|
BLESSED:
Makarioi: (Mt
5:4-11;
11:6;
13:16;
24:46;
Psalms 1:1;
2:12;
32:1,2;
41:1;
84:12;
112:1;
Psalms 119:1,2;
128:1;
146:5;
Proverbs 8:32;
Isaiah 30:18;
Luke 6:20,21-26;
11:28;
John 20:29;
Romans 4:6-9;
James 1:12;
Revelation 19:9;
22:14)
"Blessed (happy, to be
envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in
God’s favor and salvation, regardless
of their outward conditions) " (Amplified)
Beatitude is derived from
the Latin beatitudo/beatus, because the first word of each
statement in the Latin Vulgate is beati, which translates
Matthew’s Greek word makarios (traditionally translated “blessed”). As
you study the beatitudes, notice that the first three describe Kingdom
Citizens as those who recognize that what they are in the presence of
God is what they are, no more and no less.
Observe also that all eight
beatitudes are essentially attitudes each of which has associated
promises.
The blessed are those who
are allowed fellowship with God (cf Ro 5:1-3), because they have a right
relationship with Him and thus are empowered and motivated to enjoy Him
as He originally intended. Jesus is the ultimate blessing, beloved.
Don't miss that as you study the Beatitudes. So many have lost site of
where true blessing is to be found and Jesus' beatitudes set about to
correct that wrong thinking. Test yourself right this moment -- what is
your heart set on as vital for your life and character? What things do
you most want to see developed in your life this day, this month, this
year? Make a list and then compare it with the list Jesus unfolds in
Matthew 5:3-12. Does your list include poverty of spirit, mourning over
sin, meekness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, showing mercy,
maintaining a pure heart and a peacemaking spirit, and finally (and
because of the former characteristics) a real willingness to be
persecuted for Jesus' sake? Or does your list show some other path to
supposed blessing? If so, those blessings will prove to be nothing but
mirages in the desert of this dying world, holding forth wonderful
promises but dispensing nothing but disappointment. Jesus' list of
character traits that are the hallmarks of the true citizens of His
Kingdom and represent the only life that God will bless,
beloved. Do not be deceived or distracted by the passing pleasures of
this world, enticements of your flesh or the temptations of the devil.
Lord, give us ears to hear Your
magnificent manifesto afresh as the Great Physician's only
prescription for genuine, lasting happiness in this world and the one to
come! Amen.
Hear O JEHOVAH, and be gracious
to me.
O JEHOVAH, be Thou my
Helper.
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing.
Thou hast loosed by sackcloth and girded me with gladness.
(Psalms 30:10-11)
As Spurgeon reminds us...
The Old Testament closes with the
word “curse.” (see Malachi 4:6). The New Testament
begins here, in the preaching of Christ, with the word “Blessed.” He
has changed the curse into a blessing: “Blessed”
Nor did he begin in that manner, and
then change his strain immediately, for nine times did that charming
word fall from his lips in rapid succession. It has been well said that
Christ’s teaching might be summed up in two words, “Believe” and
“Blessed.” Mark tells us that he preached, saying, “Repent ye,
and believe the gospel;” and Matthew in this passage informs us that he
came saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” All his teaching was
meant to bless the sons of men; for “God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be
saved.”
“His hand no thunder bears,
No terror clothes his brow
No bolts to drive our guilty souls
To fiercer flames below.”
His lips, like a honeycomb, drop
sweetness, promises and blessings are the overflowings of his mouth.
“Grace is poured into thy lips,” said the psalmist, and consequently
grace poured from his lips; he was blessed for ever, and he continued to
distribute blessings throughout the whole of his life, till, “as he
blessed them, he was taken up into heaven.” The law had two mountains,
Ebal and Gerizim, one for blessing and another for cursing, but the’
Lord Jesus blesses evermore, and curses not. (Matthew 5.1-12 The Beatitudes)
A number of Bible versions instead of
rendering it "blessed" use words such as “happy” or “fortunate,” which
unfortunately tend to trivialize the meaning by suggesting a temporary
emotional or circumstantial state, which is not the actual meaning as
discussed below.
Martin Luther commenting on
Jesus beginning with "blessed" as His very first word wrote...
Now that’s a fine, sweet,
friendly beginning of his
teaching and preaching. For he goes at it, not like Moses or a teacher
of the law, with commands and threats, but in the very friendliest way,
with nothing but attractions and allurements and lovely promises.
John Broadus adds that blessed...
It was also a beautifully natural
introduction (Weiss), because he came to preach the ‘good news’ of the
kingdom, {Mt 4:23} the fulfilment of all the Messianic hopes and
promises. (Commentary on Matthew)
The Encyclopedia of
Christianity notes that...
The beatitude, or “makarism,”
is a literary form commonly beginning with the word “blessed” (from
Greek makarios, see definition below) and constituting some declaration of good fortune for persons.
Familiar to Greek literature in both the classical and Hellenistic
periods, it is most often used to extol persons considered to be happy
according to the ideals of Greek philosophy (e.g., those attaining
wealth, honor, wisdom, or virtue). (Fahlbusch, E., & Bromiley, G. W.
The Encyclopedia of Christianity Vol. 1, Page 212. Grand
Rapids, Mich.; Leiden, Netherlands: Wm. B. Eerdmans)
Blessed are the poor in spirit
- In Scripture, there are two words translated "blessed",
makarios (discussed in more detail below) and eulogetos (from
eú = good, well + lógos = word), the latter meaning that we speak well
of someone (as when we hear a eulogy at a funeral, the eulogy speaking
well of that person who has passed on from life to death). In contrast,
makarios is not to speak well of someone, but defines a
condition that exists. In other words, makarios describes something
that is true about someone, not something that someone says
is true about them. Makarios is a reality, an inward state of truth no
matter how you actually feel. In other words, to be "blessed" as defined
by makarios, one does not have to feel "happy" to be blessed. You can
still be blessed and act as if you are not happy. Makarios defines one's
state of being in relation to God, independent of how one feels about it
at a given moment in time. There are many times I don't personally feel
very "blessed" but the Bible nevertheless declares that irregardless of
my untoward circumstances, afflictions, trials, etc, I am still
"blessed" by God! The
Price rightly notes that...
Most people are interested in being
happy! The pursuit of happiness is the driving force of our affluent
western culture. However, when you look at the list of ingredients Jesus
gives for happiness, there is a big shock in store! This is a strange
list to say the least, and many of these qualities appear the very
antithesis of what most of us are looking for. (Ed note: "Happy are the
poor", "Happy are the sad", etc)...The major difference in this list is
that Jesus is not talking of qualities in the physical realm (the area
in which most people look for happiness), but in the realm of the
spirit...The myth of our day is that happiness is found in satisfying
our physical desires, comforts and appetites. Those desires may be
entirely legitimate, but the engine room of each human being is the
spirit which is designed to be inhabited and governed by
God....Satisfying the body is never the source of true happiness for it
is not the seat of our true appetites! Our true appetite is expressed in
the famous prayer of Augustine, ‘You have made us for yourself, and our
hearts are restless until they find their rest in you’. The teaching of
the Sermon on the Mount works from the spirit to the soul and out to the
body. The norm of our day reverses that process, and tries to satisfy
the deep needs of the human spirit by focusing on physical satisfaction.
In this regard, either Jesus Christ has got it all wrong, or the world
at large has it all wrong. You choose! There are nine beatitudes in this
passage (statements beginning with ‘Blessed are …’), but as the last
is repeated twice, eight different ingredients in Jesus’ description of
happiness. These are not descriptions of eight different people, one is
poor in spirit, another is mourning, another is meek etc, but the
description of eight ingredients that will be true of each one person
who is happy, ‘makarios’ style. The list of these eight is
progressive. Beginning with the first, the second grows out of it, the
third out of the second until the eighth gives the completed picture of
the person to whom Jesus then says, ‘You are the salt of the earth....
You are the light of the world..." (Price, C. Focus on the Bible:
Matthew).
Blessed* (3107)
(makarios) is derived from a
root makar, (others say from "mak" which means large or lengthy) which means to be happy, but not in the usual sense
of happiness based on positive circumstances. Makarios describes the
person who is free from daily cares and worries because his every breath
and circumstance is in the hands of His Maker Who gives him such an
assurance (such a "blessing"). As discussed below makarios was
used to describe the kind of happiness that comes from receiving divine
favor.
Makarios
is found 49 times in the NASB NT (Click
all uses at end of this note).
The translates makarios as blessed, 46; fortunate, 1;
happier, 1; happy, 1. (Click
for a devotional on "blessed"
or "happy")
Greek used makarios to refer to their gods and thus "the blessed
ones" were the gods. They were "blessed" because they had achieved a
state of happiness and contentment in life that was beyond all cares,
labors, and even death. The blessed ones were beings who lived in some
other world away from the cares and problems and worries of ordinary
people. To be blessed, you had to be a god. Homer used makarios to describe
a state unaffected by the world of men, who were subject to poverty,
weakness, and death.
The Greeks also used makarios in reference to the dead who were "the
blessed ones", men and women who, through death, had reached the other
world of the gods and so were now beyond the cares and problems and
worries of earthly life. To be blessed, you had to be dead, a state many
of us have felt like we would just as well experience because of the
nature of our manifold troubles and afflictions at the time.
Finally, the Greeks used makarios to refer to the socioeconomic elite, the
wealthy, the idea being (completely false I might add) that their riches
and power put them above the normal cares and problems and worries of
the lower socioeconomic strata, who constantly struggled to make it in
life.
In short, the Greeks felt that one had to be either a god, dead or
filthy rich to be blessed (makarios)! And so we see another one of the words (like
doulos, charis, etc) that the Bible elevated in status and
meaning, as described below in a compilation from many different
resources.
MacArthur writes that makarios...
means to be happy,
blissful. That happiness is a divine pronouncement, the assured benefit
of those who meet the conditions God requires. (MacArthur,
J: Matthew 1-7 Chicago: Moody Press or
Logos)
Makarios is a state of existence in relationship to God in
which a person is “blessed” from God’s perspective even when he or she
doesn’t feel happy or isn’t presently experiencing good fortune. This
does not mean a conferral of blessing or an exhortation to live a life
worthy of blessing; rather, it is an acknowledgment that the ones
indicated are blessed. Negative feelings, absence of feelings, or
adverse conditions cannot take away the blessedness of those who exist
in such a relationship with God!
Makarios ultimately describes the state those who believe in
Christ and in so possessing God, possess everything. In addition since
they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they are fully satisfied no matter
what their circumstances. It is interesting that Aristotle contrasted
makarios with the Greek word endees which means "the needy one".
Friedrich Hauck says that the Greek word Makarios
"refers overwhelmingly to
the distinctive religious joy which accrues to man form his share in the
salvation of the kingdom of God."
Makarios means possessing
the favor of God, experiencing "spiritual prosperity". It
describes a state of being marked by fullness from God. And so what
Jesus is saying in the "Beatitudes" is "Spiritually prosperous
(blessed) are the poor in spirit...", etc (Mt
5:3) And thus some of the translators like Wuest pick up this
definition...
Spiritually prosperous are
the destitute and helpless in the realm of the spirit, (Wuest)
Some sources record that makarios
means "to be congratulated." The
natural man thinks of the "poor in spirit" as the person who
mourns over sin and suffering, the meek, the persecuted as groups to be
despised or even pitied. However, Jesus says they are fortunate people
for God is pleased with them and fittingly He has "blessed" them. They
are to be congratulated and after all what fortune is so great as God's
blessing? D Martyn Lloyd-Jones adds that...
The only man who is at all capable of
carrying out the injunctions of the Sermon on the Mount is the man who
is perfectly clear in his mind with regard to the essential character of
the Christian. Our Lord says that this is the only kind of person who
is truly 'blessed, that is, 'happy'. Someone has suggested that it might
be put like this; this is the sort of man who is to be congratulated,
this is the sort of man to be envied, for he alone is truly happy.
(Lloyd-Jones,
D. M.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount) (Bolding added)
One might paraphrase Jesus' first
beatitude...
Blessed are the spiritual paupers, the
spiritually
empty, the spiritually bankrupt who cringe in a corner and cry out to
God for mercy.
Why? Because they are the only
ones who tap the real resource for happiness independent of what
happens. They are the only ones who ever know God. They are the only
ones who are allowed entry into the Kingdom of Heaven (God). Theirs is
the Kingdom—then and there, here and now and forever. Hallelujah!
Blessed connotes the state
of “prosperity” that comes when a superior bestows his favor (blessing)
on one.
Expositor's Bible Commentary notes that...
Usually makarios
describes the man who
is singularly favored by God and therefore in some sense "happy"...As
for "happy" (TEV), it will not do for the Beatitudes, having been
devalued in modern usage. (Gaebelein,
F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament.
Zondervan Publishing)
Cremer says that
makarios
“is the gracious and saving effect of
God’s favor … ,(Ed: Note this condition) but is enjoyed only
when there is a corresponding behavior towards God; so that it forms
the hoped-for good of those who in this life are subject to oppression.”
(Bolding added)
Cremer goes on to add that in the NT makarios...
"is quite a religiously qualified conception, expressing the life-joy
and satisfaction of the man who does or shall experience God’s favor and
salvation, his blessedness altogether apart from his outward
condition … It always signifies a happiness produced by some
experience of God’s favor, and specially conditioned by the revelation
of grace.” (Bolding added)
Kenneth Wuest says that
when makarios is
"used of the state or condition of
the believer, we would say that it refers to the spiritually prosperous
state of that person who is the recipient of the sanctifying work of the
Holy Spirit, who is enabled to minister these blessings to him when the
believer yields to Him for that ministry and cooperates with Him in it.
For instance, those who are reproached for the name of Christ, are in a
spiritually prosperous condition, for the Holy Spirit is ministering to
them with refreshing power (see note
1 Peter 4:14). (Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Studies in the
Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament: p.23. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)
Makarios is is used in
pagan Greek literature to describe the state of happiness and well-being
such as the gods enjoy as distinct from that of men who were subject to
poverty and death, denoting a state of being of the gods who were
exalted above earthly suffering and the limitations of earthly life.
Other secular Greek writers used makarios to describe the state
of certain men as supremely blest, fortunate, prosperous, wealthy.
Some theological dictionaries
define "blessed" as a "state of happiness" but this is not
completely accurate because blessed differs from ''happy''
which describes a person with good ''luck''. The English word "Happy"
is from the root hap which means luck as a favorable
circumstance. What if someone asked you today "Are you happy?" Being the
spiritual person you are would you stumble and fumble and hesitate and
hem and haw because the question is not an easy question to answer.
Isn't it true that for most of us saints still on this earth, our
happiness tends to go up or down depending on what "happens" or
how things are going in our life? How much superior is the condition of
the saint who is "makarios", a state in which we are still in the
world and yet are independent of the world because our satisfaction
comes from God and not from favorable circumstances.
Ray Pritchard writes that makarios...
"doesn’t even apply to
human emotions. It’s a statement of how God views people who live a
certain way. The root idea of blessed is “approved by God.” Max Lucado
catches the idea beautifully in his book on the Beatitudes called The
Applause of Heaven.
God applauds the poor in
spirit.
He cheers the mourners.
He favors the meek.
He smiles upon the hungry.
He honors the merciful.
He welcomes the pure in heart.
He claps for the peacemakers.
He rises to greet the persecuted.
Pritchard goes on to add...
As we begin this study
of the Beatitudes, let’s realize that if we want God’s approval more
than anything in the world, then these words have the power to change us
dramatically. So the real question this morning is, How much do you want
God’s approval? Do you want it more than the approval of your family and
friends? More than the approval of the people where you work? More than
the approval of your colleagues? More even than the approval of your
closest loved one? If you want God’s approval that badly, you can have
it. That’s what the Beatitudes are all about. They show us what a
disciple looks like and they tell us how we can have the applause of
heaven. (Matthew
5:1-3 The Making of a Disciple)
Dwight Pentecost explains that...
The word happy,
as used among the Greeks, originally described the condition of the
Greek gods who were deemed to be satisfied, or content, because they had
everything they desired and were free to enjoy everything they possessed
without restriction. To the Greek mind, happiness had to do with
material possessions and the freedom to enjoy them. Their happiness had
to do with unrestrained, unlimited gratification of physical desires.
Since no limits were ever put upon their deities, the Greeks deemed the
gods to be happy. When they lived with the same liberty they ascribed to
their gods, they deemed themselves a happy people. Happiness for the
Greeks was related to the physical and material world. ( Pentecost,
J. D. Design for living: Lessons in Holiness from the Sermon on the
Mount. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications)
As used in the Bible, makarios can rarely convey the nuance of
"happy", as in Paul's instructions given to a woman whose husband
has died, Paul writing that
"she is
happier (makarios) if she remains as she is; and I think that I also
have the Spirit of God" (1 Cor 7:40)
Paul also uses makarios with the nuance of "fortunate"
as he speaks with King Agrippa, declaring...
"In regard to
all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself
fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before
you today" (Acts 26:2)
Warren Wiersbe writes...
Imagine how the crowd’s
attention was riveted on Jesus when He uttered His first word: “Blessed.”
(The Latin word for blessed is beatus, and from this comes the word
beatitude.) This was a powerful word to those who heard Jesus that day.
To them it meant “divine joy and perfect happiness.” The word was not
used for humans; it described the kind of joy experienced only by the
gods or the dead. “Blessed” implied an inner satisfaction and
sufficiency that did not depend on outward circumstances for happiness.
This is what the Lord offers those who trust Him! The Beatitudes
describe the attitudes that ought to be in our lives today. (Wiersbe,
W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)
The Bible Knowledge Key Word Study writes that in Matthew 5:3
makarios...
describes the state of
someone privileged to experience God's grace in a special way.
"Blessed," therefore, describes most importantly those who have a
relationship with God (cf. Job 5:17; Ps. 1:1-2) so that secondarily they
experience his gracious provision and care in their life. ( Bock,
Darrell L, Editor: The Bible Knowledge Key Word Study: The Gospels
Cook Communications)
Blessed is the state of the
individual who is the recipient of the God's grace (favor) and blessing.
The psalms begin with a "beatitude"
proclaiming...
1 How blessed is the
man
Who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season,
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
In both
Psalm 1:1 and Psalm 32:1-2
below, the Hebrew word for blessed is 'esher ('eser)
which describes good fortune, a state of joyous mind or a state of
bliss (complete happiness, the ecstatic joy of heaven, perfect
happiness, serene joy). The Hebrew word for "blessed" is
translated by the
Septuagint or LXX
with our Greek word makarios. Note
that in both of these psalms (as is true of its use elsewhere) to be “blessed”, a man or woman has
to do something. Of the 45 uses of 'esher in the Old Testament, 25 are
found in Psalms.
Click here
and take a moment to
meditate
on
"blessed" in the Psalms (you will be blessed!), writing down what
an individual has to do to be in the blissful state of blessedness (you
will be surprised at one of things that bring blessing!).
In the Old Testament this state of
blessedness may involve material things, but David who had been
guilty of such great against His God by committing adultery with
Bathsheba and then plotting the murder of her husband Uriah, describes
blessedness not in a material but a spiritual sense of the man or woman
who has experienced the gracious, merciful gift of the Father's
forgiveness (Ps
32:1-2).
1 (A Psalm of David. A
Maskil.)
How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered! ( Spurgeon's
note)
2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute
iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit! (Spurgeon's
note)
In the original Hebrew "blessed" is
in the plural implying the multiplicity of blessings upon the man
whom God justifies. One might translate it "Oh the blessednesses!"
One can be "makarios" and
yet be in miserable circumstances. "Blessed (makarios) are you," Jesus
said, "when they insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for great is
your reward in heaven" (see notes
Matthew 5:11;
5:12). So "blessed are you" does not mean "untroubled are
you" or "healthy are you" or "admired are you" or "prosperous are you."
It means "between you and God all is well." You are deeply secure,
profoundly content, happy in God - even if you are weeping over the pain
of a struck body, a perplexed mind, or a heartbreaking relationship.
Whatever the makarios state
is, it is true of God. Whatever it means to be blest and blessed, it is
true of God and of Jesus Christ. For example, Paul describes God as "He
who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord
of lords." (1
Ti 6:15). Thus it stands to reason that the only people who
will ever experience makarios fully are those who partake of God
and of Christ. There can be no biblical blessedness or happiness apart
from Jesus. Only for those who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, who
by faith have become partakers in the divine nature (see note
2 Peter 1:4),
the same bliss, the same contentment, the same happiness, the same sense
of makarios that is fundamentally an element of the character of
God and Christ, is ours. So, when the Scripture speaks of blessedness,
it is from a biblical context and does not refer to a superficial
attitude based on circumstance.
David's psalm of thanksgiving
after his repentance over his sin of adultery w Bathsheba & murder of
her husband Uriah (2Sa 11:16,17) which by contrast left him "spiritually
destitute" (Read Ps 32). Paul thus notes that justification by faith was
true both before and after Moses--before, in Abraham, Israel's great
patriarch, and after, in David, Israel's greatest king & was always
apart from works.
Barclay has this note on
makarios writing that
"Makarios is the word which
specially describes the gods. In Christianity there is a godlike joy.
The meaning of makarios can best be seen from one particular usage of
it. The Greeks always called Cyprus hē makaria (the feminine form of the
adjective), which means The Happy Isle, and they did so because they
believed that Cyprus was so lovely, so rich, and so fertile an island
that a man would never need to go beyond its coastline to find the
perfectly happy life. It had such a climate, such flowers and fruits and
trees, such minerals, such natural resources that it contained within
itself all the materials for perfect happiness.
Makarios then describes
that joy which has its secret within itself, that joy which is serene
and untouchable, and self-contained, that joy which is completely
independent of all the chances and the changes of life. The English word
happiness gives its own case away. It contains the root hap which means
chance. Human happiness is something which is dependent on the
chances and the changes of life, something which life may give and which
life may also destroy. The Christian blessedness is completely
untouchable and unassailable. “No one,” said Jesus, “will take
your joy from you” (John
16:22). (Ed note: Makarios is an inner peace, an
inner bliss, an inner happiness. Such inner joy is not produced by
circumstance. It is a word that indicates character, touching man at the
very base of his existence) The beatitudes speak of that joy which seeks
us through our pain, that joy which sorrow and loss, and pain and grief,
are powerless to touch, that joy which shines through tears, and which
nothing in life or death can take away.
The world can win its joys,
and the world can equally well lose its joys. A change in fortune, a
collapse in health, the failure of a plan, the disappointment of an
ambition, even a change in the weather, can take away the fickle joy the
world can give. But the Christian has the serene and untouchable joy
which comes from walking for ever in the company and in the presence of
Jesus Christ. The greatness of the beatitudes is that they are not
wistful glimpses of some future beauty; they are not even golden
promises of some distant glory; they are triumphant shouts of bliss for
a permanent joy that nothing in the world can ever take away." (Barclay,
W:
The Gospel of Matthew The New Daily
Study Bible Westminster John Knox Press)
Lloyd-Jones comments
that...
There is, beyond any question, a
very definite order in these Beatitudes. Our Lord does not place
them in their respective positions haphazardly or accidentally; there is
what we may describe as a spiritual logical sequence to be found here.
This, of necessity, is the one which must come at the beginning for the
good reason that there is no entry into the kingdom of heaven, or the
kingdom of God, apart from it. There is no one in the kingdom of God who
is not poor in spirit. It is the fundamental characteristic of the
Christian and of the citizen of the kingdom of heaven, and all the other
characteristics are in a sense the result of this one...It is obviously,
therefore, a very searching test for every one of us, not only as we
face ourselves, but especially as we come to face the whole message of
the Sermon on the Mount. You see, it at once condemns every idea of the
Sermon on the Mount which thinks of it in terms of something that you
and I can do ourselves, something that you and I can carry out. It
negatives that at the very beginning...The Sermon on the Mount, in other
words, comes to us and says, 'There is the mountain that you have to
scale, the heights you have to climb; and the first thing you must
realize, as you look at that mountain which you are told you must
ascend, is that you cannot do it, that you are utterly incapable in and
of yourself, and that any attempt to do it in your own strength is proof
positive that you have not understood it.' It condemns at the very
outset the view which regards it as a programme for man to put into
operation immediately, just as he is.
(Lloyd-Jones, D. M.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)
The Sermon on the Mount reveals
the true standard of righteousness which Christ requires of all who
belong to Him (Matthew 5:1). The limitation of the Sermon on the
Mount lies in the fact that our Lord reveals His standards for the
Kingdom life, without the full revelation of the power by which this
standard can be maintained. This fuller revelation would come later. It
is similar to the John 7:37-39 passage, where Christ gives His promise
of power and fruitfulness before the Holy Spirit has come, through Whom
this power is given. The Sermon on the Mount is similar to a plumbline
which shows the crookedness of a wall, but does not rebuild it.
More Like Jesus Would I Be
Let my Saviour dwell in me;
Fill my soul with peace and love,
Make me gentle as a dove.
More like Jesus while I go,
Pilgrim in this world below;
Poor in spirit would I be;
Let my Saviour dwell in me.
(Play
hymn)
ARE THE POOR
IN SPIRIT: oi ptochoi to pneumati: (Mt
11:25;
18:1-3;
Leviticus 26:41,42;
Deuteronomy 8:2;
2 Chronicles 7:14;
33:12,19,23;
34:27;
Job 42:6;
Psalms 34:18;
51:17;
Proverbs 16:19;
29:23;
Isaiah 57:15;
61:1;
66:2;
Jeremiah 31:18-20;
Daniel 5:21,22;
Micah 6:8;
Luke 4:18;
6:20;
18:14;
James 1:10;
James 4:9,10)
"they who know their spiritual
poverty" (Berkley)
"those people who depend only on
Him" (CEV)
"who recognize they are
spiritually helpless" (GWT)
"those who know they are spiritually
poor" (GNT)
" those who are destitute in spirit"
(ISV)
"those who feel poor in spirit"
(Moffat)
"those who realize
their need for him" (NLT)
"people who know they have great
spiritual needs" (NCV)
"the poor in spirit (the humble,
who rate themselves insignificant)" (Amplified)
"when you’re at the end of your rope.
With less of you there is more of God and his rule" (Message)
"Blessed are the beggars in spirit,
blessed are the spiritual paupers, blessed are the spiritually
destitute, blessed are the spiritually bankrupt ones who cringe and
cower because of their helplessness; for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.” (Dwight Pentecost)
"They who are unfeignedly penitent,
they who are truly convinced of sin; who see and feel the state they are
in by nature, being deeply sensible of their sinfulness, guiltiness,
helplessness." (Wesley)
"Our attitude toward ourselves
in which we feel our need and admit it" (Wiersbe)
Are (2076)
(root verb is
eimi) is
in the
present tense
indicating continuous action. The
indicative mood is the mood of
certainty and means that this is
a fact (the poor in spirit
continually possess the kingdom of heaven). It is interesting to
note that the next 6 beatitudes are in the future tense but that in the
eighth beatitude promising as a reward "the kingdom of heaven", Jesus
reverts back to the
present tense.
The Expositor's Bible Commentary
has an interesting note here that...
one must not make too much of this,
for It should be noted that the present tense can function as a future,
and the future tense can emphasize certainty, not mere futurity (Tasker).
There is little doubt that here the kingdom sense is primarily
future,
post-consummation, made explicit in
Matthew 5:12 (note). But the present tense
"envelope" (Mt 5:3,
5:10 [note]) should not be written off as insignificant or as
masking an Aramaic original that did not specify present or future; for
Matthew must have meant something when he chose estin ("is")
instead of estai ("will be"). The natural conclusion
is that, though the full blessedness of those described in these
beatitudes awaits the consummated kingdom, they already share in the
kingdom's blessedness so far as it has been inaugurated (see Mt 4:17;
8:29; 12:28; 19:29). (Gaebelein,
F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament.
Zondervan Publishing)
The poor in spirit in the
present context describe not so much those in
literal poverty or a depressive condition although many have so
misinterpreted Jesus' meaning. Some in fact have given away all their
possessions based on Mt 5:3! The tragedy is that a man can possess no
earthly possessions and still not possess the spirit Jesus is
describing! No, the poverty Jesus describes is the state of
spiritual poverty (see analysis of the definition
of ptochos below) without which no one can become a
believer! And every believer has recognized and acknowledged his
spiritual poverty and like the prodigal have also come to their senses
(cf Luke 15:17). They have come humble, as beggars, empty of all pride,
conscious of the debt owed for their sins (cf note
Matthew 6:12) realizing that
all they can do is cry out "Have mercy on me O Lord!" because...
Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, fly to Thee for grace.
Foul, I to the fountain fly.
Wash me, Savior, or I die. (play)
And so we see Augustus Toplady (biography)
beautifully expressed the
truth of "poor in spirit" in his classic hymn
Rock of Ages.
Praise God for that moment in time and eternity when He by His
sanctifying Spirit (cf
1 Peter 1:2 (note), 1Cor 6:11, 2Thes 2:13) leads us to
see that spiritual poverty is our real condition before Him and
recognizing this to be so, then He births that spirit in our hearts. (cf
see notes
Romans 3:10;
11;
12,
13;
14;
15;
16;
17;
19)
We come to see that in God's courtroom of righteousness we are all
bankrupt debtors and can only plead for mercy.
In passing it is noteworthy that many who
have experienced
sustained economic lack and social distress are often
who are also "poor in spirit". (cf
Mt 19:24, Mk 10:25, Lu 18:25) We need to heed Jesus' warning to the
Laodicean church who said...
"I am rich, and have become wealthy,
and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and
miserable and poor and blind and naked" (see note
Revelation 3:17)
Their failure to recognize their
spiritual poverty placed the Laodicean church in danger of being spewed
out of the Lord's mouth!
Sinclair Ferguson warns that
We are urged today to develop almost
every other kind of spirit except poverty of spirit...There is much
teaching on how to be filled with the Spirit, but where can we learn
what it means to be spiritually emptied - emptied of self-confidence,
self-importance, and self-righteousness? The sad truth is that we know
so little of the blessing of which Christ speaks (and which He gives)
because we are all too often full of ourselves and our own means of
blessing. In fact, there is no sadder commentary on our lack of this
spiritual poverty than the readiness so many of us have to let others
know what we think. But the man who is poor in spirit is the man who has
been silenced by God and seeks only to speak what he has learned in
humility from Him. (Ferguson,
Sinclair: Sermon on the Mount :Banner of Truth)
Spurgeon...
Spiritual poverty is both commanded
and commended. It is the basis of Christian experience. No one begins
aright who has not felt poverty of spirit. Yet even to this first sign
of grace is the kingdom given in present possession: "theirs is the
kingdom of heaven." The question in heaven's kingdom is not, "Are you a
peer?" but, "Are you poor in spirit?" Those who are of no account in
their own eyes are of the blood royal of the universe. These alone have
|
