Hence the call in our Gospel does not follow as in Matthew, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," but "Be ye therefore* merciful, even as your Father also is merciful." The perfection in Matthew seems to be in allusion to the call on Abraham, whose perfection was to walk in integrity, confiding in the shadow of the Almighty. The disciple, instructed of Jesus, had the Father's Name declared, and his perfection is to illustrate his Father's character in indiscriminate grace — not in the spirit of law. Writing for the Gentiles, Luke simply calls them to be merciful as their Father was merciful. This would be obvious even to such as had not a minute acquaintance with the Old Testament, and therefore incapable of appreciating the delicate allusions to its contents here or there. Any believer could understand the force of such an exhortation as "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged." The tendency to censoriousness, the imputation of evil motives, and the danger of sure retribution, are here brought before us. "Condemn not, and ye shall in nowise be condemned."156a
*"Therefore": so AEPXΔ, etc., Amiat., Syrr. (exc. sin.). Edd. omit after BD LΞ 1, 33, Syrsin Memph.