mother?” With that his mother kneeled down on her knees, saying, “I pray God strengthen thee, my son, to the end; yea, I think thee as well bestowed as any child that ever I bare.” “For, indeed,” as Mr Philpot the martyr said, “to die for Christ is the greatest promotion that God can bring any in this vale of misery unto; yea, so great an honour, as the greatest angel in heaven is not permitted to have.” This made John Clerk’s mother, of Melda in Germany (when she saw her son whipped and branded in the forehead for opposing the pope’s indulgences, and calling him Antichrist), to hearten her son, and cried out, Vivat Christus eiusque insignia: “Blessed be Christ, and welcome to these marks of his.” (Scultet. Annal.) Constantinus, a citizen of Rome (with three other), being, for defence of the gospel, condemned to be burned, were put into a dungcart, who thereat rejoicing, said that they were reputed here the excrements of the world, but yet their death was a sweet odour to God. When the chain was put about Alice Driver’s neck: “Oh,” said she, “here is a goodly neckerchief, blessed be God for it.” Algerius, Christ’s prisoner, thus dated his letter, “from the Delectable Orchard of the Leonine prison.” “And I am in prison till I be in prison,” said Saunders. (Acts and Mon.) “And, indeed,” said Bradford, “I thank God more for this prison than of any parlour, yea, than of any pleasure that ever I had, for in it I find God my most sweet God always.” “After I came into prison” (saith Robert Glover, martyr, in a letter to his wife), “and had reposed myself there awhile, I wept for joy and gladness, my belly full, musing much of the great mercies of God; and as it were, thus saying to myself, Lord, who am I, on whom thou shouldst bestow this great mercy, to be numbered among the saints that suffer for thy gospel sake?” “And I was carried to the coal house,” saith Mr Philpot, “where I and my six fellows do rouse together in the straw as cheerfully, we thank God, as others do in their beds of down.” And in another letter to the Lady Vane: “I am now in the coal house, a dark and ugly prison as any is about London; but my dark body of sin hath well deserved the same, &c. And I thank the Lord, I am not alone, but have six other faithful companions, who, in our darkness, do cheerfully sing hymns and praises to God for his great goodness. We are so joyful, that I wish you part of my joy,” &c. “Good brethren,” said William Tims, martyr, “I am kept alone, and yet I thank God, he comforteth me past all the comfort of any man; for I was never merrier in Christ.” “You shall be whipped and burned for this gear, I think,” said one Mr Foster to John Fortune, martyr. To whom he replied, “If you knew how these words rejoice mine heart, you would not have spoken them.” “Why,” quoth Foster, “thou fool, dost thou rejoice in whipping?” “Yea,” said Fortune, “for it is written in the Scriptures, and Christ saith, ‘Ye shall be whipped for my name’s sake.’ And since the time that the sword of tyranny came into your hand, I heard of none that was whipped: happy were I if I had the maiden head of this persecution.” William Walsey was so desirous to glorify God with his suffering, that being wonderful sore tormented in prison with toothache, he feared nothing more than that he should depart before the day of his execution (which he called his glad day) were come. Anthony Person, with a cheerful countenance, embraced the stake whereat he was to be burned, and kissing it, said, “Now welcome, mine own sweet wife, for this day shall thou and I be married together in the love and peace of God.” Lawrence Saunders took the stake to which he should be chained in his arms, and kissed it, saying, “Welcome the cross of Christ; welcome everlasting life.” Walter Mill, Scot, being put to the stake, ascended gladly, saying, ” Introibo altare Dei I will go to rise to God.” John Noyes, martyr, took up a fagot at the fire, and kissed it, and said, “Blessed be the time that ever I was born to come to this.” Denly sang in the fire at Uxbridge: so did George Carpenter, the Bavarian martyr: so did Wolfgangus Schuh, a German; when he entered into the place heaped up with fagots and wood, he sang, ” Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi, In domum Domini ibimus. ” “I have rejoiced in this passage which said to me, I will go to the house of the Lord.” (Scultet. Annal.) Two Austin monks at Bruxelles, A. D. 1523 (the first among the Lutherans that suffered for religion), being fastened to the stake to be burnt, sang Te Deum and the Creed. Others clapped their hands in the flames in token of triumph; as Hawks and Smith, and five martyrs burnt together by Bonner. Bainham at the stake, and in the midst of the flame (which had half consumed his arms and his legs), spake these words, “O ye Papists, behold, ye look for miracles: here you may see a miracle: for in this fire I feel no more pain than if I were in a bed of down; but it is to me as a bed of roses.” (Acts and Mon.) Now what was it else whereby those worthies (of whom the world was not worthy) quenched the violence of the fire, and out of weakness were made strong? Was it not by their heroic and impregnable faith causing them to endure, as seeing him that is invisible, and having respect, as Moses, to the recompence of reward! Heb 11:26-27 .
For great is your reward in heaven ] God is a liberal paymaster, and no small things can fall from so great a hand as his. “Oh that joy! O my God, when shall I be with thee?” said a dying peer of this realm (the Lord Harrington). So great is that joy, that we are said to enter into it, it is too full to enter into us, Mat 25:21 . Elias, when he was to enter into it, feared not the fiery chariots that came to fetch him, but through desire of those heavenly happinesses, waxed bold against those terrible things, Atque hoc in carne adhuc vivens (it is St Basil’s observation); and this he did while he was as yet in the flesh. Contra horrenda audax fuit, et cum gaudio flammeos currus inscendit. (Basil.) For he had oculum in metam (which was Ludovicus Vives his motto), his eye upon the mark; he pressed forward toward the high prize, with Paul, Phi 3:14 ; and looking through the terror of the fire, saw heaven beyond it; and this made him so valiant, so violent for the kingdom. A Dutch martyr, feeling the flame to come to his beard: “Ah,” said he, “what a small pain is this to be compared to the glory to come.” Hellen Stirk, a Scotch woman, to her husband at the place of execution spoke thus, “Husband, rejoice; for we have lived together many joyful days, but this day in which we must die ought to be most joyful to us both, because we must have joy for ever; therefore I will not bid you good night, for we shall suddenly meet within the kingdom of heaven.” The subscription of Mistress Ann Askew to her confession was this, “Written by me, Ann Askew, that neither wisheth for death nor feareth his might, and as merry as one that is bound toward heaven.” “Oh, how my heart leapeth for joy,” said Mr Philpot, “that I am so near the apprehension of eternal life. God forgive me mine unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great glory. I have so much joy of the reward prepared for me, most wretched sinner, that though I be in place of darkness and mourning, yet I cannot lament; but both night and day am so joyful, as though under no cross at all; yea, in all the days of my life I was never so merry, the name of the Lord be praised therefore for ever and ever; and he pardon mine unthankfulness. The Lord wondereth,” saith he in another place, “how we can be so merry in such extreme misery: but our God is omnipotent, which turneth misery into felicity. Believe me, there is no such joy in the world as the people of Christ have under the cross. I speak by experience, &c. To this joy all other being compared, are but mournings, all delight sorrows, all sweetness sour, all beauty filth, and, finally, all things counted pleasant are tediousness.” Great, then, we see, is their reward in earth that suffer for Christ: they have heaven beforehand, they rejoice in tribulation, with joy unspeakable and glorious, 1Pe 1:8 ; they have an exuberancy of joy, such as no good can match, no evil overly match. “For though I tell you,” said Mr Philpot in a letter to the congregation, “that I am in hell, in the judgment of this world, yet assuredly I feel in the same the consolation of heaven. And this loathsome and horrible prison is as pleasant to me as the walks in the garden in the King’s Bench.” (Acts and Mon.) What will it be, then, when they shall have crowns on their heads and palms in their hands; when they shall come to that general assembly ( ), Heb 12:23 , and have all the court of heaven to meet and entertain them; when they shall “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,” Rev 14:4 , and have places given them to walk among those that stand by, Zec 3:7 ; (that is, among the seraphim, as the Chaldee paraphrast expoundeth it), among the angels of Heaven? (Allusively, to the walks and galleries that were about the temple.) Maiora certamina, maiora sequuntur praemia, saith Tertullian. Quisquis volens detrahit famae meae, nolens addit mercedi meae, saith Augustine. The more we suffer with and for Christ, the more glory we shall have with and from Christ. Luther was wont to say, when any man spake evil of him, This will be accounted to my reckoning at the last day. Mihi maxime prosunt, saith he, qui mei pessime meminerunt. They are my best friends who speak worst of me. (Luther, Epist. ad Spalatin.)
For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you ] Your betters sped no better: strange not therefore at it, start not for it. Optimum solatium sodalitium. Persecution hath ever been the saints’ portion. How early did martyrdom come into the world! The first man that died died for religion. And although Cain is gone to his place, Act 1:25 , yet I would he were not still alive in his sons and successors, who hate their brethren, because they are more righteous, Et clavam eius sanguine Abelis rubentern cireumferunt, as Bucholcer speaketh. But that is not to be wished; or, at least, it is magis optabile quam opinabile, more desirable than imaginable that ever a prophet shall want a persecutor while there is a busy devil and a malicious world. The leopard is said so to hate man, that he flies upon his very picture, and teareth it: so doth the devil and his imps, God and his image. The tiger is said to be enraged with the smell of sweet odours; so are the wicked of the world with the fragrance of God’s graces. Noah rose up and condemned them by his contrary courses, and therefore underwent a world of calamities. Puritan Lot was an eyesore to the sinful Sodomites, and is cast out, as it were, by an ostracism. His father Haran, the brother of Abraham, died before his father Terah in Ur of the Chaldees, Gen 11:28 . The Hebrews tell us that he was cruelly burnt by the Chaldees, because he would not worship the fire which they had made their god. Sicut Persae suum Orimasdam. How often was Moses made (as Cato among the Romans) to plead for his life! And although David’s innocence triumphed in Saul’s conscience, yet could he not be safe, but carried his life in his hand continually, as he complaineth in Psa 119:109 , which was made, as is thought, in the midst of those troubles, out of his own observations and experiments. As for the prophets that came after, which of them have not your fathers slain? saith our Saviour to the Pharisees, whom he bids (by an irony) to fill up the measure of their fathers, Mat 23:32-34 ; and foretelling that they shall deal so by the apostles (whom he there calleth, according to the custom of that country, prophets, wise men, and scribes), he demandeth of those serpents and brood of vipers how they can escape those treasures and hoards of wrath they have been so long in heaping? They had a little before delivered up John Baptist to Herod, and did unto him whatever they would, Mat 17:11-12 . Thereupon our Saviour departed out of Judea into Galilee, as John the Evangelist hath it, lest he should suffer the same things from them. For though Herod were tetrarch of Galilee, and therefore it might seem a safer way for our Saviour to keep from thence (after John was beheaded) and to continue in Judea; yet forasmuch as he was but their slaughter slave (as Bonner was to the rest of the bishops of those days), Christ knew that if he did decline their fury, there was no such cause to fear Herod. Therefore when some of the Pharisees, pretending goodwill to him, bade him leave there, for else Herod would kill him, he replied, Go tell that fox, that I know both my time and my task, which he would be doing at today and tomorrow, that is, as long as he wished, without his leave, Luk 13:31-33 . : . Absolute vocantur, qui pro Christo sanguinem fuderunt. (Beza.) And the third day, when his hour was once come, he should be sacrificed; but it must be in Jerusalem, and by the Pharisees, for it befell not a prophet to perish out of Jerusalem. There it was that Stephen was stoned, James slain with the sword, Peter imprisoned and destined to destruction, Paul whipped and bound, many of the saints punished often in every synagogue, and compelled by the high priest’s authority either to blaspheme or flee to strange cities, as appeareth in many places of the Acts, or rather Passions, of the apostles: for none (out of hell) ever suffered harder and heavier things than they. See what St Paul witnesseth of himself, and think the like of the rest, 2Co 6:5 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12. . ] A reward, not of debt, but of grace, as the parable in ch. Mat 20:1 ff. clearly represents it. ‘An expression,’ as De Wette observes, ‘taken from our earthly commerce, and applied to spiritual things;’ in which however we must remember, that the principal reference is to God as the giver, and not to us as the deservers: see the parable above cited, where the is not what was earned , but what was covenanted . ‘Deus est debitor noster non ex commisso, sed ex promisso.’ Aug [40] (Tholuck.) These words, , must not be taken as having any bearing on the question as to the future habitation of the glorified saints. Their use in this and similar expressions is not local , but spiritual , indicating the blessed state when shall have fully come. The local question is to be decided by wholly different testimonies of Scripture; by the general tenor of prophecy, and the analogies of the divine dealings: and all of these seem to point rather to this earth, purified and renewed, than to the heavens in any ordinary sense of the term, as the eternal habitation of the blessed.
[40] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430
] For instance, Jeremiah was scourged, Jer 20:2 ; Zechariah son of Jehoiada was stoned, 2Ch 24:21 ; Isaiah, according to Jewish tradition, was sawn asunder by Manasseh.
The reasoning implied in may be thus filled up: “and great will be their reward in heaven.”
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 5:12 . . In spite of all, joy, exultation is possible nay, inevitable. I not only exhort you to it, but I tell you, you cannot help being in this mood, if once you throw yourselves enthusiastically into the warfare of God. is a strong word of Hellenistic coinage, from and , to leap much, signifying irrepressible demonstrative gladness. This joy is inseparable from the heroic temper. It is the joy of the Alpine climber standing on the top of a snowclad mountain. But the Teacher gives two reasons to help inexperienced disciples to rise to that moral elevation. . For evil treatment on earth there is a compensating reward in heaven. This hope, weak now, was strong in primitive Christianity, and greatly helped martyrs and confessors. . . If we take the as giving a reason for the previous statement the sense will be: you cannot doubt that the prophets who suffered likewise have received an eternal reward (so Bengel, Fritzsche, Schanz, Meyer, Weiss). But we may take it as giving a co-ordinate reason for joy = ye are in good company. There is inspiration in the “goodly fellowship of the prophets,” quite as much as in thought of their posthumous reward. It is to be noted that the prophets themselves did not get much comfort from such thoughts, and more generally that they did not rise to the joyous mood commended to His disciples by Jesus; but were desponding and querulous. On that side, therefore, there was no inspiration to be got from thinking of them. But they were thoroughly loyal to righteousness at all hazards, and reflection on their noble career was fitted to infect disciples with their spirit. : words skilfully chosen to raise the spirit. Before you not only in time but in vocation and destiny. Your predecessors in function and suffering; take up the prophetic succession and along with it, cheerfully, its tribulations.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Rejoice, &c. See 1Pe 4:13. Compare Act 16:25.
for = because. Not the same as in Mat 5:3, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12. .] A reward, not of debt, but of grace, as the parable in ch. Mat 20:1 ff. clearly represents it. An expression, as De Wette observes, taken from our earthly commerce, and applied to spiritual things; in which however we must remember, that the principal reference is to God as the giver, and not to us as the deservers: see the parable above cited, where the is not what was earned, but what was covenanted. Deus est debitor noster non ex commisso, sed ex promisso. Aug[40] (Tholuck.) These words, , must not be taken as having any bearing on the question as to the future habitation of the glorified saints. Their use in this and similar expressions is not local, but spiritual, indicating the blessed state when shall have fully come. The local question is to be decided by wholly different testimonies of Scripture;-by the general tenor of prophecy, and the analogies of the divine dealings: and all of these seem to point rather to this earth, purified and renewed, than to the heavens in any ordinary sense of the term, as the eternal habitation of the blessed.
[40] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430
] For instance, Jeremiah was scourged, Jer 20:2; Zechariah son of Jehoiada was stoned, 2Ch 24:21; Isaiah, according to Jewish tradition, was sawn asunder by Manasseh.
The reasoning implied in may be thus filled up: and great will be their reward in heaven.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 5:12. , rejoice) Joy is not only a feeling, but also a duty of the Christian (see Php 4:4); and in adversity, the highest grade and very nerve of patience.-, be exceeding glad) so that others also may perceive your joy.-, .., because, etc.) You may therefore rejoice on account of your reward.- , the reward) sc. of grace. The word Reward implies something further beyond the beatitudes, which spring from the very disposition of the righteous. Therefore it is said, Rejoice.- , the prophets) who, by bearing witness to Christ, have encountered hatred (see Act 7:52), whose reward you know to be great. Persecution has not occurred only in the case of barbarous nations whilst they were being converted to the Gospel, but always in the times of both the Old and New Testament: see 1Jn 3:12-13.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rejoice: Luk 6:23, Act 5:41, Act 16:25, Rom 5:3, 2Co 4:17, Phi 2:17, Col 1:24, Jam 1:2, 1Pe 4:13
for great: Mat 6:1, Mat 6:2, Mat 6:4, Mat 6:5, Mat 6:16, Mat 10:41, Mat 10:42, Mat 16:27, Gen 15:1, Rth 2:12, Psa 19:11, Psa 58:11, Pro 11:18, Isa 3:10, Luk 6:23, Luk 6:35, 1Co 3:8, Col 3:24, Heb 11:6, Heb 11:26
for so: Mat 21:34-38, Mat 23:31-37, 1Ki 18:4, 1Ki 18:13, 1Ki 19:2, 1Ki 19:10-14, 1Ki 21:20, 1Ki 22:8, 1Ki 22:26, 1Ki 22:27, 2Ki 1:9, 2Ch 16:10, 2Ch 24:20-22, 2Ch 36:16, Neh 9:26, Jer 2:30, Jer 26:8, Jer 26:21-23, Luk 6:23, Luk 11:47-51, Luk 13:34, Act 7:51, 1Th 2:15
Reciprocal: 2Sa 6:22 – more vile 2Sa 16:5 – cursed 2Sa 16:12 – requite 2Ch 15:7 – your work 2Ch 18:26 – Put Psa 119:69 – proud Pro 13:13 – rewarded Ecc 1:10 – it hath Isa 25:8 – rebuke Jer 32:2 – Jeremiah Jer 37:14 – said Jer 43:3 – to deliver Mat 21:35 – General Mat 23:37 – thou Mar 10:30 – with persecutions Mar 12:5 – and him Mar 13:13 – ye Act 7:52 – Which of Act 13:52 – were Act 24:5 – we have Act 25:7 – and laid Rom 8:18 – I reckon Rom 12:12 – Rejoicing 2Co 1:7 – as ye 2Co 6:8 – evil 2Co 6:10 – sorrowful 2Co 12:9 – Most Eph 6:8 – whatsoever Phi 3:1 – rejoice Phi 4:4 – alway 1Th 5:16 – Rejoice Heb 10:34 – and took Heb 10:35 – great Heb 11:32 – the prophets Jam 5:10 – for 1Pe 1:6 – ye greatly Rev 11:18 – and that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5:12
This verse continues the thought of the preceding one. It will be nothing new for the Lord’s disciples to be treated unjustly, for the righteous prophets were thus treated in forme years. The rejoicing is to be for having been classed with the righteous prophets. The reward will come after this life is over and the victims have been admitted into heaven.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 5:12. Rejoice, etc. An exhortation based on the declaration of blessedness in Mat 5:11, and confirming it. Needful, because the prospect of persecution is far from awakening joy.
For great is your reward in heaven. The reason both for rejoicing and for the blessedness. Reward, i.e., recompense; but of grace, not of debt Great implies that it would be beyond merit In heaven: either, in heaven, given in a future state of blessedness, or heavenly, spiritual, i.e., in the enjoyment of the blessings of the Messiahs kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. The latter sense accords best with the language of the discourse, and culminates in the former one.
For so persecuted they, i.e., the unbelieving Jews, (as in Mat 5:11), the prophets who were before you. Not an express assertion that the disciples were prophets. It, however, puts them on the same level, establishes the connection between the Old and the New Testaments, showing that the old antagonism remains. A permanent reason for rejoicing, not for the greatness of the reward.
Mat 5:13-16 teach the relation of the disciples, as thus described, to the world, under the two figures of salt and light.