For if ye should love those who love you, what reward have ye? Do not also the tax-gatherers the same?
Jesus has just told His disciples to love their enemies, and now He tests the quality of the love they already have. He does it by pointing to the men everyone despised: if your love matches theirs, what is it worth?
The comparison only works if you know how people saw these men.
The Jews hated paying taxes to the Romans, and they thought the men who collected them deserved no respect. That is why "tax collectors and sinners" are often grouped together. Religious people mocked the Lord for entering their houses. They called Him "a friend of tax collectors and sinners." But God's grace was for all, and Matthew was called from his tax office to be one of the apostles.
Returning love for love is not a Christian achievement. It is the ordinary human floor, and that is why it earns nothing.
The Lord Jesus then gives two examples, in verses 46 and 47. They show that loving your neighbour as the Pharisees practised it was no different from the way the world behaves. Even the tax collectors knew how to love their friends... There was nothing in that behaviour which would lead anyone to expect a reward.
What these men had was real, but it was only natural feeling. The Lord looks for love of a different kind.
Even in the time before the cross, the Lord insisted on a love wholly above mere human nature with its likes and dislikes. The hated tax collectors had natural affection, and loved those who loved them. The Lord told the disciples to love far beyond Jew or Greek. The family were to love as their heavenly Father did. It could not be equal in degree, but it was the same kind of love. That love must be in God's children by divine grace. It rises above every question of what a person deserves or what can be gained from them.
Christ sets His word here against what the people had been taught. The change He brings is not a tighter rule.
Here was something the law could never teach — it is grace. In a thousand practical situations the question is not whether the thing is right. We often hear Christians asking, Is such a thing wrong? But that is not the only question for the Christian. Suppose someone wrongs him; what is he to feel then? If someone is hostile to him, what is he to hold in his own heart? "Love your enemies… pray for those who persecute you… so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." In this way they show in practice that they belong to such a Father.
The tax collector is only the floor. Verse 48 sets the ceiling: the Father Himself. One writer explains what that does not mean.
The name of Father reveals to us the fullness of grace. According to this sweet name they were already children, accepted in Christ as Christ is accepted by the Father... It is not said: Present to God a character of perfection, so that He may accept you through it and be pleased with you. Rather, you are the children of your heavenly Father — so display His character to the world. "For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." He acts according to His grace, and not according to the law: you saved sinners, you are and ought to be witnesses of it. The tax collectors love those who love them, but your heavenly Father loves His enemies... It is not said, Be perfect before Him, or with Him, as if you were without sin, but like Him, act in love towards your enemies.
The test comes first with fellow believers who rub us the wrong way.
If I love the brother who is nice and agreeable to me, I am only doing what anybody might do. "If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" Suppose my brother is not nice and agreeable to me. If I love him because he is born of God, I am displaying the love which is the nature of God Himself. And nothing is greater than that.
- Floor — Returning love for love is the world's baseline; even the most despised men in Israel managed it, so it proves nothing about a disciple.
- Kind — What marks God's children is not warmer affection but a different kind of love, one that rises above what a person deserves or what can be gained from them.
- Source — This is grace, not law. The question stops being "was I wronged?" and becomes "what will I hold in my heart toward the one who wronged me?"
- Measure — The standard is the Father who sends sun and rain on evil and good alike; being "perfect" here means acting like Him toward enemies, not being sinless.
- Test — It begins with the believer you find hard to like. Love him because he is born of God, and you are showing the very nature of God.
And if ye should salute your brethren only, what do ye extraordinary? Do not also the Gentiles the same?
Here the Lord sets a simple test for His disciples. The Lord names two groups nobody in His audience admired — tax collectors and Gentiles — and points out that both manage the same warmth toward their own circle.
One reference work explains why tax collectors were so despised:
The duty of paying taxes to the Romans was deeply resented by the Jews, and those who collected them were thought unworthy of any respect. So "publicans and sinners" are often grouped together. The Lord was mocked by the religious people for entering their houses; they scornfully called Him "a friend of publicans and sinners." But God's grace was for everyone, and Matthew was called from his tax office to be one of the apostles.
The word "brothers" here reaches wider than family:
Even the tax collectors, those despised people who enriched themselves at the expense of their own people, knew how to love their friends. And the Gentiles also greeted their brothers — that is, everyone they knew well. There was nothing in this behaviour that would lead anyone to expect a reward.
Natural affection is real. But it reaches only the people already tied to us.
Even in the time before the cross, the Lord insisted on a love wholly above mere human nature with its likes and its dislikes. The detested tax collectors had natural affection, and loved those that loved them. The Gentiles greeted tenderly those bound up with themselves in mere ties of flesh and blood. The disciples were told to love far beyond Jew or Greek. The family were to love as their heavenly Father did. This could not be equal in degree. But it was the same kind of love. It must be in God's children by divine grace, rising above any question of what a person deserves or of hidden motives.
The question "what more are you doing?" invites a comparison — but not with the people next door.
It is God, not man, whom the Lord makes the standard. He points to the heavenly Father — not the fearful moral ruler made known to Israel, but our Father. What are His affections, what is His will about us?
Kelly presses both questions and refuses any lower standard:
If they loved those that loved them, did not the hated tax collectors do the same? If they greeted only their brothers, the despised Gentiles did the same too. This was altogether beneath the Christian according to Christ. "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." The Saviour would not tolerate a lower standard of feeling and conduct.
So the call is to family likeness. Kelly points to how the Father Himself acts:
Let us therefore be in earnest to keep up the family character. Does not our Father who is in the heavens make His sun rise on evil and good? Does He not send rain on just and unjust? If we are His sons, it is not presumption to cherish feelings above human nature; it is our new standing, and it should be our delight. Grace alone can make it good.
Another writer draws the line between display and earning acceptance:
It is not said: present to God a character of perfection, so that He will accept you on that basis. Rather: you are the children of your heavenly Father — therefore display His character to the world. He acts according to His grace, and not according to the law. You saved sinners, you are and ought to be witnesses of it.
The test bites hardest among fellow believers. Easy company proves nothing.
By upbringing and habits we may have very little in common. We may also disagree on many matters connected with the things of God. Now these are just the ones who put us to the test. Are we free to say they are no concern of ours, and pass by on the other side? We are not. If I love the brother who is nice and agreeable to me, I am only doing what anybody might do... If I love my brother because he is born of God, even though he is not nice and agreeable to me, I am displaying the love which is the nature of God Himself.
- More — a greeting kept inside your own circle is not more. Tax collectors and Gentiles already do that.
- Source — the standard is not the neighbours but the Father. God, not man, is the measure.
- Kind — children cannot match His love in degree. But it must be the same kind of love, above any question of what a person deserves.
- Reach — the Father sends sun and rain on evil and good alike. His children's kindness must go past where natural affection stops.
- Result — this is not how you earn acceptance. It is how accepted children show the family character to a watching world.