thought—+epiowdy (ver. 47), τέλειοι (ver. 48)—having a legal sound, and capable of being mi The scribes
and Rabbis had much to say about merit
45—48.
47. καὶ ἐὰν Sdomdonobe τοὺς ἀδελφοὺςλ ὑμῶν µόνον, τί περισσὸν # Ch. x. τα,
= cS 4. ποιεῖτε; οὐχὶ καὶ οἱ τελῶναι οὕτω 3 ποιοῦσιν; 48. ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς Cf. Heb. Ἐτέλειοι, ὥσπερ 3 ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς * τέλειός ἐστι.
IIs
4
1 Many copies have φιλους, but αδελφους is the reading of BDZ.
2 SSBDZ have εθνικοι instead of τελωναι and το avro for ουτω. ὥσπερ possibly a literary refinement of the scribes,
3 ws in NBLZZ.
x1. 13 (sal-
uting the
romises).
t Ch, xix. 21. Jamesi.4; iii.a. Heb. v. 14, See below.
* o ουρανιος instead of ο εν τ. ουρανοις in NBDPLZX.
and reward—vide Weber, Die Lehren des Talmud, c. xix. § 59, on the idea of Sechith (merit). Totally opposed to Rabbinism, Jesus did not lose His ‘balance, or allow Himself to be driven into extremes, after the usual manner of controversialists (Protestants and ‘Catholics, ¢.g.). He speaks of μισθὸς without scruple (cf. on Lk. vi. 32).— τελῶναι (τέλος, tax, ὠνέομαι), first men- tion of a class often referred to in the Gospels, unpopular beyond their deserts ; therefore, like women unjustly treated by husbands, befriended by Jesus; the humble agents of the great farmers of taxes, disliked as representing a foreign yoke, and on account of too frequent acts of injustice, yet human and kindly within their own class, loving those that loved them. Jesus took advantage of this characteristic to win their love by friendly acts.—Ver. 47. ἀσπάσησθε, ες Salute,” a very slight display of love from our Western point of view, a mere civility; more significant in the East; symbolic here of friendly relations, hence Tholuck, Bleek and others interpret, “' to act in a friendly manner,” which, as Meyer remarks, is, if not the significatio, at least the αἀσίρπίβεαίίο,--περισσὸν, used adverbially, literally ‘‘ that which is over and above’’; A. V., ‘*more”; here, tropically = distinguished, unusually good = “quid magnum, eximium, insigne” (Pricaeus), soin Rom. iii. 1. In Plutarch, Romulus, xi., of one who excelled in cast- ing horoscopes. Christ would awaken in disciples the ambition to excel. He does not wish them to’ be moral mediocrities, men of average morality, but to be morally superior, uncommon. This seems to come perilously near to the spirit of Pharisaism (cf. Gal. i. 14, προέκοπτον), but only seems. Christ commends being superior, not thinking oneself superior, the Pharisaic charac- teristic. Justin, Apol. i. 15, mixes yv. 46 and 47, and for περισσὸν puts καινὸν, and for τελῶναι, or ἐθνικοὶ, wopvoe ; “If
ye love those who love you what new thing do ye? for even fornicators do this.” —2@vixol, here as elsewhere in the Gospels associated with τελῶναι (Mt. xviii, 17), A good many ofthe publicans would be Gentiles. For a Jew it was a virtue to despise and shun both classes. Surely disciples will not be content to be on a moral level with them! Note that Jesus sees some good even in despised classes, social outcasts.
Ver. 48. Concluding exhortation. οὖν, from an ancient form of the participle of the verb εἶναι (Klotz, Devar.) = “things being so;”’ either a collective inference from all that goes before (vv. 21-47) or as a reflection on the immediately pre- ceding argument. Both come to the same thing. Godlike love is commended in vv. 44-47, but the gist of all the six illustrations of Christ’s way of thinking is: Love the fulfilling of the law; obviously, except in the tas Oaths, where it is truth that is enjoined. But ἀληδθεύοντες ἐν ἀγάπῃ, uthing it in rats ».,---ἔσεσθε, sores is ην te BE.— eis, ye, emphatic, in contrast with τελ. and ἐθν., who are content with moral commonplace and conventional standards.—TéAetou: in general, men who have reached the end, touched the ideal, that at least their purpose, not satisfied with anything short ofit. The τέλειοι are not men with a conceit of perfection, but aspirants—men who seek to attain, like Paul: διώκω εἰ καὶ καταλάβω, Phil. iii. 12, and like him, single-minded, their motto: ἓν δέ. Single-mindedness is a marked characteristic of all genuine citizens of the kingdom (Mt. vi. 33), and what the Bible means by perfection. All men who attain have one great tuling aim. That aim for the disciple, as here set forth, is Godlikeness—os 6 πατὴρ . . . τέλειός ἐστιν. Godis what His sons aspire to be; He never sinks below the ideal: impartial, benignant, gracious love, even to the unworthy ; for