An Examination of the Beatitudes, By Shaun Aisbitt
To
me the beatitudes are one of the most important passages of teaching in the
ministry of Jesus to his followers here on Earth, and it is as relevant today
as it was when it was first taught nearly
2000 years ago. It is like a jeweled cave that sparkles when light is shone
upon it, but you have to have the correct tools to dig in and get the precious
stones. In this particular paper I shall examine Matthew’s Gospel from 5:1-12
and attempt to concentrate on his account alone except where clarification can
be attained through the parallel passages in Luke’s Gospel.
BEATITUDES OF CHRIST,
Spiritual Mountain Climbing,
Eight upward Steps in the Christians Life
1st
Step, Humility (Conscious Need) Mt 5:3
2nd
Step, Repentance (Mourning for Sin) Mt 5:4
3rd
Step, Meekness (Marking the birth of a New Spirit) Mt 5:5
4th
Step, Spiritual Hunger (Signifying Growth) Mt 5:6
5th
Step, Mercifulness (an Attribute of God, indicating further Advance) Mt 5:7
6th
Step, Heart Purity (displays attainment of Higher Altitudes, where comes the
vision of God) Mt 5:8
7th
Step, Peacemaking (a Christ like Influence, calming the Storms of Life) Mt 5:9
8th Step,
The Summit, Suffering for Christ (standing beside the Prophets and Martyrs) Mt
5:10-12
Now when he saw the
crowd he went up on a mountainside and
sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach then, saying:( Mat
5:1-2)
The first thing
I noticed while examining the parallel passage to this in Luke 6:17 is what may
be interpreted as a mistake by some less than spiritual scholar, attempting to
find fault. The parallel passage states that ‘Jesus stood on a level place’ ,
both are right!. If Jesus had stood IN a level place instead of ON a
level place, then there would be a fault. But the word ON suggests that He was
ON a mountain or ON a hill, it would be grammatically incorrect to say a person
would stand IN a mountain, or IN a hill. The conclusion must therefore be that
Jesus stood (or sat) on some kind of plateau, on the side of the mountain that
allowed Him to see over all that He taught that day.
(Mat 5:3-12) The
word ‘Blessed’ occurs nine times in this passage, it’s meaning from the Greek
word
Μακάριοι is both Blessed and
Happy. This may seem strange to those who don’t know their Saviour, that the
righteous are to be happy when they are persecuted!. The eight characteristics
of kingdom citizens Jesus addresses in sequence are: the Poor in spirit, those
who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the
merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted
because of righteousness, all of whom receive a blessing, a reward from their
heavenly Father, which Jesus announces. I shall now examine each one
individually.
Blessed
are the poor in spirit, not the poor in wealth, or who are so with respect to
material wealth. Although God has chosen and called many, who are in such a
condition of life, yet not all, the kingdom of heaven cannot be said to belong
to them all, or only them but such as are poor in a spiritual sense. All
mankind are spiritually poor, they have nothing to eat that is fit and proper,
nor any clothes to wear, but rags, nor are they able to purchase either, they
have no money to buy with, they are in debt, owe ten thousand talents, and have
nothing to pay, and in such a condition, that they are not able to help
themselves. The greater part of mankind are blind or ignorant of their
condition, but think themselves rich, and increased with goods, there are some
who are sensible of it, who see their poverty and want, freely acknowledge it,
moan it, and mourn over it, are humbled for it, and are broken under a sense of
it, entertain low and mean thoughts of themselves, seek after the true riches,
both of grace and glory; and freely acknowledge, that all they have, or hope to
have, is owing to the free grace of God. Now these are the persons intended in
this place, who are not only “poor”, but are poor “in spirit”, in their own
spirits, in their own sense, apprehension, and judgment, and may even be called
“beggars”, as the word may be rendered for being, understanding their poverty,
they place themselves at the door of mercy, and knock there, their language is,
“God be merciful”; their posture is standing, watching, and waiting, at
wisdom’s gates, and at the posts of her door; they are pressing, will have no
denial, yet receive the least favor with thankfulness. Now these are pronounced
“blessed”, for this reason, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, not only the
Gospel, and the ministry of it, which belongs to them. “The poor have the
Gospel preached”, it not only reaches their ears, but their hearts, it enters
into them, is applied to them, they receive and embrace it with the utmost joy
and gladness, but eternal glory, this is prepared for them, and given to them,
they are born heirs of it, have a right to it, are suitable for it, and shall
enjoy it.
A sense of
anguish for sin characterizes the believer. But genuine repentance will bring
comfort to the believer, since Christ bore the sins of every man, the comfort
of fill forgiveness is readily available. Just like another passage of
scripture 1 John 1:9 says:
If we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness.
(πενθοϋντες
= Mourn, bewail). To feel regret for
ones circumstances due to some sin, is not what is spoken about here, feeling sad
for oneself is not even implied anywhere in the message of salvation. Judas was
remorseful of himself, and so are so many others who don’t understand what
Godly sorrow is. What this verse speaks of is those who have done wrong, and
realize their sin is not only against themselves but against someone more
important, God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. 2Cointhians 7:10
Says:
Godly sorrow brings
repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow
brings death.
It is actually comforting to know that when we have done wrong against
God, and have a sorrowful desire to come back to Father God, he is ready to
receive us, and give us a comforter. The author John Metcalfe speaks of this
comforter in his discourse on the beatitudes, when he says:
“He manifests himself to them, and not to
the world. Nor to the worldly in religion. But as united in one, the erstwhile mourners experience the
Comforter in a way superior to any singular experience
known heretofore. And so they walk together and are edified; walking in the
comfort of the Holy Spirit hand in hand, with their faces towards Zion. Though
they have come from the valley of weeping. Now they go from strength to
strength. Everyone of them in Zion appeared before God.”
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
(πρąείς
= Meek) This form of the word only occurs 3 times in the New
Testament, and only one other form of the word occurs when Jesus claims that He
is meek and lowly (Mat 11:29). וינע is
the Hebrew word for meek in the Old Testament where the word
πρąείς comes from in the Septuagint translation
of the passage in Psalms 37:11.
But
the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.
Meekness toward
God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as
good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the Old Testament, the
meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend
them against injustice. Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting
the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify believers, and that
He will deliver the believers in His time. (Is. 41:17, Lu. 18:1-8) Gentleness
or meekness is the opposite to self assertiveness and self-interest. It stems
from trust in God’s goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person
is not occupied with self at all. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the
human will. (Gal. 5:23) The Pharisees would have had difficulty with meekness
being more given to open displays of their religion, though, meekness was in
their vocabulary, but just in word, not in deed. One of their sayings was
regarding two well known doctors of the time of Jesus called Hillell and
Shammai, the one was meek, the other of an angry disposition:
“Let
a man be always meek as HiIIell, and let him not be angry as Shammai.”
Here meekness is
to be considered, not as a moral virtue, but as a Christian grace, a fruit of
the spirit of God, which was eminently in Christ, and is very ornamental to
believers, and of great advantage and use to them, in hearing and receiving the
word, in giving an account of the reason of the hope that is in them, in
instructing and restoring such, who have backslidden, either in principle or
practice, and in the whole of their lives and conversations, and serves greatly
to recommend Jesus to others. People who are possessed of meekness, and
exercise it, are well pleasing to God, when downcast, he comforts them; when
hungry, he satisfies them, when they want direction, he gives it to them, when
wronged, he will do them right, he gives them more grace here, and glory
hereafter. The blessing illustrated, in which they shall partake of, is they
shall inherit the earth. Not the land of Canaan, though that may be alluded to,
nor this world, at least in its present situation, for this is not the
believers rest and inheritance, but rather, the “new earth”, which will be
after this is burnt up, in which only such persons as are here described shall
dwell, and who shall inherit it, by virtue of their being heirs of God, and
joint heirs with Christ, whose is the earth, and the fullness thereof. Though
some think heaven is here designed, and is so called, partly for the sake of
variety of expression, partly in allusion to the land of Canaan, a type of it,
and may be called an earth, or country, that is an heavenly one, in opposition
to this earthly one, as the heavenly Jerusalem is opposed to the earthly one,
and which will be a glorious inheritance.
What
is the use of a Christian profession that leaves us without the taking on of
the character of Christ? What is the worth of it?. A mere profession is like
water off a ducks back and many people call themselves Christians, but have no
desire to take on the meekness of
Christ’s
character, instead they selfishly attempt to search out God’s promises in
scripture, and demand them as if God is their servant at their beck and call or
the genie of the lamp and they are realized supermen. They shall see God on the
day of judgment and realize His majesty, then they shall understand meekness as
they squeak their pleas to enter into His kingdom, to which He shall reply “I
don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!”
(Lk 13:27)
(πεινάω = Crave, Hunger, Famish)(διψάω=Thirst) These words are used figuratively, those who are said to hunger and thirst who painfully feel their want of, and eagerly long for, those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported, strengthened. Jesus gave a beautiful illustration of this teaching in His parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee in the temple. The Pharisee was full of himself, and didn’t hunger for righteousness, the tax collector in contrast was repentant, crying out for God, feeling a spiritual hunger because of the heaviness of condemnation. Donald Stamps in his comment on this parable says:
“The
Pharisee was self-righteous. Self righteous people think of themselves because
of their own efforts; they are not conscious of their sinful nature, their own
unworthiness and their constant need for God’s help, mercy and grace. Because
of their exceptional acts of piety and outward goodness they think they do not
need God’s grace. The tax collector, on the other hand, was deeply conscious of
his sin and guilt, and in true repentance turned from sin to God for
forgiveness and mercy. He typifies the true child of God.”
Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst, Not after the riches, honors, and pleasures of this
world, but after righteousness; by which is meant, not justice and equity, as
persons oppressed and injured. It is not a moral, legal righteousness, which
the Pharisees were eagerly pursuing; but the justifying righteousness of Christ,
which is imputed by God the Father, and received by faith. To “hunger and
thirst” after this, supposes a want of righteousness, which is the case of all
believers a sense of want of it, which is only perceived by persons spiritually
enlightened, a discovery of the righteousness of Christ to them, which is made
in the Gospel, and by the spirit of God, a value for it, and a preference of it
to all other righteousness, and an earnest desire after it, to be possessed of
it, and found in it, and that nothing can be more grateful than that, because
of its perfection, purity, suitableness, and use, joyous are the believers, for
they shall be filled, with that righteousness, and with all other good things,
in consequence of it, and particularly with joy and peace, which are the
certain fruits of it, or, “they shall be satisfied”, that they have an interest
in it, and so satisfied with it, that they shall never seek for any other
righteousness, as a justifying one, in the sight of God; this being full,
perfect, sufficient, and entirely complete. It is quite amusing the Greek word
for filled that is used here, it is χορτάζω
a term for fattening cattle, maybe this implies that many of Jesus’ audience
were shepherds or farmers?.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be
shown mercy
(έλεήμων =[Active] Compassionate,
Merciful) Those who put pity into action can expect similar mercy both from God
and man. Pity isn’t enough, being active on that pity is what is being spoken
about here. There is nothing on which God more takes His stand (as the active
principle of His being in a world of sin) than his mercy. The only possibility
of salvation to a single soul is that there is mercy in God; that He is rich in
mercy; that there is no bound to His mercy. It is not only a question of
forgiveness of sins, but of mercy in everything. The effect of mercy is not a
compromising of the holiness of God, but a larger and deeper standard of it.
Proverbs 3:3-4
in the Authorized Version of the Bible says:
Let not mercy and truth
forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write then; upon the table of thine
heart: So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and
man.
Also Psalms
37:25-26 in the Authorized Version of the Bible says:
I have been young, and [now]
am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread
[He 4/ ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed [is] blessed
Indeed mercy
appears to be one of the most important attributes that is present and active in
the life of the believer, and he and his children appear to get blessed because
of it.
(καθαρός
= Pure, free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt free from every fusion of
what is false. Being sincere genuine blameless, innocent unstained with the
guilt of anything.)
The pure in
heart are those who have been delivered from sin’s power by God’s grace and now
strive without deceit to please and glorify God and to be like Him. They seek
to have the same attitude of heart as God has, a love of righteous and a hatred
of evil. Their heart (καρδία) the seat of mind,
will and emotions is in tune with the Father Heart of God. Purity, it is
exactly what is proper to God, for He alone is pure absolutely. Consequently
also He was perfectly reflected in Jesus Christ His Son. For not a single
thought or feeling ever defiled divine perfection in the heart of Jesus. Those
who’s moral being is free from contamination with sin, without divided
interests or loyalties. To them, as possessors of God’s pure nature, belongs
the unclouded vision of God, which will reach consummation when Christ returns.
This thought is reflected in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians in chapter
13 verse 12 where it says:
Now we see but a poor
reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part,
then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
But how can our
hearts become pure?, here again is a great theme that has occupied attention
throughout the centuries. There are two great ideas . First there are those
who say there is only one thing to do, that we must become like monks or
hermits and segregate ourselves from the world!. It is a full time job trying
to avoid bad thoughts and bad deeds, so why not remove oneself from the world
and live in a monastery, cave or up a pole, where you are so occupied that you
don’t have time to do or think evil. Wrong again!, the human heart is wicked
and evil above all things, who can trust it? as the scripture says. As soon as
the opportunity would arise, the enemy would point out ways of avoiding hard
work and skiving off duties, and pointing at others who don’t work as hard as
you do, thus making you proud e.t.c.!. The second idea is this, basically all
we can do is realize the dreadful wickedness in our hearts as they are by
nature, and as we do so we should join with the great psalmist David in his
prayer “Create in me a clean heart, 0 God, and renew a right spirit within
me.” Only the blood that Jesus Christ shed on Calvary can and will cleanse
us and purify us from all sin.
(εỉρηνοποιός
=Peacemaker, lover of peace, pacifist) The peacemakers are those who have been
reconciled to God through the cross. They strive by their witness and life to
bring others, including their enemies, to peace with God. The Jews had a saying
from the Misnah which goes like this:
These are the things, the
fruit of which a man enjoys in this world, and his lot or portion remains for him
in the world to come; honoring father and mother, liberality,( האבו
וריבחל סרא
ךיב םךלש) and making peace between a man and his neighbor.”
Another saying of the doctor and scholar Hiliell:
“Be thou one of the disciples
of Aaron, who loved peace, and followed after it; he loved men, and brought
them to the law.”
It was among the
highest attributes of a Jew to be known as a peacemaker. It showed great wisdom
and an understanding of the Law. The title “Sons of God” was in Jewish
tradition a God given blessing of knowing all, and being a Rabbi, this
developed from the Old Testament idea that the Sons of God (angels) instructed
men. When Jesus was saying to the Jews that peacemakers will be called “Sons of
God”, he wasn’t saying they would get great wisdom, become rabbis or become
angels, he was saying that they would be as adopted children. In the
traditional sense sons were held in high esteem and the father was usually
proud of them, especially their firstborn. O. Michel, a German scholar in his
commentary on Paul’s letter to the Romans with special regard to the passage
(Rom 8:14) says:
Sonship expresses the
freedom of the baptized Christian, who needs to recognize no other tie but the
will of God; it expresses the realization that God has committed Himself to
man; and it expresses the trust which grows out of His Fatherhood
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be
glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The last and
most important blessing, and a warning that those who are followers of Christ,
the righteous ones, they will not have an easy time. This thought is seen
throughout history from what could be deemed the earliest written book of the
Bible Job, to the present day where Christians are being killed in Islamic
nations for preaching the gospel. It is a frightening thing to think, but if a
person like the apostle Paul, were to walk into Christian gatherings today, he
would probably be sneered at, spoken bad of; and generally disliked because of
his righteousness. His righteousness would show up other Christians and he
would be called an extremist, a fundamentalist or a legalist!, even though he
wrote against and fought against legalism. This does not mean that the church
is in a bad way!, it just means that we should beware of relaxed standards
becoming the norm.
In my own
personal experience, I was once invited to a friends house to watch a video of
a American preacher (Benny Hinn). I was very young in the Lord, but I could see
that what the guy on the video was saying was very wrong after a short while. I
questioned the teachings on the video, and was met with a barrage of excuses
and rebukes for questioning the Lord’s anointed. I still maintained that the
teachings were false and pointed out in scripture where the person on the video
was twisting scripture to suit their own purposes. I was actually told by
someone that they doubted my Christianity, and would I like to pray with them
to receive the Lord. We agreed to disagree about the video and left it at that.
I was treated very differently by that person and their friends afterwards,
there was a lot of talking behind their hands, and I found myself a few friends
shorter. The guy on the video has since supposedly repented of his false
teachings, then “unrepented” (if I can say that?!) and has become even worse
saying he is in contact with the dead and receiving an anointing from a dead
faith healer. The person who argued with me regarding the video hasn’t
approached me or mentioned the video since, but continues to follow after false
teachers and their ‘Hyper faith’ doctrines. I am not considering myself
righteous here, my experience was mild in comparison but I can see how
prophets, apostles and those who try to live in harmony with the Word of God
will suffer, even at the hands or mouths of their own spiritual brothers. I
worry that in the last days as spoken of in Matthew chapter 24:9-13 that those
who stand firm in God’s word, and faith in Him, will be persecuted by lapsed
Christians without a good foundation for their faith. We can see the parallels
in this piece of scripture in comparison to Matthew 5:10-12
Then you will be handed over
to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because
of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate
each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he
who stands firm to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:9-13)
But look at the
promise to those who are tortured for their righteousness, for standing firm on
the Word of God, great is the reward in heaven. This speaks of the world to
come, not the present kingdom of believers. Even if the heavenly incentive
wasn’t there, I would still stand firm in my love of Christ, and not tolerate
any falsehood or insult of Him, for He has given me a new life where death
reigned, joy in my heart where sadness dwelt, a boldness where fear controlled,
and a robe of righteousness where my nakedness was clothed in garments of
filthy rags.
Here is m bibliography for
your further study:
Lloyd-Jones, Dr Martin: Studies
in Sermon on the Mount: (Eerdmans ! Michigan, USA) 1991
Metcalfe, John: The Beatitudes:
(Publishing Trust! Buckinghamshire, UK) 1993
Green, Jay,P: The
Interlinear Bible: (Hendrickson Publishers! Massachusetts, USA) 1985
Strong, James: The
Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: (World Bible Publishers!
Iowa)
Angus, Joseph: The Bible
Handbook: (Religious Tract Society! London, UK) 1916
Thayer, Joseph: Thayer’s
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament:
(Broadman Press ! Nashville,
USA) nd.
Stamps, Donald: The Full
Life Study Bible (NIVV (Zondervan ! Michigan, USA) 1992
Brown, Cohn (ED): Dictionary
of New Testament Theology. Vol 1:
(Regency / Michigan, USA)
1986
Pfeiffer,
Charles / Harrison, Everett (Eds): The Wycliffe Bible Commentary:
(Moody Press! Chicago, USA) 1990
Misnah Peah.Chapter 1. section 1.
T. Bab :Sabbat. folio,
127. 1 ( Kiddushin. folio. 40. 1
O.Michel: Der Brief an
Die Römer: (KEK ! Munchen, GDR) 1910
Please Sign Our Guestbook View Our Guestbook
Return to our Home Page Click Here