A Bible Study, One Verse at a Time: The Beatitudes

Showing posts with label The Beatitudes. Show all posts

Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Beatitudes, Mattthew 5:2-12, Today's verse is Matthew 5:3

Today we continue 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. The verse overview of Matthew 5:2 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 5:3

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
(Matthew 5:3)

Grammatical Considerations

Cause and Effect: The effect is that the kingdom of heaven is the for the poor in spirit, the cause is that the the poor in spirit are blessed. Why are they blessed? See below.

are and is: Jesus leaves no doubts here. The poor in spirit ARE blessed and the kingdom of heaven IS theirs!

Important Terms

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

Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary.

Blessed:

see word study at this link.

poor:

ESword Concordance Search--- Mat 11:5 Luk 4:18 Luk 6:20 Luk 7:22 Luk 14:13 Luk 14:21 2Co 6:10 2Co 8:9 2Co 9:9 Rev 3:17
Definition--- by implication, poor, low, humble, possibly afflicted and distressed. (imperfect) Figuratively, as in this verse, it means those who recognize their spiritual helplessness.
Other Cross References-- Lev 26:41-42 Deu 8:2 2Ch 33:12 2Ch 7:14 2Ch 34:27 Psa 51:17 Pro 29:23 Isa 57:15 Isa 66:2 Mic 6:8 Jas 4:9-10

in spirit:

Definition--- Spirit (in man) is separate from the body and also different from the soul. Soul is the immaterial nature of man that makes him aware of his body and physical environment. Spirit is our immaterial nature that allows us to communicate with God (who puts His Spirit in us when we accept His Son Jesus as our Savior!) Soul and spirit are contrasted in the following verses: Mat 12:18 1Th 5:23 Heb 4:12 (the subject of soul versus spirit requires a whole study unto itself!)

kingdom of heaven:

ESword Concordance Search--- Mat 5:19 Mat 5:20 Mat 7:21 Mat 8:11 Mat 13:11 Mat 13:24-30 Mat 13:44 Mat 13:44-50 Mat 16:19 Mat 18:3-4 Mat 18:23-35 Mat 20:1-2 Mat 25:1 Rev 11:15 Rev 12:10 Dan 2:44 Dan 7:13 Luk 17:21
Definition--- Can refer to the kingdom of God spiritually in our human hearts! AND also refers to the everlasting kingdom that God will give to Jesus Christ, first in imperfect form on earth and then in completeness,--Mat 25:31 (kingdom of heaven is used mostly in Matthew!)

(as an aside-when in Luk 17:20-21 Jesus talks to the Pharisees about the Kingdom of God, He tells them that it is not observable but is indeed among them, (within them, or in their midst). The Greek word used can mean all of those things. And maybe does? Some commentators say that Jesus could not have meant that the Kingdom of Heaven was within the Pharisees' hearts because their hearts were hardened! And those commentators prefer the translation as "in the midst", or "among". As in: the Kingdom was right there before them. But Jesus said it did not come as something observable. The key to receiving the kingdom is in our hearts or in our spirit, as the beatitudes so carefully express. Our hearts must be open to receiving Christ, for only then can we receive the kingdom of God. Even if the Pharisees themselves were not of the correct heart it does not nullify the fact that key to kingdom of heaven is WITHIN us and whether we are ready to receive Christ or not!..(i think)...(the entire subject of the kingdom of heaven requires some more reflection! ) (Matthew Henry sees the kingdom of God as revolutions of the heart!!--NICE)

So based on the definition of blessed as used in the beatitudes (see word study here) it seems that Jesus is mostly referring to the spiritual kingdom of God WITHIN us (as the poor in spirit are humbled and thus ready for a true relationship with God! Psa 51:17 )

As we see from how blessed is used in these verses, the beatitudes refer to a permanent state, regardless of circumstances---this would also seem to mean that Jesus is referring to the eventual kingdom of God as we see in Dan 7:13 and in Revelations. This kingdom will also be permanent.

But based on the use of spirit in the beatitude and the nature of the word blessed in these verses I think Jesus is mostly referring to our inner relationship with God and the fact that He places His Spirit WITHIN us-------Once we have accepted and acknowledged His Son, Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord!

Before undertaking this study (and being shown by God what this all truly means) I was reading this verse incorrectly. I did not understand that being poor in spirit was the condition to receive the kingdom. The condition of being "poor in spirit" is what allows the blessed to receive the kingdom of Heaven. They are low and humble and realize that they have not yet become right with God. (as our spirit is the immaterial part of us that is in communication with God and/or allows us to communicate with God). So those poor in spirit are those who know they are not in the best relationship (communication) with God They acknowledge that they do need to become right with God and are able to then accept His Son, Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. And that is what causes them to be blessed (in a permanent state of right relationship with God, regardless of earthly circumstances). They are now rich in spirit (In good communication and right relationship) with God. They are not blessed with the kingdom of heaven AND poor in spirit! They are blessed and have the kingdom of God BECAUSE (in part anyway) they were in the right spiritual state to receive God's Son!! (low and humble in spirit)

Monday, January 9, 2012

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.

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!

Friday, January 6, 2012

The Beatitudes, Matthew 5:2-12, a word study of Blessed.

Before we look at each verse of the Beatitudes I think it is important to take an in-depth look at the word Blessed! It is used in every verse from Mathew 5:3 to 5:11.

The initial overview of Matthew 5:2-12 can be found here.http://thebible-verse-by-verse.blogspot.com/2012/01/beatitudes-mat-52-12-overview.html

BLESSED

G3107 IN STRONG'S=MAKARIOS

Definition:

G3107- from The Complete Word Study Dictionary-

Possessing the favor of God-the state of being marked by the fullness of God. Indicates the state of the believer in Christ (The Word Study Dictionary uses Mat 5:3-11 as an example of this!) The believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit because of Christ and as a result should be fully satisfied no matter the circumstances.
This is MUCH different from happy (which makarios is sometimes translated to in English), in that happy connotes pleasure from circumstances-the root hap means luck as a favorable circumstance. G3107, makarios, is equivalent to having God's kingdom within one's heart. Makarios (blessed) is the one who is in the world yet independent of the world! This person's satisfaction comes from God and that person's relationship with God, not from favorable circumstances. (G3106 is the form of the word that is to declare someone blessed---it is the poetic form of the word.)

G3107-Definition from Mounces' Expository Dictionary-

Mounce seems to be not a little unsure of himself as he basically agrees with the above but also states it can mean just being happy because of circumstances. He then uses 1Co 7:40 as an example. But it seems that being a widow is not a favorable circumstance and that Paul is saying that the widow would be "happier" (blessed) by building a relationship with God instead of worrying about being remarried. This seems to be more in line with Paul's general thinking about marriage where he believe that those not married should stay unmarried to focus on their relationship with God. 1Co 7:7-8 and 1Co 7:21-3.
So. based on Paul's thoughts on singleness and marriage and the single person's ability to devote his or her time to God, I believe that Paul's use of makarios in 1Co 7:40 is in line with the definition from the Word Study dictionary. It is not happy, as in a favourable circumstance but instead still indicates a state of permanent satisfaction due to one's relationship with God.

Various New Testament Cross References:

Mat 5:3-11 Mat 11:6 Mat 13:16 Mat 16:17 Mat 24:46 Luk 1:45 Luk 6:20-22 Luk 7:23 Luk 10:23 Luk 10:23 Luk 11:27-28 Luk 12:37-38 Luk 12:43 Luk 14:14-15 Luk 23:29
Joh 13:17 Joh 20:29 Act 20:35 Rom 4:7-8 1Ti 1:11 1Ti 6:15 Tit 2:13 Jas 1:12 Jas 1:25 1Pe 3:14 1Pe 4:14 Rev 14:13 Rev 1:3 Rev 16:15 Rev 20:6 Rev 19:9 Rev 22:7 Rev 22:14

Blessed (as an adjective) in the Psalms and Proverbs:

Psa 1:1 Psa 2:12 Psa 32:1-2 Psa 41:1 Psa 33:12 Psa 34:8 Psa 40:4 Psa 84:4 Psa 84:5 Psa 84:12 Psa 89:15 Psa 94:12 Psa 112:1 Psa 146:5 Pro 3:13 Pro 8:34 Pro 28:14

For contrast we will now look at Strong's G2127, which is also translated to Blessed and used as an adjective.

G2127-Eulegemenos, Word Study definition:

Eulegemenos-refers to one upon whom God has acted or who has experienced God's blessing. Used in joyful salutations to indicate that the blessing of the individual is due to God's intervention in that person's life. Eulegemenos indicates a one time event.
Makarios (G3107 from the beatitudes) differs from Eulegemenos (G2127) in that Makarios means to be indwelt by God permanently because of Jesus and thereby be fully satisfied. Makarios refers to a permanent state of being when referring to mankind while Eulogemenos refers to the action of God in man's life. Makarios=permanent state of being. Eulegemenos=a particular instance of blessing.
This can be seen in Mat 25:34 where G2127 (eulegemenos) is used. The people in the parable have been blessed but have yet to inherit the kingdom that was prepared for them.

I think that knowing the distinction between these two Greek words and how Blessed is used in the beatitudes has a significant impact on one's understanding of the beatitudes. Jesus is stating that the people of whom He speaks in Matthew 5:2-12 will be in a permanent state of full satisfaction with their relationship with God the Father through the Son. The conditions he speaks of are contrasting in that they are temporary (poor in spirit, etc. etc.) especially when compared to the permanent relationship with God!! The conditions and circumstances are temporary but they blessedness is PERMANENT!

My next post will begin looking at each verse in detail.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The Beatitudes, Mat 5:2-12 overview

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's.

I would now like to start a verse by verse study of The Beatitudes:

Matthew 5:2-12

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
(Matthew 5:2-12)

INITIAL OBSERVATIONS

Things Emphasized:

Perseverance through persecution
The rewards of being blessed are truly great!

Things Repeated:

Twice during the Beatitudes Jesus mentions people persevering through persecution as being rewarded.

Cause and Effect:

Every Beatitude IS a cause and effect! The Greek word translated here as "for" means because! In every one of the beatitudes the effect is to be counted as blessed (see separate word study in VERY next post) and the end of the sentence is the cause. (ie: Blessed because "they shall be comforted." Mat 5:4 ) The conditions (or states of the people described in the Beatitudes, ie: poor in spirit, those who mourn) are deeper than we think. After initial readings it seems that Jesus is laying out the life of a Christian in these verses.

Important Persons:

Jesus
His disciples. He has pulled His disciples aside to give them this sermon on the mount. Mat 5:1-2

Author and Intended Audience:

Matthew was the author. He was one of Jesus' disciples.
Matthew’s emphasis is easy to discern. As a Jew writing to fellow Jews, Matthew sets out to prove that Jesus’ life and atonement are the fulfillment of OT prophecies regarding the coming Messiah. Further, he is preoccupied with the motif of Jesus as King and with the nature of discipleship for those who follow Christ. (text taken from the ESV Literary Study Bible)

Literary Concerns:

The beatitudes are an example of parallelism (as were the Psalms!) which is defined as:

Any successive series of phrases or lines that have the same grammatical format, such as “whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely” (Phil. 4:8). More technically, parallelism is the verse form in which virtually all biblical poetry is written. While there are specific types of the verse form of parallelism (antithetic parallelism, synonymous parallelism, synthetic parallelism, climactic parallelism), the overriding idea that covers all of them is this: parallelism consists of two or more lines that form a pattern based on repetition or balance of thought and grammar and/or syntax.

Jesus (a) pronounces a blessing on a group of people, (b) names the group according to their essential trait, and (c) offers a reason (which is at the same time a promise) for their condition of blessedness. The promised rewards are spiritual in nature and have an eschatological as well as temporal application. The literary technique was known in ancient literature as “the character” (we call it a “character sketch”). (the preceding text is from the Introduction to Matthew in the ESV Literary Study Bible.)

Contextual Considerations:

This is one of Jesus' first sermons ( Mat 4:17 ) And is the beginning of a rather large and important Sermon that concludes in Mat 7:27
It is also very important to know and understand that Jesus began His public teaching after he resisted the temptations of the devil. Mat 4:1-11
For only after Jesus had resisted temptation could He be the one who could take on the sins of the world. Jesus is/was the lamb as promised by God! Gen 22:7-13 Joh 1:36 Rev 7:9 Rev 7:14
And digging further into context: The temptation of Jesus came after he had been baptized by John and then acknowledged by the Father. Mat 3:13-17
And yet a little more: Jesus performs no miracles (In Matthew) until after He FIRST teaches His disciples.
It is interesting and most likely very important that Jesus started this important sermon with the Beatitudes!! (consider this when studying)

My next post will be an in-depth word study of the word Blessed. I felt it was VERY important to understand this word before diving into each verse in detail. And it was! Until then............