To be sons (or, children) of God in the biblical sense is to reflect the character and likeness of God, for which the second half of the verse provides specific illustrations. For example, the Father in heaven provides sun and rain for all people, without discriminating between the bad and the good. In the same way, if Jesus’ followers are to prove that they are sons of God, they must show love to their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. Sons is meant to include both men and women.

So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven is a fairly literal rendering of the Greek text. Anchor Bible is barely one step away from a literal rendering by beginning a new sentence with this verse: “In this way you will become sons of your heavenly Father….” The more precise meaning of the verb be in the context is “will show that you are.” This is the basis of New American Bible (“This will prove that you are sons of your heavenly Father”), An American Translation (“so that you may show yourselves true sons of your Father in heaven”), and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“So you will prove yourselves to be children of your Father in heaven”). Another way is to say “so that people will know (or, see) that you are children of God, your Father in heaven.”

Your Father who is in heaven is the same expression used in verse 16.

For further notes on the phrase “son of God” or “child of God,” see Matthew 5.9. Here translators may also say “that you are like children to God” or “that God considers you his children.” However, it may be best to show the real meaning of the phrase with a translation such as “so that you may show that you are like God, your Father in heaven.”

Evil … unjust are synonyms, as are good … just, as the illustration below will demonstrate. Such an arrangement is called a chiastic arrangement, after the name of the Greek letter chi, which is in the shape of an “X.” A similar structure is also used in 6.24 and 7.6. (See structure|fig:Table_MAT5-45.jpg.)

In translation it may be advisable to rearrange the order so that the parallelisms will show up more clearly; for example, “evil and unjust” in one line, with “good and just” in the other. Or, the entire structure may be translated “For he provides sunshine and rain for good people and bad people alike.”

The adjective just is first used in 1.19 (see comments there); unjust is its opposite, as evil is the opposite of good. Elsewhere in Matthew good is used in 7.11 (twice), 17, 18; 12.34, 35 (twice); 19.16, 17 (twice). The adjective evil was used in verses 11, 37, 39; elsewhere in the Sermon on the Mount it is used in 6.13, 23; 7.11, 17, 18.

The expression his sun may have to be expressed as “the sun he created.” The phrase makes his sun rise can be translated literally, or as “he provides the sun” or “he gives sunshine.”

The evil and the good are “evil (or, bad) people” and “good people,” and similarly, the just and the unjust are “people who do right” and “people who do evil,” or “people who obey God’s Law” and “people who disobey God’s Law.”

We suggested above that translators often restructure the passage so that their readers can follow the thoughts more easily. For example, it may be rendered “for he makes his sun rise and the rain fall on the evil people who do not obey God’s Law just as he does on the good people who are faithful to obey.” Another way is “As far as providing the blessings of sunshine and rain to people, he treats all alike, both the good people and the bad, both those who obey his laws and those who do not.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .