Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 5:9

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God." — Matthew 5:9 (ASV)

They are not only passively peaceful, like the meek, who keep the peace, but actively peaceful by endeavoring to end wars and contentions, and so make peace. These not only are the children of the peace-loving God, but they come to be called so, for men are struck by their likeness to their Father. In this way, our sonship is known to ourselves and others. Men of peace are the children of the God of peace, and their Father's blessing rests on them.

This seventh beatitude is a very high and glorious one. Let us all endeavor to obtain it. Never let us be peacebreakers, always let us be peacemakers. Yet we must not cry, Peace, peace, where there is no peace. The verse before this speaks of purity and this of peace. First pure, then peaceable. This is God's order, and it should be ours.

Blessed are the peacemakers:

Not only the passively peaceful, but the actively peaceful, who try to rectify mistakes, and to end all quarrels in a peaceful way.

For they shall be called the children of God.

They shall not only be the children of God, but people shall call them so; they shall recognize in them the likeness to the peacemaking God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:9)

They shall not only be the children of God, but people shall call them by that name. There is something so Godlike in trying to put away discord, and to remove anger, and to promote love, that it makes people feel that peacemakers must be the children of God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: (Matthew 5:9)

Those who always end a quarrel if they can, those who make every effort to prevent discord.

For they shall be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:9)

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10) They share the kingdom of heaven with the poor in spirit. They are often evil spoken of, they sometimes have to suffer the spoiling of their goods, many of them have laid down their lives for Christ's sake, but they are truly blessed, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10)