The next major passage of red letters is the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. As we have seen in previous lessons the Pharisees have continued to harass Jesus and His disciples (for healing a paralytic man, for picking grain and eating it as they walked through a field on the Sabbath, for healing another man with a withered hand). Then on the same day Jesus heals a “great multitude” but charges them to not make Him known (maybe He knew He had angered the Pharisees enough for the present and wanted to avoid further confrontation, He knew they were plotting to kill Him). Finally, in what seems to be the next significant event, Jesus formally calls His 12 disciples.
This brings us to Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount (an abbreviated account of this is found in Luke 6:20-49). Since I have previously written my own expanded translation of this passage, the following lessons will be based on that translation. What I want to do is go through this passage verse by verse, noting the key words. Hopefully, by doing this we can come to a better understanding of the important principles Jesus teaches in this discourse. As I have explained before, simply reading the King James Version or even the more contemporary translations like the New International Version or the Amplified Bible is not the same as looking at the key words in the original language to understand more fully what the speaker (in this case, Jesus) was thinking at the time He spoke these words.
As already noted, this takes place early in the second year of Jesus’ public ministry. His popularity with the people is growing. “And seeing the crowds of people, He went up on the side of the mountain. And when He sat down, His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them.” (Matthew 5:1-2) The Sermon on the Mount starts in verses 3-12 with what is commonly called the Beatitudes. “Those who truly understand what it is to be completely dependent on God and desperate for Him (the poor in spirit) will be fully satisfied, because they will enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven in its fullness.” (Verse 3)
The word translated “blessed” in verses 3-11 is from makarioi, and means, to be fully satisfied. Here, it refers to the future state of blessedness for the believer. In classic Greek it was always used to describe the perfect conditions of the hereafter. This blessedness or satisfaction is never a result of favorable circumstances in life (an unfortunate claim of many in religion today), but is the eventual result of being in Christ and conformable to the conditions described in these verses. It is, therefore, vitally important to understand those conditions (that is, what does it really mean to be “poor in spirit”, or who are “those who mourn”, etc.).
So, who are the “poor in spirit”? “Poor” is from ptochos, a word generally used to describe a completely helpless condition or total dependance. The first principle Jesus gives us is the importance of realizing our total spiritual helplessness. In other words, our future satisfaction will be the result of knowing that it has absolutely nothing to do with our own efforts now. No amount of religious activity or participation, no amount of good works or doing the best we can, no attempts to achieve our own self-righteousness is acceptable, nothing the believer can do could ever achieve this future satisfaction Jesus is talking about.
It’s common to see some commentators refer to the “poor in spirit” as those who have a broken spirit. David in Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices God accepts are a broken spirit and a sincere, remorseful heart - those He will not despise.” Here shavar describes a spirit broken in pieces so as to be completely helpless (similar in meaning to ptochos above). In Isaiah 66:2b the prophet says, “But to this man I will have kind regard: he who has a broken spirit and who trembles at My word and reveres My commands.”
It’s not surprising, given His recent confrontations with the self-righteous and fault-finding Pharisees, that Jesus would start His teaching on this subject. We will see as we go through the first portion of His discourse and define these conditions that they have a certain progression - that is, the eventual fulfillment of this promise to “be fully satisfied” depends on the realization of the conditions set down in these verses. Jesus’ meaning in verse 3 is evident: to be fully satisfied in eternity, one must reject the idea of self-righteousness and embrace the reality of spiritual helplessness and total dependance on God. This is a dependant spirit. And it will also become increasingly clear that Jesus will be continually exposing current, wrong religious thought throughout this teaching, all the while contrasting it with truth.
Let’s look at the next verse and see what I mean. “And those who grieve over the destructive consequences of their own sin (those who mourn) will be fully satisfied, because they will escape its destruction.” (Verse 4) Of course the key word here is “mourn” from pentheo, to mourn or grieve outwardly (compare Mark 16:10). Pentheo does not describe an inward grief, it is the outward manifestation of an inward feeling. It’s not a quiet, controlled emotion; it’s something so real and strong that is has to be expressed!
This is the evidence of a truly penitent spirit. In our culture we tend to suppress our emotions. But here Jesus is actually describing an outward expression of grief. It’s the difference between being truly sorry for our sin and being quietly accepting of it. James describes it this way, “(As you draw near to God) be afflicted and mourn, even weep. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your joy to heartfelt shame (for your sin).” (James 4:9) The promise here is when we are grieved by our human (sinful) condition, God’s plan of redemption will deliver us from its destruction.
And lest there be any misunderstanding here, let’s establish the correct context to this. Jesus is sitting on the side of a mountain talking to a crowd of people about the personal, individual spiritual qualities common to those who will share in the future state of blessedness He has promised (keeping in mind the meaning of makarioi). This is not His way of encouraging people to get involved in the group think, group activities promoted by the religious establishment of His day (or any other day for that matter). In fact it is institutional religion that opposed Him and that He clashed with, as we have already seen and will continue to see throughout this series. So, again, verse 4 contrasts the religious arrogance and willful sinfulness common in His day to the necessary quiet, personal penitent spirit required.
Here’s verse 5, “Those who have the determination to pursue the will of God, regardless of the circumstances, (the meek) will be fully satisfied, because they will soon inherit the earth (in its eternal perfection).” Obviously the key word is “meek” from praus, a word that describes one with a gentle, submissive spirit, an inward grace that is first and foremost directed towards God and then to others as well. It’s an attitude of spirit that accepts God’s dealings without resistence and no consideration of discomfort or personal cost. The other key word here is “inherit”. This is kleronomeo, to obtain for an inheritance properly by meeting the conditions required (by the way, reinforcing the intent of Jesus in setting these conditions). This is a reference to the eternal (new, perfect) earth described in Revelation 21-22 when all evil influence is destroyed and the curse is removed. In verse 5 Jesus exposes the haughty, abusive, rebellious attitudes of some and compares them to a gentle, submissive spirit, again, directed towards God first, then others.
“And those that believe the righteousness of God is something they can’t live without (those who hunger and thirst for righteousness) will be fully satisfied, because the spiritual reality and joy of knowing God will always sustain them.” (Verse 6) The “hunger” (peinao) and “thirst” (dipsao) is for “righteousness” from dikaiosune, a word used to describe the quality or character of God of always being right or just. Hunger and thirst are figures of speech used to illustrate a craving for spiritual truth and reality, a spirit that says, I can’t survive this world without God’s righteousness to sustain me. This is the hungry, thirsty spirit. And, as in the other verses above, the promise is yet future: if you can’t live without Him in time, you will have the joy and satisfaction of living with Him in all eternity. Again, in verse 6 Jesus directly exposes the religious establishment’s open contempt of God’s righteousness in favor of their own false, prideful self-righteousness.
This verse came to mind as I was writing this. “The young lions may grow weak and hungry (for lack of food); but those who seek the Lord (as their necessity) will lack no good thing.” (Psalm 34:10) As already noted by Jesus while in Samaria (John 4), spiritual food is life sustaining in a permanent way, while physical food is only temporarily satisfying.
“Those who are willing to give away what God has given them for the benefit of others (the merciful) will be fully satisfied, because they have God’s promise that He will always give them more.” (Verse 7) So, “merciful” is from eleemon, describing one as compassionate and benevolently merciful (giving freely to meet the need of another). The unchanging character of God demands that He always exibit benevolence towards His children, giving them what they need (“For God so loved the world that He gave….”), not what they want. This is the merciful, compassionate spirit. There are other words that may describe compassion (as oiktirmon, compassion stirred up by feeling), but eleemon is a static character quality that requires no stimulus. Those who are merciful towards others will always enjoy God’s mercy (here, the eternal, bountiful provision of God’s eternal earth).
Verse 7 lays bare the self-enriching tendancies of the me-first religious crowd that had actually made up rules giving them authority to take advantage of others (something Jesus will address directly later when He addresses the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23).
“And those who are open to God and don’t try to hide anything from Him (the pure in heart) will be fully satisfied, because He will openly reveal Himself to them.” (Verse 8)
This is a good one. The key word here is “pure” from katharos, to be clean or clear, in this context, clean in a spiritual sense. But what does that mean? Just like the other conditions we’ve already looked at, there is a personal application here. I address it in my contemporary translation above. The pure spirit spends time alone with God (being open to Him). This causes them to realize a sense of His presence and the need for personal honesty and transparency (not trying to hide anything from Him). This clears away the guilt, shame and accusations of our human nature resulting in a clean spirit and a clear conscience.
This is a clean heart and the very definition of katharos. The promise here is that those who are open to God now will enjoy an open relationship with Him in eternity. Verse 8 exposes people’s natural inclination to ignore, justify or even hide their moral and spiritual imperfections, as the Pharisees who opposed Him were obviously doing.
This reminds me of what Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:5, “Now the purpose of our instruction is promote benevolent love, a clear conscience and the practice of a sincere faith.” In other words, Godly instruction gives us a genuine concern for the well-being of others, a conscience void of guilt or shame and the ability to live out our faith in practical ways. It covers all the bases: a right attitude towards others, clear intimacy with God and right actions springing from both - a clear distinction from what Jesus says about the Pharisees in Matthew 23:3 when He basically says don’t do what they do, they don’t practice what they preach.