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Mat_5:12. Ὁ μισθός ] comp. κατεργάζεται , 2Co_4:17, and remarks thereon. The article denotes: the reward which is destined, kept in readiness for you (Mat_25:34; Col_1:5), and that for the indignities, persecutions, and lies borne through faith in me.
ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ] is great in heaven. A reference to the book of life (Fritzsche, Gratz), Php_4:3, Rev_3:5; Rev_20:15; Rev_21:27, Dan_12:1, is not yielded by the text, which only presents the idea that the reward is laid, up in heaven until the future communication of it, which begins with the establishment of the kingdom, and therefore not ἔσται , but ἐστί , is to be supplied; and this is to be taken not as irrespective of time (de Wette), but as present.
γάρ ] assigns the reason from the recognised certainty (Mat_10:41) that to the prophets, who formerly were persecuted in like manner (Mat_23:29 ff.), great reward is reserved in heaven for future communication in the kingdom of the Messiah.
The prophets (comp. Mat_7:12) are a typical example for the disciples. On the conception of μισθός , which κατὰ χάριν λογίζεται (Rom_4:4), comp. Mat_20:1 ff.; Luk_17:10; see generally Weiss in d. Deutsch. Zeitschr. 1853, p. 40 ff.; Bibl. Theol. p. 104 ff.