The Beatitudes: Today's verse is Matthew 5:2

Today we begin our verse by verse look at what is often referred to as The Beatitudes, Matthew 5:2-12.

The overview of Matthew 5:2-12 can be found here, while an important word study on the term blessed can be found here.

For any person who does not have easy access to Bible software you can look up all cross references listed in this blog at the Bible Gateway website.    It is easy and quick to use and you can choose from many different translations.  The cross references are a big part of any Bible Study that we may undertake!

Matthew 5:2

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
(Matthew 5:2)

Literary and Grammatical Considerations

Parallelism:  Matthew 5:2  is written in (to my mind) Synonymous Parallelism, in which the second line repeats the thought of the first line in a slightly different way.  Parallelism is the basic form of all Biblical poetry.

Repetition:  The author tells us twice in one sentence that Jesus is teaching!  (as we shall see below the Greek word for "opened His mouth", means to hold forth or speak at length.  The author wants us to pay attention to Jesus' words that follow.

Important Terms

 

All definitions were culled from the Complete Word Study Dictionary from AMG Publishers and/or

Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary.

opened:

• ESword Concordance Search---Mat 13:35  Act 8:35  Act 10:34  Act 18:14  
• Definition--- can and does mean to "hold forth", or speak at length or a discourse.  Mounce clarifies that the word open in this context is stressing that Jesus is about to teach!

taught (teach): 

• ESword Concordance Search--- Mat 13:54  Mar 1:22    Mar 10:1  Luk 4:15   Luk 5:3  Luk 13:26   Luk 6:45   Joh 7:28  Joh 8:20  Joh 8:28  Joh 18:20  
• definition-to instruct by word of mouth. (mouth being a key word

Summation

This is such an important verse!  It makes it very clear (basically saying it twice in one sentence) that Jesus was about to teach and instruct His disciples! This isn't written instruction!  Jesus is teaching verbally and with authority because He has authority as given to Him by God the Father!  

We need to realize how important the following verses are as we read them and give them the attention and thought that they deserve.  This isn't just beautiful and well constructed poetry, it is authoritative instruction from the Son of God Himself, on how to become right with God!
 

“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."