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Chapter 5
1
1 When he saw the crowds, 2
he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
2
He began to teach them, saying:
3
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, 4
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4
5 Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be
comforted.
5
6 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit
the land.
6
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, 7 for they will be satisfied.
7
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be
shown mercy.
8
8 Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will
see God.
9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be
called children of God.
10
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the
sake of righteousness, 9 for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
11
Blessed are you when they insult you and
persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me.
12
10 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be
great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13
11 12 "You are the salt
of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is
no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14
You are the light of the world. A city set on a
mountain cannot be hidden.
15
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under
a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the
house.
16
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.
17
13 "Do not think that I have come to abolish
the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
18
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass
away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from
the law, until all things have taken place.
19
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of
these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the
kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be
called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 14
20
I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of
heaven.
21
15 16 "You have heard
that it was said to your ancestors, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills will
be liable to judgment.'
22
17 But I say to you, whoever is angry 18
with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother,
'Raqa,' will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will
be liable to fiery Gehenna.
23
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother has anything against you,
24
leave your gift there at the altar, go first
and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
25
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the
way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into
prison.
26
Amen, I say to you, you will not be released
until you have paid the last penny.
27
19 "You have heard that it was said, 'You
shall not commit adultery.'
28
But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman
with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29
20 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it
out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to
have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.
30
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut
it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than
to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
31
21 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his
wife must give her a bill of divorce.'
32
But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever
marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33
22 "Again you have heard that it was said to
your ancestors, 'Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that
you vow.'
34
But I say to you, do not swear at all; 23
not by heaven, for it is God's throne;
35
nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor
by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36
Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make
a single hair white or black.
37
24 Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean
'No.' Anything more is from the evil one.
38
25 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
39
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one
who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one
to him as well.
40
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your
tunic, hand him your cloak as well.
41
Should anyone press you into service for one
mile, 26 go with him for two miles.
42
Give to the one who asks of you, and do not
turn your back on one who wants to borrow.
43
27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You
shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
44
But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray
for those who persecute you,
45
that you may be children of your heavenly
Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to
fall on the just and the unjust.
46
For if you love those who love you, what
recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors 28 do
the same?
47
And if you greet your brothers only, what is
unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? 29
48
So be perfect, 30 just as
your heavenly Father is perfect.
1
[⇒ 5:1-⇒ 7:29] The first
of the five discourses that are a central part of the structure of this gospel.
It is the discourse section of the first book and contains sayings of Jesus
derived from Q and from M. The Lucan parallel is in that gospel's "Sermon
on the Plain" (⇒ Luke 6:20-49), although some of
the sayings in Matthew's "Sermon on the Mount" have their parallels
in other parts of Luke. The careful topical arrangement of the sermon is
probably not due only to Matthew's editing; he seems to have had a structured
discourse of Jesus as one of his sources. The form of that source may have been
as follows: four beatitudes (⇒ Matthew 5:3-4,
6, ⇒ 11-12), a section
on the new righteousness with illustrations (⇒ Matthew 5:17,
⇒ 20-24, ⇒ 27-28,
⇒ 33-48), a section on good works
(⇒ Matthew 6:1-6,
⇒ 16-18), and three warnings (⇒ Matthew
7:1-2, ⇒ 15-21,
⇒ 24-27).
2 [1-2] Unlike Luke's sermon, this is
addressed not only to the disciples but to the crowds (see
⇒ Matthew 7:28).
3 [3-12] The form Blessed are (is)
occurs frequently in the Old Testament in the Wisdom literature and in the
psalms. Although modified by Matthew, the first, second, fourth, and ninth
beatitudes have Lucan parallels (⇒ Matthew 5:3;
⇒ Luke 6:20; ⇒ Matthew
5:4; ⇒ Luke 6:21,
⇒ 22; ⇒ Matthew 5:6;
⇒ Luke 6:21a; ⇒ Matthew
5:11-12; ⇒ Luke 5:22-23). The others were
added by the evangelist and are probably his own composition. A few
manuscripts, Western and Alexandrian, and many versions and patristic
quotations give the second and third beatitudes in inverted order.
4 [3] The poor in spirit: in the Old
Testament, the poor (anawim) are those who are without material possessions and
whose confidence is in God (see ⇒ Isaiah 61:1; ⇒ Zephaniah
2:3; in the NAB the word is translated lowly and humble,
respectively, in those texts). Matthew added in spirit in order either to
indicate that only the devout poor were meant or to extend the beatitude to
all, of whatever social rank, who recognized their complete dependence on God.
The same phrase poor in spirit is found in the Qumran literature (1QM 14:7).
5 [4] Cf ⇒ Isaiah
61:2 "(The Lord has sent me) . . . to comfort all who mourn."
They will be comforted: here the passive is a "theological passive"
equivalent to the active "God will comfort them"; so also in
⇒ Matthew 5:6, 7.
6 [5] Cf ⇒ Psalm
37:11,". . . the meek shall possess the land." In the psalm
"the land" means the land of Palestine; here it means the kingdom.
7 [6] For righteousness: a Matthean
addition. For the meaning of righteousness here, see the note on ⇒ Matthew
3:14-15.
8 [8] Cf ⇒ Psalm
24:4. Only
one "whose heart is clean" can take part in the temple worship. To be
with God in the temple is described in ⇒ Psalm 42:2
as "beholding his face," but here the promise to the clean of heart
is that they will see God not in the temple but in the coming kingdom.
9 [10] Righteousness here, as usually
in Matthew, means conduct in conformity with God's will.
10 [12] The prophets who were before
you: the disciples of Jesus stand in the line of the persecuted prophets of
Israel. Some would see the expression as indicating also that Matthew
considered all Christian disciples as prophets.
11 [13-16] By their deeds the
disciples are to influence the world for good. They can no more escape notice
than a city set on a mountain. If they fail in good works, they are as useless
as flavorless salt or as a lamp whose light is concealed.
12 [13] The unusual supposition of
salt losing its flavor has led some to suppose that the saying refers to the
salt of the Dead Sea that, because chemically impure, could lose its taste.
13 [17-20] This statement of Jesus'
position concerning the Mosaic law is composed of traditional material from
Matthew's sermon documentation (see the note on ⇒ Matthew
5:1-⇒ 7:29), other Q material (cf Matthew
18; ⇒ Luke 16:17), and the evangelist's own
editorial touches. To fulfill the law appears at first to mean a literal
enforcement of the law in the least detail: until heaven and earth pass away
nothing of the law will pass (⇒ Matthew 5:18). Yet
the "passing away" of heaven and earth is not necessarily the end of
the world understood, as in much apocalyptic literature, as the dissolution of
the existing universe. The "turning of the ages" comes with the
apocalyptic event of Jesus' death and resurrection, and those to whom this
gospel is addressed are living in the new and final age, prophesied by Isaiah
as the time of "new heavens and a new earth"
(⇒ Isaiah 65:17;
⇒ 66:22). Meanwhile, during Jesus' ministry when
the kingdom is already breaking in, his mission remains within the framework of
the law, though with significant anticipation of the age to come, as the
following antitheses (⇒ Matthew 5:21-48) show.
14 [19] Probably
these commandments means those of the Mosaic law. But this is an interim ethic
"until heaven and earth pass away."
15 [21-48] Six
examples of the conduct demanded of the Christian disciple. Each deals with a
commandment of the law, introduced by You have heard that it was said to your
ancestors or an equivalent formula, followed by Jesus' teaching in respect to
that commandment, But I say to you; thus their designation as
"antitheses." Three of them accept the Mosaic law but extend or
deepen it (⇒ Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28; 43-44); three
reject it as a standard of conduct for the disciples (Matthew 31-32; 33-37;
38-39).
16 [21] Cf
⇒ Exodus 20:13; ⇒ Deut
5:17. The
second part of the verse is not an exact quotation from the Old Testament, but
cf ⇒ Exodus 21:12.
17 [22-26]
Reconciliation with an offended brother is urged in the admonition of
⇒ Matthew 5:23-24 and the parable of
⇒ Matthew 5:25-26 (⇒ Luke
12:58-59). The severity of the judge in the parable is a warning of
the fate of unrepentant sinners in the coming judgment by God.
18 [22] Anger is
the motive behind murder, as the insulting epithets are steps that may lead to
it. They, as well as the deed, are all forbidden. Raqa: an Aramaic word reqa'
or reqa probably meaning "imbecile," "blockhead," a term of
abuse. The ascending order of punishment, judgment (by a local council?), trial
before the Sanhedrin, condemnation to Gehenna, points to a higher degree of
seriousness in each of the offenses. Sanhedrin: the highest judicial body of
Judaism. Gehenna: in Hebrew ge-hinnom,
"Valley of Hinnom," or ge
Ben-hinnom, "Valley of the son of
Hinnom," southwest of Jerusalem, the center of an idolatrous cult during
the monarchy in which children were offered in sacrifice (see ⇒ 2
Kings 23:10; ⇒ Jeremiah 7:31). In
⇒ Joshua 18:16 (Septuagint, Codex Vaticanus) the
Hebrew is transliterated into Greek as gaienna, which appears in the New
Testament as geenna. The concept of punishment of sinners by fire either after
death or after the final judgment is found in Jewish apocalyptic literature
(e.g., Enoch 90:26) but the name geenna is first given to the place of
punishment in the New Testament.
19 [27] See
⇒ Exodus 20:14; ⇒ Deut
5:18.
20 [29-30] No
sacrifice is too great to avoid total destruction in Gehenna.
21 [31-32] See
⇒ Deut 24:1-5. The Old Testament commandment that a bill of
divorce be given to the woman assumes the legitimacy of divorce itself. It is
this that Jesus denies. (Unless the marriage is unlawful): this "exceptive
clause," as it is often called, occurs also in ⇒ Matthew
19:9, where the Greek is slightly different. There are other sayings
of Jesus about divorce that prohibit it absolutely (see
⇒ Mark 10:11-12; ⇒ Luke
16:18; cf ⇒ 1 Cor 7:10, ⇒ 11b),
and most scholars agree that they represent the stand of Jesus. Matthew's
"exceptive clauses" are understood by some as a modification of the
absolute prohibition. It seems, however, that the unlawfulness that Matthew gives
as a reason why a marriage must be broken refers to a situation peculiar to his
community: the violation of Mosaic law forbidding marriage between persons of
certain blood and/or legal relationship (⇒ Lev
18:6-18). Marriages of that sort were regarded as incest (porneia),
but some rabbis allowed Gentile converts to Judaism who had contracted such
marriages to remain in them. Matthew's "exceptive clause" is against
such permissiveness for Gentile converts to Christianity; cf the similar prohibition
of porneia in ⇒ Acts 15:20,
⇒ 29. In this interpretation, the clause
constitutes no exception to the absolute prohibition of divorce when the
marriage is lawful.
22 [33] This is
not an exact quotation of any Old Testament text, but see
⇒ Exodus 20:7; ⇒ Deut
5:11; ⇒ Lev 19:12. The purpose of an oath
was to guarantee truthfulness by one's calling on God as witness.
23 [34-36] The
use of these oath formularies that avoid the divine name is in fact equivalent
to swearing by it, for all the things sworn by are related to God.
24 [37] Let your
`Yes' mean `Yes,' and your `No' mean `No': literally, "let your speech be
'Yes, yes,' 'No, no.' " Some have understood this as a milder form of
oath, permitted by Jesus. In view of ⇒ Matthew 5:34,
"Do not swear at all," that is unlikely. From the evil one: i.e.,
from the devil. Oath-taking presupposes a sinful weakness of the human race,
namely, the tendency to lie. Jesus demands of his disciples a truthfulness that
makes oaths unnecessary.
25 [38-42] See
⇒ Lev 24:20. The Old Testament commandment was
meant to moderate vengeance; the punishment should not exceed the injury done.
Jesus forbids even this proportionate retaliation. Of the five examples that
follow, only the first deals directly with retaliation for evil; the others
speak of liberality.
26 [41] Roman
garrisons in Palestine had the right to requisition the property and services
of the native population.
27 [43-48] See
⇒ Lev 19:18. There is no Old Testament commandment
demanding hatred of one's enemy, but the "neighbor" of the love
commandment was understood as one's fellow countryman. Both in the Old
Testament (⇒ Psalm 139:19-22) and at Qumran (1QS
9:21) hatred of evil persons is assumed to be right. Jesus extends the love
commandment to the enemy and the persecutor. His disciples, as children of God,
must imitate the example of their Father, who grants his gifts of sun and rain
to both the good and the bad.
28 [46] Tax
collectors: Jews who were engaged in the collection of indirect taxes such as
tolls and customs. See the note on ⇒ Mark 2:14.
29 [47] Jesus'
disciples must not be content with merely usual standards of conduct; see
⇒ Matthew 5:20 where the verb "surpass"
(Greek perisseuo) is cognate with the unusual (perisson) of this verse.
30 [48] Perfect:
in the gospels this word occurs only in Matthew, here and in
⇒ Matthew 19:21. The Lucan parallel
(Matthew 6:36) demands that the disciples be
merciful.
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