Biblical commentary on the New Testament - The Christian ...

Matthew V. 8-12. 299
capacity of knowing God's eternal nature is revealed ;
wliich know-
ledge, conceived as complete, is subsequent to our life on earth.*
On this point see notes on Matth. xi. 27 ; John xvii. 3.)
Vor. 9.—In the last stage of moral perfection, the idea of dq^'jvr],
peace, is put forward. It is represented as realized by the members
of the kingdom. ElprjvoTTotog is very distinct from elQrjvevcjv. The
latter signifies one who maintains peace already existing ; the
former, one who maJces it when wanting. Hence, in the elQrjvoTzoidg,
2JeacemaJcer, a (relative) KadaQortjg, ^3Z(r«Y?/, is presupposed, because
the element of strife, sin, must be banished from his heart, and that
of peace must be active there, if his labours are to have any effect.
That the being a child of God is viewed as connected with the peacemaker,
is explained by the fact, that in the term Son of God, is im-
plied the greatest blessing which can be promised to man. For in
the v'ioc, Son, the idea of spiritual relationship appears ; agreeably
w^ith which the true Son is the image of the Father. The God of
peace (2 Cor. xiii. 11) begets children of peace, whose actions are
j)eace. This (perfected) character of sonship to God is represented
as future, or, at most, as present in its germ. {KaXelodaL z= elvai,
with the meaning of " being essentially," see note on Luke i. 35.)
The same thought is expressed Matth. v. 45. This implies, that all
the gradations of moral perfection are to be viewed in relation to their
earthly imperfection. The state of perfection hereafter is identical
witli sonship to God. Accordingly, men in their sinful nature do
not appear as children of God. They need first a higher principle of
life, that must be imparted by him who is pre-eminently the Son of
God—a principle which is received in the aspiration for the divine
(in penitent faith), and is gradually unfolded till it attains that
point.
Ver. 10.—After completing the description of the inward state
of the true children of God, our Lord passes on to portray their re-
lation to the world of unrighteousness (ddiida.') In so doing, he
connects ver. 3 by repeating in this verse the words : " Theirs is the
kingdom of heaven." The righteousness is here conceived as com-
plete in the children of the kingdom, in that they are viewed purely
in contrast with the world.
Ver. 11, 12.—These two verses are merely an expansion of the
thought in ver. 10. Under' the reign of unrighteousness, righteousness
must necessarily suffer. The different forms of persecution by
word and by deed are then more particularly specified.f {Vvec6i(^eiVj
* When we read in John i. 1 8, " No man hath seen God at any lime," where the idea
is implied, "No man can see God—Ho is invisible to the creature" (1 Tim. vi. IG). This
refers to the foundation of the divine esssnco—the Father God can be seen only in the
Son. See the fuller discyassion in note on Jolm i. 18.
f According to John xvi. 4, the Saviour did not first speak to his disciples of the
persecutions that awaited them. It is not improbable, therefore, that the mention of