Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 5:9

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

St. Ambrose of Milan: When you have made your inner self clean from every stain of sin, so that dissensions and contentions do not arise from your temper, begin peace within yourself, so that you may extend it to others.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Peace is the stability of order. By order, I mean an arrangement of similar and dissimilar things, giving each its proper place. And as there is no one who would not willingly have joy, so there is no one who would not want peace; since even those who go to war desire nothing more than to achieve a glorious peace through war.¹

St. Jerome: The peacemakersⁱ are pronounced blessed—namely, those who make peace first within their own hearts, and then between brothers who are at odds. For what good is it to make peace between others while the wars of rebellious vices rage in your own heart?

St. Augustine of Hippo: The peacemakers within themselves are those who, having stilled all the disturbances of their spirits and subjected them to reason, have overcome their carnal desires and become the kingdom of God. In this kingdom, all things are so arranged that what is highest and most excellent in a person governs those parts we have in common with the animals, even though they struggle against it. Indeed, even that which is excellent in a person is subjected to something greater: namely, the Truth Himself, the Son of God. For it would not be able to govern what is inferior if it were not subject to what is superior. And this is the peace given on earth to people of good will.²

No one can attain in this life a state where there is not in his members a law resisting the law of his mind. But the peacemakers progress to this point by overcoming the lusts of the flesh, so that in time they come to a most perfect peace.³

Pseudo-Chrysostom: The peacemakers are not only those who reconcile enemies, but also those who, unmindful of wrongs, cultivate peace. Only that peace is blessed which is lodged in the heart and does not consist merely of words. And those who love peace are the sons of peace.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: The blessedness of the peacemakers is the reward of adoption: they shall be called the sons of God. For God is our common parent, and we can enter His family in no other way than by living together in brotherly love.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, if the peacemakers are those who do not contend with one another but reconcile those who are in conflict, they are rightly called the sons of God, since this was the chief work of the Only-Begotten Son: to reconcile things that were separated and to give peace to things at war.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, because peace is perfect when there is no opposition anywhere, the peacemakers are called the sons of God; for nothing resists God, and children ought to bear the likeness of their Father.

Glossa Ordinaria: The peacemakers thus have the place of highest honor, just as the one who is called the king's son is the highest in the king's house. This beatitude is placed seventh in order because on the Sabbath, after the six ages have passed away, the repose of true peace will be given.⁴

1. City of God, book 19, ch. 13
2. Serm. in Mont., i, 2
3. Retract., i, 19
4. ap. Anselm