The eighth beatitude given in verse 10 is now expanded and elaborated. Blessed are you when people speak against you, and insult you, and tell stories about you behind your back.
The believer knows that a day is coming when all things will be revealed, and every false accusation against God’s people will be dismissed. Will the unbeliever then protest that he was fed what seemed like true information when he formed this wrong opinion of the believer? God will show that behind that wrong opinion was deep prejudice and hatred. To have resisted the impulse to believe this false testimony would have taken an honesty he did not possess.