Matthew 5

Matthew 5:1

[a] disciples] The word μαθητής signifies a scholar, or learner, that hath entered into any school of knowledge, the relative to a master or teacher; and though the twelve, which were afterwards apostles, be ordinarily known by this title of οἱ μαθηταί, the disciples, by way of excellence, yet doth it not from thence follow, that those twelve were the only auditors of this sermon, (or if they had been, that the doctrine here preached belongs only to apostles, and their successors in the church, because those very twelve were as yet but μαθηταί, learners, not apostles, till they were sent out to preach, Matt. x. 1, and after to govern and rule the church in Christ’s stead,) but rather the contrary, ch. vii. 28, where, at the conclusion of this sermon, it is said, ἐξεπλήσσοντο οἱ ὄχλοι, the multitudes (of his disciples or learners, those that now heard and received his doctrine, though, perhaps, not absolutely the ὄχλοι, ch. v. 1, the promiscuous multitude, the ὄχλοι πολλοί, ch. iv. 25, the many troops that followed him, but, I say, the multitudes of disciples that believed on him) were astonished at his doctrine, ἦν γὰρ διδάσκων αὐτοὺς, for he taught them: thus Luke vi. 17, it is set down distinctly, ὄχλος μαθητῶν, a multitude of disciples, (out of which, it is said, he chose twelve, ver. 13, signifying that there were more disciples than those twelve,) in opposition to the πλήθος πολύ τοῦ λαοῦ, &c. the great multitude of people from all Judæa, &c. that came to hear, and to be healed of him; so oft in other places the word μαθητής, disciple, is applied to all that entered into his school, as well as to the twelve. So ch. viii. 21, it was a disciple which said, Lord, suffer me first to bury my father, but sure none of the twelve; and so in many other places. From all which it is clear to whom the doctrine and precepts of this sermon belongs, as also who are the ὑμεῖς, ye, who are said to be the salt of the earth, &c. ver. 13, not the apostles peculiarly, (for as yet there were none such,) but all Christians, which were then in the world, and so in like manner all that should succeed them in that title, all that enter Christ’s school, that profess his doctrine, and so follow him as obedient disciples.

Matthew 5:3

Blessed are all they that, how high soever their condition is in this world, are yet in mind, affection, and conversation humble and lowly, and they which, when they are in worldly poverty, bear it willingly, not only of necessity; for to these belong the riches, and those the greatest, even of a kingdom, and that of heaven, (see Luke vi. 20. Yours is the kingdom of heaven.) for they are of a fit temper and capacity to receive that comfort which Christ and the Spirit offer to all that are capable of it; and accordingly their present sadness shall be repaired here, and moreover rewarded with future joys, Luke xvi. 25; whereas those that have most of the carnal jollities of this world, that have enjoyed all their good things here, have a sad arrear of mourning which expects them in another world. the quiet-spirited persons, and they that live in obedience to government; for they ordinarily shall live quietly, and receive the protection and benefit of government, and, invading no man’s goods or life, shall generally enjoy long life and tranquillity in the earth. Or when the exercises of this virtue, in some singular conjunctures of time, bring losses or death upon them, they shall be richly rewarded in another world, and be made amends abundantly there for all that the practice of this virtue hath brought upon them. whose appetites are removed from the meaner inferior objects of our thirsts, (which may raise but never satisfy our appetites,) from the worldling’s importunate desires, ambitions and covetings, to the eager and impatient pursuit of the favour of God, and of piety of the highest kind, that way of salva-

Matthew 5:5

[b] the earth] Ἡ γῆ very often hath a peculiar critical signification in the Gospels, and refers to the land of Judæa; and here, by being promised to the meek and obedient, looks distinctly on the fifth commandment, and in it on the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, i. e. a fruitful prosperous being here on earth: which is here said to belong by promise of God peculiarly to the meek; and though sometimes it proves not so, when in time of civil dissensions the supreme governors are resisted, and perhaps overcome, (for then the meek or obedient con-

α Ἀλώσ. 1. 5. c. 4.

Matthew 5:8

[c] see God] The seeing God here may perhaps not look so far off as the beatifical vision in another world, but be first fulfilled in the work of grace, in opening our eyes to behold the wonderful things of God’s law, for this belongs peculiarly to the purity of heart, as that excludes both hypocrisy and uncleanness, filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Thus, saith Origen, did God exhibit himself to be seen of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not to the eyes of their bodies, ἀλλὰ καθαρᾷ καρδίᾳ, to the pure heart, contra Cels. l. 6. p. 285. Many excellent discourses toward this purpose we have from the light of nature among the Pythagorean philosophers, Porphyry, Jamblichus, Plotinus, Marinus, when they speak of their καθαρτικὴ, particularly in Hierocles’ Preface on the Golden Verses.

Matthew 5:9

[d] the peacemakers] The word ποιεῖν, to do, or work, in sacred dialect, doth oft signify the habit or bent of the mind, with the consequent actions; so ἁμαρτίαν ποιεῖν, to commit, or live indulgently in sin, and ποιεῖν δικαιοσύνην, to have a sincere inclination or resolution of mind (which is never sine effectu, utterly “uneffectual”) toward righteousness, as that signifies the practice of Christian virtues. Thus εἰρήνην ποιούντες, James iii. 18, they that work peace, are peaceable-minded men, and so proportionably the compound εἰρηνοποιοί, peace-makers, is used in this place in the same signification. As for the κληθήσονται νίοι, (which follows,) they shall be called sons, that must be rendered according to the importance of the word καλεῖσθαι, to be called, i. e. to be, mentioned note [k] Matt. ii. (And so it is used 1 John iii. 1.) and νίοι Θεοῦ, sons of God, both here and ver. 45, are they which partake of (and resemble him in) some special divine excellencies, (as sons of God are imitators of him, Eph. v. 1.) such as peaceable-mindedness here; just as νίοι Ἄρεως, sons of Mars, are good soldiers, and sons of Neptune, men of a savage and tyrannous disposition. And so it is observable that, John viii. 39, the ποιεῖν ἱργα, to do the works, and θέλειν ποιεῖν, being willing, or delighting to do them, ver. 44, are evidences of sons.

Matthew 5:11

[e] shall revile you] As καλέσουσιν ὄνομα, they shall call his name, ch. i. 23, signifies, his name shall be called, (and so in other places there noted,) so here, ὅταν ὀνειδίσωσιν, when they shall persecute and revile you, signifies, when ye shall be persecuted, &c.; and ver. 12, οὕτω γὰρ ἐδίωξαν τοὺς προφήτας, for so they persecuted the prophets, (without any intimation who the persecutors were,) is, so were the prophets before you persecuted. See note on Luke xvi. 9.

Matthew 5:13

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt [f] have had his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of man.

You discipline, all sorts of true Christians, (see note [a]), are the men, that by your doctrine and exemplary piety and charity, are to keep the whole land, the whole world from putrefying. But if your lives grow unsavoury or noisome, what means is there imaginable to repair or recover you? None certainly. And then are ye (unsavoury Christians) the most unprofitable refuse creatures in the world, and so shall be accounted of, (Mark ix. 50. Luke xiv. 34.) and dealt with accordingly.

[f] have lost his savour] The Hebrew word חמל signifies two things; first, ἄναλον, insipidum, unsavoury, and then, by a metaphor, μωρὸν, foolish; and here one of those is taken for the other, and so μωραίνεσθαι used for being saltless, insipid, unsavoury; ἄναλον γίνεσθαι, having lost all its saltness, all of that quality that belongs to that creature.

Matthew 5:14

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

As a city set upon an high illustrious place is seen by all that travel near it, and by them inquired after what it is, so the Christian church (which is a most conspicuous society in respect of the difference of their lives from other men) cannot choose but be taken notice of by the rest of the world, and either attract them by their good, or discourage and deter them by their evil examples, Isa. ix. 11. Phil. ii. 15.

Matthew 5:15

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

It is my design in you, (in the doctrine which ye are to preach, and the exemplary lives which you are to live) to set up a torch or eminent luminary, like the sun in the firmament, for all the world to be enlightened by it, and directed in the actions of their lives. Now ye know, it is not men’s meaning, when they light a candle, to put it under that which will cover and shut up the light of it, but to set it up at the best advantage, so that it may dispense its light most freely to all that are within reach of it. And so must ye diffuse your doctrine and examples to all the heathen world, whose ignorance and sins render them answerable to the dark parts of the house, which yet the candle, when it comes to them, doth illuminate.

honest, honourable, commendable actions, such as are not practised by other men,

to take any thing from the law and the prophets, i. e. the rule of duties toward God and man in force among the Jews, to loose mankind from the obligations that formerly lay upon them, (v. 18, 19. and note [f]); to permit, much less to cause any one moral command to be evacuated, but to repair and make up whatsoever is any way wanting, to restore whatsoever hath been taken from it by false interpretations of those which have striven to evacuate some parts of it, to require more explicitly what was obscure before, and where there is any need to increase and add unto the law.

Matthew 5:16

Let your light be shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 5:17

Think not that I am come to destroy the [g] law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but [h] to fulfil.

[g] law] The use of the word νόμος, law, in the New Testament is very observable, and the several notions of it may perhaps be reducible to two heads; for, first, it signifies in one general notion the whole way of economy among the Jews under the Old Testament, (taken precisely by itself, without opposition to the reformation wrought after by Christ,) that way that men were then put into in order to their eternal weal. Thus in this chap. ver. 17, I came not to dissolve the law, &c., but πληρῶσαι, to perfect it; i. e. not to destroy or pull asunder that former fabric under the Old Testament, but to reform and improve it in some things wherein it may be better; and so ver. 18, when he saith, One iota or tittle shall not pass from the law, till all be done, i. e. till the end of the world; (and again ver. 19, when of him that looseth any of the least of these commandments, he saith, that he shall be the least in the kingdom of heaven;) it is clear that the law there signifies the Old Testament course; the religion of the former age, which indeed Christ came to review and reform, to bring substance instead of shadows, to make clearer revelations, clearer or higher promises and precepts, (which he calls πληρῶσαι, to fill up,) but not λῦσαι, to pull asunder, or dissolve it; this Justin Martyr excellently sets down in his discourse with Tryphon the Jew. Some things there were, saith he, (not only permitted, as that of divorce, &c. but) διαταχθέντα, ordained and appointed you, διὰ τὸ σκληροκάρδιον τοῦ λαοῦ, “because of the hardheartedness of that people,” as circumcision, and other such outward observances, to interpose some checks, or stops in their course of carnality and impiety, that they were so bent to that they would not mind the τὰς αἰωνίους καὶ φύσει δικαιοπραγίας καὶ εὐσεβείας, “those eternal and natural rules of justice and piety.” Now these things being thus required of them by the law of Moses, they again abused contrary to God’s design, placed all piety in those external performances, and neglected the natural justice and piety signified, and meant by God to be secured, and not betrayed by them. This, therefore, Christ comes to reform, to require the substantial duties instead of the shadows that darkly signified them; and all the changes wrought by Christ were of this nature, reformations; and so, we know, pulling out weak or broken timber in a building, and putting in better and stronger, is not pulling down of a house, but only repairing it; so far was Christ’s design from destroying of it. And it is observable, that in that place of ver. 17, the prophets are added to the law; and so both in that, and many other places, the law and the prophets together signify the religion of the former age, simply taken as that differs from

[h] to fulfil] The Greek word πληρῶσαι is answerable to the Hebrew כלה, which signifies not only τελίω, to perform, but τελειόω, to perfect, to fill up, as well as to fulfil; and so is rendered sometimes by one, sometimes by the other. And the Greek itself is so used in like manner: when it refers to a word or a prophecy, then it is to perform, to fulfil, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 1 Mac. ii. 55: in other cases it is to fill up, to complete, to perfect, Ecclus. xxxiii. 16. and xxxix. 12, 2 Chron. xxiv. 10, and Matt. xxiii. 32. This the ancient Greek fathers express by the similitude of a vessel that had some water in it before but now is filled up to the brim; and again of a picture, that is first drawn rudely, the limbs only and lineaments, with a coal or pen, but when the painter comes to draw it to the life, to add the ζωγράφησις to the

D 2

Matthew 5:18

[i] jot] Κεραία is thought by some to refer to the Hebrew chirec, by others to some corners of the Hebrew letters, from whence their critics were wont to deduce great mysteries. But the word must be resolved to be of a Greek origination, and there it signifieth ἀρχὴν γράμματος, (for so, sure, we must read in Hesychius, not κερία, ἀρχὴ γράμματα, but κεραία, ἀρχὴ γράμματος,) the beginning of a letter, which is less than the least letter, iota, which went before. Thus (saith Plutarch, I. 2. adversus Col.) did Epicurus contend with Democrats, περὶ συλλαβῶν καὶ κεραίων, about syllables and these, where most probably they signify pieces of letters, as syllables are pieces of words. Thus is the word used in Hesychius for any the least part of any thing; thus he renders κάρφος (mentioned here, ch. vii. 3.) κεραία ξύλου λεπτὴ, a thin minute piece of wood, of some, but very little length. The Hebrew reads עוקץ, which the rabbins frequently use for the little stalk or tail of any fruit. The Syriac hath serto, which Ferrarius interprets minima linea; and so the Arabic, chatta linea, or lineola, the least stroke or part of a letter. And accordingly it is here set to denote any the smallest inconsiderable parts, any minutiæ in the law. The word is here joined with lūra, the name of a Greek letter, which cannot be translated into English any otherwise than that it is a Greek ι, and therefore I have retained it, as alpha and omega, two Greek letters, are retained in the rendering of the Apocalypse.

Matthew 5:21

[k] heard] There were three ways among the Hebrews of interpreting scriptures: first, שמעתא, hearing, ἀκρόασις, when any fact is recited, or historical sense explicated, which to have heard is sufficient without any more; 2dly, אנרא, mystical exposition; 3dly, מתלא, parabolical exposition. The first of these belongs to those passages of scripture which were plain matters of fact, as here plain commands of the Decalogue, without any other expositions on them than the bare reciting them out of the book. And to shew that this, and that of adultery, ver. 22, and that of perjury, ver. 33, were commands of the Decalogue, and that that of the lex talionis, “law of retaliation,” ver. 38, and loving friends, and hating enemies, ver. 43, (which two, though they agree with the rest in the ἠκούσατε, ye have heard, yet differ in the τοῖς ἀρχαίοις, to them of old,) were doctrines of Moses’ law, though not of the Decalogue, (as that of divorce, having neither the ἠκούσατε, ye have heard, nor the τοῖς ἀρχαίοις, to them of old time, is neither;) to shew this, I say, it is that Christ’s form here still begins with ἠκούσατε, ye have heard, in reference to the שמעתא, hearing, forementioned, which belonged to such; or in reference to Hear, O Israel, the form, with which the law began, in Moses’ reciting it, Deut. v. 1; and so, in like manner, his form of addition, Ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν, But I say to you, is an intimation of the rabbins’ form, when having set down another’s doctrine, they make observation upon it, ואני אומר, And, or, But I say.

Matthew 5:22

[l] Raca] The word ‘Ραχὰ is an Hebrew word, and signifies vain, or empty; and being applied to any man is a word of contumely,

Matthew 5:23

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

Matthew 5:24

Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be ¹⁶ [m] reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

[m] reconciled] The words καταλλάττεσθαι and διαλλάττεσθαι, in the passive voice, have a peculiar sense in the New Testament; in ordinary Greek authors they signify to be pacified, reconciled; but contrariwise in these (according to the notation of the reciprocal conjugation, hithpahel, among the Hebrews) to reconcile himself to another, i. e. to appease, get the favour of that other. So 1 Cor. vii. 11, ἀνδρὶ καταλλαγήτω, let her appease, reconcile herself to her husband. So Rom. v. 10, If we being enemies, κατηλλάγημεν τῷ Θεῷ, were reconciled to God, i. e. restored to his favour, (God pacified toward us.) So 2 Cor. v. 20, καταλλαγητε τῷ Θεῷ, take care that God be reconciled unto you; and so here διαλλάγηθι τῷ ἀδελφῷ, take care that he be reconciled to thee, pacify him, reconcile thyself to him; for that which goes before is not that he hath done thee injury, but thou him, when thy brother hath somewhat against thee. In which sense also that other phrase, ver. 25, ἴσθι εὐνοῶν, literally, be well minded, is to be taken, not that thou think well of thy injured brother, (for that is not the business of that place,) but that thou seek his favour and forgiveness, his accord and agreement with thee, that he may think well of thee, and be reconciled to thee: see note [f] Mark xiv. 54. So in like manner the active καταλλάττειν is not, as in other authors it signifies, to appease, but to restore any man to another’s favour, 2 Cor. v. 19. All this is to be made up by observing the importance of the Hebrew רצה in the several conjugations.

Matthew 5:25

¹⁷ Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him: ’lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the ¹⁸ [a] officer, and thou be cast into prison.

[n] officer] The word ὑπηρέτης, officer, or sergeant, which is here used, and so in like manner John xviii. 3, is also used Luke iv. 20, in another sense, by which, compared together, it appears that the same men, which in the consistory or court of judgment among the Jews were apparitors or sergeants, were also in the synagogues employed (as deacons) to minister, to bring and take away the book, &c. So the very word διάκονος, that we ordinarily render deacon, doth, Matt. xxii. 13, signify the officers that take and carry men to prison, and (as it was the lictor’s office) bind men hand and foot, &c. Instead of ὑπηρέτης here, is πράκτωρ, Luke xii. 58, i. e. the sergeant or lictor that executes the sentence, to which any man is adjudged by the court of justice.

Matthew 5:26

Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come ‘out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Matthew 5:27

We have heard that it was said ¹⁷ by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

Matthew 5:28

But I say unto you, ‘That [o] whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

[o] looketh] Βλέπειν here signifies not to see, but to behold, consider, look upon with some intention, or earnestness, or voluptuous design. Proportionably to what we find of this word, when it is applied to other matters: as Ephes. v. 15. Βλέπετε, See, i. e. take heed very diligently, πῶς ἀκριβῶς, &c. that ye walk accurately; and very frequently in that sense for taking heed. St. Chrysostom here reads ὁ ἐμβλέπων, he that

Matthew 5:29

And if thy right eye ¹⁹ offend thee, the former, and so proportionably in another world to a yet deeper degree of hell. But he that permits his passion to break out into virulent railing, shall be liable to that degree of punishment in another world, which is answerable to the burning in the valley of Hinnom, which was a punishment for greater than the other two, and so notes a very great degree of eternal torments. For in that place it was the custom to put their children into hollow brazen vessels over the fire, and therein to scald them to death, crying out lamentably, very many together. 23, 24. If therefore at any time thou art a bringing or hast brought to the priest thy offering for atonement of sin, thy peace-offering to be received by him, and offered for thee upon the altar, and, as thou art there ready to present thy offering to the priest, thou callest to mind that thou hast done any man any injury, do thou in that minute stop, and leave thy offering unpresented to the priest, and betake thyself first to that person whom thou hast thus injured, use means to reconcile him, to make him friends with thee, to obtain his pardon, to work thy reconciliation with him, and then come and complete thy intended atonement. ’lest he accuse and implead thee before the judge, ‘out of prison till thou hast made full satisfaction (such as the law prescribes) for that trespass done by thee, whereas by a seasonable timely compounding of it, it might have been done with some moderation; and so may a timely reconciliation with thy neighbour, whom thou hast injured and made thy accuser or adversary, avert that punishment of God, which from him as the Judge and Avenger of all wrongs, must otherwise be expected. ‘That he that looks lustfully, that feeds his eye on any but his own wife, though he satisfy not his flesh; he that delights himself with beautiful faces, gazes intemperately, &c. by that very lustful look, hath, for his part, made himself guilty of adultery on her.

And be thy eye (one instrument of ensnaring thee, as the hand is another, v. 30.) never so useful or advantageous to thee, thou hadst better have

¹⁷ sanhedrim, auctôpiq. ¹⁸ liable unto the fire in the valley of Hinnom, Iroxos iis vla

yicrros voi vupis. ¹⁹ reconcile thyself. ¹⁶ be at accord: see note [m], and note on

Mark xiv. [f]. ¹⁶ apparitor, serjeant. ¹⁷ to them, rais. ¹⁸ scandalize thee, cause

thee to stumble, or insnare thee, anachalati or, see note on ch. xi. [e].

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Matthew 5:30

See ver. 29. he must, is bound to is guilty of making

Matthew 5:31

[p] It hath been said] The form of the preface here, being no more than ἐρρίθη, it hath been said, without either the ἀκούσατε, ye have heard, or ἀρχαίοις, to them of old, doth note that the matter here recited was no precept, given either by Moses in the law, or by any other after him, to that ancient people, but that it was only a permission, by allowing impunity in the עֲרַת דְּבַר, the case of nakedness, or turpitude, Deut. xxiv. 1; to this the Pharisees distinctly refer, ch. xix. 7, and Mark x. 7, Why then did Moses command, &c.; where yet all that Moses did command is only this, that he that doth put away his wife (in the case, which for the hardness of their hearts he permits, ver 8, but allows not, much less commands) shall do it formally and legally, giving her a bill of divorce, that by that means the divorced woman may marry again, and bring forth children by some other man. It is true, indeed, there were some licentious doctrines brought after into the schools by some of their doctors or latter interpreters of Moses. One sort of them, which acknowledged it to be allowed in no other case but that of na-

e In Legat. p. 36. b. f P. 461. g Pædag. l. 3. c. 5.

Matthew 5:33

And as v. 21 and v. 27. (that of v. 31. being but appendant to that of adultery and brought in as in a parenthesis) I mentioned to you some of the commands of the decalogue, so now again another.

Matthew 5:34

All voluntary swearing, though it be by a creature, is wholly interdicted thee. And though in involuntary, those that are lawfully imposed by the magistrate, by way of adjuring or laying an oath upon thee, thou mayest and art obliged, in obedience to authority, to swear by God himself, yet in any other case thou art not to swear by any thing else, though it be inferior to God, because, being created by God, it is he only that hath power over it, and therefore it is not subjected to thy will, to abuse or swear by it, as for example,

Matthew 5:37

But let no more be used in your discourse but an affirmation, and, if need be, an asseveration; and so on the contrary, when you deny any thing, a negative, and if the matter require, some other addition of greater weight to express the seriousness of your speech, (but no kind of oath) to back or confirm it. For whatsoever is used above these necessary expressions and confirmations, (as any kind of oath used in discourse between men, be it by the heaven, the earth, &c.) proceeds from some evil principle, sometimes from your vainglorious humour, delighting in such big speaking, (founded in an opinion, that fearing to sin is a poor-spirited thing,) sometimes from want of reverence to the name of God, sometimes from the faithlessness of men, but most commonly from the devil, that evil one, who hath many snares to catch souls, and ensnare them in idolatry, or error, or unbelief, and the use of the forementioned forms of swearing may tend to this end undiscernibly; and besides, the not observing exact truth in all our conversation (which makes us not fit to be trusted without oaths), and the incredulity of men (that they will not believe without them), and so the pride and irreverence also, are all the works of the devil, in which respect (as also, because there is no part of our sensitive appetite to which oaths do properly afford any delight or pleasure) the oaths that come from any one of these may be said to be from him, especially all needless promissory oaths, to which Christ’s speech especially belongs.

Matthew 5:38

Ye have heard that it hath been said. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

It is appointed in the judicial law of the Jews, that he that wronged or maimed another, shall himself suffer that very evil which he hath done to that other. That you oppose not violence to the injurious man, but on the contrary, whosoever shall use thee contumeliously, bear it patiently, (as to turn the check signifies proverbially, Lam. iii. 3.) yea, though the doing so seemeth to thee a likely means to bring the like upon thee another time. In matters of such a light nature, venture that rather than think of opposing violence unto it.

Matthew 5:39

[qj resist] The word ἀντιστῆναι may here signify (in a notion wherein ἀντὶ in composition imports vicem referre) repayment of injury, violence, &c., as in the word ἀντιπάσχειν, ἀνταποδιδόναι, to suffer by way of retaliation, and give by way of recompense, &c.; and ἀντικαλεῖν, to invite him again who had invited thee, Luke xiv. 12. So doth Tertullian seem to render it, Læsi vicem referre prohibentur, Apol. c. 37, “When we are injured we are forbidden to make returns;” the same that Rom. xii. 17. is called κακὸν ἀντὶ κακοῦ ἀποδιδόναι, to repay evil for evil, which is there the interpretation of ἐκδικεῖν ἑαυτοὺς, ver. 19, avenging themselves. And it is observable that the word is applied in the Old Testament to impleading, or prosecuting at law; as Jer. xlix. 19, where the Hebrew reads וַיְהִי, diem dicere, to implead, the Greek have τὶς ἀντιστήσεται μοι, who shall resist me? So Jer. l. 44, and so the word עָמַד, when it is rendered ἀντιστῆναι, to resist, Isa. v. 8, it signifies impleading in judgment; and Obad. 11, to use violence against any. So עָנָה, which signifies any kind of return to another in word or action, (and is ordinarily rendered ἀποκρόνομαι, or ἀνταποκρίνομαι, to answer,) is rendered ἀντιστῆναι, to resist; as Deut. xix. 18, Isaiah iii. 9. and lix. 12, Jer. xiv. 7, by which (as it is here set in opposition to the lex talionis, “law of retaliation,” the eye for eye, ver. 38.) it will appear, that in cases of this nature, (a light contumely, &c.,) not only private revenge is interdicted Christians, but also the exacting of legal revenge before the magistrate. But beside this ἀντιστῆναι signifies ordinarily violent and armed resistance, Rom. xiii. 2; and so in Hesychius, ἀνθιστάμενον and ἀντιστρατευόμενον, resisting and waging war, are all one; and ἀντιστάτης, is ἀνθεστὼς ἐν τῇ μάχῃ, in the old Glossary, ἀνθίσταμαι, obsto, obsisto, resisto; and so in Homer—

‘Αλλ’ ἕτ’ ἄρ’ ἀνθίσταντο—Iliad. π. 305.

and it is not certain that it signifies any otherwise here: and then the matter of precept will be, that in injuries (of this nature again) we may not, for the securing ourselves from more, fly to any violent resistance: patience at the present, and depending on God’s providence for the future, doth much better become a Christian. And the philosopher hath stated it excellently, “Τὸ δὲ οἴεσθαι εὐκαταφρονήτους τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔσεσθαι, ἐὰν μὴ τοὺς πρώτους ἐχθροὺς παντὶ τρόπῳ βλάψωμεν, σφόδρα ἀγεννῶν καὶ ἀνοήτων ἀνθρώπων: “It is the part of degenerous and foolish men to think they shall be contemned by others if they do not by all means avenge their first enemies.” Φαμὲν γὰρ τῶν ἀκαταφρόνητον νοεῖσθαι μὲν, καὶ

Rufus ex Epict. Hist. amicit. ap. Stob. Serm. 20.

Matthew 5:40

And if by suit at law any one endeavour to rob thee of thy meaner or inner garment, do thou is from evil, or the evil one, de voi nonquei devi. the injurious, or evil man, &c.

coat] Some difficulty there is what is here meant by χιτῶν, which is rendered a coat, but more properly a shirt, or sark, and ἱμάτιον, the upper garment; perhaps it may be cleared by finding the notation of the former, χιτῶν, for then the latter, ἱμάτιον, being a more general word for any kind of garment, will be here regulated by analogy with that. For the original of χιτῶν, there is little doubt but it is Hebrew, differing so little from their כְּתוּנָה. The Hebrew word notes it to be linen, and it is the name of the priest’s inner garment among them; and so χιτῶν τὸ ἐνδότερον, saith Moschopulus on Hesiod, p. 70, “it signifies the inner garment.” So in Aristophanes, ¹ Σὺ μὲν τοῦ σπολάδα καὶ χιτῶν ἕχεις: where χιτῶν signifies, and is by the interpreter rendered, interula, “the inner garment.” So in ² Eustathius, ὑπόκειται ὁ χιτῶν, ἐπίκειται δὲ τὸ φῶρος, it signifies the inner garment; and giving it an etymology (somewhat remote) from χύω, he saith, it is so called, ὡς ἀμέσως αὐτίκα περικεχυμένος τῷ σώματι, “because it is immediately next the body.” And a phrase in St. Jude, ver. 23, ἀπὸ τῆς σαρκὸς ἐσπιλωμένον χιτῶνα, signifies it to be next unto the flesh; the same which the Latins call camisia, and the Greeks sometimes ὑποκάμισον; and Hesiod hath given it the epithet of τερμώεντα, ἤγουν ποδήρη, i. e. a long garment, saith Moschopulus. Thus in Homer’s Iliad, β’ 262,

Χλαϊνὰν τ’ ἠδὲ χιτῶνα, τὰ τ’ αἰδῶ ἀμφικαλύπτει,

“the outer and inner garment, both which cover the shame.” So in Isidore Peleusiota, χιτῶν τῆς ἡδονῆς, is “the shirt which covers the nakedness;” which, saith he, was it which Joseph’s mistress rent from him, and brought to her husband for an evidence of his attempting to defile her. The same Hebrew כְּתוּנָה is, by transposition of letters, the Latin tunica, (by which it is often rendered,) as the writers of the origination of words have observed; and that, though it be sometimes otherwise applied, agrees in the use of it also with the Greek and Hebrew; tunica signifying principally the inner linen garment, next the body; as when it is proverbially said, tunica propior est pallio; and when it is in the poets used for a shirt or smock; as when Propertius saith of the goddesses—

—quas pastor viderat olim, Idæis tunicam ponere verticibus. ¹ Ὄρνιθ. 934. ² In Iliad. β. Basil. edit. p. 128. l. 43.

Matthew 5:41

And whosoever shall make thee go and carry his burdens a little way, do thou again rather than permit thy passions to oppose violence to this injury or light invasion of thy liberty, venture to suffer as much more.

² do not thou disdainfully or loathingly turn away.

[sj go a mile] Ἀγγαρεύειν is a Persian word (and custom) to take up men, as we take up post horses, to carry our burdens from stage to stage, (and so the word is used, ch. xxvii. 31,) which when one hath performed, another is taken up in his stead for the next post. These stages are each of them a parasange, called ἀνάπαυλαι, saith o Agathias, because, when men came to the end of them, they did refresh themselves and return home. Now the μίλιον, or mile, which is here mentioned for the supposed stage, is but the fourth part of a parasange, (or thereabout,) the parasange being, saith he, thirty stadia, and the μίλιον but seven or eight, to signify (as in the former the βάπισμα was a light supportable injury, or rather a contumely only, and the taking away the cloak a robbery again supportable to him that hath the coat left, and perhaps a great estate also, so) here the oppression or invasion of liberty spoken of, to be but a petty damage, going but a quarter of an ordinary post, (and no burden mentioned neither;) and they that are so impatient of such tolerable injuries, as to oppose force or meditate revenge for them, (which ordinarily brings greater sufferings upon them, and so is far from gainful to them that use it,) especially to break into open violence upon such light grounds, are directly contrary to this practice of patience here commanded and prescribed to all Christians.

Matthew 5:43

It is true indeed that the precept of Moses concerning the kind dealing of the Jews with other men, extended not universally to all, but peculiarly to their countrymen, or fellow Jews (called, the sons of thy people): to others who were aliens and also enemies to them, they were not bound to be kind; but against some, viz. the seven nations, they were commanded to proceed hostilely.

Matthew 5:44

Let your kindness be extended as the blessings of heaven, even to enemies and injurious provokers; in the same manner and measure as they do ill to you, do ye good to them, blessing, obliging, praying for them, and making them no other returns for all their virulencies, hatreds, and contumelious malicious behaviour toward you.

Matthew 5:45

That so by imitating God, you may approve yourselves to be like him, as children to a parent, it being evident in him that he confines not his mercies to friends and good men, but extends them to injurious provokers and gross offenders as well as the pious lovers of him.

[t] evil] The πονηροί here again being answerable to enemies, ver. 44, (and in the notion mentioned in note on ver. 39,) are the injurious; as on the other side, ἀγαθοί, good, are the friendly or kind, differing from δίκαιοι, righteous, that follows, just as Rom. v. 7, or as צדקה and חכד, righteous and merciful; or as when ἀγαθός, good, is expressed to signify χρηστότης, benignity; as Matt. xx. 15, (or as when ἀγαθοεργίαι, James iii. 1, and good works, in our ordinary phrase, signifies

o Hist. l. 2. p. 55.

Matthew 5:46

For if ye have ordinary charity to them which have so to you, do you deserve or have reason to expect any reward from God for so doing? Why, the worst sort of men in the world will do so.

Matthew 5:47

And if ye abound in affection to Jews only, what do you more than all the most vulgar men of the heathen world think themselves obliged to? who kiss and embrace those that are nearest and dearest to them.

Matthew 5:48

Therefore of you Christians I require, that you exercise your charity, whether of the lowest or highest sort, and extend it as far as the mercy of God is extended, viz. to enemies as well as friends, Luke vi. 36.

²² shirt, let go even thy upper garment to him. ²³ what extraordinary thing do you? ²³ press. ²⁴ embrace, ἀσπάσῃσθε.