For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? do not even the publicans the same?
if.
Matthew 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Luke 6:32-35 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them…
1 Peter 2:20-23 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God…
publicans.
Matthew 9:10,11 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples…
Matthew 11:19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
Matthew 18:17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
what reward will you get?
The concept of reward here is not necessarily material or earthly but spiritual and eternal. Jesus often spoke of heavenly rewards, emphasizing that true discipleship involves seeking God's approval rather than human recognition. This echoes the teachings found in Matthew 6:1-4, where Jesus warns against performing righteous acts for the sake of public admiration.
Do not even tax collectors do the same?
Tax collectors in Jesus' time were often despised by the Jewish people because they worked for the Roman authorities and were known for their corruption and greed. By using tax collectors as an example, Jesus highlights that even those considered morally questionable can love those who love them. This comparison underscores the call for His followers to exceed the righteousness of the common societal norms, as seen in Matthew 5:20. The mention of tax collectors also foreshadows the transformative power of Jesus' ministry, as seen in the conversion of Matthew, a former tax collector, into one of His disciples.
Jesus begins with a scenario everyone understands—reciprocal affection.
• This is the easiest kind of love because it costs nothing; it simply mirrors what we receive.
• Luke 6:32 restates the point: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.”
• Natural affection stops far short of God’s standard. First John 4:19 reminds us, “We love because He first loved us”—His love reached us while we were still unlovely (Romans 5:8).
• By pointing out the obvious, Jesus exposes how shallow our love can be when driven only by mutual benefit.
Jesus moves from description to evaluation.
• “Reward” speaks of the Father’s approval (Hebrews 11:6) and future commendation (1 Corinthians 3:14); it is never earned salvation but the gracious acknowledgment of faithful obedience (Matthew 6:1).
• If our love never rises above basic reciprocity, there is no unique evidence of God’s transforming grace—nothing for Him to reward.
• True kingdom love is sacrificial, directed even toward those who cannot or will not pay it back (Luke 14:12-14). Such love shines unmistakably as the work of the Spirit.
To drive the lesson home, Jesus points to the despised tax collectors.
• In first-century Judea they were branded traitors and cheats (Matthew 9:10-11), yet even they could manage reciprocal kindness.
• If believers show only the love common to notorious sinners, we blend into the culture rather than stand apart (Romans 12:9-10).
• The gospel produces something radically different: love that pursues enemies (Matthew 5:44) and welcomes the unworthy, just as Christ welcomed Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 19:5-9).
• Such love verifies that we are “sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:45), a family resemblance the world cannot miss.
Matthew 5:46 confronts comfortable, consumer-style affection and calls us higher. Loving only those who love us is natural, unrewarded, and no better than the ethics of a corrupt tax collector. Kingdom citizens, empowered by Christ’s own sacrificial love, extend grace beyond reciprocity—an unmistakable witness the Father delights to reward.
(46) The publicans.--An account of the "publicans" of our Lord's time will find a more fitting place in the Notes on Matthew 9:9. Here, it may be remarked that our Lord puts Himself, as it were, on the level of those to whom He speaks. They despised the publicans as below them, almost as a Pariah caste, and He speaks, as if He were using their own familiar language, yet with a widely different application. Were they after all above the publicans, if they confined their love to a reciprocity of good offices?Verse 46. - Vers. 46, 47; parallel passage: Luke 6:32, 33. For if, etc. The principle of the Law, reciprocity - love your neighbour and him only - is in reality no better than the principle adopted by those who are renegades to true religion (οἱ τελῶναι), or by those who have no knowledge of it (οἱ ἐθνικοί). Such a principle brings with it no other corresponding effect (μισθός, ver. 12, note) than such as even these receive. You aim at more, the privileges belonging to the sons of God; therefore do more. What reward have ye? i.e. already entered in God's book of account (Winer, § 40:2, a). The publicans; Revised Version margin, "That is, collectors or renters of Roman taxes: and so elsewhere." To this short description little need be added. The Roman system of taxation was to put up the country, or certain productions of the country, at auction, and to "sell" them to any who would undertake to pay the greatest amount of revenue from them (cf. also Josephus's account of the Egyptian method, B.C. 250, 'Ant.,' 12:04. 4; and Sayce's article in the Jewish Quarterly, July, 1890, on a Jewish taxgatherer at Thebes, B.C. 140). This contract was in turn divided and subdivided, those who actually drew the money from the people being generally natives. It thus being the interest of every contractor and sub-contractor to squeeze as much as possible from those under him, the whole system was demoralizing to all engaged in it. In the case of Judaea it was especially so, as there was a strong feeling among religious Jews against the lawfulness of paying taxes to a Gentile ruler (cf. Matthew 22:17, note). It is no wonder, therefore, that we find the native collectors (even of districts where the money raised went to Antipas's treasury, Matthew 9:9, note) classed with "harlots" (Matthew 21:31), "sinners" (Matthew 9:11), the heathen (ver. 4:7; Matthew 18:17). Yet out of these one was chosen to be among the twelve, and to write that Gospel which specially describes the relation of Jesus of Nazareth to the religious expectations of the nation.