Mat 5:10, 20 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 10. They which are persecuted ] δεδιωγμενοι, they who are hard pressed upon and pursued with repeated acts of enmity. Parkhurst . They are happy who suffer , seems a strange saying: and that the righteous should suffer, merely because they are such , seems as strange. But such is the enmity of the human heart to every thing of God and goodness, that all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution in one form or other. As the religion of Christ gives no quarter to vice, so the vicious will give no quarter to this religion, or to its professors. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ] That spiritual kingdom, explained , and that kingdom of glory which is its counterpart and consequence.

‏ Matthew 5:10

Verse 10. They which are persecuted] δεδιωγμενοι, they who are hard pressed upon and pursued with repeated acts of enmity. Parkhurst. They are happy who suffer, seems a strange saying: and that the righteous should suffer, merely because they are such, seems as strange. But such is the enmity of the human heart to every thing of God and goodness, that all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution in one form or other. As the religion of Christ gives no quarter to vice, so the vicious will give no quarter to this religion, or to its professors.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.] That spiritual kingdom, explained Mt 3:2, and that kingdom of glory which is its counterpart and consequence.

‏ Matthew 5:20

Verse 20. Except your righteousness shall exceed] περισσευση, Unless your righteousness abound more-unless it take in, not only the letter, but the spirit and design of the moral and ritual precept; the one directing you how to walk so as to please God; the other pointing out Christ, the great Atonement, through and by which a sinner is enabled to do so-more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, who only attend to the letter of the law, and had indeed made even that of no effect by their traditions-ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. This fully explains the meaning of the preceding verse. The old English word is [Anglo-Saxon], right-wiseness, i.e. complete, thorough, excellent WISDOM. For a full explanation of this verse, see Lu 18:10, &c.