Matthew Chapter 5 - Helpful Notes

A brief recap: In my notes on Matthew 1, I talked about the importance of the Genealogy in establishing Jesus as the long awaited Messiah. In Matthew 2, I looked at Christ's birth, His nativity as it is called. In Matthew 3, I examined John the Baptist’s ministry and the doctrine of repentance and last week in Matthew 4, I spoke largely about temptation. Matthew 5 follows on directly from where we left Jesus after the healings and the miracles, we read, “there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis and from Jerusalem and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.” (Matthew 4:25)

So let’s read Matthew 5: (Read)

This chapter, chapter 6 and chapter 7 of Matthew are what we call the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is the longest single piece of teaching from Jesus in the New Testament.

We are going to deal with it in 6 sections:

• The Beatitudes.
• Salt and Light.
• Good Works and the Fulfilment of the Law.
• Oaths and their Consequences.
• Love in Practice.
• Like Father, Like Son.

 Verse 2 starts with the words “And He opened His mouth and taught them…” What does Jesus teach? He teaches men how to be blessed. That is how to be happy! John Wesley comments, “To bless men, to make men happy, was the great business for which our Lord came into the world…Knowing that happiness is our common aim, and that an innate instinct continually urges us to the pursuit of it, He in the kindest manner applies to that instinct, and directs it to its proper object.” Its proper object of course being our Creator, Almighty God!

So without further ado, let’s get right into the text.

First we have what is known as the Beatitudes:

There are 8 Beatitudes, with a possible ninth one, which is sometimes seen more as a commentary on the eighth. So let’s look at them in order:

• Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If you want to be spiritually rich, you have to first acknowledge that you are spiritually poor. You have to understand that you are nothing, you have nothing and consequently you are a beggar before God.
• Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Whilst I’m sure those that have lost loved ones have felt the comfort of God’s Spirit, I actually believe that Jesus is talking about those that mourn for their sins. Their comfort is in the fact that they will be forgiven.
• Blessed the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Meekness is a humble heart. Those that are humble before God shall receive all the blessings of God, including salvation, everything pertaining to life and godliness, because “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” (James 4:6)
• Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Do you long for the holy way of living, here described by Jesus?
• Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. A principle elaborated on by Jesus in Chapter 6:14.
• Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. This speaks of the sanctification of the believer, something that lots of Christians tell me is neither possible, nor necessary…I’m going with Jesus on this one!
• Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. The peace that is made is between God and man; no wonder the Scripture says “he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30)
• Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In verses 11 and 12 Jesus expounds this saying, let’s read that (Read)

Salt and Light 13-16

It is unthinkable; impossible; that those that have been touched by Christ, born of His Spirit, “enlightened…and made partakers of the Holy Ghost,” to remain just like the rest of the world. But this does not mean that we are to hide away from the world, quite the opposite. In fact the whole design of the Christianity is what Wesley calls “a Social Religion.” This is the sense in which we are salt. If you put salt on your food, every morsel it touches is affected by that salt; you can taste it. In the same way, because you and I interact with the unsaved people of the world, when we are being obedient to Christ, waking in holiness, pro-active in the sharing of the gospel then we start to affect those around us.

Pastor Shane Idleman said, “We do the most for the world, when we are least like the world.”

Your very presence as a Christian, your “being different,” may bring conviction on the worldly minded man; your being “salt” may even, in some measure, restrain unwholesome conversation, or actions; or cause others to start to turn their minds to eternal things. Yet if the salt loses its savour, its saltiness, of what use is it? If a Christian, either starts to isolate himself and keep his religion private, or becomes just like the world, rather than like Christ; then it is the end of his usefulness. Christians are to shine, like lights in the darkness, ”a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel…” So, whilst Christians are to spend time alone in prayer, even the Lord Jesus did that; whilst we are to separate ourselves from the world in terms of our values, customs and practices; we don’t speak like them, don’t live like them, don’t love the things that they love etc. We are not to become hermits living a monastic lifestyle, neither are we to hide what we are and what we believe; this would be the undoing of the very purpose of our continued existence in the world.

Good Works and the Fulfilment of the Law 16-30

Our good works, wrought for Christ and through Christ are to be seen, so that others might glorify God; that they might be moved to follow in your footsteps, by your good example.

Now, the Lord Jesus turns His attention to matters of the Law.

Verse 17 (Read) Some think that Christ is the against the Law, the enemy of it and the opposer of it, but that is not so. Christ is the “end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” (Romans 10:4) That is, He is the fulfilment, the culmination of it. He illustrates and establishes in this sermon what the Law showed us was lacking, yet couldn’t provide; that is moral obedience to God, internally and externally. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches Justification through Faith. Yet Paul says, “Do we then make void the Law through faith? God forbid: yea we establish the Law.” (Romans 3:31) To quote John Gill, “that faith is not right which is not attended with works of righteousness.” (John Gill’s Commentary.)

Now Jesus starts to show how deep the requirements of God truly are:

Firstly, our righteousness must exceed, or go beyond the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees. It must not be just an outward righteousness like theirs, they are like “whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27) There is corruption within, rottenness, hypocrisy.

Jesus illustrates this with verses 21-22 (Read) and verses 27-28 (Read)

So again, He is emphasising the fact that He is not doing away with God’s moral requirements and saying don’t worry about them, rather He is teaching that they have an even deeper, stricter application than may have been thought! He also establishes His authority as the Son of God, with the repetition of the phrase, “Ye have heard it was said…but I say unto you…” These are not the words of a mere Rabbi, a teacher; or even a Prophet.

Does your right eye offend thee? Pluck it out! Does your right hand offend you? Cut it off! Whatever the sin is, that you hold dear, that you cherish and feed like your own child; that you cannot bear to be without, that is as much a part of you as your own body; “Feeding the eye with forbidden fruit,” as Matthew Henry puts it. Pluck it out! Cut it off! Jesus is saying, figuratively, or rather spiritually, whatever it takes to separate yourself from that sin. Throwing the TV in a skip; stamping on your mobile phone; putting a lock on the fridge; closing your Facebook account; whatever it is, make that sacrifice. Because God is a holy God and His kingdom is a sanctified kingdom.

Oaths and their Consequences 31-37

In verses 31-38 Jesus starts to teach about the taking of oaths and their consequences. Perhaps the most relevant to us is the issue of Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage. Marriage involves the taking of an oath before God and in Law. Here Jesus addresses the question of Divorce. Let’s compare Matthew 5:32 with the other Scriptures in the NT:

• Mark 10:11-12 (Read)
• Luke 16:18 (Read)
• 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 (Read)

So that should be fairly clear that God intends men and women that are married, to remain married, not get divorced and not to remarry. It should also be clear that separation is at best, to be temporary and is in fact contrary to the spirit and teaching of Christ and His Apostles. Are there any circumstances that allow for exceptions these rules? Yes.

• 1 Corinthians 7:39 (Read) Does this mean that only a widow may remarry and that a widower may not remarry? No, as Wesley might say, “a part is put for the whole.”
• 1 Corinthians 7:13 and 15 (Read) Matthew Henry comments, “In such a case the deserted person must be free to marry again.”

Are there any other circumstances that allow for Divorce and/or Remarriage. I believe there are. Let’s read Matthew 5:32 But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication…” There is the exception. Fornication is sex outside of marriage, therefore it “breaketh wedlock” as William Tyndale puts it; it breaks the marriage covenant.  But even then it is at the discretion of the wronged partner. It doesn’t have to result in divorce, but it is allowed and so is remarriage under those circumstances.

Once this principle has been explained, I think it is unreasonable and perhaps contentious, to hold others to a standard, that not even the Lord Jesus is holding men and women to. Sadly, there are Christians who set themselves above the word of God, (whether through ignorance, or self-righteous conceit) “forbidding to marry,” as Paul puts it. But we must accept the authority of the Lord Jesus on this matter, “with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.”

Love in Practice 38-44

Jesus now starts to give practical advice on expressing love to others, even to those that hate us. Let’s read verse 38 (Read)

Under the Old Covenant it was said, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” This is a quote from Exodus 21: 24-25 (Read) Now these verses were being used as an excuse for individuals to act as vigilantes, wreaking revenge on those who wronged them, often violent revenge. However, you will see in context that these verses do not give liberty to private individuals to mete out justice whenever they feel like it, rather they are instruction in Law, given to appointed judges, to act fairly and proportionately, on behalf of these individuals.

Jesus however, encourages the Christian NOT to return “evil for evil, or railing for railing:” as Peter says in 1 Peter 3:9, or as Paul puts it in Romans 12:17 “Recompense to no man evil for evil.”

In fact, in principle, we are to “turn the other cheek.” This is a proverbial saying, not a literal instruction, as should be clear from John 18:22-23 where we read “one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand…” Jesus does not meekly offer him his other cheek to be struck, rather he challenges the man, “If I have spoken evil, bare witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?” Christ’s response is one of reproof (and why would He not reprove those that sin, even against his own person) yet it is calm and rational. The perfect example for us.

Even in smaller matters, our attitude is to be the same:

• “If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.” (Verse 40)
• Go the extra mile. (Verse 41)
• “Give to him that asketh thee,” (Verse 42) although we should use our “discretion,” as Mathew Henry puts it “lest we give that to the idle and unworthy,” which of course would be harmful, rather than helpful for them and us.

Jesus brings forth some truly radical and eminently practical teaching now, as he finishes of this section with the words we find in verse 43 (Read) I like Wesley’s comment, “God spoke the former part; the Scribes added the latter!” (Explanatory Notes on the New Testament – John Wesley)

But once again, in verse 44 Jesus removes the error of tradition and expounds the Scriptures correctly. (Read)

Like Father, Like Son 45-48

God is gracious to the evil and the good. He expresses love to the righteous and the unrighteous, by sending rain for their crops and sun to make them grow. Therefore Christians should love not just the good and the righteous, but also the wicked. Now here it is helpful if we define love from a Biblical perspective. We may love the wicked person and yet not love what he does. 1 Corinthians 13:6 says that “charity” that is love, “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.” To love a man, does not mean that we must approve, or agree with him; it does not mean that we must become like him; rather it means we believe that God gives him the freedom to live as he will. I wish our own government would understand that basic truth and see that it underpins the true definition of tolerance.

Finally, Jesus finishes this chapter with those amazing words, “be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

As Jesus began this chapter He spoke of a way of living; a way of being, that was “blessed” or happy. Now He describes that life as perfection.

But you might say, “impossible” no man can be perfect! No, not by himself; not by his own efforts; not by good deeds wrought in the flesh; not by empty, vain words and actions; not by wishing, or pretending. But through the indwelling, empowering, sanctifying power of God, he may. As Jesus says, later on in Matthew 19:26 “ With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Interesting that being “perfect” is a command, rather than a theological theory!

Copyright © Paul Jennings.