Matthew 5:40 - Forerunner Commentary

Matthew 5:40

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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain The Gospel According to Matthew 5:40:

Matthew 5:38-48
Excerpted from: Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment!

Being merciful is part of a spiritual perfection or completeness. But the Pharisees believed perfection meant following only the letter of the law. And considering the inspired written Word of God as a whole, we are told to imitate our heavenly Father in all His attributes. Therefore, those who are merciful as God is merciful, even toward the evil and the unthankful, are living as God lives. We must be merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful. Christ sets the standard by commanding us to love our enemies.

The Jews despised the Romans because the Romans oppressed them, yet Jesus told them to love their enemies. Such words turned many away from Christ. But Jesus was not talking about affection for enemies. He was talking about an act of the will. You cannot fall into this kind of love. It takes conscious effort. Loving your enemies or loving our enemies means acting in their best interests. And we can pray for them and seek ways to help them.

Love means action, and one way to put love into practice is to take the initiative to meet specific needs, and this is easy with people we trust. But love means doing so even for those who dislike us or intend to hurt us.

A merciful and compassionate person overlooks wrongs done to him. He dutifully provides the offender with relief. He does not allow repeated ingratitude to deter him from doing good, even to the unfaithful and the unholy. The reason for this is that mercy is an expression of love. It is a form of love determined by the state or condition of those it is directed toward. Their state is one of suffering and need, yet they may be unworthy or undeserving.

Matthew 5:40-41
Excerpted from: Government (Part Four)

His teaching is: generosity of spirit. Do not just do what is required; go above and beyond what is required! Generously sacrifice of yourself and give, even though it is unfair. Everybody seems to agree that what He was talking about here was a common practice. That is, the mail was generally carried by the army (in Roman times). The soldier would get tired of carrying the mail. So he would get some civilian and say, "Here. Carry this." And he [the civilian] would have to carry the mail, while the soldier walked along beside him—unburdened by the weight of the mail. So, Jesus said, "Go two miles." That is, go above and beyond. The point is: generosity of spirit—even in terms of sacrifice.

Articles
Essays on Bible Study
Go the Extra Mile
The Fruit of the Spirit: Patience
The Offerings of Leviticus (Part Seven): The Sin and Trespass Offerings

Essays
Missing the Mark (Part Two)
The Jewish Testament?

Sermons
Why We Tithe (Part 2)
Offerings (Part Seven)
Biblical Principles of Justice (Part Three)
Biblical Principles of Justice (Part Two)
Matthew (Part Seven)
Themes of I Corinthians (Part 6)
Themes of I Corinthians (Part 6)
New Covenant Priesthood (Part 12)
Taking an Insult
Submitting (Part 2)
We Give Our Heads and Hearts
'But I Say to You' (Part Six): Retaliation
'But I Say to You' (Part Six): Retaliation
Strategies for Escaping Babylon (Part Five)
Four Warnings (Part One)

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