Matthew 5:1-12

The Beatitudes. Properly speaking, the beatitudes are seven in number, Matthew 5:10; Matthew 5:12, forming an appendix. These three vv. being counted in, the number of beatitudes is raised, according to different methods of division, to eight, or nine, or ten, the last corresponding to the number of the ten commandments. St. Luke has only four, the first, fourth, second and eighth, in that order. As recorded in St. Luke the beatitudes are more paradoxical and startling. They appear to bless actual poverty, hunger, and mourning, and are followed by four woes upon the wealthy and those who receive their consolation in this life. In form St. Luke's beatitudes are possibly more original than St. Matthew's—they are certainly more difficult—but the sense is best expressed by St. Matthew. The beatitudes express, (1) the qualifications necessary for admission into Christ's kingdom; (2) the blessedness or happiness of those who possess those qualifications; (3) in St. Luke expressly, and in St. Matthew by implication, the misery of those who do not. Observe that the qualifications of the citizens of the kingdom are not the performance of certain legal acts, but the possession of a certain character, and that the 'sanctions' or promised rewards, unlike those of the Decalogue, are of a spiritual nature. The beatitudes must have been a painful disillusionment to those whoi believed that the coming kingdom of thé Messiah would be a temporal empire like that of Solomon, only differing from it in its universal extension and unending duration. The virtues here regarded as essential, humility, meekness, poverty of spirit, are the very opposite of those ambitions, self-assertive qualities, which the carnal multitude admired. We cannot doubt that Jesus intended the beatitudes, and indeed the sermon generally, to act like Gideon's test, and to sift out those who had no real sympathy with His aims. Somewhat later He carried the sifting process still further, and some who had stood this test, 'went back, and walked no more with Him' (John 6:66).

Scheme of the Beatitudes (after 'The Teacher's Commentary'):—

1. The poor in spirit (From this fundamental condition the other virtues mentioned grow.)

Scheme of the Beatitudes (after 'The Teacher's Commentary'):—

I. The poor in spirit

(From this fundamental condition the other virtues mentioned grow.)

(The inner life towards God)

(Its outward manifestation towards man)

II. They that mourn

answering to

III. The meek

IV. They that hunger after righteousness
" "

V. The merciful

VI. The pure in heart
" "

VII. The peacemakers

(supplemental)

VIII. The patient in persecutions

First Beatitude

3. Blessed] The beatitude type of utterance, like the parable, is not without example in the OT. (Psalms 1:1; Psalms 41:1; Psalms 65:4; Psalms 84:5; Psalms 89:15; Psalms 119:1; Psalms 128:1, etc.), but Christ has made both types peculiarly His own. Beatitudes express the essential spirit of the New Covenant, in contrast to the Old, which was prodigal of denunciations (Deuteronomy 27, 28, 29, etc.). The thunders of Sinai proclaiming the Decalogue form a striking contrast to the gentle voice of the Son of man on the Mount of Beatitudes proclaiming the religion of love. Blessedness is higher than happiness. Happiness comes from without, and is dependent on circumstances; blessedness is an inward fountain of joy in the soul itself, which no outward circumstances can seriously affect. Blessedness consists in standing in a right relation to God, and so realising the true law of a man's being. According to Christ, the blessed life can be enjoyed even by those who are unhappy, a paradox which the ancient world, with the exception perhaps of the Stoics, did not understand. The Greeks thought that the blessed life was possible only for a very few. It was impossible for slaves, for the diseased, for the poor, and for those who die young. Christ taught that it is possible for all mankind, for the meanest slave, and the most wretched invalid, as well as for the wealthy, the prosperous, and the great. He went even beyond the Stoics. They taught that the wise man is blessed. Jesus opened the blessed life to the simple and uneducated.

The poor in spirit] St. Luke, 'Blessed are ye poor.' The expression is difficult, and is interpreted in two ways. (1) 'The poor in spirit' are those who feel themselves spiritually poor, and in need of all things, and so approach God as penitents and suppliants, beseeching Him to supply their needs, clothe their nakedness, and enrich their poverty. Poverty of spirit is the opposite of pride, self-righteousness, and self-conceit; the spirit of the publican rather than of the Pharisee; the spirit of those who wish to learn rather than to teach, to obey rather than to command, and are willing to become as little children in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. (2) Others, following St. Luke's version, see in the saying a more definite reference to actual riches and poverty. They understand our Lord to mean that a Christian, whether rich or poor, must have the spirit of poverty, i.e. he must possess his wealth as if he possessed it not, and be willing to resign it at any moment without regret, and to say with Job, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' This interpretation makes a spirit of detachment from the world and all its allurements, of which wealth is for most men the chief, the first condition of the blessed life.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven] not only 'shall be theirs hereafter,' but 'is theirs now.' The kingdom is here regarded, like eternal life in the Fourth Gospel, as a present possession. Usually it is regarded in this Gospel as something future, manifested only at the end of the world. On 'the kingdom' see prefatory note and Intro.

The rabbinical parallel to this beatitude is chiefly interesting by way of contrast. It runs, 'Ever be more and more lowly in spirit, since the expectancy of man is to become the food of worms.'

Second Beatitude

4. They that mourn] St. Luke (following a different recension of the Sayings) has, 'Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.' That sorrow of the acutest kind (and that is what the Gk. indicates) can minister to blessedness, is a paradox which the world cannot understand, but which is profoundly true in the experience of believers. (1) The sorrows that God sends or permits, if received with humility and submission, ever refine and ennoble the character, and elevate it into closer union with the Father of spirits. Hence the apostle can even 'glory in tribulations also: Knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience' (i.e. tried and proved character); 'and experience, hope' (Romans 5:3); and a follower of his can write, 'Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that have been exercised thereby' (Hebrews 12:11). (2) Those who mourn for the sorrows of others out of Christian sympathy, are rewarded by the very exercise of that sweet act of compassion, and find many comforters in their own real sorrows. (3) Those who mourn for sin with a godly sorrow, saying with the publican, 'God be merciful to me a sinner,' are comforted by the removal of the burden of sin, and the forgiveness of its guilt. (4) Those who mourn for the sins of others, who pray earnestly for their conversion, are often comforted by the success of their prayers.

Comforted] the word implies strengthening as well as consolation. The faculty which is exercised by the true mourner is strengthened by use. Those who bear their sorrows patiently grow in patience; those who sorrow for others grow in sympathy; those who sorrow for their own sin deepen their penitence; those who intercede for the sins of the world grow in the likeness of the great Sin-bearer and Intercessor. The comfort comes from the exercise of the spiritual faculty, and from the consciousness of growing more like God; but there is also that final comfort in the world to come, when 'God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes' (Revelation 7:17).

Third Beatitude (not in St. Luke)

5. The meek] A quotation from Psalms 37:11. The 'earth' is not only the new earth spoken of 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1, but refers also to the present world. The words are a prophecy that meekness will prove a greater power in the world than pride. This was revolutionary doctrine. Judaism meant pride of race and privilege; Babbinism, pride of learning; Roman imperialism, pride of power; Greek culture, either pride of intellect or pride of external magnificence. All agreed that the meek man was a poor creature, and the worldly world thinks so still. Nevertheless, meekness is irresistibly attractive, and exercises a wider spiritual influence than any other type of character. 'He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek.' See further on Matthew 18:4.

Meekness is a virtue which can be exercised both towards God and towards man; and inasmuch as it involves self-control, it is not a weak but an heroic quality. 'He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city' (Proverbs 16:32). A meek man is one who is not easily provoked or irritated, and forbearing under injury or annoyance.

Fourth Beatitude

6. That hunger and thirst after righteousness] St. Luke, 'ye that hunger now.' Righteousness here is goodness or Christian perfection in its widest sense: cp. Matthew 5:48; Psalms 42:1; Psalms 42:2.

Filled] i.e. shall attain completely to the character at which they aim.

Fifth Beatitude (not in St. Luke)

7. The merciful] Our salvation is made dependent upon our showing mercy to every creature that can feel. Every kind of cruel amusement, or cruel punishment, as well as every wanton act of cruelty, is strictly forbidden. It should be remembered that cruel speeches no less than cruel acts are forbidden by this commandment. Words can lacerate more deeply than stripes. By the ancient Greeks and Romans the emotion of pity was generally regarded as a fault, or at least as a weakness. The Stoics were in practice humane men, but they regarded pity in the abstract as a vice. 'The wise man,' they said, 'succours, but does not pity.'

Sixth Beatitude

8. The pure in heart] The 'heart,' both in the OT. and NT., stands for a man's inmost soul, and so the purity here required is not the ceremonial cleanness of the Levitical law, nor even the blamelessness of outwardly correct conduct, but complete purity of inward thought and desire. A thing is pure when it contains no admixture of other substances. Benevolence is pure when it contains no admixture of self-seeking; justice is pure when it contains no admixture of partiality; love is pure when it contains no admixture of lust. A man's heart is pure when it loves only the good, when all its motives are right, and when all its aspirations are after the noble and true. Purity here is not synonymous with chastity, but includes it. See God] Just as the liar does not understand truthfulness, and does not recognise it when he encounters it, so the unholy person does not understand sanctity, and cannot understand the all-holy God. But those who cleanse their hearts understand God in proportion to their purity, and one day, when they are cleansed from all sin, will see Him face to face (Hebrews 12:14; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 22:4).

Seventh Beatitude (not in St. Luke)

9. The peacemakers] Peacemakers are, (1) those who reconcile men at variance, whether individuals, or classes of men (e.g. employers and employed), or nations; (2) those who work earnestly to prevent disputes arising or to settle them peaceably (e.g. by arbitration); (3) those who strive to reconcile men to God, and so to bring peace to their souls. They shall be called the children (RV 'sons') of God] Because in this aspect they are especially like their heavenly Father, who has sent peace and goodwill down to earth in the person of His dear Son, who is charged with a message of reconciliation.

Eighth Beatitude

10. Which are persecuted] RV 'that have been persecuted.' The reference is not to past persecutions of OT. saints, but to those of the disciples, which Jesus sees to be inevitable, and graphically represents as already begun.