Mat 5:45, Act 14:17 | JFB | STEP | 45. That ye may be the children —sons. of your Father which is in heaven —The meaning is, "that ye may show yourselves to be such by resembling Him" (compare ). for he maketh his sun —"your Father's sun." Well might BENGEL exclaim, "Magnificent appellation!" to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust —rather, (without the article) "on evil and good, and on just and unjust." When we find God's own procedure held up for imitation in the law, and much more in the prophets ( ; and compare ), we may see that the principle of this surprising verse was nothing new: but the form of it certainly is that of One who spake as never man spake.

Matthew 5:45

45. That ye may be the children—sons.

of your Father which is in heaven—The meaning is, "that ye may show yourselves to be such by resembling Him" (compare Mt 5:9; Eph 5:1).

for he maketh his sun—"your Father's sun." Well might BENGEL exclaim, "Magnificent appellation!"

to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust—rather, (without the article) "on evil and good, and on just and unjust." When we find God's own procedure held up for imitation in the law, and much more in the prophets (Le 19:2; 20:26; and compare 1Pe 1:15, 16), we may see that the principle of this surprising verse was nothing new: but the form of it certainly is that of One who spake as never man spake.

Acts 14:17

17. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness—Though the heinousness of idolatry is represented as so much less in the heathen, by how much they were outside the pale of revealed religion, he takes care to add that the heathen have divine "witness" enough to leave them "without excuse."

he did good—scattering His beneficence everywhere and in a thousand forms.

rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons—on which human subsistence and all human enjoyment depend. In Lycaonia, where, as ancient writers attest, rain is peculiarly scarce, this allusion would have all the greater effect.

filling our hearts with food and gladness—a natural colloquialism, the heart being gladdened by the food supplied to the body.