The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 160

s11rUon :(• Lifo,' ii. H4), "The remarks in the Son of man's sake." In eh. iv. 19 he Mo.tt.. v. 13-16, bearing on the calling of had claimed to be the Bomoe of power for di~clpleship; . , , cannot belong to the sermon service; here he claims to be the Object ot devotion. His "Messianic consciousness" o:rl the monnt, carefully as they are there (Meyer) is, at even this early stage of his introduced, for the prophesied sufferings of ministry, fully developed ( cf. also vers. 17, hie followers might have made them dis- 22). It is possible that Heh. xi. 2G ( side loyal," is wholly gratuitous. In fact, the Rendall, '11 loc.) and 1 Pet. iv. 14 refer to ■ufferings have been much more strongly this expression. Ver. 12.-li.ejoioe, and be exceeding glad spoken of in vers. 11, 12. (xa.lp.-r• rca.l «')'a.Aluacr9,). Our Lord uses The disciples are now addreSBed directly, no weaker expressions than those which and are mged to "walk worthily of the voca- describe the joy of the saints over the tion wherewith theyare called." The mention marriage of the Lamb (Rev. xix. 7). The of those who have endured persecution leads first word expresses joy as such, the seoontl our Lord to wam his disciples not to faint its effect in stirring the emotions ; this thought St. Luke carries still flll'ther in under persecution in any of its forms ; they cr,c1p-rf,cra.-r,. (For joy felt under persecution, are but entering on the succession of the of. Acts v. 41.) For great. The order of prophets; their work is that of purifying the Greek, 8T1 I, µ.,cr8bs bµ.iiw ..-o>.6,, does not and preserving and of illuminating; they bear out the emphatic position assigned to must therefore allow their character as " great" in the English Versions from Tyo- dale downwards (except Rheims), including disciples to appear, as appear it must if Revised Version. le your reward. The they are true to their position. There is a doctrine of recompense, which has so large pmpose in this, namely, that men may see a place in Jewish thought (for a not offen- their actions, and glorify their Father which sive example, cf, 'Ah.,' iL 19, Taylor) comes is in heaven. also in Christ's teaching. In eh. xx. 1-16 reward is expressly divested of its merely Vere. 11, 12.-Parallel p1LBBe.ge: Luke vi legal side, and exhibited as ultimately 22, 23. dependent on the will of the great House- Ver. 11.-As ver. 10 spoke of the blessed- holder. But here it is mentioned without ness of those who had suffered persecution reference to the difficulties involved in the and had endured it, so this verse speaks of oonception. These difficulties centre round the bleSBedness of those who are suffering the thought of obligation from God to mo.n. from it at the moment, whether it be in But it may be doubted whether these act or word. Whilst Christ still keeps up difficulties are not co.used by too exclusively the form of the Beatitudes, he speaks now regarding the metaphor of contracting, in- in the second person, this and the following stead of considering the fact indicated by the verse thus forming the transition to his metaphor. In God's kingdom every action directly addressing those immediately before has o. corresponding effect, and this effect is him. His prosent audience was not yet the more certain In proportion as the action among al 1i,li,oryµ.a,01, but might already be is in the sphere of morality. The idea of endlll'ing something of the reproach and " quantity" hardly enters into the relo.tion suffering now referred to. Revile ( ov••· of such cause and effect. It is o. question 1i{cr..,ow) ; Revised Version, rep,-oach; as also of moral correspondence. Ilut such effect the Authorized Version in Luko vi. 22. moy not unfitly be culled by the metaphors "Revile" in itself implies moral error in "hire," '' reward," because, on the ouc bond, the person that reviles. Not so &v«lil(uv it is the result of conditione of moral service, (of. eh. xL 20; Mark xvi. 14). Our Lord and, on the other, such terms imply a Per- purposely uses a word which includes, not eoual Will at the back of the effect, o.s well only mere abuse, but also steru, and occa- as a will on the part of the humon "servant." sionally loving, rebuke. Falsely, for my (For the subject in other connexions, of. 1ake. The oomma in both the Authorized Weiss, • Ilibl. Theol.,' § 82; cf. also vor. 46; (Sorivener) and the Revised Versions after eh. Yi, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6.) In heaven. Our Lord "falsely" is opposed to that interpretation says, "your reword is great.," because the (Meyer) which closely connects 1/1EU60µ.e1101 effect of your exeroiee of moral powers will with both rca.8' ~~" and •v•rc•v iµ.ov, 'l'•ulio- be received in o sphere where the accidents µ.,vo, is really a modal definition of ,f11..,cr,11 of the surroundings will entirely oorrcepond (Sovin, Weiss),and ,11,,c,11 lµ.ov goes with the to moral influences. The effect of your whole sentence •• whon men," efc, For my present faithfulness, eto., will be seen in the ,ake, In ver. 10 he had said lt<,c,11 51,ca.,o• reception of powers of work and uscfulucss <TVV'IJf ; here be directly speaks of himself. and enjoyment, beside which those posscsse,l In Luke vi, the phrase is troneitional, "for on earth will appear small, On earlh the 152 TllE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. :MA.1THEW. [on. v. 1-4.8.