Matthew Henry Commentary Matthew 5

No one will find happiness in this world or the next, who does not seek it from Christ by the rule of his word. He taught them what evil they should abhor, and what good they should seek and abound in.

Our Savior here gives eight characteristics of blessed people, which represent to us the principal graces of a Christian.

1. The poor in spirit are happy. These align their minds with their lowly condition. They are humble and lowly in their own eyes. They see their want, bewail their guilt, and thirst after a Redeemer. The kingdom of grace belongs to such; the kingdom of glory is for them.

2. Those that mourn are happy. That godly sorrow which works true repentance, watchfulness, a humble mind, and continual dependence for acceptance on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, with constant seeking the Holy Spirit to cleanse away the remaining evil, seems here to be intended. Heaven is the joy of our Lord; a mountain of joy, to which our way is through a valley of tears. Such mourners will be comforted by their God.

3. The meek are happy. The meek are those who quietly submit to God; who can bear insult; are silent, or return a soft answer; who, in their patience, keep possession of their own souls when they can scarcely keep possession of anything else. These meek ones are happy, even in this world. Meekness promotes wealth, comfort, and safety, even in this world.

4. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are happy. Righteousness here represents all spiritual blessings. These are purchased for us by the righteousness of Christ, confirmed by the faithfulness of God. Our desires for spiritual blessings must be earnest. Though all desires for grace are not grace, yet such a desire as this is one that God Himself has awakened, and He will not forsake the work of His own hands.

5. The merciful are happy. We must not only bear our own afflictions patiently, but we must do all we can to help those who are in misery. We must have compassion on the souls of others and help them; pity those who are in sin and seek to snatch them as brands out of the burning.

6. The pure in heart are happy; for they shall see God. Here holiness and happiness are fully described and put together. The heart must be purified by faith and kept for God. Create in me such a clean heart, O God. None but the pure are capable of seeing God, nor would heaven be happiness to the impure. As God cannot endure to look upon their iniquity, so they cannot look upon His purity.

7. The peacemakers are happy. They love, desire, and delight in peace, and strive to be quiet. They keep the peace that it not be broken and recover it when it is broken. If the peacemakers are blessed, woe to the peacebreakers!

8. Those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake are happy. This saying is peculiar to Christianity, and it is emphasized more extensively than any of the rest. Yet there is nothing in our sufferings that can merit from God; but God will ensure that those who lose for Him, even life itself, will not lose because of Him in the end.

Blessed Jesus! How different are Your maxims from those of people of this world! They call the proud happy and admire the cheerful, the rich, the powerful, and the victorious. May we find mercy from the Lord; may we be acknowledged as His children and inherit His kingdom. With these enjoyments and hopes, we may cheerfully welcome lowly or painful circumstances.

You are the salt of the earth. Mankind, lying in ignorance and wickedness, was like a vast heap, ready to putrefy; but Christ sent forth his disciples, by their lives and doctrines to season it with knowledge and grace. If they are not what they should be, they are like salt that has lost its savour. If a person can take up the profession of Christ and yet remain graceless, no other doctrine, no other means, can make them profitable.

Our light must shine, by doing such good works as people may see. What is between God and our souls must be kept to ourselves; but that which is naturally open to the sight of people, we must strive to make suitable to our profession, and praiseworthy. We must aim at the glory of God.

Let no one suppose that Christ allows his people to trifle with any commands of God's holy law. No sinner partakes of Christ's justifying righteousness until he repents of his evil deeds. The mercy revealed in the gospel leads the believer to still deeper self-abhorrence.

The law is the Christian's rule of duty, and he delights in it. If anyone, pretending to be Christ's disciple, encourages himself in any allowed disobedience to the holy law of God, or teaches others to do the same, whatever his station or reputation among people may be, he cannot be a true disciple.

Christ's righteousness, imputed to us by faith alone, is needed by everyone who enters the kingdom of grace or of glory; but the new creation of the heart to holiness produces a thorough change in a person's temperament and conduct.

The Jewish teachers had taught that nothing except actual murder was forbidden by the sixth commandment. In this way, they explained away its spiritual meaning. Christ showed the full meaning of this commandment, according to which we must be judged in the future, and therefore should live by now. All rash anger is heart murder.

By our brother, here, we are to understand any person, however much below us, for we are all made of one blood. "Raca", is a scornful word, and comes from pride: "Thou fool", is a spiteful word, and comes from hatred. Malicious slanders and censures are poison that kills secretly and slowly. Christ told them that however lightly they regarded these sins, they would certainly be called into judgment for them.

We should carefully preserve Christian love and peace with all our brothers. If a quarrel ever arises, we should confess our fault, humble ourselves to our brother, making or offering satisfaction for wrong done in word or deed. And we should do this quickly, because until this is done, we are unfit for communion with God in holy ordinances. When we are preparing for any religious exercises, it is good for us to make that an occasion of serious reflection and self-examination.

What is said here is very applicable to our being reconciled to God through Christ. While we are alive, we are on the way to his judgment-seat; after death, it will be too late. When we consider the importance of the case and the uncertainty of life, how necessary it is to seek peace with God without delay!