Who are the peacemakers spoken of in this verse? Are they people who make peace between man and God or between man and man? Either interpretation is possible, but both the non-biblical Jewish literature and the biblical writings themselves support the idea that the peace spoken of is that which is established among people (see especially Heb 12.14; Eph 2.15; James 3.18). Barclay translates “those who make men friends with each other.” Some other ways to speak of peacemakers are “those who cause people to be friends,” “those who help people to live in peace,” “those who make peace between people,” or “those who work to stop people from being enemies.”

They shall be called sons of God translates a Greek passive structure which presupposes that God is the actor. Therefore Good News Translation has “God will call them his children.” “To be called” means “to become,” as the Old Testament examples in Genesis 21.12 and Isaiah 56.7 indicate. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “They will be children of God.” Barclay renders “for they shall be ranked as the sons of God” (see also Moffatt). Phillips translates “for they will be known as sons of God!”

Sons does not here refer only to male offspring, but means “children.”

In addition to the examples cited above, there are many ways translators have handled this passive construction shall be called. Some translators keep the idea of called with phrases like “God will say to them, ‘You are my children,’ ” “God will say that they are his children,” or “God will consider them his children.” Or translators can do the same as Good News Translation: “God will call them his children.” Others put the emphasis on the idea of becoming, and say “they will become God’s children” or “God will make them his children.”

The phrase sons of God (or, children of God) causes a problem in cultures where readers would not understand this phrase to be figurative and, further, would not accept the idea of God having physical offspring. Translators in these cases sometimes use similes, as in “God will say they are like children to him,” “God will consider them as if they were his children,” or “God will have a relationship with (or, will care for) them like a father with his children.”

Only with great reserve does the Bible refer to people as sons (better “children”) of God. This is a status established solely as an act of God’s mercy and grace. In the context the reference is to the final judgment, and verses 44-45 are the best commentary on the verse. See also 4.3 and comments.

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 .