Matthew 5:45
Encyclopedia
Matthew 5:45 is the forty-fifth verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew
in the New Testament
and is part of the Sermon on the Mount
. This is the third verse of the final antithesis
, that on love. Jesus here explains why one most love one's enemies.
In the King James Version of the Bible
the text reads:
The World English Bible
translates the passage as:
For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 5:45
Barclay notes that Hebrew had relatively few adjectives, and referring to a person as "son of something" is a way of creating an adjective. Thus "son of peace" is a term for someone who is peaceful, and "son of God" can simply be a term of godly. Jesus is saying that to be godlike, and thus to be good, one must treat people as God does.
This is one of the few New Testament verses that depicts God as commander of nature. Schweizer notes that in Palestine rain was extremely important and beneficial, the hot sun, was less so. He notes that in Greece at this time the burning power of the sun was often a symbol of godly power while the rain was a symbol of godly benevolence. By contrast in wetter and more northern societies, rain is often viewed as unpleasant. Most scholars feel that in this verse both rain and sun are meant to be positive. The prominent Rabbi Joshua ben Nehemiah had made similar note of rain's equal treatment of the good and the wicked, and saw it as a sign of God's benevolence. Greek philosopher Seneca
, writing in the same era as Jesus lived, also has a very similar discussion of how nature aids both the good and the ill.
France notes that this verse only addresses practical kindness. On a spiritual level the Bible portrays God as being far less even handed, with the good being granted salvation and the wicked punishment.
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
and is part of the Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
. This is the third verse of the final antithesis
Antithesis
Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition...
, that on love. Jesus here explains why one most love one's enemies.
In the King James Version of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
the text reads:
- That ye may be the children of your
- Father which is in heaven: for he maketh
- his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
- and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
The World English Bible
World English Bible
The World English Bible is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997...
translates the passage as:
- That you may be children of your
- Father who is in heaven. For he makes
- his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and
- sends rain on the just and the unjust.
For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 5:45
Barclay notes that Hebrew had relatively few adjectives, and referring to a person as "son of something" is a way of creating an adjective. Thus "son of peace" is a term for someone who is peaceful, and "son of God" can simply be a term of godly. Jesus is saying that to be godlike, and thus to be good, one must treat people as God does.
This is one of the few New Testament verses that depicts God as commander of nature. Schweizer notes that in Palestine rain was extremely important and beneficial, the hot sun, was less so. He notes that in Greece at this time the burning power of the sun was often a symbol of godly power while the rain was a symbol of godly benevolence. By contrast in wetter and more northern societies, rain is often viewed as unpleasant. Most scholars feel that in this verse both rain and sun are meant to be positive. The prominent Rabbi Joshua ben Nehemiah had made similar note of rain's equal treatment of the good and the wicked, and saw it as a sign of God's benevolence. Greek philosopher Seneca
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
, writing in the same era as Jesus lived, also has a very similar discussion of how nature aids both the good and the ill.
France notes that this verse only addresses practical kindness. On a spiritual level the Bible portrays God as being far less even handed, with the good being granted salvation and the wicked punishment.