Mat 3:5, 5:6, 10, 20, 21:32, Luk 1:75, Act 10:35 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 5. Jerusalem . The people of Jerusalem. All Judea . Many people from Judea. It does not mean that literally all the people went, but that great multitudes went. It was general. Jerusalem was in the part of the country called Judea. Judea was situated on the west side of the Jordan. . Region about Jordan . On the east and west side of the river; near to Jordan.

Matthew 3:5

Verse 5. Jerusalem. The people of Jerusalem.

All Judea. Many people from Judea. It does not mean that literally all the people went, but that great multitudes went. It was general. Jerusalem was in the part of the country called Judea. Judea was situated on the west side of the Jordan. Mt 2:1.

Region about Jordan. On the east and west side of the river; near to Jordan.

Matthew 5:6

Verse 6. Blessed are they that hunger, etc. Hunger and thirst, here, are expressive of strong desire. Nothing would better express the strong desire which we ought to feel to obtain righteousness, than hunger and thirst. No wants are so keen, none so imperiously demand supply as these. They occur daily; and when long continued, as in case of those shipwrecked, and doomed to wander months or years over burning sands, with scarcely any drink or food, nothing is more distressing. An ardent desire for anything is often represented in the Scriptures by hunger and thirst, Ps 42:1,2, 63:1,2. A desire for the blessings of pardon and peace; a deep sense of sin, and want, and wretchedness, is also represented by thirsting, Is 55:1,2. Those that are perishing for want of righteousness; that feel that they are lost sinners, and strongly desire to be holy, shall be filled. Never was there a desire to be holy, which God was not willing to gratify. And the gospel of Christ has made provision to satisfy all who truly desire to be holy. See Is 55:1-13, 65:13, Jn 4:14, 6:35, 7:37,38, Ps 17:15.

(b) "for they shall be filled" Ps 34:19, Is 65:13

Matthew 5:10

Verse 10. Persecuted. To persecute, means literally to pursue, follow after, as one does a flying enemy. Here it means to vex, or oppress one, on account of his religion. They persecute others who injure their names, reputation, property, or endanger or take their life, on account of their religious opinions.

For righteousness' sake. Because they are righteous, or are the friends of God. We are not to seek persecution. We are not to provoke it by strange sentiments or conduct, or by violating the laws of civil society, or by modes of speech that are unnecessarily offensive to others. But if, in the honest effort to be Christians, and to live the life of Christians, others persecute and revile us, we are to consider this as a blessing. It is all evidence that we are the children of God, and that he will defend us. All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, 2Ti 3:12.

Their's is the kingdom of heaven. They have evidence that they are Christians, and shall be brought to heaven.

(f) "for righteousness's sake" 1Pet 3:13,14

Matthew 5:20

Verse 20. Your righteousness. Your holiness, your views of the nature or righteousness, and your conduct and lives. Unless you are more holy than they are, you cannot be saved.

Shall exceed. Shall excel, or abound more. This righteousness was external, and was not real holiness. The righteousness of true Christians is seated in the heart, and is therefore genuine. Jesus means, that unless they had more real holiness of character than the scribes, they could not be saved.

The righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees. Mt 3:7. Their righteousness consisted in outward observances of the ceremonial and traditional law. They offered sacrifices, fasted often, prayed much, were very punctilious about ablutions and tithes and the ceremonies of religion, but neglected justice, truth, purity, holiness of heart, and did not strive to be pure in their motives before God. See Mt 23: 13-33. The righteousness that Jesus required in his kingdom was purity, chastity, honesty, temperance, the fear of God, and the love of man. It is pure, eternal, teaching the motives, and making the life holy.

The Kingdom of heaven. See Mt 3:2. Shall not be a fit subject of his kingdom here, or saved in the world to come.

(q) "shall exceed the righteousness" Mt 23:23-28, Php 3:9

Matthew 21:32

Verse 32. Mt 21:28

(s) "Publicans" Lk 3:12 (t) "harlots" Lk 7:37 (u) "repented not" Rev 2:21

Luke 1:75

Verse 75. In holiness, &c. In piety and strict justice.

Before him. In the presence of God. Performed as in his presence, and with the full consciousness that he sees the heart. The holiness was not to be merely external, but spiritual, internal, pure, such as God would see and approve.

All the days (t) of our life. To death. True religion increases and expands till death.

(t) Rev 2:10

Acts 10:35

Verse 35. But in every nation, etc. This is given as a reason for what Peter had just said, that God was no respecter of persons. The sense is, that he now perceived that the favours of God were not confined to the Jew, but might be extended to all others on the same principle. The remarkable circumstances here, the vision to him, and to Cornelius, and the declaration that the alms of Cornelius were accepted, now convinced Peter that the favours of God were no longer to be confined to the Jewish people, but might be extended to all. This was what the vision was designed to teach; and to communicate this to the apostles was an important step in their work of spreading the gospel.

In every nation. Among all people; Jews or Gentiles. Acceptance with God does not depend on the fact of being descended from Abraham, or of possessing external privileges, but on the state of the heart.

He that feareth him. This is put for piety towards God in general. Acts 9:31. It means, that he that honours God and keeps his law--that is a true worshipper of God, according to the light and privileges which he has--is approved by him, as giving evidence that he is his friend.

And worketh righteousness. Does that which is right and just. This refers to his conduct towards man. He that discharges conscientiously his duty to his fellow-men, and evinces by his conduct that he is a righteous man. These two things comprehend the whole of religion, the sum of all the requirements of God--piety towards God, and justice towards an men; and as Cornelius had showed these, he showed that, though a Gentile, he was actuated by true piety. We may observe here,

(1.) that it is not said that Cornelius was accepted on account of his good works. Those works were simply an evidence of true piety in the heart; a proof that he feared and loved God, and not a meritorious ground of acceptance.

(2.) He improved the light which he had.

(3.) He embraced the Saviour when he was offered to him. This circumstance makes an essential difference between the case of Cornelius, and those who depend on their morality in Christian lands. They do not embrace the Lord Jesus, and they are, therefore, totally unlike the Roman centurion. His example should not be pleaded, therefore, by those who neglect the Saviour, for it furnishes no evidence that they will be accepted, when they are totally unlike him.

(a) "in every nation" Rom 2:13,27, 3:22,29, 10:12,13, Eph 2:13-18 (*) "with" "by"