And if you salute your brothers only, what do you more than others? do not even the publicans so?
salute.
Matthew 10:12 And when ye come into an house, salute it.
Luke 6:32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
Luke 10:4,5 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way…
what.
Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
1 Peter 2:20 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.
what are you doing more than others?
This rhetorical question highlights the expectation that followers of Christ should exhibit a higher standard of love and righteousness than what is commonly practiced. The call to exceed the norm is a recurring theme in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus contrasts the righteousness of His followers with that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). This phrase challenges believers to reflect the transformative power of the Gospel in their actions, setting them apart as a light to the world (Matthew 5:14-16).
Do not even Gentiles do the same?
In the historical context, "Gentiles" refers to non-Jews, often perceived by Jews as outsiders to the covenant community. By using Gentiles as an example, Jesus underscores that merely loving those who love you is a natural human tendency, not a mark of divine love. This statement would have been provocative to His Jewish audience, urging them to transcend cultural and religious boundaries. The call to love beyond one's own group is echoed in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), where Jesus commands His disciples to make disciples of all nations, reflecting God's universal love and the breaking down of barriers through Christ (Ephesians 2:14-16).
• Jesus has just said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Limiting a warm greeting to people within our own circle is the exact opposite of that command.
• In biblical culture, greeting involved blessing, honor, and genuine concern—not a casual “hello.” Restricting such warmth to close friends signals a heart that has yet to embrace the expansive love God shows (cf. Romans 12:10; 1 Peter 2:17).
• The same principle flows through 1 John 3:14: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death.” Genuine love cannot be confined; it spills over even to strangers and enemies.
• Luke 6:32 reminds us, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” The Lord is pressing us beyond the comfort zone of mutual affection.
• Christ calls His followers to surpass the ordinary. Earlier He declared, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).
• Bullet-point portraits of “more than”:
– Going beyond minimal duty to joyful service (Philippians 2:3-4, 15).
– Extending grace first, not merely responding in kind (Romans 12:18-21).
– Practicing sacrificial generosity where the world practices calculated exchange (2 Corinthians 9:6-8).
• The question “what are you doing” invites self-examination. Faith that is alive produces actions that stand out (James 2:14-18). Jesus is urging visible distinction, not secret superiority.
• “Gentiles” represents those outside God’s covenant people, the nations living without Scripture’s light (Ephesians 2:11-13). Even they respond naturally to friendly faces.
• By contrasting His disciples with Gentiles, Jesus underscores that kingdom living is supernatural. We are children of our Father in heaven; therefore our love must mirror His impartial kindness (Matthew 5:45).
• Scripture repeatedly warns believers not to “walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds” (Ephesians 4:17-24). We have a new nature, and with it a new standard.
• 1 Peter 4:3-4 echoes the same thought: “For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the will of the Gentiles…” Our changed conduct should puzzle and attract the watching world (John 13:35).
Jesus exposes the smallness of a love that stops at familiar borders. If our greetings—and by extension our kindness, hospitality, and care—are reserved only for “our kind,” we have not yet risen above the world’s norm. The Lord’s question presses us to display a love that reflects our Father’s heart: proactive, lavish, and inclusive even of enemies. Such love is the “more” that marks genuine disciples and points others to the Savior who loved us first.
(47) If ye salute your brethren.--The prominence of salutation in the social life of the East gives a special vividness to this precept. To utter the formal "Peace be with you," to follow that up by manifold compliments and wishes, was to recognise those whom men saluted as friends and brothers. But this the very heathen did (heathen rather than "publicans" being here the true reading): were the followers of Christ to be content with copying heathen customs?Verse 47. - And if ye salute. It seems almost a bathos after "love." But it expresses love publicly showing itself by kindly greeting. Your brethren; with whom you have the fellow-feeling of common origin - in this case not national, but spiritual (cf. ver. 22, note). What do you more than others? (τί περισσὸν ποιεῖτε); Tyndale," What singuler thynge doe ye?" Do not even the publicans? Revised Version, the Gentiles? with the manuscripts. "The form used (ἐθνικός) describes character rather than mere position" (Bishop Westcott, on 3 John 1:7); "hethen men" (Wickliffe). So; Revised Version, the same, with the manuscripts. Τὸ αὐτό, notwithstanding its occurrence in ver. 46 and parallel passage, Luke 6:33, was altered to the commoner οὕτως ποιεῖν.