Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 5:45
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
45. that ye may be the children of your Father ] See note on Mat 5:9. To act thus would be to act like God, Who blesses those who curse Him and are His enemies, by the gifts of sun and rain. This is divine. Mere return of love for love is a human, even a heathen virtue.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That ye may be the children of your Father – In Greek, the sons of your Father. The word son has a variety of significations. See the notes at Mat 1:1. Christians are called the sons or children of God in several of these senses: as his offspring; as adopted; as his disciples; as imitators of Him. In this passage the word is applied to them because, in doing good to enemies, they resemble God. He makes His sun to rise upon the evil and good, and sends rain, without distinction, on the just and unjust. So His people should show that they imitate or resemble Him, or that they possess His spirit, by doing good in a similar way.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 45. That ye may be the children of your Father] Instead of children, some MSS., the latter Persic version, and several of the primitive fathers, read , that ye may be like to, or resemble, your Father who is in heaven. This is certainly our Lord’s meaning. As a man’s child is called his, because a partaker of his own nature, so a holy person is said to be a child of God, because he is a partaker of the Divine nature.
He maketh his sun to rise on the evil] “There is nothing greater than to imitate God in doing good to our enemies. All the creatures of God pronounce the sentence of condemnation on the revengeful: and this sentence is written by the rays of the sun, and with the drops of rain, and indeed by all the natural good things, the use of which God freely gives to his enemies.” If God had not loved us while we were his enemies, we could never have become his children: and we shall cease to be such, as soon as we cease to imitate him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
As your heavenly Father hath a common love, which he extendeth to all mankind, in supplying their necessities, with the light and warmth of the sun, and with the rain; as well as a special love and favour, which he exerciseth only toward those that are good, and members of Christ; so ought you to have: though you are not obliged to take your enemies into your bosom, yet you ought to love them in their order. And as your heavenly Father, though he will one day have a satisfaction from sinners, for the wrong done to his majesty, unless they repent; yet, to heap coals of fire on their heads, gives them good things of common providence, that he might not leave them without witness, yea, and affords them the outward means of grace for their souls: so, although you are bound to seek some satisfaction for Gods honour and glory from flagitious sinners, and though you may in an orderly course seek a moderate satisfaction for the wrong done to yourselves, yet you ought to love them with a love consistent with these things; that so you may imitate your heavenly Father, and approve yourselves to be his children.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
45. That ye may be thechildrensons.
of your Father which is inheavenThe meaning is, “that ye may show yourselves to besuch by resembling Him” (compare Mat 5:9;Eph 5:1).
for he maketh his sun“yourFather’s sun.” Well might BENGELexclaim, “Magnificent appellation!”
to rise on the evil and onthe good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjustrather,(without the article) “on evil and good, and on just andunjust.” When we find God’s own procedure held up for imitationin the law, and much more in the prophets (Lev 19:2;Lev 20:26; and compare 1Pe 1:15;1Pe 1:16), we may see that theprinciple of this surprising verse was nothing new: but the form ofit certainly is that of One who spake as never man spake.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That ye may be the children of your father,…. Not that any became the children of God, by doing things in imitation of him: for as in nature no man becomes the son of another by imitating him, or by doing the things he does but either by birth, or by adoption; so in grace no man becomes a child of God by the works he does, as a follower of God, but by adopting grace; and which is discovered in regeneration. Christ’s meaning is, that they might appear, and be known to be the children of God, by doing those things in which they resemble their heavenly Father; and which are agreeable to his nature and conduct; as the tree is known by its fruit, and the cause by its effect: for where adoption and regenerating grace take place, the fruit of good works is brought forth to the glory of God. Some copies, instead of , “children”, read “like”: and accordingly, the Persic version renders it thus, “that ye may be like your Father, which is heaven”. Our Lord seems to have respect to the Jews, often having in their mouths this expression, , “our Father which is in heaven”; and to their frequent boasting that they were the children of God; and therefore he would have them make this manifest by their being like him, or acting in imitation of him;
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil, and on the good. Christ instances in one of the greatest blessings in nature, the sun, so useful to the earth, and so beneficial to mankind for light and heat; which he calls “his sun”: his own, and not another’s; which he has made, and maintains, orders to run its race, and commands it to rise morning by morning, and that upon good and bad men; one, as well as another; all equally share in, and partake of its benign influences, and enjoy the comfortable effects and blessings of it:
and sendeth rain on the just and unjust; that is, on the fields of persons of such different characters, even both the early and the latter rain; which makes the earth fruitful, crowns it with goodness, and causes it to bring forth bread to the eater, and seed to the sower. This is one of the most considerable blessings of life; the gift of it is God’s sole prerogative; it is peculiar to him; it is what none of the vanities of the Gentiles can give; and yet is bestowed by him on the most worthless and undeserving. This flows from that perfection of God, which the Cabbalists u call
“”chesed, mercy”, or benignity, to which it is essential to give largely to all, both “to the just and unjust”.”
The Jews have a saying x, that
“greater is the day of rain, than the resurrection of the dead; for the resurrection of the dead is for the just; but rain is , “both for the just, and for the wicked”:”
a way of speaking much like this here. They also used to praise God for rain, on this consideration, because it was given to unworthy persons.
“y R. Jose Bar Jacob went to visit R. Joden of Magdala; whilst he was there, rain descended, and he heard his voice, saying, thousands of thousands, and millions of millions are bound to praise thy name, O our king, for every drop thou causest to descend upon us,
, “because thou renderest good to the wicked”.”
Now our Lord instances in things which could not be denied, and they themselves allowed; and makes use of their own words, to engage them to imitate God, whom they call their Father, by doing good to their enemies, and them that hated them, as well as to their friends and neighbours: yet sometimes they could scarcely allow, that the Gentiles had the same share in this divine favour with themselves; for they say z, that
“God works by way of miracle, that rain should not be wanting in his land, although it is wanting in the countries of the Heathen; as he says, Job 5:10 “who giveth rain on the earth”, which is the land of Israel; for on that , “a great rain” descends, and “sendeth waters”, , “few (which is added to the text) upon the fields”; which relates to what is without the land, whereupon it does not descend, but the substance of the land of Israel; therefore he saith, the Lord will open to thee his good treasure, and not to others.”
u Sepher Shaar Hassamaim, Tract. 7. c. 12. p. 155. x T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 7. 1. y T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 14. 1. & Taanith, fol. 64. 2. z Tzeror Hammor, fol. 152. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “That ye may be,” (hopos genesthe) “So that you all may be,” be recognized as, or come to be recognized as (Mat 5:16), not become, for they were already His disciples Mat 5:2, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, Mat 5:12-16.
2) “The children of your Father which is in heaven:” (huioi tou patros humon tou en ouranois) “Sons or heirs of your Father in heaven:” Eph 5:11; For by such manifest love as the world has seen in Him, and saw in them, one for another, all men could recognize that they were His followers and children of the heavenly Father in deed, Joh 13:34-35; Jas 1:22.
3) “For he maketh his sun to rise,” (hoti ton helion autou anatellei) “Because he causes his sun to rise,” Act 14:17; Luk 12:16-17. Because the Father shows mercy on the just and unjust, to the extent that His children show mercy and goodness to sinners, they shall recognize that Christians are real.
4) “On the evil and on the good,” (epi ponerous kai agathous) “Upon wicked and good (men),” being no respector of persons with regards to His care for their physical needs, as He has provided for the redemption of all, Act 10:34; 2Pe 3:9; Joh 3:16.
5) “And sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (kai brechei epe dikaious kai adikous) “And he causes it to rain upon just and upon unjust men;” Without partiality or respect of person, in spite of differences in varieties of moral characters, simply to be an illustration of love, care, and compassion His children (and His church in particular) should show toward a lost world, Mat 28:18-20; Joh 20:21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
45. That ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven. When he expressly declares, that no man will be a child of God, unless he loves those who hate him, who shall dare to say, that we are not bound to observe this doctrine? The statement amounts to this, “Whoever shall wish to be accounted a Christian, let him love his enemies.” It is truly horrible and monstrous, that the world should have been covered with such thick darkness, for three or four centuries, as not to see that it is an express command, and that every one who neglects it is struck out of the number of the children of God.
It ought to be observed that, when the example of God is held out for our imitation, this does not imply, that it would be becoming in us to do whatever God does. He frequently punishes the wicked, and drives the wicked out of the world. In this respect, he does not desire us to imitate him: for the judgment of the world, which is his prerogative, does not belong to us. But it is his will, that we should imitate his fatherly goodness and liberality. This was perceived, not only by heathen philosophers, but by some wicked despisers of godliness, who have made this open confession, that in nothing do men resemble God more than in doing good. In short, Christ assures us, that this will be a mark of our adoption, if we are kind to the unthankful and evil. And yet you are not to understand, that our liberality makes us the children of God: but the same Spirit, who is the witness, (Rom 8:16,) earnest, (Eph 1:14,) and seal, (Eph 4:30,) of our free adoption, corrects the wicked affections of the flesh, which are opposed to charity. Christ therefore proves from the effect, that none are the children of God, but those who resemble him in gentleness and kindness.
Luke says, and you shall be the children of the Highest. Not that any man acquires this honor for himself, or begins to be a child of God, when he loves his enemies; but because, when it is intended to excite us to do what is right, Scripture frequently employs this manner of speaking, and represents as a reward the free gifts of God. The reason is, he looks at the design of our calling, which is, that, in consequence of the likeness of God having been formed anew in us, we may live a devout and holy life. He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. He quotes two instances of the divine kindness toward us, which are not only well known to us, but common to all: and this very participation excites us the more powerfully to act in a similar manner towards each other, though, by a synecdoche, (422) he includes a vast number of other favors.
(422) “ Combien qu’il comprend sous ces deux d’autres infinis tesmoignages, par une figure dont nous avons souvent parle, nommee Synecdoche.” — “Though, under these two, he includes innumerable other testimonies, by a figure, of which we have frequently spoken, called Synecdoche.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(45) That ye may be.Literally, and with far fuller meaning, that ye may become. We cannot become like God in power or wisdom. The attempt at that likeness to the Godhead was the cause of mans fall, and leads evermore to a like issue; but we cannot err in striving to be like Him in His love. (Comp. St. Pauls followers [or, more literally, imitators] of God in Eph. 5:1.) And the love which we are to reproduce is not primarily that of which the children of the kingdom are the direct objects, showing itself in pardon, and adoption, and spiritual blessings, but the beneficence which is seen in Nature. Our Lord assumes that sunshine, and rain, and fruitful seasons are His Fathers gifts, and proofs (whatever may be urged to the contrary) of His loving purpose. Here, again, the teaching of the higher Stoics presents an almost verbal parallel: If thou wouldst imitate the gods, do good even to the unthankful, for the sun rises even on the wicked, and the seas are open to pirates (Seneca, De Benefic. iv. 2, 6).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
45. Children of your Father Images and likenesses of the Father of us all, who in patient calmness disregards the insults of men, and still pours upon them his sunlight and his showers. God, as a Father, we may well imitate, but not God as a judge. To him, indeed, vengeance belongeth, and, at the due time, by him it will be rendered. But it is rulers alone that are God’s representatives in this respect.
To become the children of God implies regeneration, or being born again. When a man is bidden to love God, and to love his enemy, he may truly reply, “I cannot love at my will I cannot love to order I cannot command a feeling to exist in my heart.” His excuse is true, and it proves the very doctrine of human helplessness which he is perhaps inclined to condemn. He cannot create a holy love, nor infuse a single holy emotion into his own heart. But he can see, if he will look at the truth written on his own conscience, that he ought to love God and man; and so seeing he may look to God the author of his being to renew him in righteousness, and to implant that affection in his heart which by nature he cannot have. That prayer, truly, and sincerely, and perseveringly offered, will be granted. So that while no man can regenerate himself, every man may, at proper will, attain regeneration from God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Such behavior is in agreement with the true nature of Christians:
v. 45. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust
to become and to be indeed the children of God, to possess and exhibit the likeness of the heavenly Father. Because His heart is filled with goodness toward all His creatures, because He makes no distinction between righteous and unrighteous, between good and evil in His providence, they shall partake of their Father’s nature. For with absolute impartiality, and with no reference to individual character, whether niggardliness or generousness is more in evidence, He causes His sun to rise and sends His rain. Just so there should be neither indifference nor ignorance, but earnest concern and kind benevolence in the hearts of those who are striving sincerely to resemble the great Friend and Benefactor above.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 5:45. That ye may be the children, &c. Our blessed Saviour enforces the doctrine of loving our enemies, so far as to do them good, from the noblest of all considerations, that it renders men like God, who is good even to the evil and unthankful. “Being thus benevolent towards all, the bad as well as the good, you shall be like God, and so prove yourselves his genuine offspring; for he maketh his sun common to them who worship, and tothem who contemn him; and suffers his rain to be useful both to the just and to the unjust; alluring the bad to repentance, and stirring up the good to thankfulness, by this universal and indiscriminate benignity of his providence.” “If you would imitate the gods,” says Seneca, “do services even to the ungrateful; for the sun shines even upon the wicked.” “To conquer one’s passion, to refrain from revenge, not merely to raise but even to assist and dignify a fallen enemy,” says Cicero, “is not only to be like the greatest men, but like to God himself.” Haec qui faciat, non ego eum summis viris comparo, sed simillimum Deo judico. See his oration for Marcellus.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 5:45 . , . . .] is commonly understood, in keeping with the , . . ., that follows, of the ethical condition of similarity to God , according to which the child of God also exhibits in himself the divine disposition and the divine conduct (Eph 5:1 f.). But the correct interpretation is given by Mat 5:9 , and is supported by (for is never equivalent to ). What is meant is, as in Mat 5:9 , the obtaining of the coming salvation in the kingdom of the Messiah , which, according to the connection, as in Mat 5:9 , is designated as the future sonship of God, because the participators in the Messianic blessedness must necessarily be of the same moral nature with God as the original type of love; therefore the words that follow, and Mat 5:48 .
.] See on Mat 6:9 . As to the thought, comp. Seneca, de benef . Mat 4:25 : “Si deos imitaris, da et ingratis beneficia; nam et sceleratis sol oritur, et piratis patent maria .”
] is not equivalent to , but the simple as (for), stating that , . . ., is rightly said. Fritzsche here inappropriately (comp. already Bengel) drags in the usage of (see on Joh 2:18 ; Joh 9:17 , etc).
] transitive, Hom. Il . v. 777; Pind. Isthm . vi. 5, v. 111; Soph. Phil . 1123; Diod. Sic. xvii. 7; LXX. Gen 3:18 ; Sir 37:17 ; Clem. Cor . I. 20.
] “Magnifica appellatio; ipse et fecit solem et gubernat et habet in sua unius potestate” (Bengel). The goodness of God towards His enemies (sinners) Jesus makes His believers feel by the experimental proof of His all good administration in nature a proof which, like every one derived a posteriori in favour of a single divine attribute, is, on account of opposing experiences (God also destroys the good and the evil through natural manifestations), in itself insufficient, but, in popular instruction, has its proper place, and is of assured efficacy, with the same right as the special consideration of individual divine attributes in general.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Ver. 45. That ye may be the children of your Father ] That ye may appear to be, and will approve yourselves to be, the sons of God without rebuke amidst a perverse and crooked nation, Phi 3:15 ; while we resemble him, not in outward lineaments only, as an image doth a man, but in nature and disposition, as a child doth his father. Now God, to make known his power and patience, endureth with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, Rom 9:21 ; such incarnate devils as march up and down the earth, with heart and hands as full as hell with all manner of mischief, lewdness, and rebellion. Neither doth he bear with them only, but gives them the gospel to call them to repentance, and strives with them by his Spirit, which they desperately resist, yea, despite, hardening their hearts as the nether millstone, Job 41:24 , refusing to be reformed, hating to be healed; till at length they lose all passive power also of escaping the damnation of hell, which is a conformity to the very devils. This is his dealing with rebels and reprobates. Neither so only, but that he might make known the “riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared to glory,” Rom 9:23 . He loved his elect not yet existing, nay, resisting, and effectually called them, not only not deserving, but not so much as desiring it. “For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,” Rom 5:10 . God so loved the world, the wicked and wayward world, “that he sent his only begotten Son,” &c. Now, Qui misit Unigenitum, immisit Spiritum, promisit vultum; quid tandem tibi negaturus est? He that sent thee his Son, imparted unto thee of his Spirit, promised thee his favour; what will he deny thee? how shall he not with his Son give thee all things also? Rom 8:32 . a Oh let his patience be our pattern, his goodness our precedent, to love and show kindness to oar greatest enemies. So shall we force a testimony, if not from the mouths, yet at least the consciences of all, even the worst, that we are born of God, and do love him better than ourselves, when to please him we can so much cross ourselves in the practice of this most difficult duty.
For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil ] A sweet mercy, but not prized, because ordinary; as manna was counted a light meat, because lightly come by. But should we be left in palpable darkness, as were the Egyptians for three days together, so that no man stirred off the stool he sat on, this common benefit would be better set by. The sun is, as it were, a vessel whereinto the Lord gathered the light, which, till then, was scattered in the whole body of the heavens. This David beheld with admiration, Psa 8:3 , not with adoration, as those idolaters that worshipped the queen of heaven, Jer 44:17 ; (not so Job, Job 31:26-27 ). Truly, saith Solomon, the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun, Ecc 11:7 ; and St Chrysostom wondereth at this, that whereas all fire naturally ascendeth, God hath turned the beams of the sun towards the earth, made the light thereof to stream downwards. b It is for our sakes and service doubtless, whence also the sun hath his name in the Hebrew tongue (shemesh), a servant, as being the servant general of mankind; while he shines indifferently upon the evil and the good, and to both imparteth light and heat.
And his rain to fall ] Not only upon flowers and fruit trees, but also upon the briars and brambles of the wilderness. Those bottles of rain, the clouds, are vessels (saith one) as thin as the liquor which is contained in them; there they hang and move, though weighty with their burden; but how they are upheld, and why they fall here and now, we know not, and wonder. This we know (and may well wonder), that God maketh his sun to shine and his rain to fall on the evil and unjust also. What so great matter is it, then, if we light up our candle to such, or let down our pitcher that they may drink? This is our Saviour’s inference here. The dew we see falleth as well upon the daisy and thistle as upon the rose and violet, Ingens multitudo hominum et pecorum decidentibus subito nubibus, ac effusis consertim aquis, submersa est, &c. Bartholin. Idem in cataclysmo universali contigit. Pareus.
On the just, and on the unjust ] Those whom St Matthew calleth unjust, St Luke calleth unthankful, Luk 6:35 . Ingratitude is a high degree of injustice. God is content we have the benefit of his creatures and comforts, so he may have the praise of them. This is all the rent he looks for, and this he stands upon; he indents with us for it, Psa 50:15 , and God’s servants, knowing how he expects and accepts it, do usually oblige themselves to it, as that which pleaseth him better than “an ox that hath horns and hoofs,” Psa 69:31 ; And they have been careful to return it, as the solid bodies that reflect the heat they receive from the sunbeams upon the sun again. But most men are like the moon, which the fuller it is of light, the farther it gets off the sun from whom it receiveth light: like springs of water, that are coldest when the sun shineth hottest upon them: like the Thracian flint, that burns with water, is quenched with oil; or the Dead Sea, that swalloweth the silver streams of sweet Jordan, and yet grows thereby neither greater nor sweeter. “Do ye thus requite the Lord, O ye foolish people and unwise?” Deu 32:6 . Do ye thus rob him of his praise, and so run away with his rent? Is this the best return we make him for his many matchless mercies and miraculous deliverances? Out upon our unthankfulness and unrighteous dealing! that can devour God’s blessings as beasts do their prey, swallow them as swine their swill, bury them as the barren earth the seed; use them as homely as Rachel did her fathers’ gods, yea, abuse them to his dishonour, as if he had hired us to be wicked; and fight against him with his own weapons, as Jehu did against Jehoram with his own men, as David against Goliath with his own sword, as Benhadad against Ahab with that life that he had given him. The injurious usage at the hands of the sons of men was that which caused God to make a world and unmake it again, to promise them 120 years’ respite, and to repent him, so that he cut them short 20 years of the former number; yea, to perform the promised mercy and to repent him of it when he hath done, as David did of the kindness he had shown unworthy Nabal, 1Sa 25:21 . Will not God take his own from such, and be gone, Hos 4:9 , turn their glory into shame, Hos 4:7 , blast their blessings, Mal 2:2 , destroy them after he hath done them good, Jos 24:20 , cause them to serve their enemies in the want of all things, that would not serve so good a master in the abundance of all things? Deu 28:47 ; What should a prince do, but take a sword from a rebel? what should a mother do, but snatch away the meat from the child that mars it? And what can the wise and just Lord do less than cut off the meat from the mouths, and take away his corn and his wine, his wool and his flax, from such as not only not own him to it, but go after other sweethearts with it, paying their rents to a wrong landlord? ( Amasios suos. Hos 2:5 ) Thus he dealt by his unfruitful vineyard, Isa 5:5 , by the unprofitable servant, Mat 25:28 , by the foolish philosophers (for, as the chronicler speaketh of Sir Thomas Moore, “I know not whether to call them foolish wise men, or wise foolish men”), that imprisoned ( ) the truth in unrighteousness; and made not the best of that little light they had: God not only made fools of them, but “delivered them up to a reprobate sense,” Rom 1:28 , and only for their unthankfulness, which is robbing God of his due. O therefore what will become of us, that so ordinarily abuse to his daily dishonour our health, wealth, wit, prosperity, plenty, peace, friends, means, marriage, day, night, all comforts and creatures, our times, our talents; yea, the very Scriptures, the gospel of truth, the rich offers of grace, and our golden opportunities? Is not religion turned by many into a mere formality and policy? our ancient fervour and forwardness, into a general lukewarmness and unzealousness? and (besides the love of many waxen cold) doth not iniquity abound in every quarter and corner of the land? which therefore even groaneth under our burden, and longeth for a vomit to spue us out, as the most unthankful and unworthy people that ever God’s sun shone upon and God’s rain fell upon (the sun of Christ’s gospel especially, and the rain of his grace) so fair and so long together? If there be any unpardonable sin in the world, it is ingratitude, said that peerless Queen Elizabeth in a message to Henry IV, King of France. The very heathens judged it to be the epitome of all evil: call me unthankful, saith one, you call me all that naught is. c Lycurgus would make no law against it, because he thought no man would fall so far below reason as not thankfully to acknowledge a benefit. d Thus nature itself abhors ingratitude; which therefore carrieth so much the more detestation, as it is more odious even to them that have blotted out the image of God. e Some vices are such as nature smileth upon, though frowned at by divine justice: not so this. “Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?” Gen 44:4 .
a Nihil tandem ei negasse credendum est qui ad vituli hortatur esum. Jerome.
b Hom. vii. ad Pop. Antioch. So the earth is not covered with water, that man may inhabit it. Sailors observe that their ships flee faster to the shore than from it; whereof no reason can be given, but the height of the water above the land.
c Ingratum dixeris, omnia dixeris.
d Quod prodigiosa res esset beneficium non agnoscere.
e Ingratitudine nihil foedius etiam inter barbaros. Pareas
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
45. ] Probably, as Wordsw., the signification “that ye may become ” is not to be altogether lost sight of here. But the aor. somewhat modifies it, being literally “that ye may have become ,” i.e. “may be .” See similar instances in ch. Mat 18:3 ; Mat 20:26 .
. ] i.e. in being like Him . Of course there is allusion to our state of by covenant and adoption; but the likeness is the point especially here brought out. So , Eph 5:1 . The more we lift ourselves above the world’s view of the duty and expediency of revenge and exclusive dealing, into the mind with which the ‘righteous Judge, strong and patient, who is provoked every day,’ yet does good to the unthankful and evil, the more firmly shall we assure, and the more nobly illustrate, our place as sons in His family, as . Chrysostom beautifully observes, , , . , , , . , . , , , , , . Hom. xviii. 4, p. 239.
, because, ‘in that:’ gives the particular in which the conformity implied by consists.
. . ] Meyer quotes a sentiment of Seneca remarkably parallel: “Si deos imitaris, da et ingratis beneficia: nam et sceleratis sol oritur, et piratis patent maria.”
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 5:45-47 . Characteristically lofty inducements to obey the new law; likeness to God (Mat 5:45 ); moral distinction among men (Mat 5:46-47 ). : in order that ye may be indeed sons of God: noblesse oblige ; God’s sons must be Godlike. “Father” again. The new name for God occurs sixteen times in the Sermon on the Mount; to familiarise by repetition, and define by discriminating use. , not = , but meaning “because”: for so your Father acts, and not otherwise can ye be His sons. , sometimes intransitive, as in Mat 4:16 , Luk 12:54 , here transitive, also in Sept [34] , Gen 3:18 , etc., and in some Greek authors (Pindar. Isth. vi., 110, e.g. ) to cause to rise. The use of (Mat 5:15 ) and in an active sense is a revival of an old poetic use in later Greek (exx. of the former in Elsner). = pluit (Vulg [35] ), said of God, as in the expression (Kypke, Observ. Sac. ). The use of this word also in this sense is a revival of old poetic usage. , ; , , not mere repetition. There is a difference between and similar to that between generous and just. may be rendered niggardly vide on Mat 6:23 . The sentiment thus becomes: “God makes His sun rise on niggardly and generous alike, and His rain fall on just and unjust”. A similar thought in Seneca, De benif. vi. 26: “Si deos imitaris, da et ingratis beneficia, nam et sceleratis sol oritur, et piratis patent maria”. The power of the fact stated to influence as a motive is wholly destroyed by a pantheistic conception of God as indifferent to moral distinctions, or a deistic idea of Him as transcendent, too far above the world, in heaven, as it were, to be able to take note of such differences. The divine impartiality is due to magnanimity, not to indifference or ignorance. Another important reflection is that in this word of Jesus we find distinct recognition of the fact that in human life there is a large sphere (sun and rain, how much these cover!) in which men are treated by Providence irrespectively of character; by no means a matter of course in a Jewish teacher, the tendency being to insist on exact correspondence between lot and character under a purely retributive conception of God’s relation to man.
[34] Septuagint.
[35] Vulgate (Jerome’s revision of old Latin version).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
be = become.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
45. ] Probably, as Wordsw., the signification that ye may become is not to be altogether lost sight of here. But the aor. somewhat modifies it, being literally that ye may have become, i.e. may be. See similar instances in ch. Mat 18:3; Mat 20:26.
.] i.e. in being like Him. Of course there is allusion to our state of by covenant and adoption; but the likeness is the point especially here brought out. So , Eph 5:1. The more we lift ourselves above the worlds view of the duty and expediency of revenge and exclusive dealing, into the mind with which the righteous Judge, strong and patient, who is provoked every day, yet does good to the unthankful and evil,-the more firmly shall we assure, and the more nobly illustrate, our place as sons in His family, as . Chrysostom beautifully observes, , , . , , , . , . , , , , , . Hom. xviii. 4, p. 239.
, because, in that: gives the particular in which the conformity implied by consists.
. .] Meyer quotes a sentiment of Seneca remarkably parallel: Si deos imitaris, da et ingratis beneficia: nam et sceleratis sol oritur, et piratis patent maria.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 5:45. , that ye may become) When they love their enemies, they become His sons [but] in such a manner as [not to contravene the fact], that they already previously have Him for their Father.[234] An instance of Ploce:[235] Sons become sons, as disciples become disciples.-Cf. Joh 15:8. Thus, the God of Israel became the God of Israel; 2Sa 7:24. Great is Gods condescension in not disdaining to invite His sons to imitate Him. , …, for, etc.) Such is the principle upon which the Father is to be imitated. As God treats and rules us, so ought men to treat and rule each other.- , His sun) A magnificent expression. He both made the sun and governs it, and has it exclusively in His own power.-, maketh to rise.-, raineth, sendeth rain) It is the part of piety to speak of natural things as received from God, rather than to say impersonally, It rains, it thunders.-See ch. Mat 6:26; Mat 6:30; Job 36:27-28, and chapters 37-41; Psalms 104, etc. Franzius urges this strongly in his treatise on the Interpretation of Scripture, pp. 83, 632. Rain is a great blessing.
[234] i.e. He first loves them, and is their Father already; but they become His sons, and prove their sonship afterwards, when they love their enemies, even as He loved them when still enemies.-ED.
[235] See Appendix.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
ye: Mat 5:9, Luk 6:35, Joh 13:35, Eph 5:1, 1Jo 3:9
for: Job 25:3, Psa 145:9, Act 14:17
Reciprocal: Gen 2:5 – had not Gen 25:6 – gifts Lev 26:4 – Then I Num 12:13 – General Deu 4:19 – which the Lord Deu 10:18 – loveth Deu 33:14 – the precious Jos 10:13 – So the sun 2Sa 9:3 – the kindness of God Job 38:28 – Hath the Psa 33:5 – earth Psa 74:16 – prepared Psa 104:13 – watereth Psa 119:68 – good Psa 119:91 – all are Psa 136:8 – The sun Psa 147:8 – prepareth Pro 4:18 – General Pro 19:11 – and Pro 29:13 – Lord Ecc 11:7 – a pleasant Isa 11:9 – not hurt Jer 5:24 – that giveth Jer 14:22 – Art Jer 31:35 – which giveth Mat 5:16 – your Father Mat 5:48 – even Mat 15:27 – yet Mat 18:33 – even Mar 7:28 – yet Luk 11:13 – heavenly Luk 12:16 – The ground Joh 8:39 – If Act 17:25 – seeing Rom 1:20 – from the Phi 2:15 – sons 1Th 5:15 – none 1Pe 3:11 – do
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5:45
Children are supposed to be like their parents in disposition and actions. The disciples of Christ should be like their Father in heaven in that they are not selfish or partial in the bestowal of favors. God gives the blessings of nature on all classes alike, because these favors are not supposed to be rewards for righteous living, and hence their bestowal could not be regarded as an endorsement of their lives.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 5:45. That ye may be. Such action proves, not makes, the sonship. So doing we show our resemblance to God our Father (a relation springing from our relation to Christ) who maketh his sun, etc., whose love of benevolence is universal and not measured by the desert of the persons on whom He showers His providential favors. Christ here teaches the power and providence of God in nature, as well as His character of love.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
To encourage us to the foregoing duty of loving our enemies, our Saviour propounds the example of God himself to our imitation. That you may be the children of your Father; that is, that you may be known to be the children of your Father which is in heaven, by your likeness to him, and imitation of him.
Note, 1. That the best evidence we can have of our divine sonship, is our conformity to the divine nature, especially in those excellent properties of goodness and forgiveness.
Note, 2. That God doth good to them that are continually doing evil unto him. Rain and sun, fat and sweet, gold and silver, are such good things as their hearts and houses are filled with, who are altogether empty of grace and goodness.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
5:45 {10} That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
(10) A double reason: the one is taken of the relatives, The children must be like their father: the other is taken of comparisons, The children of God must be better than the children of this world.