Luke 6:22, commentary and pictures

Blessed are those who are hated and shut out from company and reproached and have their name cast out as evil for the Son of man's sake, which is because they belong to Christ and are faithful and loyal to Him. In that day they are to rejoice and leap for joy because their reward in heaven is great, and their suffering puts them in fellowship with the prophets who were treated in the same manner. Such rejection by the world marks them as distinct as God's people and is the normal lot of the true child of God, who is not of the world but chosen out of it. To have one's name cast out as evil for Christ's sake is to be in excellent company with Christ and to partake with Him in His sufferings, for He bore the same reproach, so suffering for Him is an honor. All who fearlessly and faithfully serve God according to conscience and remain true to Him will be persecuted in this way in the soon-coming crisis, when motives are impugned and names are treated as evil, and meeting it requires courage and firmest trust to hold fast the faith.

Blessed Under Reproach

Blessed are those who are hated by men, separated from their company, reproached, and have their name cast out as evil for the Son of man's sake, which is because they belong to Christ and are faithful and loyal to Him. Those so treated are to rejoice and leap for joy in that day, for great is their reward in heaven. Such suffering puts them in fellowship with the prophets, for in the same manner did their fathers treat the prophets before them.

Rejection by the world marks distinctness as God's people, for Christ's followers are not of the world but chosen out of it, and the world hated and persecuted Christ before them. Being hated, separated, reproached, and having the name cast out as evil is the normal lot of the true child of God, and earthly prosperity is no evidence of God's favor. A true child cannot enjoy the friendship of the world, and seeking it becomes a snare leading to adopting the world's customs, precepts, standards and spirit, since there can be no fellowship between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness. Those who are unknown and unacknowledged by the world because the world knew not Christ, whose names are cast out as evil by lovers of sin, have their names written in the book of life as adopted heirs of Christ and the nobility of heaven. They are those who come out of great tribulation with robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.

Having the name cast out as evil for Christ's sake puts one in excellent company with Christ and means partaking with Him in His sufferings, for He bore the same reproach. His followers may be rejected by friends and should not expect better treatment than Jesus, who faced spies watching His words to accuse Him, so suffering for Christ is an honor. Christ presented evidence in curing disease and making sufferers rejoice in health, but those dead in trespasses and sins would not receive Him because yielding would have required confessing themselves sinners. Instead of recognizing the endowment of heaven in His works they held to wicked purposes and said He did them through the devil, which was the sin against the Holy Ghost without forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come. At last they put the Prince of life to death though He had only expressed the love of God and died as the great freewill offering opening a fountain of mercy so that whoever believed should not perish but have everlasting life.

Following Christ may bring rejection, false accusation and pressure, and the loss of others' honor and temporal interests, and believers must be willing to endure this rather than seek approval from one another. This applies to unwillingness to suffer affliction with God's people, as Moses chose to do. It means submitting to wrong and bearing the suffering part of religion rather than sinning against God by taking unlawful, doubtful measures to deliver oneself, leaving interests in His hands. It means not fainting at tribulation, overcoming evil with good, refusing bitterness and estrangement from Jesus, and putting trust in His love.

Coming Crisis and Courage

All who fearlessly and faithfully serve God according to the dictates of conscience and remain true to Him will be persecuted in the evil day. That experience will recur in a coming crisis, a great crisis soon to pass that is to come again in the last evil day. God's people living in this age have yet to meet this hatred in its fullness.

That persecution takes the form of having motives called into question and impugned as evil, best efforts misinterpreted and twisted, false accusation, pressure and loss of temporal interests, and names treated and cast out as evil. It comes when people claiming to represent Christ oppose those who obey God according to conscience. The hatred is born of bigotry and self-righteousness, pride, formalism, selfishness, oppression, hardness of heart, cruel determination and unyielding hatred. It comes from professing followers of Christ claiming to be righteous while trampling the law of God, taking the same course as the priests and rulers in their treatment of Christ and the apostles and as the priests and rulers acted toward Paul. In that spirit persecutors will believe that destroying the faithful is doing God service, and will force God's servants to turn to the heathen for protection.

Behind it Satan works with all deceptive power to influence the heart and becloud the understanding, to make evil appear good and good evil through his agents. The stronger and purer the faith of God's people and the firmer their determination to obey Him, the more fiercely he strives to stir up rage against them. That rage is joined when secular rulers unite with ministers of religion to dictate in matters of conscience, when darkness is deepest and every other trust fails.

Meeting it requires courage, firmness, moral courage, knowledge of God and His word, firmest trust, and most heroic purpose to hold fast the faith once delivered to the saints and bring life into conformity to the divine standard. Those who stand firm when darkness is deepest will have abiding trust in Jehovah and shine brightest with a godlike character. While enemies of truth on every side watch the Lord's servants for evil, God watches over them for good and is to them as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. The verse means submitting to wrong and bearing the suffering part of religion rather than sinning against God by taking unlawful, doubtful measures to deliver oneself, leaving interests in His hands. It means not fainting at tribulation, overcoming evil with good, refusing bitterness and estrangement from Jesus, and putting trust in His love.