 |
| Mount Beatitude in Galilee |
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
5:1-12 Setting and Wisdom Saying of the Beatitudes
Matthew 5:1-12 (Year A Epiphany 4) provides a setting for his collection of sayings Matthew has organized and begins the proclamation of the kingdom with a presentation of the Beatitudes. I move from general context in the introduction to specific analysis of each Beatitude. With each section building on the previous one, the narrative should feel cohesive. This study offers a detailed theological and literary analysis, exploring the context, meaning, and implications of the beatitudes for Christian life. This study provides a nuanced interpretation connecting the Beatitudes to Old Testament wisdom, Jewish tradition, and broader Christian theology. I emphasize the transformative and countercultural nature of Jesus’ teachings. I cover:
· The setting and structure of the Beatitudes.
· Their paradoxical nature and radical message.
· The historical and scriptural background.
· The practical and spiritual implications for followers of Jesus.
· The universal applicability and relevance of the Beatitudes beyond Christianity.
I conclude with a practical application that moves from theological abstraction to practical implications for daily living and character formation.
Introduction
If we are to give priority to the understanding of the Christian life to the teaching of Jesus, then the Beatitudes need to receive careful attention. People often praise the beatitudes. It seems as if people rarely read them. We can easily praise them, but our words are empty when they fail to consistently to translate into action.[1] "Jesus did not `think what the day thought (Nietzsche).'" Those who think today’s conventional, expectable thought see it fade and disappear with the day. These Beatitudes are fresh, radical, and thus capable of unsettling and healing anyone in range.[2]
. One should imagine a discussion between Jesus and his students organized around a problem they are pondering. The rabbi in that day would crystallize his teaching with a short and memorable saying. The beatitudes here are the result of that process. They are profound statements. Yet they would make little sense without some of the background just suggested. These beatitudes are inviting us to reflect upon what “success” means to God. Jesus wants to clarify for the disciples and for the people what it means to follow him. These sayings of Jesus are wisdom sayings. Their design is to bring us to a place of insight concerning what Jesus thinks genuine happiness might be. If we spend some prayerful time spending a day using it as a mantra or brief prayer, letting its truth sink into our hearts, we will be far closer to what Jesus wanted. What is your calling? What should you do with your life? What really matters? The vocation of such a one is to daily seek to learn what it means to be Christian in the historical setting one finds oneself. Here is the challenge for us today. Your happiness may not be where you think it is. If we listen carefully, Jesus will turn our sense of happiness upside down.
Part of the beauty of the beatitudes is that all to whom they apply will have a share in the coming salvation, whether they ever heard of Jesus in this life or not. The reason is that they factually have a share in Jesus and his message, as the Day of Judgment will make obvious.[3] Congratulating the poor without qualification is unexpected, even paradoxical, since one usually reserves this for those who enjoy prosperity, happiness, or power. The congratulations to the weeping and the hungry are expressed vivid and exaggerated language, which announces a dramatic transformation.Chapter 6 will give the version of the Lord’s Prayer we find in Matthew. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” One can easily imagine Matthew viewing the beatitudes as giving some content to the will of God as Jesus understood it and as how the rule of God comes even now, in the prayer and life of the people of God, even as they look forward to the coming fullness of that rule. Moreover, the Beatitudes feature three ways humankind experiences the blessings accompanying the unfolding of the kingdom — as those who need good news, as those who help share good news and as those who are willing to work for the sake of good news even at personal cost.
The Beatitudes receive their name after the Latin adjective beatus (“fortunate”) that stands at the beginning of verses 3-11 in the Vulgate. The word in Greek is Μακάριοι and one best translates it as “happy” or “blissful.” Beatitudes acknowledge praise due to an individual for some deed or quality and are thus not asking God to bless those who do such things. "Blessed" is a formula of congratulations in relation to piety, wisdom, and prosperity. Μακάριοι is associated with the joy and peace associated with a relationship with divinity. These are not statements, but punctuation. How Blest, How wonderful. There is an emotional quality of blessedness and joy. There are other beatitudes in 11:6, 13:16, 24:46, Luke 11:27-28, Revelation 1:3; James 1:12; Romans 14:22; and John 20:29. Old Testament piety and wisdom formulate such congratulations: Ps 1:1-2, 33:12, 127:5-6, Pr 3:3, Sir 31:8. Such blessedness has its secret within itself. It is serene and untouchable. It does not depend upon the circumstances of life. It addresses the possibility of a blessed life that is possible through the pain, sorrow, loss, grief that touches every human life. Such blessedness arises from living one’s life in the company and presence of Jesus.[4]
The statements are synthetic rather than analytical. Happiness comes to people who possess characteristics like this. They describe the life-direction of the one following Jesus. They stand opposite to current ideas of happiness and good fortune. Jesus is giving people added information about themselves. The presence of Jesus makes these persons blessed.[5] Jesus saw a new world coming. Jesus himself was a sign of that new world, the first outbreak of the rule of God, a signal that, by the grace of God, reality was making a fundamental shift. The beatitudes may seem like an unrealistic way to live. However, if we ponder them deeply, and considering the proleptic appearance of the rule of God in Jesus, they become a powerful invitation to live in an unusual way.
For Matthew, Jesus ascends one of the hills around Capernaum, symbolizing Moses ascending Mount Zion and the ascending of pilgrims to Mount Zion, while his disciples follow him. He sits down, and he teaches them. The result of the healing and exorcism, the teaching and proclamation, is that some people responded with wanting to follow Jesus as their teacher or rabbi. He will offer a sharp contrast between the effects of the rule of Rome and the effects of the rule of God. For Matthew, (Luke 6:17-20a provides a different setting) Jesus teaches to form a community that will live the type of life he describes here. They will not so alone. Rather, they will have a community of persons devoted to forming its identity by living this way.
The first eight of the nine beatitudes form a single unit in Matthew 5:3-10; the refrain “theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (5:3, 10) acts like a set of bookends for the material between them (scholars call this common literary structure an inclusio). The ninth beatitude in 5:11-12 thus lies outside this literary unit. These declarations of those on the favor of God rests encourage certain actions.
Verse-by-verse study
The first three beatitudes declare that people normally considered unfortunate are fortunate, since they are fit to receive of the rule of God.
3 “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are the poor (πτωχοὶ), with Matthew having in spirit (πνεύματι), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Luke 6:20b). "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” (The Message) such persons have their sole help in God rather than relying on their religious knowledge and achievement.[6] Such persons are poor in a religious way, having an inner need, consistent with Old Testament formulations. They are the humble, the poor before God, standing before God as beggars, with empty hands, conscious of their spiritual poverty.[7] They are in dire need of good news, and they will have it. This is in keeping with how Jesus approaches the lowly throughout Matthew. We can see the theme in other Jewish literature. The Lord looks upon the humble and contrite in spirit who tremble at the word of the Lord (Isa 66:2b). The pious shall give thanks, in parallel thought with the poor receiving the mercy of God (Psalm of Solomon 10:7, from around 50 BC-70 AD).[8] In the history of influence, most of the ancients viewed this as a spiritual poverty, humility. We have no one else upon whom to rely on than God. That is our situation, whether we are aware of it or not. This poverty, true and saving despair, is the gift of the Holy Spirit and the work of Jesus Christ. In this, it resembles faith, of which it is a part. It is to know our sin and divine compassion, forgiving us our sins. It suggests despair about us and the possibilities of existence.[9] The poor in spirit focuses upon inner life. It has in mind inner resources. It seems close to the ethical attitude of humility. It contrasts lack of sufficiency for life verses self-sufficiency. It suggests the poverty of human resources. In the Old Testament, the poor recognize their state of poverty before God. "Poor" people do not have to do something first. One must hear in this beatitude one's own lack.
Such a paradoxical formulation of those who belong to the rule of God represents the central theme of the proclamation of Jesus.[10] As Jesus speaks, the future rule of God comes. Clearly, the rule of God manifests itself differently than the rule of Rome. The sovereignty and authority of God is behind what Jesus says. The humble receive the promise of the kingdom. In doing so, the salvation that Jesus mediates consists of fellowship with God and the related life, which also embraces a renewal of fellowship with others. To have part in the rule of God is of the very essence of salvation.[11]
4 “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are those who mourn (πενθοῦντες), for they will be comforted (παρακληθήσονται). "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.” (The Message) Taken eschatologically, this mourning refers to the sorrow of living in this age inflicts, of seeing this age for what it is rather than being led away by its charms.[12] If we are in the presence of one who mourns the natural reaction is one of pity and compassion. Yet Jesus invites us to ponder that the blessing of God is upon them. They are in dire need of good news, and they will have it. This is in keeping with how Jesus approaches the lowly throughout Matthew. Mourning here is over one’s own sin as well as the sins of others. It suggests mourning over the state of the world. What a paradox Jesus discloses here, that we find our genuine happiness in mourning. We experience the suffering and pain of this world, not just for ourselves, I hope, but that of others as well. Evil is in us and around us, erupting in bedrooms and boardrooms, back alleys and battlefields. Your mourning is not the end, but the prelude to the comfort God will bring.
God will replace the mourning of this age with the comfort of the next age. We find the same emphasis in the prophetic promise that in the year of the favor of the Lord, comfort will come to those who mourn, providing for those who mourn in Zion, giving them garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise rather than a faint spirit (Isaiah 61:2-3). It suggests strengthening and consoling. The promise of this passage is that the suffering and death of human history will not have the final word.
5 “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are the meek (πραεῖς), for they will inherit the earth. "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are - no more, no less. That is the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that cannot be bought.” (The Message) We find a similar thought when the psalmist says the meek, gentle, and unassuming shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant prosperity (Ps 37:11). The beatitude is close to verse 3, and even closer if one translates into Aramaic. Gentle people reject the power-hungry and violent ways of the world we live in. It speaks of the need for us to live God-controlled lives. Meekness is something like self-control. A truly meek person is one who has every instinct, impulse, and passion under control. They know themselves well enough to put themselves under the direction God gives them. It refers to those who acknowledge the will of God rather than their own.[13] These do not need power, because their trust is in God. The sense is unassuming or undemanding. A look at Jewish parenesis shows that one can hardly separate the nuances of humility and kindness from each other. Without humility, for example, one cannot learn, for the first step in learning is the realization of our ignorance. Without humility, love becomes impossible, for the beginning of love is a sense of unworthiness. Without humility, we will not know true religion, which begins with a sense of our weakness and of our need for God.[14] The word does not mean the sickly weakness, milk-toast person. The Old Testament calls Moses meek. Jesus also was meek. It refers to a strong character; firmness combined with humility. In the Old Testament, it refers to gentleness, steadiness, and open to trust in God. Aristotle described ethical living as a mean, or mid-point, between two extremes. On the one extreme was wild and uncontrolled anger; on the other was a total lack of anger, a spineless resignation. In between was righteous anger, the middle way, or the golden mean. Aristotle used a form of this very same word translated here as “meekness” to describe a life lived in perfect balance.
The promise is participation in the rule of God over the earth. The promise is that what life experience denied them on earth, influence apart from power and violence, will belong to them. One can accomplish this inheriting only partially now. Those who act with equanimity and sensitivity will normally get further than those who are rough of will.
The rest of the beatitudes are concerned with moral qualities.
6 “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (δικαιοσύνην), for they will be filled (Luke 6:21). "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He is food and drink in the best meal you will ever eat.” (The Message) Here is a hunger, a desire, that the will of God be done.[15] Happiness is for those who we actively seek doing the will of God. We need to fill our lives with the things of God. We must never stop hungering and thirsting. The wonder of humanity is not its sin, but that regardless of the depths of evil to which we can sink, goodness still haunts us. When embedded in the mud of our self-destructive and self-inflicted darkness, we never wholly forget the stars above us. God blesses those who do not stop hungering and thirsting.[16] They help bring good news to others, committed to nurturing compassion and wholeness in the world according to the kingdom of heaven. They receive blessing to be blessings to others. The Old Testament knows of hungering and thirsting for God's word, mercy, and presence. The Lord shall bring a time of famine and thirst for the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11). The Lord shall be the host of a feast for all peoples that includes rich food and well-aged wines (Isa 25:6). All who thirst are to come to the waters and those without money can come, buy, and eat, eating rich food that will satisfy truly (Isa 55:1-2, 7). They shall not hunger or thirst, for the Lord has pity on them will lead them by springs of water (Isa 49:10). The tears of the psalmist have been his food (Ps 42:3). Some wandered in the wilderness, hungry and thirsty and fainting within, but the Lord delivered them from distress, for the Lord satisfies the thirsty and the hungry with good things (Ps 107:4-9). Even such a background of the saying suggests they have not attained righteousness. It suggests continual hungering and thirsting, the longing of the pious. What they lack, they long for what only God can give. The “righteousness” to which Jesus refers receives a description in 5:20-48.
7 “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are the merciful (ἐλεήμονες), for they will receive mercy. " You are blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care full,' you find yourselves cared for.” (The Message) They receive blessing to be blessings to others. They help bring good news to others, committed to nurturing compassion and wholeness in the world according to the kingdom of heaven. They receive blessing to be blessings to others. Followers of Jesus show such mercy to others, for they are anxious to receive it themselves. They help bring good news to others, committed to nurturing compassion and wholeness in the world according to the kingdom of heaven. They receive blessing to be blessings to others. In a similar thought, we are to forgive neighbors the wrongs they have done and then the Lord will pardon our sins when we pray (Ecclesiasticus or Sirach 28:2). No one can count on God's mercy that does not also show mercy. It stresses the connection between God's love for humanity and neighborly love.
8 “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are the pure in heart (καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ), for they will see God. "You're blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” (The Message) Such persons are willing to show the world in word and deed that there is nothing more life-changing than single-minded devotion to God. Yet, our focus is fuzzy at best, feeling pulled in all directions. They help bring good news to others, committed to nurturing compassion and wholeness in the world according to the kingdom of heaven. Those who have pure hearts will ascend Zion and abide in the Temple, seeking the face of God (Psalm 24:3-6). Other parts of the New Testament reinforce this theme. Christian instruction has the goal of love that comes from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith (I Tim 1:5). Those who call upon the Lord with a pure heart pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (II Tim 2:22). It suggests purity of heart as undivided obedience to God. The point is inner and moral purity, presenting the whole self to God. "Heart" is the center of human wanting, thinking, and feeling. The point is not opposition to the acts of worship prescribed in the Old Testament, including its sacrifices. Christian tradition has interpreted this beatitude in an ascetic manner. Yet we must not interpret purity of peart in a way that would lead to removal from the world or to a form of piety suitable only for the religiously gifted. This quality will manifest itself as obedience toward God in the world.
The share in the life of God is communicated by the vision of God. The vision of God effects transformation in the likeness of God (I John 3:2).[17] This quality of life has a hope for a future seeing of God that is more than private individual experience. The promise may refer either to seeing God in worship or to the eschatological seeing. When God reveals Christ to the world, we shall be like him, seeing him as he is (I John 3:2b). In any case, “entering into” the rule of God has its definition materially as the vision of God.[18]
9 “Blessed Μακάριοι) are the peacemakers (εἰρηνοποιοί), for they will be called children of God. "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That is when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.” (The Message) It denotes the establishment of peace and concord between people. Such persons come between two contending parties and try to make peace. They are the children of God because they act among human beings the way God acts among human beings.[19] It speaks of our need to work for peace and the justice that paves the way for peace. However, for most of us, we are lovers of peace, and we want a peaceful existence in our own lives in which the strife and brokenness in our world does not bother us. Peacemakers are active. A person refuses to take sides in a dispute, steps between two parties, and tries to make peace. It suggests overcoming evil with good. This beatitude points to the commandment of love of enemies. Thus, Matthew is thinking not only of a peaceful living together of members of the community but thinks beyond the limits of the community. They help bring good news to others, committed to nurturing compassion and wholeness in the world according to the kingdom of heaven. They receive blessing to be blessings to others.
The promise is that God will name them as children of God. The Old Testament reserves the title for Israel. Jesus applies the name to anyone who exhibits the qualities of making peace. Being a child of God is an eschatological gift of salvation.[20]
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted (δεδιωγμένοι) for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.[21] "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.” (The Message) The beatitude points us in the direction of the love of enemies. The world does not want the people of God to point them in the direction of setting things right with God and with each other. If one genuinely hungers and thirst for righteousness (5:6), one may find that suffering is the result. The persecuted are favorites of God. It refers to those who undergo fiery tests of loyalty to God. The implication is that right conduct before God brings persecution. Yet we are not to think of masochism or sadism here. Rather, it does seem that the New Testament teaches that Christians should not look upon persecution as strange. They are not to avenge themselves, for it gives an opening for all kinds of unrighteousness and folly and wickedness. In fact, such defenselessness may be dishonorable. Jesus calls upon his followers to love their enemies. The only answer seems to be that they resemble in a faint way the suffering of Jesus.[22] Christians are not to look upon honor in the same way that the rest of the world may do. Affliction in this world is not an unqualified bad and may be a good. Jesus makes it clear that working for the sake of good news can get you into trouble. Doing what is sacred is not always the safest choice in a world consistently indifferent to, if not the source of, the spiritual impoverishment and grief caused by lowliness that inflicts itself upon people. Receiving blessing from God is challenging, if not risky, business. Jesus is fully aware of the cost of discipleship, indeed, fully aware of the cost of being the Messiah.
In fact, followers of Jesus receive blessedness, even when persecution occurs. Hatred by the world will in fact mean blessedness from God. Such a paradoxical formulation of those who belong to the rule of God represents the central theme of the proclamation of Jesus.[23] Jesus promises them the kingdom of heaven. Again, in doing so, the salvation that Jesus mediates consists of fellowship with God and the related life, which also embraces a renewal of fellowship with others. To have part in the rule of God is of the very essence of salvation.[24]
Verses 11-12 (Luke 6:22-23)
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, speaking of empowerment to participate in the kingdom for the sake of something bigger than personal satisfaction, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets, disciples becoming the successors of the prophets, who were before you. "Not only that - count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort, and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens - give a cheer, even! - for though they do not like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.” (The Message) The certainty of salvation and the security it provides gives followers of Jesus courage to submit to the uncertainties of life, especially related to seeing suffering in a new light as a child of God, here becoming an occasion of joy that receives recompense from God.[25] Jesus would refer to those welcoming prophets in the name of a prophet receiving the reward a prophet (10:41a), that many prophets longed to see what this generation sees and hear what this generation hears (13:17), and that he sends prophets whom the Pharisees will flog (23:34). Jesus claimed prophetic authority that he then shared with his disciples, claiming for himself the promise of the Spirit (Isa 61:1).[26] The beatitude points us in the direction of the love of enemies. Here is precisely where the task of standing with and for the kingdom comes into play most fully, particularly whenever we confront the sad news of the world with the good news of heaven, no matter what the personal cost. One receives blessing from God especially when the world offers rejection. Such blessed boldness connects us to the same heavenly power that sustains Jesus and the prophets before him.
The ninth beatitude differs from the other beatitudes in that it is longer and less ethereal than the others are. However, note that its theme, persecution, is a theme the eighth beatitude introduces. Matthew here switches suddenly to the second person (“Blessed are you when people revile you ...”), and many scholars believe that the direct address implies that readers of the gospel may have felt harassed by Jewish groups like the Pharisees, with whom it is likely the author and his community were in conflict.
Practical application
Keep it simple. We often hear that advice. The truth behind it is that often, the insights we need to live a full Christian life are just that – simple. We are to love God with all our hearts. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. In a sense, simple, is it not?
What are followers of Jesus supposed to look like? Well, they are to recognize their complete dependence upon God, concerned with the suffering in this world, meek before others, hunger and thirst for what is right, be willing to suffer for what is right, be merciful to others, have inward and outward purity, and make peace in a world divided. I am not suggesting that any of this is easy. Yet, it is simple and direct, as Jesus puts it, at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.
Sure. It is so simple that if we are faithful to Jesus, we will spend our lives becoming like this. The beatitudes invite us to consider Christianity as a lifestyle, a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared, and loving. With all the centuries since shared the beatitudes, the church became an established religion in a way that sometimes avoided this type of lifestyle change. Thus, one could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish and vain in most of Christian history, and still believe that Jesus is one’s “personal Lord and Savior.” The world has no time for such silliness anymore. The suffering on Earth is too great.[27]
If we follow Jesus, if our vocation in life is to learn to be Christian, then we need to let Jesus define for us that type of life will look like. Some parts of the Bible are clarifying moments. The Ten Commandments would be an obvious place to go for such a clarifying moment. For many of us, Micah 6:1-8 is a clarifying moment in declaring that God requires of the people of God only that they do justice, act with kindness, and walk humbly with God. It seems to me that Jesus had a clarifying moment toward the beginning of his ministry in Galilee in offering his inaugural sermon that Matthew has expanded into the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has no intention of being a lone ranger. He wants people who will be faithful witnesses with him. He also wants to clarify for the disciples and for the people what it means to follow him.
The Beatitudes contain what Jesus considers to be the successful, well-lived human life that distinguishes itself by being a follower of Jesus. The promises affirmed here are for now provisionally and proleptically but will reach their fulfillment in the eschatological age. God will bring an unexpected bent of the world toward love, peace, and justice.
Living the type of life described here is not available only to followers of Jesus. The beatitudes describe a life any person of any culture or historical setting might adopt as the goal of proper character formation. If one adopts this direction in one’s life, one participates in the saving work of God now and in the gracious end toward which God is moving natural and human history. My point is this. A personal encounter with Jesus through the Christian message as a response of faith to it cannot be the universal criterion for participation in salvation or exclusion from it if we take seriously what the New Testament says about the love of God for the world that embraces all people. Hearing the gospel in a way that might bring personal encounter is historically contingent and cannot be decisive for eternal salvation. In their case, what counts is whether actual conduct agrees with the will of God that Jesus proclaimed. The message of Jesus is the norm by which God judges, even in the case of those who never meet Jesus personally. All to whom the beatitudes apply will have a share in the coming salvation whether they have ever heard of Jesus in this life or not. They have a share in the message of Jesus and in him, as the Day of Judgment will reveal. Further, the eschatological transformation contains an element of compensation for the sufferings and deficiencies of the present world.[28]
[1] Archbishop Desmond Tuto.
[2] Martin Marty, Emphasis Ja-Fe 1996
[3]
[4] Inspired by William Barkley, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1, The Daily Study Bible Series (Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2017).
[5]
[6] Schweizer, TDNT, VI, 401.
[7]
[8] And the pious shall give thanks in the assembly of the people;
And on the poor shall God have mercy in the gladness () of Israel;
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12] Bultmann, TDNT, VI, 43.
[13] F. Hauck/S. Schulz, TDNT, VI, 649.
[14] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew (Westminster John Knox, 1968), 112-13.
[15] Goppelt, TDNT, VI, 17-18.
[16] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew (Westminster John Knox, 1968), 116.
[17]
[18]
[19] Forester, TDNT, II, 419.
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27] Richard Rohr, shared by Rev. Dennis L. Stone, Terrace Lake United Methodist Church, Kansas City, Missouri.
[28]
Interesting. I suppose how we live the beatitudes is the real question.
ReplyDeleteI find your statement on following the directions of God equals salvation interesting. Dickson would agree with this. I confess that I do too but, that raises many questions as to our role in the world, why do evangelism or even why did Jesus die.
Lynn the event of revelation reveals the basis of divine judgment. Yet, I am not sure how one can maintain the love and goodness of God would be lack of knowledge of that event. Further, evangelism invites people to respond to the good news contained in the event.
Delete