Matthew 5:45

that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, supplying the rationale for the command to love enemies in the preceding verse.

The words — υἱοὶ (huiōi), "sons," carries the sense of likeness and imitation, not merely descent; the purpose connector ὅπως (hopōs) ties the whole verse back to the command in v. 44.

The thread — The same pattern of common grace appears in Psalms 145:9 and Acts 14:17, where God's provision extends to all without distinction. Luke 6:35 restates the enemy-love command on the same underlying logic.

Why it lands — The verse demands that the reader treat God's indiscriminate generosity as the standard for their own conduct, not as a comfort. Loving enemies is not optional piety but the marker of genuine sonship.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Cross-references

Psalms 145:9 The LORD is good to all; His compassion rests on all He has made.
Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Acts 14:17 Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”
Job 25:3 Can His troops be numbered? On whom does His light not rise?
Ephesians 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
1 John 3:9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.