Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 5:46

"For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?" — Matthew 5:46 (ASV)

The publicans—An account of the “publicans” of our Lord’s time will find a more fitting place in the notes on Matthew 9:9. Here, it should be noted that our Lord puts Himself, as it were, on the level of those to whom He speaks. They despised the publicans as below them, almost as a Pariah caste, and He speaks as if using their own familiar language, yet with a widely different application. Were they, after all, above the publicans if they limited their love to an exchange of good deeds?