That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)
Literally, “sons of your Father.” They resemble their Father in character (MB 75; see on vs. 43, 48). The test of love for God is love for our fellow men (1 John 4:20).
Which is in heaven.
The expression “my [or “your”] Father which is in heaven” is characteristic of Matthew.
On the evil.
By this obvious illustration from the natural world Jesus discredits the popular Jewish fallacy that God bestows His blessings on saints and withholds them from sinners (see on John 9:2). The Jews attributed to God the same spirit of hatred for sinners and non-Jews that they themselves felt. But whether it be the blessings of nature or of salvation, “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34, 35).