* On this sonship see Wendt, Lehre Jesu, ii. 145f. In using the term ‘Father’ for expressing most completely His con- ception of God, Jesus thinks of the family as most character- istic of the relation between God and men. In the family the sons may be either true or false to their relation to their father ; if they love, honour, and obey him they realize their sonship— they are sons indeed ; if they disrespect him, disgrace him, and disregard his will they are not sons in the moral sense, for they repudiate their sonship. But the actual genetic sonship is none the less a fact, even if the sons will not acknowledge and exalt it. So in the relation of men to God; they do not in reality become His sons any more than He becomes their Father ; this mutual essential relation exists from the first, for all men are His sons, and He is the Father of all. But the NT use of the term ‘son’ is generally a moral one, and those only are designated ‘sons’ who honour and realize their sonship. This does not deny the genetic, spiritual sonship, however, which the NT also teaches.
+ The words of Jesus, ‘ye shall be perfect,’ can have only the imperative force, as in Lk 636 (so Meyer, H. Holtzmann, B. Weiss, H. Weiss, Wendt, Blass, and nearly all); cf. Burton, Moods and Tenses in NT Greek, § 67. The whole v.48 is made up from OT language; e.g. Ly 192 (LXX) reads, aio tele, Ors ceyos Eltes iva xipios 6 Oeos tuav; ef. also Iv 1144,1P115; and Dt 1815 (LXX) reads, rércios ton évevrsov xupiov ro Oeod cov. But the thought of these similar OT passages, as their contexts show, is of levitical purity and national separateness, and it is therefore superficial as compared with the deep meaning which Jesus puts into the words. In Mt 548 we have the closing verse of the short section vv.43-48 concerning universal love (so Achelis, Bruce, Heinrici, H. Holtzmann, Tholuck, B. Weiss), not a general summary con- clusion of the whole section vv.2!-48 (so Burton, Ibbeken, H. Weiss). The réAsos refers only to perfection in love, not to the whole series of attributes which constitute the perfection of God in the theological sense, or to the comprehensive idea of human perfection. This love which Jesus establishes as the principle of the ideal life, to be felt and acted upon by every man towards every other man, cannot be understood as condon- ing the sins or imperfections in the character and service of others, but insists upon viewing men not as they are but as they may be and should be, and upon rendering them every assist- ance of sympathy, counsel, and help towards the attainment of the Divine ideal. It is thus that God has dealt with men, and we are to do likewise for one another.
t The account of the Sermon in Luke does not contain this section, probably for the same reason that no parallel appears for Mt 517-37, namely, because these passages are so saturated with Jewish phraseology, ideas, and customs as to be difficult of understanding for Gentile readers (so Feine, Wendt). Here also, as there, it is more likely that Luke’s sources did not contain these sections than that Luke himself excised them.
§ The giving of alms was held to be a primary duty and a means of salvation, as seen already in the Apocrypha, To 47-11 198-10 149-12, Sir 41.2710, cf. also Ps 411, Is 587- 10, Dn 427; there are also many striking Rabbinic sayings concerning the merit of almsgiving (see art. ALMSGIVING in vol. i.; Weber, Jiidische Theologie, pp. 285-288 ; Wiinsche, Erlduterung der Evangelien, on Mt 61-4), The Greek word in use for the alms is eAenmortvn (the motive employed by metonomy for the thing), as here in v.2, representing, perhaps, 7)7¥ 5 since this Heb. word meant primarily ‘righteousness,’ it came about that dizcsoctvn might also have this special meaning, but that is not the sense in which dv. is used here in v.1 (the textual variant at this point, zrenwootva, is improbable on both external and internal evidence). Prayer was offered by the Jews thrice daily, at 9 A.M., at 12 noon, and at 3P.M. (cf. Ac31), and on three days in the weekthe people went to the synagogue for prayer. Liturgical forms of prayer were in use (cf. Lk 112, and Mishna, tractate Berakhoth), and they were recited at the proper time wherever one might be. Fasting was prescribed by the OT for the Day of Atonement
to the group, Jesus gives the key to the interpreta- tion of the whole: * He does not pronounce against the acts themselves, but against the spirit and purpose which too often animated the doing of them. Religious worship, such as almsgiving (which the Jews rightly considered an act of worship), prayer and fasting, must never be performed ostentatiously, with the intent of securing a reputa- tion for piety. It was mainly the proud, hypo- critical Pharisees who were guilty of such motives in their worship ; but the multitude of common poopie to whom Jesus was now speaking had been rought up to believe implicitly in the teaching and practice of the Pharisees, and were therefore in great danger of being corrupted by the Pharisaic example of ostentation, worldliness, and deceit. Jesus will therefore warn them against these specific errors of their religious leaders, and in contrast exhibit the character of true religious worship. The three acts of almsgiving (vv.**), prayer (vv.°*®), and fasting (vv.!*18) are treated in a parallel way, the same thing being said of each in almost the same language. When they give money in the synagogues, or upon other occasions, for charitable objects, it is to be contributed solely for the benefit of others, with no purpose of obtain- ing a reputation of generosity for themselves (cf. Ac 5'4). Against almsgiving in itself He does not speak, but only of the motive behind it. The giving of money to-assist others is, in fact, an act of worship to God, and a necessary element of all true righteousness. But such giving must be quietly done, without providing or even wishing that others may know of the fact or the amount, in order that one may receive credit therefor.+ So also when men pray, as pray they must, their prayers are to be a genuine communing with God, instead of being designed to win the praise of men for a superior piety.t To counterfeit true spiritual communion with God is an intolerable profanation of religion. Jesus, of course, has no thought of forbidding prayer in public, but He will have only sincere prayers made, whether in public or private. And if they fast, as they were accustomed to do regularly and often, they are to observe the fast as a simple humiliation before God, not forced upon others for the purpose of gaining credit for exceptional devoutness.§ On another occasion