Комментарии к Библии

This chapter, and the two that follow it, are a sermon; a famous sermon; the sermon upon the mount. It is the longest and fullest continued discourse of our Saviour that we have upon record in all the gospels. It is a practical discourse; there is not much of the credenda of Christianity in it—the things to be believed, but it is wholly taken up with the agenda—the things to be done; these Christ began with in his preaching; for if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. The circumstances of the sermon being accounted for (Mt 5:1,2), the sermon itself follows, the scope of which is, not to fill our heads with notions, but to guide and regulate our practice. I. He proposes blessedness as the end, and gives us the character of those who are entitled to blessedness (very different from the sentiments of a vain world), in eight beatitudes, which may justly be called paradoxes, Mt 5:3-12. II. He prescribes duty as the way, and gives us standing rules of that duty. He directs his disciples, 1. To understand what they are—the salt of the earth, and the lights of the world, Mt 5:13-16. 2. To understand what they have to do—they are to be governed by the moral law. Here is, (1.) A general ratification of the law, and a recommendation of it to us, as our rule, Mt 5:17-20. (2.) A particular rectification of divers mistakes; or, rather, a reformation of divers wilful, gross corruptions, which the scribes and Pharisees had introduced in their exposition of the law; and an authentic explication of divers branches which most needed to be explained and vindicated, Mt 5:20. Particularly, here is an explication, [1.] Of the sixth commandment, which forbids murder, Mt 5:21-26. [2.] Of the seventh commandment, against adultery, Mt 5:27-32. [3.] Of the third commandment, Mt 5:33-37. [4.] Of the law of retaliation, Mt 5:38-42. [5.] Of the law of brotherly love, Mt 5:43-48. And the scope of the whole is, to show that the law is spiritual.

Christ begins his sermon on the mount, Matthew 5:1, Matthew 5:2. The beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-12. The disciples the salt of the earth, and light of the world, Matthew 5:13-16. Christ is not come to destroy, but confirm and fulfill, the Law and the Prophets, Matthew 5:17-19. Of the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, Matthew 5:20. Interpretation of the precepts relative to murder, anger, and injurious speaking, Matthew 5:21, Matthew 5:22. Of reconciliation, Matthew 5:23-26. Of impure acts and propensities, and the necessity of mortification, Matthew 5:27-30. Of divorce, Matthew 5:31, Matthew 5:32. Of oaths and profane swearing, Matthew 5:33-37. Of bearing injuries and persecution, Matthew 5:38-41. Of borrowing and lending, Matthew 5:42. Of love and hatred, Matthew 5:43-46. Of civil respect, Matthew 5:47. Christ's disciples must resemble their heavenly Father, Matthew 5:48.

Ch. 5–7. Sermon on the Mount

It is instructive to find the Sermon on the Mount following close upon the works of mercy which would open men’s hearts to receive the Saviour’s words. It is a discourse about the changed life or Metanoia, showing its conditions; and about the Kingdom or Basileia, showing its nature, legislation, and privileges.

The description of the Kingdom here given may be compared with the thoughts suggested by Satan in the Temptation. Jesus makes no promise to conquer the world, or to dazzle men by a display of power, or to satisfy bodily wants, making poverty cease.

In regard to heathenism the sermon is a contrast, in regard to the Jewish Law it is a sublime fulfilment Again, instead of curses there are blessings, instead of penalties, reward.

Two questions are raised in regard to the Sermon on the Mount (1) Is it a connected discourse, and not merely a collection of our Lord’s sayings? (2) Is it to be identified with the Sermon on the Plain, Luke 6:17-49?

It is probable that the answer should be in the affirmative to each question. 1. (a) This is the most natural inference from the Evangelist’s words and from the manner in which the discourse is introduced. (b) An analysis points to a close connection of thought and to a systematic arrangement of the different sections of the Sermon. (c) The objection that some of the sayings are found in a different connection in St Luke’s Gospel cannot have great weight. For it is more than probable that our Lord repeated on many occasions various portions of His teaching. 2. (a) The beginning and end are identical as well as much of the intervening matter. (b) The portions omitted—a comparison between the old and the new legislation—are such as would be less adapted for St Luke’s readers than for St Matthew’s. (c) The “mount” and the “plain” are not necessarily distinct localities. The plain is more accurately translated “a level place,” a platform on the high land. (d) The place in the order of events differs in St Luke, but it is probable that here as well as elsewhere St Matthew does not observe the order of time.

Here the question of time is important as bearing on a further question, whether Matthew was himself among the audience. Was the Sermon delivered after the call of the twelve (Luke) or before (Matthew)?

The following analysis may be of use in showing the connection.

A. The Subjects of the Kingdom, Matthew 5:3-16.

(1)  Their character and privileges, Matthew 5:3-12.

(2)  Their responsibility, Matthew 5:13-16.

B. The Kingdom of Heaven in relation (1) to the Law, Matthew 5:17-48; and (2) to Pharisaic rules, Matthew 6:1-34.

(1) It is the highest fulfilment of the law in regard to (a) The Decalogue, Matthew 5:21-37. (b) The law of Retaliation, 38–42. (c) Love or Charity, 43–48.

(2) It exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees in regard to (a) Almsgiving, Matthew 6:1-4; (b) Prayer, Matthew 6:5-15; (c) Fasting, Matthew 6:16-18; (d) Earthly possessions and daily cares, Matthew 6:19-34.

C. Characteristics of the Kingdom, Matthew 7:1-27. (a) Judgment on others, Matthew 7:1-6. (b) The Father’s love for the Children of the Kingdom, 7–12. (c) The narrow entrance therein, 13, 14. (d) The danger of false guides to the narrow entrance, and the test of the true, 15–23. (e) A description of the true subjects of the Kingdom, as distinguished from the false, 24–27.

CHAPTER 5.

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

This extended utterance of Jesus comes upon us as a surprise. Nothing goes before to prepare us to expect anything so transcendently great. The impressions made on the Baptist, the people in Capernaum Synagogue (Mark 1:27), and the four fishermen, speak to wisdom, power, and personal charm, but not so as to make us take the sermon as a thing of course. Our surprise is all the greater that there is so little antecedent narrative. By an effort of imagination we have to realise that much went before—preaching, teaching, interviews with disciples, conflicts with Pharisees, only once mentioned hitherto (Matthew 3:7), yet here the leading theme of discourse.

The sermon belongs to the didache, not to the kerygma. Jesus is here the Master, not the Evangelist. He ascends the hill to get away from the crowds below, and the disciples, now become a considerable band, gather about Him. Others may not be excluded, but the μαθηταὶ are the audience proper. The discourse may represent the teaching, not of a single hour or day, but of a period of retirement from an exciting, exhausting ministry below, and all over Galilee; rest being sought in variation of work, evangelist and teacher alternately. A better name for these chapters than the Sermon on the Mount, which suggests a concio ad populum, might be The Teaching on the Hill. It may be a combination of several lessons. One very outstanding topic is Pharisaic righteousness. Christ evidently made it His business in one of the hill lessons to define controversially His position in reference to the prevailing type of piety, which we may assume to have been to Him a subject of long and careful study before the opening of His public career. The portions of the discourse which bear on that subject can be picked out, and others not relating thereto eliminated, and we may say if we choose that the resulting body of teaching is the Sermon on the Mount (so Weiss). Perhaps the truth is that these portions formed one of the lessons given to disciples on the hill in their holiday summer school. The Beatitudes might form another, instructions on prayer (Matthew 6:7-15) a third, admonitions against covetousness and care (Matthew 6:19-34) a fourth, and so on. As these chapters stand, the various parts cohere and sympathise wonderfully so as to present the appearance of a unity; but that need not hinder us from regarding the whole as a skilful combination of originally distinct lessons, possessing the generic unity of the Teaching on the Hill. This view I prefer to that which regards the sermon as a compendium of Christ’s whole doctrine (De Wette), or the magna charta of the kingdom (Tholuck), though there is a truth in that title, or as an ordination discourse in connection with the setting apart of the Twelve (Ewald), or in its original parts an anti-Pharisaic manifesto (Weiss-Meyer). For comparison of Matthew’s version of the discourse with Luke’s see notes on Luke 6:20-49.

CHAPTER 5

Matthew 5:1. αὐτῷ] is wanting in Lachm., after B. Correction, with a view to improve the style.

Matthew 5:5. Lachm. Tisch. have this verse before Matthew 5:4, but on too weak authority (D, 33, Lat. Verss. Syrcur Or. Eus. and other Fathers). A logical bringing together of the πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι and of the πραεῖς.

Matthew 5:9. αὐτοί] bracketed by Lachm., deleted by Tisch. 8, wanting in C D א, 13, 134, Lat. Verss. Syr. Hil. But how easily would the omission occur in writing, since here the similarly ending υἱοί follows (otherwise in Matthew 5:4 ff.)!

Matthew 5:11. ῥῆμα] is deleted by Lachm. and Tisch. 8, after B D א, Vulg. It. and other Verss. and some Fathers. But as the word is altogether unnecessary as far as the meaning is concerned, it might easily be omitted, especially after the syllable PON.

ψευδόμενοι] is wanting only in D, Codd. of the It., and some Fathers, including Origen. Suspected, indeed, by Griesbach, and deleted by Fritzsche, Tisch. 7; wrongly, however, since the word is quite decisively attested (again restored by Tisch. 8). A definition that appeared so much a matter of course might easily be passed over.

Matthew 5:13. βληθῆναι ἔξω καί] Lachm. Tisch. 8; βληθὲν ἔξω, after B C א, 1, 33. An attempt to help out the style.

Matthew 5:22. εἰκῆ] is wanting in B א, 48, 198, Vulg. Aeth. Or. and some other witnesses. Expressly rejected as spurious as early as Jerome and Augustin. Retr. i. 19, and Pseud.-Athan. Iren. and Hil. place it after ὀργ. Deleted by Fritzsche, Lachm., Tisch. It is an inappropriate addition, resulting from bias, although of very ancient date (already in Syr. It. Eus.).

Matthew 5:25. The second σε παραδῷ is wanting only in B א, 1, 13, 124, 127* Arm. Aeth. 13, 124, 127* Chrys. Hilar. Arn. Deleted by Lachm. and Tisch. 8. Passed over as unnecessary, because its emphasis was mistaken.

Matthew 5:27. ἐῤῥέθη] Elz. adds τοῖς ἀρχαίοις, for which, however, decisive testimony is wanting. Taken from Matthew 5:21; Matthew 5:33.

Matthew 5:28. ἐπιθ. αὐτήν] Elz.: ἐπιθ. αὐτῆς, against decisive testimony. א, 236, Clem. Or. Chrys. Isid. Tert. have no pronoun at all. So Fritzsche and Tisch. 8. But the testimony for αὐτήν is too strong, and the omission might easily have arisen from its being unnecessary.

Matthew 5:30. βληθῇ εἰς γέενναν] Lachm. and Tisch.: εἰς γέενναν ἀπέλθῃ, after B D? א, Curss. and many Verss. and Fathers; it is uncertain whether also in Or. Correctly; the Received reading is derived from Matthew 5:29.

Matthew 5:31. ὅτι] is wanting in B D L א, Curss. Vulg. It. Chrys. Suspected by Griesbach, deleted by Lachm. and Tisch. Rightly. An addition that easily suggested itself. See the exegetical remarks on Matthew 2:23.

Matthew 5:32. ὃς ἂν ἀπολύσῃ] Lachm. and Tisch. 8 : πᾶς ὁ ἀπολύων, after B K L M Δ Π א, Curss. Vulg. It. and other verss. A change made in accordance with Matthew 5:22; Matthew 5:28; Luke 16:18.

μοιχᾶσθαι] Lachm. and Tisch. 8 : μοιχευθῆναι. So B D א, Curss. Theoph. Or. Chrys. Theod. A gloss (to be seduced to adultery) to distinguish it from μοιχᾶται, which follows. Lachm. has afterwards καὶ ὁ ἀπολελυμένην γαμήσας, after B and some Curss., connected with the reading πᾶς ὁ ἀπολύων at the beginning of the verse.

Matthew 5:39. ῥαπίσει] B א, 33: ῥαπίζει; so Tisch. 8. Correctly; the future is a conformation to Matthew 5:41.

Matthew 5:42. δίδου] Lachm. and Tisch.: δός, after B D א, 13, 124, Clem. The Received reading is taken from Luke 6:30.

Matthew 5:44. τοῖς μισοῦσιν] Elz.: τοὺς μισοῦντας, against the best and most numerous witnesses. To exchange, with Lachm. and Tisch., the whole passage from εὐλογ. to μις. ὑμᾶς, after B א, Curss. Copt. Syrcur and many Fathers (including Or. Eus.), and to explain it as an interpolation from Luke, is too bold, since in Luke 6:27 f. the sentences stand in different order. Omissions, however, caused by the Homoeoteleuta might easily occur. ἐπηρεαζόντων ὑμᾶς καί is, however, very suspicious; it is wanting in B א, Curss. and many Verss. Or. (five times; he has the words twice, but then καὶ διωκ. ὑμᾶς is wanting); also in Cypr. Aug. Lucif. and in others stands after διωκ.; it therefore betrays itself as an interpolation from Luke 6:28.

Matthew 5:47. ἀδελφούς] φίλους, in E K L M S Δ Π, Curss. Arm. Goth. Bas. Lucif., is a gloss.

ἐθνικοί] Elz.; Matthaei and Scholz have τελῶναι, against B D Z א, Curss. Verss. and Fathers. Brought hither from Matthew 5:46.

Matthew 5:48. ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς] Lachm. and Tisch.: ὁ οὐράνιος; also approved by Griesb., in accordance with very important witnesses. Is to be preferred; the Received reading flowed as a gloss from Matthew 5:45.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

That this is the same Discourse as that in

Lu 6:17-49

--only reported more fully by Matthew, and less fully, as well as with considerable variation, by Luke--is the opinion of many very able critics (of the Greek commentators; of CALVIN, GROTIUS, MALDONATUS--Who stands almost alone among Romish commentators; and of most moderns, as THOLUCK, MEYER, DE WETTE, TISCHENDORF, STIER, WIESELER, ROBINSON). The prevailing opinion of these critics is that Luke's is the original form of the discourse, to which Matthew has added a number of sayings, uttered on other occasions, in order to give at one view the great outlines of our Lord's ethical teaching. But that they are two distinct discourses--the one delivered about the close of His first missionary tour, and the other after a second such tour and the solemn choice of the Twelve--is the judgment of others who have given much attention to such matters (of most Romish commentators, including ERASMUS; and among the moderns, of LANGE, GRESWELL, BIRKS, WEBSTER and WILKINSON. The question is left undecided by ALFORD). AUGUSTINE'S opinion--that they were both delivered on one occasion, Matthew's on the mountain, and to the disciples; Luke's in the plain, and to the promiscuous multitude--is so clumsy and artificial as hardly to deserve notice. To us the weight of argument appears to lie with those who think them two separate discourses. It seems hard to conceive that Matthew should have put this discourse before his own calling, if it was not uttered till long after, and was spoken in his own hearing as one of the newly chosen Twelve. Add to this, that Matthew introduces his discourse amidst very definite markings of time, which fix it to our Lord's first preaching tour; while that of Luke, which is expressly said to have been delivered immediately after the choice of the Twelve, could not have been spoken till long after the time noted by Matthew. It is hard, too, to see how either discourse can well be regarded as the expansion or contraction of the other. And as it is beyond dispute that our Lord repeated some of His weightier sayings in different forms, and with varied applications, it ought not to surprise us that, after the lapse of perhaps a year--when, having spent a whole night on the hill in prayer to God, and set the Twelve apart, He found Himself surrounded by crowds of people, few of whom probably had heard the Sermon on the Mount, and fewer still remembered much of it--He should go over its principal points again, with just as much sameness as to show their enduring gravity, but at the same time with that difference which shows His exhaustless fertility as the great Prophet of the Church.

And seeing the multitudes - The great numbers that came to attend on his ministry. The substance of this discourse is recorded also in Luke 6. It is commonly called the "Sermon on the Mount." It is not improbable that it was repeated, in substance, on different occasions, and to different people. At those times parts of it may have been omitted, and Luke may have recorded it as it was pronounced on one of those occasions. See the notes at Luke 6:17-20.

Went up into a mountain - This mountain, or hill, was somewhere in the vicinity of Capernaum, but where precisely is not mentioned. He ascended the hill, doubtless, because it was more convenient to address the multitude from an eminence than if he were on the same level with them. A hill or mountain is still shown a short distance to the northwest of the ancient site of Capernaum, which tradition reports to have been the place where this sermon was delivered, and which is called on the maps the Mount of Beatitudes. The hill commonly believed to be that on which the sermon was delivered is on the road from Nazareth to Tiberias, not far from the latter place. The hill is known by the name of Kuran Huttin, the Horns of Huttin. Of this hill Professor Hackett (Illustrations of Scripture, pp. 323, 324) says: "Though a noontide heat was beating down upon us with scorching power, I could not resist the temptation to turn aside and examine a place for which such a claim has been set up, though I cannot say that I have any great confidence in it. The hill referred to is rocky, and rises steeply to a moderate height above the plain. It has two summits, with a slight depression between them, and it is from these projecting points, or horns, that it receives the name given to it. From the top the observer has a full view of the Sea of Tiberias. The most pleasing feature of the landscape is that presented by the diversified appearance of the fields. The different plots of ground exhibit various colors, according to the state. of cultivation: some of them are red, where the land has been newly plowed up, the natural appearance of the soil; others yellow or white, where the harvest is beginning to ripen, or is already ripe; and others green, being covered with grass or springing grain. As they are contiguous to each other, or intermixed, these particolored plots present at some distance an appearance of joyful chequered work, which is really beautiful.

"In rhetorical descriptions of the delivery of the Sermon on the Mount, we often hear the people represented as looking up to the speaker from the sides of the hill, or listening to him from the plain. This would not be possible with reference to the present locality; for it is too precipitous and too elevated to allow of such a position. The Saviour could have sat there, however, in the midst of his hearers, for it affords a platform amply large enough for the accommodation of the hundreds who may have been present on that occasion."

And when he was set - This was the common mode of teaching among the Jews, Luke 4:20; Luke 5:3; John 8:2; Acts 13:14; Acts 16:13.

His disciples came unto him - The word "disciples" means "learners," those who are taught. Here it is put for those who attended on the ministry of Jesus, and does not imply that they were all Christians. See John 6:66.