Bible Studies in the Gospel of Matthew

IX

Matthew 5:6; 1 Corinthians 4:8: The people this refers to are those who hunger and thirst to do righteousness to all the others, not that they hunger and thirst for others to do righteousness to them. Longing for others to do righteousness to you is not a virtue; on the contrary, it is unadulterated self-love, as this consists of receiving a larger salary or other advantages.

However, longing to do everything that is right and good to the others is, of course, a virtue! Everyone who has this hunger and thirst in his heart shall be satisfied with doing righteousness, which means that he will find grace and strength to do all the righteousness that God gradually shows him. All his needs will be filled.

The Corinthians had already become satisfied. They thought they were sufficiently righteous in spite of still being babes in Christ; they were babes in doing righteousness. However, Paul, who was an adult in doing righteousness, and Timothy, Sylvanus, Titus, and several others, still hungered and thirsted. They pursued doing righteousness. The Corinthians thought well of themselves, even though they said something else with their mouths. The trick is never to think well about yourself even though you have—as Paul had—received much from God.

X

Matthew 5:7; James 2:12-13: The law of liberty, of your own free will. 1 Timothy 5:9-10; Psalm 41:1-4; 1 Peter 3:8-9. Taken together, righteousness and mercy make up the whole. Mercy is the good we do of our own free will, from the heart, after we have done righteousness first. It is the good that we are not bound to do according to contract, which our neighbor has actually not deserved, which he has not worked for, and which he has no right to demand.

For example, when a poor laborer has agreed to work for sixty kroner per week, but the employer is making a good profit and gives him eighty kroner in the love of Christ because his employee is poor, then sixty kroner were paid out of righteousness and twenty kroner were given because the employer was merciful. This is a small piece of Christianity.

We are not free just because we have practiced righteousness in every area. On the contrary, then it is vital that we practice mercy with the same zeal, looking after each other and all those who desire it, looking after the sick and poor and lowly in addition to all kinds of sinners.

Of course this is voluntary, according to the law of liberty, but it must not be construed to mean that it doesn’t matter whether we are more or less merciful. On the contrary, judgment will be without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy! God will see to it, and it will be measured back to us with the same measure we use.

If we are a bit merciful to others, God will be a bit merciful to us. It is therefore highly rewarding to do your utmost to be merciful.

The person who is wise is wise for his own profit. The person, who is merciful, is merciful for his own profit.