Teks -- Matthew 5:48 (NET)

5:48 So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

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Robertson: Mat 5:48

@@Perfect (teleioi ). The word comes from telos , end, goal, limit. Here it is the goal set before us, the absolute standard of our Heavenly Father. The word is used also for relative perfection as of adults compared with children.

Wesley: Mat 5:48 - Therefore ye shall be perfect; as your Father who is in heaven is perfect

So the original runs, referring to all that holiness which is described in the foregoing verses, which our Lord in the beginning of the chapter recommends as happiness, and in the close of it as perfection. And how wise and gracious is this, to sum up, and, as it were, seal all his commandments with a promise! Even the proper promise of the Gospel! That he will put those laws in our minds, and write them in our hearts! He well knew how ready our unbelief would be to cry out, this is impossible! And therefore stakes upon it all the power, truth, and faithfulness of him to whom all things are possible.

JFB: Mat 5:48 - Be ye therefore

Rather, "Ye shall therefore be," or "Ye are therefore to be," as My disciples and in My kingdom.

JFB: Mat 5:48 - perfect

Or complete. Manifestly, our Lord here speaks, not of degrees of excellence, but of the kind of excellence which was to distinguish His disciples and characterize His kingdom. When therefore He adds,

JFB: Mat 5:48 - even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect

He refers to that fullorbed glorious completeness which is in the great Divine Model, "their Father which is in heaven."

JFB: Mat 5:48 - SERMON ON THE MOUNT

Continued.

Clarke: Mat 5:48 - Be ye therefore perfect - as your Father

Be ye therefore perfect - as your Father - God himself is the grand law, sole giver, and only pattern of the perfection which he recommends to his children. The words are very emphatic, εσεσθε ουν υμεις τελειοι, Ye shall be therefore perfect - ye shall be filled with the spirit of that God whose name is Mercy, and whose nature is love. God has many imitators of his power, independence, justice, etc., but few of his love, condescension, and kindness. He calls himself Love, to teach us that in this consists that perfection, the attainment of which he has made both our duty and privilege: for these words of our Lord include both a command and a promise

"Can we be fully saved from sin in this world?"is an important question, to which this text gives a satisfactory answer: "Ye shall be perfect, as your Father, who is in heaven, is perfect."- As in his infinite nature there is no sin, nothing but goodness and love, so in your finite nature there shall dwell no sin, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus shall make you free from the law of sin and death, Rom 8:2. God shall live in, fill, and rule your hearts; and, in what He fills and influences, neither Satan nor sin can have any part. If men, slighting their own mercies, cry out, This is impossible! - whom does this arguing reprove - God, who, on this ground, has given a command, the fulfillment of which is impossible. "But who can bring a clean out of an unclean thing?"God Almighty - and, however inveterate the disease of sin may be, the grace of the Lord Jesus can fully cure it; and who will say, that he who laid down his life for our souls will not use his power completely to effect that salvation which he has died to procure. "But where is the person thus saved?"Wherever he is found who loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbor as himself; and, for the honor of Christianity and its Author, may we not hope there are many such in the Church of God, not known indeed by any profession of this kind which they make, but by a surer testimony, that of uniformly holy tempers, piety to God, and beneficence to man

Dr. Lightfoot is not perfectly satisfied with the usual mode of interpreting the 22nd verse of this chapter. I subjoin the substance of what he says. Having given a general exposition of the word brother, which the Jews understood as signifying none but an Israelite - ενοχος, which we translate is in danger of, and which he shows the Jews used to signify, is exposed to, merits, or is guilty of - and the word gehenna, hell - fire, which he explains as I have done above, he comes to the three offenses, and their sentences

The First is causeless anger, which he thinks too plain to require explanation; but into the two following he enters in considerable detail: -

"The Second. Whosoever shall say to his brother, ‘ Racha ,’ a nickname, or scornful title usual, which they disdainfully put one upon another, and very commonly; and therefore our Savior has mentioned this word, the rather because it was of so common use among them. Take these few examples: -

"A certain man sought to betake himself to repentance (and restitution). His wife said to him, ‘ Rekah , if thou make restitution, even thy girdle about thee is not thine own, etc.’ Tanchum, fol. 5

"Rabbi Jochanan was teaching concerning the building of Jerusalem with sapphires and diamonds, etc. One of his scholars laughed him to scorn. But afterwards, being convinced of the truth of the thing, he saith to him, ‘ Rabbi, do thou expound, for it is fit for thee to expound: as thou saidst, so have I seen it.’ he saith to him, ‘ Rekah, hadst thou not seen, thou wouldst not have believed, etc.’ Midras Tillin, fol. 38, col. 4"

To what is the thing like? To a king of flesh and blood, who took to wife a king’ s daughter: he saith to her, ‘ Wait and fill me a cup;’ but she would not: whereupon he was angry, and put her away; she went, and was married to a sordid fellow; and he saith to her, ‘ Wait, and fill me a cup;’ she said unto him, ‘ Rekah, I am a king’ s daughter, etc.’ Idem in Psa 137:1-9

"A Gentile saith to an Israelite, ‘ I have a choice dish for thee to eat of.’ He saith, ‘ What is it ?’ He answers, ‘ Swine’ s flesh.’ he saith to him, ‘ Rekah , even what you kill of clean beasts is forbidden us, much more this.’ Tanchum, fol. 18, col. 4

"The Third offense is to say to a brother, ‘ Thou fool,’ which, how to distinguish from racha , which signifies an empty fellow, were some difficulty, but that Solomon is a good dictionary here for us, who takes the term continually here for a wicked wretch and reprobate, and in opposition to spiritual wisdom: so that in the first clause is condemned causeless anger; in the second, scornful taunting and reproaching of a brother; and, in the last, calling him a reprobate and wicked, or uncharitably censuring his spiritual and eternal estate. And this last does more especially hit the scribes and Pharisees, who arrogated to themselves only to be called חՀ›מים chocamim , wise men, but of all others they had this scornful and uncharitable opinion, ‘ This people, that knoweth not the law, is cursed,’ Joh 7:49

"And now for the penalties denounced upon these offenses, let us look upon them, taking notice of these two traditions of the Jews, which our Savior seems to face, and to contradict

"1st. That they accounted the command, Thou shalt not kill, to aim only at actual murder. So that in their collecting the six hundred and thirteen precepts out of the law, they understand that command to mean but this: ‘ That one should not kill an Israelite,’ and accordingly they allotted this only violation of it to judgments; against this wild gloss and practice, he speaks in the first clause: Ye have heard it said, Thou shalt not kill, and he that killeth, or committeth actual murder, is liable to judgment, and ye extend the violation of that command no farther; but I say to you, that causeless anger against thy brother is a violation of that command, and even that maketh a man liable to judgment

2nd. They allotted that murder only to be judged by the council, or Sanhedrin, that was committed by a man in propria persona : let them speak their own sense, etc. Talm. in Sanhedrin, per. 9

"‘ Any one that kills his neighbor with his hand, as if he strike him with a sword, or with a stone that kills him, or strangle him till he die, or burn him in the fire, seeing that he kills him any how in his own person, lo! such a one must be put to death by the Sanhedrin; but he that hires another to kill his neighbor, or that sends his servants, and they kill him, or that violently thrusts him before a lion, or the like, and the beast kills him - any one of these is a shedder of blood, and the guilt of shedding of blood is upon him, and he is liable to death by the hand of Heaven, but he is not to be put to death by the Sanhedrin. And whence is the proof that it must be thus! Because it is said, He that sheddeth man’ s blood, by man shall his blood be shed. This is he that slays a man himself, and not by the hand of another. Your blood of your lives will I require. This is he that slays himself. At the hand of every beast will I require it. This is he that delivers up his neighbor before a beast to be rent in pieces. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’ s brother, will I require the life of man. This is he that hires others to kill his neighbor: In this interpretation, requiring is spoken of all the three; behold, their judgment is delivered over to Heaven (or God). And all these man-slayers and the like, who are not liable to death by the Sanhedrin, if the king of Israel will slay them by the judgment of the kingdom, and the law of nations, he may, etc.’ Maym. ubi supr. per. 2

"You may observe in these wretched traditions a twofold killing, and a twofold judgment: a man’ s killing another in his own person, and with his own hand, and such a one liable to the judgment of the Sanhedrin, to be put to death by them, as a murderer; and a man that killed another by proxy, not with his own hand, not hiring another to kill him, or turning a beast or serpent upon him to kill him. This man is not to be judged and executed by the Sanhedrin, but, referred and reserved only to the judgment of God. So that we see plainly, from hence, in what sense the word judgment is used in the latter end of the preceding verse, and the first clause of this, namely, not for the judgment of any one of the Sanhedrins, as it is commonly understood, but for the judgment of God. In the former verse, Christ speaks their sense, and in the first clause of this, his own, in application to it. Ye have heard it said, that any man that kills is liable to the judgment of God; but I say unto you, that he that is but angry with his brother without a cause is liable to the judgment of God. You have heard it said, that he only that commits murder with his own hand is liable to the council, or Sanhedrin, as a murderer; but I say unto you, that he that but calls his brother racha , as common a word as ye make it, and a thing of nothing, he is liable to be judged by the Sanhedrin

"Lastly, he that saith to his brother, Thou fool, wicked one, or cast-away, shall be in danger of hell-fire, ενοχος εις γεενναν πυρος . There are two observable things in the words. The first is the change of case from what was before; there it was said τη κρισει τω συνεδριω, but here, εις γεενναν . It is but an emphatical raising of the sense, to make it the more feeling and to speak home. He that saith to his brother, Raka , shall be in danger of the council; but he that says, Thou fool, shall be in danger of a penalty even to hell-fire. And thus our Savior equals the sin and penalty in a very just parable. In just anger, with God’ s just anger and judgment; public reproach, with public correction by the council; and censuring for a child of hell, to the fire of hell

"2nd. It is not said εις πυρ γεεννης, To the fire of hell, but εις γεεννας πυρος, To a hell of fire; in which expression he sets the emphasis still higher. And, besides the reference to the valley of Hinnom, he seems to refer to that penalty used by the Sanhedrin of burning - the most bitter death that they used to put men to; the manner of which was thus: They set the malefactor in a dunghill up to the knees; and they put a towel about his neck, and one pulled one way, and another the opposite, till, by thus strangling him, they forced him to open his mouth. Then they poured boiling lead into his mouth, which went down into his belly, and so burnt his bowels. Talm. in Sanhedrin. per. 7

"Now, having spoken in the clause before, of being judged by the Sanhedrin, whose most terrible penalty was this burning, he doth in this clause raise the penalty higher; namely, of burning in hell; not with a little scalding lead, but even with a hell of fire."It is possible that our Lord might have reference to such customs as these.

Calvin: Mat 5:48 - You shall therefore be perfect

48.You shall therefore be perfect This perfection does not mean equality, but relates solely to resemblance. ⁴²³ However distant we are from the perfection of God, we are said to be perfect, as he is perfect, when we aim at the same object, which he presents to us in Himself. Should it be thought preferable, we may state it thus. There is no comparison here made between God and us: but the perfection of God means, first, that free and pure kindness, which is not induced by the expectation of gain; — and, secondly, that remarkable goodness, which contends with the malice and ingratitude of men. This appears more clearly from the words of Luke, Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful: for mercy is contrasted with a mercenary regard, which is founded on private advantage.

Defender: Mat 5:48 - perfect

Jesus knew no believer could be sinlessly perfect (Mat 6:14, Mat 6:15) in this life. Nevertheless, this must be the standard and the goal - not for gaining salvation, but for living the Christian life. The word "perfect" also can be understood as "complete" or "fully mature," but this state is no more attainable than sinless perfection - in fact, they are really the same. We do have such a standing in Christ, and we should perpetually seek to fulfill this standard by God's help."

TSK: Mat 5:48 - ye // even

ye : Gen 17:1; Lev 11:44, Lev 19:2, Lev 20:26; Deu 18:13; Job 1:1, Job 1:2, Job 1:3; Psa 37:37; Luk 6:36, Luk 6:40; 2Co 7:1, 2Co 13:9, 2Co 13:11; Phi 3:12-15; Col 1:28, Col 4:12; Jam 1:4; 1Pe 1:15, 1Pe 1:16

even : Mat 5:16, Mat 5:45; Eph 3:1, Eph 5:1, Eph 5:2; 1Jo 3:3

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Poole: Mat 5:48 - Perfect // Father which is in heaven

Perfect here is not taken in that sense as it is taken in other texts of Scripture, where it signifieth sincerity and uprightness, as Job 2:3 , or where it signifieth a comparative perfection, as Paul saith he spake to those that were perfect; but for an absolute perfection, such as is in our

Father which is in heaven and so much is signified by the proposing of our heavenly Father as our example. Nor will it therefore follow, either that this is a mere counsel, not a precept, or that an absolute perfection in holiness is a thing in this life attainable. But that it is our duty to labour for it, forgetting what is behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, as the apostle speaks, Phi 3:13,14 . Pro perfecto est qui perfecto proximus. God accounts him perfect who is nearest to perfection.

Haydock: Mat 5:48

Jesus Christ here sums up his instructions by ordering us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect; i.e. to imitate, as far as our exertions, assisted by divine grace, can reach, the divine perfection. (Witham) ---

See here the great superiority of the new over the old law. But let no one hence take occasion to despise the old. Let him examine attentively, says St. John Chrysostom, the different periods of time, and the persons to whom it was given; and he will admire the wisdom of the divine Legislator, and clearly perceive that it is one and the same Lord, and that each law was to the great advantage of mankind, and wisely adapted to the times of their promulgation. For, if among the first principles of rectitude, these sublime and eminent truths had been found, perhaps neither these, nor the less perfect rules of mortality would have been observed; whereas, by disposing of both in their proper time, the divine wisdom has employed both for the correction of the world. Hom xviii. Seeing then that we are thus blessed as to be called, and to be the children of so excellent a Father, we should endeavour, like Him, to excel in goodness, meekness, and charity; but above all in humility, which will secure to us the merit of good works, through the infinite merits of our divine Redeemer, Master, and model, Christ Jesus the Lord. (Haydock)

Gill: Mat 5:48 - Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father

Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father,.... This perfection is to be restrained to the subject Christ is upon, love to men, and not to be referred to any, or every other thing; wherefore, in Luk 6:36 it is, "be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful"; and regards not a perfection of degree in that, but objects and quality: that is to say, not that men may, or can, or ought to be as perfect in love, as to the degree of it, as God is; that is impossible: the "as" here, is not a note of equality, but of likeness: such, who profess God to be their Father, ought to imitate him, particularly in their love to men, which ought to be extended to the same objects, as the divine goodness is; that, as he shows regard in a providential way to all men, good and bad, just and unjust, and his tender mercies are over all his works; so ought they to love all men with a natural affection, and hate no man, no, not their enemies: for he that loves only his friends, and not his enemies, loves imperfectly; he does not take in the whole compass of objects his love is to extend unto; and as God loves sincerely, and without dissimulation, so should they. To be "perfect", is to be sincere and upright: in this sense is the word often used, and answers to the Hebrew word תמים, which signifies the same: see Deu 18:13 which is the passage Christ seems to refer to here; and the sense is, be ye sincere and upright in your love to all men, as your heavenly Father is hearty and sincere in his affections to them.