A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter Five

The second edition of this book has been written to clean up some of the poorly worded statements in the first edition and to show important Bible verses rather than just refer to them. It analyzes the key Greek words and discusses the message of the fifth chapter of the gospel of Matthew. In so doing, what Jesus meant when He spoke about what are called the Beattitudes, salt, light, anger, divorce, truthfulness, personal injury, and love are discussed. His message was not to show that people earn their salvation by good works. Instead, He was teaching them in embryonic form the way people that are indwelled by the Holy Spirit will be led. While not everyone obeys the Spirit's leading and lives up to His teachings, all Christians have the capability and responsibility.From the beginning to the end, the Lord's message was consistent. He taught that a person should not merely live for himself or herself but that he or she should live for God first and then for others. His whole sermon could have been summed up by a statement that He made on a later occasion. Matthew 22:37-39 says, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." In Matthew 5:48, the Greek word teleios was used for "perfect." That word means wanting nothing necessary for completeness. Christians are not supposed to be wanting for anything in their spiritual lifestyle and manner. They should be mature in their faith and willing to do their best to live by the principles that Jesus presented in His sermon.