Matthew 5:45

5:43-48 The Jewish teachers by neighbour understood only those who were of their own country, nation, and religion, whom they were pleased to look upon as their friends. The Lord Jesus teaches that we must do all the real kindness we can to all, especially to their souls. We must pray for them. While many will render good for good, we must render good for evil; and this will speak a nobler principle than most men act by. Others salute their brethren, and embrace those of their own party, and way, and opinion, but we must not so confine our respect. It is the duty of Christians to desire, and aim at, and press towards perfection in grace and holiness. And therein we must study to conform ourselves to the example of our heavenly Father, 1Pe 1:15,16. Surely more is to be expected from the followers of Christ than from others; surely more will be found in them than in others. Let us beg of God to enable us to prove ourselves his children.

{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.

Matthew 5:45-47 . Characteristically lofty inducements to obey the new law; likeness to God ( Matthew 5:45 ); moral distinction among men ( Matthew 5:46-47 ).— υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν : 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.— ὅτι , not = ὅς , but meaning “because”: for so your Father acts, and not otherwise can ye be His sons.— ἀνατέλλει , sometimes intransitive, as in Matthew 4:16 , Luke 12:54 , here transitive, also in Sept[34], Genesis 3:18 , etc., and in some Greek authors (Pindar. Isth. vi., 110, e.g. ) to cause to rise. The use of καίειν ( Matthew 5:15 ) and ἀνατέλλειν in an active sense is a revival of an old poetic use in later Greek (exx. of the former in Elsner).— βρέχει = pluit (Vulg[35]), said of God, as in the expression ὔοντος τοῦ Διὸς (Kypke, Observ. Sac. ). The use of this word also in this sense is a revival of old poetic usage.— πονηροὺς , ἀγαθούς ; δικαίους , ἀδίκους , not mere repetition. There is a difference between ἀγαθός and δίκαιος similar to that between generous and just. πονηροὺς may be rendered stubborn— vide on Matthew 6:23 . The sentiment thus becomes: “God makes His sun rise on stubborn 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).

(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 man’s fall, and leads evermore to a like issue; but we cannot err in striving to be like Him in His love. (Comp. St. Paul’s “followers [or, more literally, imitators” ] of God” in Ephesians 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 Father’s 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).

45. That ye may be the children—sons. of your Father which is in heaven—The meaning is, "that ye may show yourselves to be such by resembling Him" (compare Mt 5:9; Eph 5:1). for he maketh his sun—"your Father's sun." Well might Bengel exclaim, "Magnificent appellation!" to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust—rather, (without the article) "on evil and good, and on just and unjust." When we find God's own procedure held up for imitation in the law, and much more in the prophets (Le 19:2; 20:26; and compare 1Pe 1:15, 16), we may see that the principle of this surprising verse was nothing new: but the form of it certainly is that of One who spake as never man spake.

Matthew 5:45 . Ὅπως γένησθε , 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. John 15:8 . Thus, the God of Israel became the God of Israel; 2 Samuel 7:24 . Great is God’s condescension in not disdaining to invite His sons to imitate Him. ὅτι , κ . τ . λ ., 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.— τὸν ἥλιον Αὐτοῦ , His sun ) A magnificent expression. He both made the sun and governs it, and has it exclusively in His own power.— ἀνατέλλει , maketh to rise .— βρέχει , 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. Matthew 6:26 ; Matthew 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.

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 God’s 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.

Matthew 5:45 . Ὅπως γένησθε υἱοὶ , κ . τ . λ .] is commonly understood, in keeping with the ὅτι τὸν ἥλιον , κ . τ . λ ., 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 ( Ephesians 5:1 f.). But the correct interpretation is given by Matthew 5:9 , and is supported by γένησθε (for γίνεσθαι is never equivalent to εἶναι ). What is meant is, as in Matthew 5:9 , the obtaining of the coming salvation in the kingdom of the Messiah , which, according to the connection, as in Matthew 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 Matthew 5:48 . τοῦ ἐν οὐραν .] See on Matthew 6:9 . As to the thought, comp. Seneca, de benef . Matthew 4:25 : “Si deos imitaris, da et ingratis beneficia; nam et sceleratis sol oritur, et piratis patent maria .” ὅτι ] is not equivalent to ὅς , but the simple as (for), stating that ὅπως γένησθε υἱοὶ , κ . τ . λ ., is rightly said. Fritzsche here inappropriately (comp. already Bengel) drags in the usage of εἰς ἐκεῖνο ὅτι (see on John 2:18 ; John 9:17 , etc). ἀνατέλλει ] transitive, Hom. Il . v. 777; Pind. Isthm . vi. 5, v. 111; Soph. Phil . 1123; Diod. Sic. xvii. 7; LXX. Genesis 3:18 ; Sir 37:17 ; Clem. Cor .

I. 20. τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ] “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.

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 Matthew 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.