PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1
Arthur Lukyn Williams [1853-1943] · 499,653 words · 546 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 181
is e. slavish thing, he says, for a man to take insult calmly, Such was the teaohina of the Greek philosopher. The Lord Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek." His lif:, his teaching, changed for ever the position of the gentler virtues. He was meek and lowly in heart. Christian meekness is of great price in the sight o…
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finish hie work. He hungered for our souls, he tbirste,i for our f&lvation; and we must hunger and thirst after him, who is the Life of our souls, the true Bread that came down from heaven, whose flesh is meat indeed, whose blood is drink indeed, who alone can fill our restless craving hearts. " He that cometh to me sh…
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mind, it separates a soul from God so utterly, with such fearful rapidity, that it occurs first to our thoughts when we meditate on this Beatitude. The pure he1nt is clean, for in some measure even here it sees God. "The world eeeth me no more," the Lord se.ict, "but ye see me." It is that blessed vision, the vision…
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villages. The cold looks, the misrepresentations, the nicknames, the taunts, some- times the ill-treatment of relations, fellow-servants, schoolfellows, fellow-workmen, are hard to bear, Holiness ia not everywhere popular. The worldly feel it as a rebuke to themselves; they resent it; they sometimes persecute. And thes…
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' Vers. 17-48.-The second pa,·t of the serruin: the ruiunt of the Beatiturles and Mount Sinai: the new Law and the old. I. CIIRIST THE FULFILLER OF THE LAW, 1. He ca11Ul Mt to destroy. They must not misunderstand the purpose of his tea.ching. The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; both speak of Christ. The co…
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hatred into the temple of the Lord; we ce.nnot worship aright while we cheriah wrath in our bee.rt. For he ls love, and the nnloving cannot serve him acceptably. He will not e.ccept the offerings of those who live in strife. Malice e.nd envy rob the gift of all He value. Forgiveness of injuries, sorrow for our own offe…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 3-5.-The secret of happine.ss. Jesus begins his first great sermon with the word "blessed." His whole mission is a benediction. It is his object to encourage and cheer, not to repress and humiliate. 1. But he knows the secret of happiness too well to attempt to shed joy in any oth…
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brotherhood, 3. He consoles those who weep for the dead by shedding light on the life beyond the tomb. III. MEEKNESS. This is e. peculiarly Christian grace, scorned by the pagan world. It,does not mean the lack of energy and courage. The truly meek rrian is no coward. Strength of self-control is needed in order to bea…
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1 e;·s. 13, 14.-SaTt and light. Christ regards his people as the snlt of tl..e earth and 88 the light or the world. In both characters they have a mission to others. The Church exists for the sake of the world. She has 11, la.rgevoca.tion; the whole earth is the field of her "l'""ork, aud there she is to labour not …
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omission. It could not contain all truth, because when it wM written the Jews were not capable of receiving all truth. Its limitations are those of an early stage of reve- lation. These are not reasons for condemning and repudiating the book. The child ls not to be blamed because he is not a man. The adult man cannot a…
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illustrating it by his conduct. It is reasonable that he should expect more from thoee who enjoy the privilege of his light than from those who have not received it, We may forgive in the night a stumbling which is unpardonable in broad daylight. Christians are expected to be better than heathens, better even than J…
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kingdom of heaven; it is a precept of that exalted righteousness exceeding the right- eoueneee of scribes and Pharisees which Christ absolutely requires of all his people. How, then, ie it to be interpreted? I. Tme IBA LAW OF UNIVERSAL CHRIBTIAN CONDUOT, Christ was not a Solon, drawing up a code of state !awe. His pre…
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Vers. 1, 2.-Teachvng for thtJ multitude. We hold that the discourse to which these two verses in St. Matthew's Gospel are an introduction is one with that given in the sixth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel; and that although, judging from the closest context in both passages, it might at first be supposed that" these sayi…
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Ver. 3.-Poverty in spirit; and the clue to its blessedness, It is to be remarked that every pronouncement of blessedness that here passes the lip of Jesllil is accompanied by a "reason of the hope that is" in it. We shall, therefore, in each case notice (1) the brief descriptive title of those who are pronounced "bless…
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Ver. 4.-The 'blessednus qf the mourner. "Blessed are they that mourn," etc. Perhaps this Beatitude may be counted as the one that most amazed ears and minds, which were not a little amazed by each one in turn. How little real cheerfulness possessed the heart of the people among whom Jesus lived! There was a maddened, f…
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II. Tm!l TRUE THING MOUl!NWG SPEAKS 01!' TIIE PROBATION OF EARTH. Violent grief wailing, gnashing of teeth, are indeed revealoJ as characteristic of the place or state of future woe. But the true spirit of mourning, unknown in heaven, ungiven to hell, marks "the day of grace" that belongs to earth. It is one of the …
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h~rt has. it betrayed I And wha.t irresistible energy ha.s it argued in tha.t ma.jeetio frie_nd of silent persua.siveness-God'e Holy Spirit I 6. Once more, there is the mourning which ma.y be called specially that of Christ-the mourning over sinnera, and because qf Bffl. B:e who had no sin for which to reproach himself…
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Ill. 'l'm; IIIOHEBT BPinITUAL PRINCIPLE DECLARED-- .-THAT TIIE MF.EKNEBB THAT MINISTERS, '.l'HAT BEBVEB, THAT IB EVEB BEA\IY TO MAKE ITSELF THE LEAST, IN PURSUIT OIi' 'fHE HiaHEBT WELFARE 011' MEN, 18 THl>.T ll'OROE WHICH MOST UNFAILINGLY WINS EVENTUALLY THE OHIEFEST PLACE, THE GREATEST HON(UB AND INFLUENCE, AND MOST R…
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ING AND THIRSTING" AFTER 11' ? 1. The unfeigned belief in that perfect thing co.lied righteousness, and the acknowledgment of the principle that the righteousness of a perfect life should be still and always the object of endeavour, kept before the gaze of even fe.llen man. Even for him it is still the genuine ideal…
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be that he observes with an ever-open eye whether we observe it, and how liberally or otherwise we observe it to others I He taught the petition and its very wording, IC Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against ns," Consider- I. 'l'HE OBJECTS OF THIS BEATITUDE. They are the "merciful," i.e. …
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shall see God." If the foregoing Beatitude were one that turned its face principally to man, and looked a.s it were fixedly on him, yet with most undoubted a.speot Godwa.rd, this, on the other hand, the eighth in order, must certainly be held (and a.11 the more so by force of the latter clause of it) to place us fac…
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individual actions which so soon UAUrp the authority of habitual guides of our conduct. Perhaps, to aid our feeble conception of a subject little within our grasp, we might i-magine that our heart in its first form was just the scene and domain of feeling- feeling blessedly gentle like infantl breathing; blessedly inno…
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enlogium of l1ie life upon that man's work. The peacemakers' ndded title is to be understood to be "t,he children of God." Notice, then- L How DEAR TO Goo PEACE ITSELF MUST DE. This is because there is a meaning in it, and a beauty :md a joy in it, which no doubt we at present fail to comprehend, This is in kecpin~…
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the juxtaposition of these two.Beatitudes, making one 'by antitheaia, as suggested by the stricter rendering of the Revised Version, e.g., "Blessed are they who have suffered persecution: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Dleesed (in like manner) a.re ye when .•. Rejoice . . . for great is your reward in heaven." Un…
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the kingdom ever on the growth, the kingdom in which "dwelletl1 righteousness." Note also the caution necessary respecting the application of the word" persecution." It must not count in those occasions of sufferiug due to a variety of very mingled cause, wbioh have really been largely the result of individual fault…
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ness will do much to revive the soul, vexed, bumbled, worn by the evil speech of the world, This contrast and the effect of it can hardly have been undesigned, in the merciful calculation of the Lord and Master of souls. Nor undesigned the combi- nation of the joy, of" the glorious company of the apostles" with "the go…
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Vers. 17-20.-The venel'aticm of Law and prophets. The caution which Josus Christ now addresses to his disciples was very probably owing to many things wont to be said, though not recorded, in the nature of hasty and often malevolent forecasts, of hi~ likely tendency to innovations. How many things had been conjeoture…
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their righteousness would still have been the observing of the letter of commandments of t~e ?Id covencmt. The greatness of the moral step i_n advance n_ow promulgated by Christ 1s mee.sured by the fact that he sets as a necessity before his freshest recruits, the.t they should see better e.nd do better than the mas…
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V crs. 33-37.-The tnu fulfilling of fh La.w: Ohrist'a fourlA il11LStration. The consideratio11. of this passage asks careful and fair understanding of the correct exposi- tion of it (for which eee also Exposition foregoing). Ver. 37 of itself, when strictly rendered, and the word "communication" replaced by "speech," o…
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Vers. 8-12.-.&rmon on ehe fflO'lffll: 1. The Beaeitudea. The 111bject of the sermon on the mount may be said to be the righteousness of the kingdom. To give all bis hearers a clearer conce,12tion of this fundamental idea, our Lord speaks (1) of the citizens of the kingdom; (2) of the law of the kingdom; (3) of the life…
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misery they have suffered here, or to respond to the deepest longings of their natme. "Blessed," says our Lord, "are ye whom this world has not enriched anrl satisfied; " blessed ·are ye, because this emptiness leaves room for the kingdom of heaven. " Blessed are ye that mourn," because for all sorrow there is a specia…
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nating of th11 world. Our Lord kindled the few men who accepted him as the Light of the world, and they in turn kindled others. He has trusted himself with his followers. He has left it to us to maint.ain the knowledge of him on the earth, and to hand on the light which all men need. Christians were not to retire an…
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danger lest the very knowledge that there is full and free pardon for sin should breed in his followers a demoralizing sense of security. They need to be reminded that for them, too, Christ came not to destroy the Law, but to give it higher and richer fulfil- ment. The importance our Lord attached to this explanatio…
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asks, ",Vhat do ye moi·e 1" While we welcome every evidence that a germ of good ia left in human nature, surviving even in some instances the stifling influence of vice, we should be at the same time prepared to show that the noblest natural character can be outdone by the least in the kingdom of heaven. With each o…
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bis disciples bin twelve apostles (cf. Mnrk iii. 13-19; Luke vi. 12-49). (2) He taught the outside multitude in pare.hies. 'fo bis disciples a.part he revenied the mysteries of the kingdom. (3) So it is still. "The natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of Qod." We must become disciples of Jesus if we woul…
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meekness would soon end the scandal of Church squabbles. (4) Christ is our Model. Even Moses, "the meekest of [mere] men," was "angered at the waters of strife" (Ps. cvi. 32, 33). . II •. ~EDITATE ~:N ~ITE!R BLESSEDNESS. 1. The kingdom of. heaven ~ for the poor ~n spirit. (1) It 1s theirs m prospect. They may be wo…
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ia in earned. (1) This is evinced in his" unspeakable Gift." Ilad be given a world for us, there would have been millions of worlds left. He, the Maker of all worlds gave himself for us. (2) It is evinced in the glories of heaven. He must love perfect righteousness with all the strength of his being. He is himself that…
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Just so. The faculty of imagination is the scnsorium, or seat of the senses of the i;pirit. 11. THAT MORAL PURITY m TIIE OONDITION OF THEIR lilGHEBT EXERCISE. 1. To tl,e pure especwlly God reveals himself in his works. (1) In his works his power, wisdom, and goodness may be "seen" even by the heathen (Rom. i. 20). …
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Let 118 wash in the fountain opened in the house of David, that we may be qualified for a. blessedness that eye bath not seen.-J. A. M. Ver. 9.-Peacemaking. T~e order in which the_ text follow~ the blessing upon the pure suggests the doctnne of Jamee concerning the "wisdom that is from above," which ie "first pure,…
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tude. What resources are behind that solicitude I For guidance. For support. For derence.-J. A. M. Vers. 10-12.-The 'blessednas ofpersectJ.,t,ion. Between this subject and that presented in the verse preceding there is the relation of sequence. L VIRTUE PROVOKES Tllll: RESENTMENT OF WIOKEDNESS. 1. This ,, m:emplifi…
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of reward in the heavenly state. Fellowship with prophets and apostles in glory. Fellowship with Christ. "If we suffer with him, that we may be also "lorified 0 together."-J. A. M. ; Vere. 13-16.-0hristian infl=• It was not to the outside multitude, but to bis own disciples, that Jesus addressed these words. To thes…
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but they were utterly mist.a.ken as to the manner in which these things were to take effect. The scribes and Pharisees, therefore, disputed the claims of Jesus to be the Christ because he reprobated the traditions of the elders, which they had strangely confounded with the Law; and because he did not establish a sec…
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Gentile world with a rod of iron. (2) This theory was a libel upon the prophets. It would encourage in the Jews the bad passions of pride, resentment, and cruelty. It would bring the Gentiles under oppression inconsistent wHh the prophetic anticipation of universal happiness. (3) Jesus made the kingdom spiritual and in…
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possessions and resources. 2. The offerer mud be repentant. (1) Reconciled to hie injured brother. Injured through the murderous temper. Through the murderoua speech. Reconciled by confession of the fault. Dy seeking his forgiveness. (2) Reeon,. ciled to those who have injured him. God, in commanding us to love our …
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on aocount of dislikes and caprices. Rabbi Akiba said, "If any man saw a woman handsomer than his own wife, he might put bis wife away; because it is said in the Law, If she find not favour in his eyes." Josephus," not being pleased with bis wife'3 manners, put her away." (4) Our Lord showed how this conduct operated …
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So "he.th not lifted up his soul unto wnity " is explained by "not ,worn deceilfullg" (Ps. xxiv. 4). When God is called in as a Witness, as he is when vows are made to men, as well as when they are made expressly to God, these must be "performed unto the Lord" (cf. Eccles. v. 4, 5). (2) It is injustice to man. Few m…
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the father of lies. He is the father of liars-of perjurers-of profane swearers of every order.-J. A. M. Vere. 38--4:2.-Retaliation. OI this we have here two sorts, viz. the retaliation of ·kind, and that of kirtdness. These are not necessarily inconsistent. For Christ came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law. Properl…
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return blow that makes the quarrel 2. When M suffers wrongs to property. (1) Thia cl~ss of injur)es i_s represented in the case of the coat. We may forfeit property through smts at law mst1tuted by knaves who make no conscience of forgery and perjury (see Eccles. iii. 16; v. 8). (2) Suffer wrong rather than go to law,…
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see him as the First Cauee, ever active behind all second causes? Do we never neglect to seek him in the revelations of bis Word? Do we loyally serve him in the conduct of our lives? 3. Owr lt'ather is perfoot in his relation to ua as SaviQ?J,r. (1) He pitied us in our fall. 11 He maketh his sun to shine on the evil an…
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Vers. 3-9.-ne benedktion of good characttr. The word "blessed" is ta.ken from beati, which is used in the Vulgate. By it our Lord indicates whe.t will be es~oially esteemed_, and receive special honour, in his new kingdom, To see our Lords point we should observe what the Pharisaic teachers of his day were proclaimi…
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is the first place. The man who "eoeke first the kingdom of God, and his righteous- ness," is not made unworldly, but he doee learn how to sanctify all worldly relations. IV. THEBE 18 ALWAYS THE CERTAINTY OP THEIR SUPPLY. "They shall be filled." God the Spirit responds to the cry of spirits. God the eterna.1 Righteous…
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Ver. 17 .-The true relation. of the old and the new. "I am not come to destroy, but to fnlfil." "As a Teacher, our Lord came to fill up what was lacking, to develop hints and germs of truth, to turn rules into principles." Phillips Drooks says, "When Jesus came into the world to establish the perfect religion, he found…
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II. A RIGHTEOUSNESS MAY BE ESTIMATED BY THE DEPTH TO WHICH IT oor,;,. "They that worship the Father must worship him in spirit and in truth." In this line set, in strong contrast, the righteousness of a characteristic Pharisee and the righteousness of a characteristic Christian. Granted that both are equally diligent i…
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)t; if be lifts the latch and walks in, I cannot help it. But if I offer him a chair, and oegin mtb him a parley, I put myself altogether in the wrong." II. SIN DEPEKDS ON MAN'S WAY OF DEALING WrrB TD 'l'RMPl'ATION. H 1>ears no relations to a man's will until the man exercises bis will n1on it. And that will may re…
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may be but an expression of revenge ; and revenge ls altogether unworthy of the Christian. The mildness of Mosaism is shown in its making reven,,.e 0 to become official action. II. OBSERVE THE nGUBATIVE CHABAOTEB OJ' THIS BULB. There is no satisfaction for a noble person in making an enemy suffer exactly as be made h…
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~11caio<r,h'71v ~µ..Zv (p.~ ,ro,e,v), in oontrnst to metaphor, since one holds a trumpet up lo, r.o,fi• l>.,11p.o<r6v1w (ver. 2), points to it being one's mouth. As the hypoorites do. The- R collecti.e expression of which the various comma 11fter "do" in the ordinary text of parts are mentioned in the following vers…
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-b:v. 6, 7, LXX.). When this" recompense" in Isaiah to the English reader. To thy .sholl be given is not stated. If, IL8 is pro- Father which is in secret. Not" which secth bable, our Lord is thinking of the" reward" in secret," as in tha next clause. The of ver. 1 and eh. v. 12, it would naturally thonght here may …
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cott and Hort). The insertion ill at first xvii. 11), so that it Is likely to be his own •ight suspicions, but ilB there is no trace phrnsc, and therefore less origln&l tha.n St. of such an addition in vcrs. 1, 4, 6, 14, 18 Me.tthew's ••this day" (cf. Weiss, •Jlfottbii.us- (in ver. 32 only ~•), it is haTd to see why it…
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'28: cf. Luke xv. 21), and apiril;u!LI relation- snpreme Btanda.rd of truth and the one means ship is perhaps only possible becnnse of the of knowing God e.nd a.pproachi11g him; cf. naturalrela.tionship (cf. eh. v. 16, note). Our. I Pet. iii.15, where " <'<'Y,d(co obviously rneo.ns 'l'hough the prayer is here given …
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If this be all the meaning of the words, they the next day if it be said In the evening express, in fact, only the ultimate result of (eo Bishop Lightfoot). Between (3) (a) and the consummation prayed for in the pre- (3) (b) it is very difficult to deoide. Against oeding cln use (hence this portion of the (a) ia the…
1,075 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.