Upside Down Part 1
Intro:
It begins with the well-loved Beatitudes (5:3–12), which classically exemplify God’s inversion of the world’s values.
THE INITIAL PHASE of Jesus’ ministry has been narrated briefly yet powerfully: Jesus announced his kingdom mission (4:17), called his first coworkers (4:18–22), and conducted an extraordinary teaching, preaching, and healing tour of Galilee (4:22–25). Matthew now records an extensive message that develops in detail the kind of life available to those who respond to the arrival of God’s kingdom.
The disciples are those who have made a commitment to Jesus as the inaugurator of the kingdom of God and so receive direct teaching about kingdom life. The crowds are those who are interested but who have not yet made a commitment to Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom. Since the SM is designed primarily for disciples, it can be designated as training in Christian discipleship for believers of all eras.
Since Jesus’ teaching in the SM is designed primarily for disciples, it can be designated as training in discipleship. It is the first basic instruction for those who have made a commitment to Jesus and his proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom. In addition, the SM also contains at certain points an invitation to the crowd to enter the kingdom of heaven (e.g., 5:20; 7:28–29).
In 4:17 Jesus summarizes his message: “Repent, for the kingdom is at hand”; Matthew 5–7 shows in greater detail the repentant lifestyle that characterizes the people of the kingdom. This block is introduced by a common Old Testament literary form called beatitudes: “Happy are those who …, for they shall …” (e.g., Ps 1:1). Here the blessings are the promises of the kingdom for those who live the repentant life. Jesus’ hearers would have understood them especially as promises for the future time of God’s reign; we must read them in the light of the present aspect of the kingdom as well (see “kingdom” in the glossary). The future kingdom was sometimes defined by images from the creation narratives or from Israel’s exodus from Egypt, which the Jewish people regarded as their original redemption.
The original sermon was probably quite long, possibly even several hours, and what we have in Matthew 5–7 (which takes about ten minutes to read) is a distillation of his teaching.
The final participle of the Great Commission directs new disciples to be taught to obey everything that Jesus commanded (28:20). And the SM is the first major teaching of Jesus found in the Gospel, delineating the core of what it means to live as Jesus’ disciple. I emphasize this especially to counteract some who understand discipleship to be reserved for an advanced stage of commitment.
The emphasis in the SM will be on inside-out transformation. Jesus will continually go to inner motivation, not external performance. The inner life will naturally transform the outer life. The heart that treasures the kingdom of heaven above all else will be the starting point for transformation of the entire life.
Many suggested titles say essentially the same thing: “The Character of the Kingdom,” “The Manifesto of the Kingdom,” “The Norms of the Kingdom.” The first four Beatitudes focus on our relationship to God, and the second four on our relationship to our fellowman.
those who had God as Lord (Ps 144:15), who feared God (Ps 112:1–3), who trusted in God (Ps 84:12), who dwelt or took refuge in God (Ps 2:12), and who wisely obeyed God (Ps 119:1–2).
The focus of the beatitudes found in the Jewish literature composed during the time between the Testaments reflects the political changes in Israel’s historical circumstances. The concern shifted from how to be happy in this life—which seemed impossible—to how to be happy in the life to come. The emphasis was on how to be saved from the last judgment. The blessed are those who will have a share in the age to come. The tone of these beatitudes is one of consolation and assurance.
Jesus’ beatitudes are an announcement that the new age of salvation has already dawned. Jesus did not address a past generation or a future one. He told His disciples that they were blessed because they were able to see and hear what the prophets and the righteous longed to see and hear (Matt 13:16–17; Luke 10:23–24). He acclaimed the poor in spirit, the weeping, the hungry and thirsty for righteousness, the persecuted, and the hated because God has acted decisively to make them happy (see Matt 5:1–12).
It is important to avoid two errors in interpreting the “Sermon on the Mount.” First, it is not a description of the requirements for entering the kingdom of God. Jesus taught this material to those who had already responded to his call to follow him (4:18–22; 5:1). Second, it is not an idealistic description of the way life will function after God has fully established his kingdom in the future. In that day, there will be no need to turn the other cheek (5:39). Rather, these teachings are a description of what life looks like for followers of Jesus as they try to be faithful to him and to the values of God’s kingdom in a world that God has not yet fully transformed. They are about living as ambassadors of God’s kingdom in a foreign land. In short, the Sermon shows us what life should look like for a heart that has been melted and transformed by the gospel of grace, while also making clear the true nature of God’s standards of righteousness—high standards which mean that our right standing with God is ultimately dependent on the grace of the One who tells us of them.
The unifying theme of the sermon is the kingdom of heaven. This is established, not by counting how many times the expression occurs, but by noting where it occurs. It envelopes the Beatitudes (5:3, 10) and appears in 5:17–20, which details the relation between the OT and the kingdom, a subject that leads to another literary envelope around the body of the sermon (5:17; 7:12). It returns at the heart of the Lord’s Prayer (6:10), climaxes the section on kingdom perspectives (6:33), and is presented as what must finally be entered (7:21–23).
Matthew places the sermon immediately after two verses insisting that the primary content of Jesus’ preaching was the gospel of the kingdom (4:17, 23). It provides ethical guidelines for life in the kingdom, but does so within an explanation of the place of the contemporary setting within redemption history and Jesus’ relation to the OT (5:17–20). The community forming around him, his “disciples,” is not yet so cohesive and committed a group that exhortations to “enter” (7:13–14) are irrelevant. The glimpse of kingdom life (horizontally and vertically) in these chapters anticipates not only the love commandments (22:34–40) but also grace (5:3; 6:12; 7:7–11; cf. 21:28–46).
The Sermon on the Mount is very carefully structured. The nine Beatitudes (5:3–12) and the salt and light metaphors (5:13–16) form the sermon’s introduction. Matthew 5:17–20 provides the thesis statement of the greater righteousness required of Jesus’ disciples. Matthew 5:21–48 contrasts Jesus’ teaching with the law by means of six antitheses. Matthew 6:1–18 contrasts true and hypocritical piety by means of three examples. Matthew 6:19–34 turns to social issues, with various commands regarding money and true riches. Matthew 7:1–12 gives three further commands on how to treat others. Matthew 7:13–27 concludes the sermon with three illustrations of the only two possible responses to Jesus’ message.
The Beatitudes, as they have traditionally been called from the Latin word for “blessings,” are a common biblical form in both Testaments
Cohen’s life. Finally they confronted him with the reality that being a Christian meant he would have to give up his friends and his profession. Cohen demurred. His logic? There are “Christian football players, Christian cowboys, Christian politicians; why not a Christian gangster?”
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 relationship with God.
Structure. Each beatitude is composed of two poetic clauses. The first clause begins with the statement of blessing (“blessed”) followed by a statement of the identity of the ones who are blessed (e.g., “the poor in spirit”), a structure similar to the opening verse of Psalm 1. The second clause begins with “because” (hoti), giving the reason for what precedes it (e.g., “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”).
The word “blessed” refers to those who are and/or will be happy, fortunate, or as those who are “to be congratulated” because of God’s response to their behavior or situation. An important change in tenses separates vv. 3 and 10 from vv. 4–9. In the first and last Beatitudes, Jesus declares God’s kingdom to be present for those who are blessed. In the intervening verses he refers to future consolation.
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.”
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!
“disciples” (v. 1), those who have already repented and are seeking further instruction. Commands for disciples are not self-evidently limited to personal relationships nor clearly applicable to governments. Questions of pacifism versus just war or of the extent of church/state interaction are legitimate but not directly addressed. Nor does anything in the sermon suggest that Jesus’ commands here are more or less absolute than any of the rest of his ethic, or that his teaching can be restricted either to present norms or future possibilities.
The rewards for this countercultural behavior include present membership in “the kingdom of heaven” (vv. 3, 10) and future recompense for this life’s lack of glamour (vv. 4–9, 11–12).
“Disciples” refers not to the Twelve, as some suggest, but to the crowds following Him (cf. Matt. 7:28, “the crowds were amazed at His teaching”).
Jesus began His sermon with “the Beatitudes,” statements beginning with Blessed are. “Blessed” means “happy” or “fortunate” (cf. Ps. 1:1). The qualities Jesus mentioned in this list, “the poor in spirit,” “those who mourn,” “the meek,” etc., obviously could not be products of Pharisaic righteousness. The Pharisees were concerned primarily with external qualities, but the qualities Jesus mentioned are internal. These come only when one is properly related to God through faith, when one places his complete trust in God.
1 The “crowds” are those referred to in 4:23–25. Here Jesus stands at the height of his popularity. Although his ministry touched the masses, he saw the need to teach his “disciples” (mathētai) closely. The word “disciple” must not be restricted to the Twelve, whom Matthew has yet to mention (10:1–4). Nor is it a special word for full-fledged believers, since it can also describe John the Baptist’s followers (11:2). In the Lukan parallel we are told of a “large crowd of his disciples” as well as “a great number of people” (6:17). This goes well with Matthew 4:25, which says large crowds “followed” Jesus. Those who especially wanted to attach themselves to him, Jesus takes aside to instruct; but it is anachronistic to suppose that all are fully committed in the later “Christian” sense of Acts 11:26 (cf. Matt 7:13–14, 21–23).
‘Blessed’ is a misleading translation of makarios, which does not denote one whom God blesses (which would be eulogētos, reflecting Heb. bārûk), but represents the Hebrew ’ašrê, ‘fortunate’, and is used, like ’ašrê, almost entirely in the formal setting of a beatitude. It introduces someone who is to be congratulated, someone whose place in life is an enviable one. ‘Happy’ is better than ‘blessed’, but only if used not of a mental state but of a condition of life. ‘Fortunate’ or ‘well off’ is less ambiguous. It is not a psychological description, but a recommendation.
But the present tense of vv. 3 and 10 warns us against an exclusively future interpretation, for God rewards these attitudes with their respective results progressively in the disciple’s experience. The emphasis is not so much on time, present or future, as on the certainty that discipleship will not be in vain
Poor in spirit warns us immediately that the thought here is not (as it is in Luke 6:20) of material poverty. The phrase alludes to an Old Testament theme which underlies all the beatitudes, that of the ‘poor’ or ‘meek’ (‘ānî or ‘ānāw) who occur frequently in the Psalms and elsewhere (N.B. Isa. 61:1–2, alluded to in v. 4, and Ps. 37, alluded to in v. 5), those who humbly trust God, even though their loyalty results in oppression and material disadvantage, in contrast with the ‘wicked’ who arrogantly set themselves up against God and persecute his people. The emphasis is on piety and suffering, and on dependence on God, not on material poverty as such.
Blessed. The word lit. means “happy, fortunate, blissful.” Here it speaks of more than a surface emotion. Jesus was describing the divinely-bestowed well-being that belongs only to the faithful. The Beatitudes demonstrate that the way to heavenly blessedness is antithetical to the worldly path normally followed in pursuit of happiness. The worldly idea is that happiness is found in riches, merriment, abundance, leisure, and such things. The real truth is the very opposite. The Beatitudes give Jesus’ description of the character of true faith.
1. Blessed are the poor in spirit … (5:3). The “poor” are those who have encountered unfortunate circumstances from an economic point of view (19:21; 26:11), but also persons who are spiritually and emotionally oppressed, disillusioned, and in need of God’s help. Those who have experienced the harsh side of life in which deprivation and hunger are their regular lot have no resources of their own to make anything of their lives.
Fortunately, this truth can penetrate the most privileged of hearts, as it did to one of England’s distinguished judges. The church he attended had three mission churches under its care. On the first Sunday of the new year all the members of the missions came to the big city church for a combined Communion service. In those mission churches, which were located in the slums of the city, were some outstanding cases of conversions—thieves, burglars, and so on—but all knelt side by side at the Communion rail.
On one such occasion the pastor saw a former thief kneeling beside the aforementioned jurist, a judge of the High Court of England. After his release the thief had been converted and became a Christian worker. Yet, as the judge and the former thief knelt together, neither seemed to be aware of the other.
After the service, the judge happened to walk out with the pastor and said, “Did you notice who was kneeling beside me at the Communion rail this morning?”
The pastor replied, “Yes, but I didn’t think that you did.”
The two walked along in silence for a few more moments, when the judge declared, “What a miracle of grace.”
The pastor nodded in agreement. “Yes, what a marvelous miracle of grace.”
Then the judge asked, “But to whom do you refer?”
The pastor responded, “Why, to the conversion of that convict.”
“But I was not referring to him. I was thinking of myself,” explained the judge.
Surprised, the pastor replied, “You were thinking of yourself? I don’t understand.”
“Yes,” the judge went on. “It was natural for the burglar to respond to God’s grace when he came out of jail. His life was nothing but a desperate history of crime, and when he saw the Savior he knew there was salvation and hope and joy for him. He understood how much he needed that help.
“But I … I was taught from earliest infancy to be a gentleman—that my word was my bond, that I was to say my prayers, go to church, receive Communion. I went up to Oxford, took my degrees, was called to the bar, and eventually ascended to judge. My friend, it was God’s grace that drew me; it was God’s grace that opened my heart to receive Christ. I’m a greater miracle of his grace.”
Listen again to Jesus’ words, “Blessed [approved of God] are the [beggarly] poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [now and forevermore].”
The question I must ask is, have you experienced true poverty of spirit? Can you say,
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.
—AUGUSTUS M. TOPLADY, 1740–1778
Self-righteousness, moral pride, vain presumption will damn the soul! Jesus made this crystal-clear with the account of the tax-gatherer and the Pharisee who went up to the Temple to pray:
Salvation is by faith alone, sola fide (Ephesians 2:8–9; Romans 11:6); but poverty of spirit is the posture of faith. God pours out his grace to the spiritually bankrupt, for only they are open to believe and receive his grace and salvation. He does this with no one else. No one can enter the kingdom without poverty of spirit.
Similarly, Gideon, whom we celebrate for his amazing deliverance of Israel with just 300 men, began with these words: “But LORD … how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15).
Significantly, when Jesus began his public ministry he opened the scroll to Isaiah 61:1 and began with this opening line: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (see Luke 4:18).
5:3 “Poor in spirit,” as a virtue, must refer not to a poor quality of faith but to the acknowledgment of one’s spiritual powerlessness and bankruptcy apart from Christ (cf. Goodspeed, “Those who feel their spiritual need”)
This sermon is a masterful exposition of the law and a potent assault on Pharisaic legalism, closing with a call to true faith and salvation (7:13–29). Christ expounded the full meaning of the law, showing that its demands were humanly impossible (cf. 5:48). This is the proper use of the law with respect to salvation: It closes off every possible avenue of human merit and leaves sinners dependent on nothing but divine grace for salvation (cf. Rom. 3:19, 20; Gal. 3:23, 24). Christ plumbed the depth of the law, showing that its true demands went far beyond the surface meaning of the words (5:28, 39, 44) and set a standard that is higher than the most diligent students of the law had heretofore realized (5:20). See note on Luke 6:17–49.
The poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3) are those who consciously depend on God, not on themselves; they are “poor” inwardly, having no ability in themselves to please God (cf. Rom. 3:9–12).
The “poor in spirit” (v. 3) are those who know that they, as sinners, do not have the spiritual resources necessary to carry out God’s demands.
the term poor could encompass either physical poverty (Lk 6:20), or the faithful dependence on God that it often produced (“in spirit,” as here).
poor in spirit. The opposite of self-sufficiency. This speaks of the deep humility of recognizing one’s utter spiritual bankruptcy apart from God. It describes those who are acutely conscious of their own lostness and hopelessness apart from divine grace (cf. 9:12; Luke 18:13).
3:2 Repent. This is no mere academic change of mind, nor mere regret or remorse. John the Baptist spoke of repentance as a radical turning from sin that inevitably became manifest in the fruit of righteousness (v. 8). Jesus’ first sermon began with the same imperative (4:17). For a discussion of the nature of repentance, see notes on 2 Cor. 7:8–11.
the kingdom of heaven. This is an expression unique to Matthew’s gospel. Matthew uses the word “heaven” as a euphemism for God’s name—to accommodate his Jewish readers’ sensitivities (cf. 23:22). Throughout the rest of Scripture, the kingdom is called “the kingdom of God.” Both expressions refer to the sphere of God’s dominion over those who belong to Him. The kingdom is now manifest in heaven’s spiritual rule over the hearts of believers (Luke 17:21); and one day will be established in a literal earthly kingdom (Rev. 20:4–6). is at hand. In one sense the kingdom is a present reality, but in its fullest sense it awaits a yet-future fulfillment.
The word ptōchos (“poor”—in classical Gr., “beggar”) has a different force in the LXX and NT. It translates several Hebrew words, most importantly (in the pl.) ʿanāwîm (“the poor”), i.e., those who because of sustained economic privation and social distress have confidence only in God (e.g., Pss 37:14; 40:17; 69:28–29, 32–33; Prov 16:19 [NIV, the oppressed; NASB, “the lowly”]; 29:23; Isa 61:1; cf. Pss Sol 5:2, 11, 10:7). Thus it joins with passages affirming God’s favor on the lowly and contrite in spirit (e.g., Isa 57:15; 66:2). This does not mean there is lack of concern for the materially poor but that poverty itself is not the
Blessing the spiritually poor provides an important qualification of Luke’s more absolute use of “poor” (Luke 6:20). No contradiction appears here because an important strand of Jewish thought had developed a close equation between poverty and piety in the use of the Hebrew term anawim (as, e.g., in Isa 61:1, which probably underlies this passage). In other words, both Matthew and Luke picture “those who because of sustained economic privation and social distress have confidence only in God.”16
It is consistent with the experience of a majority of Jesus’ own followers who came from the poor am-ha-aretz (“people of the land”), and it fits in with the fact that in many periods of world history including our own, the gospel has spread fastest among those who have had the fewest possessions to stand in the way of whole-hearted commitment to God.
Many of the Old Testament prophets suffered in bringing God’s word to Israel (e.g., Jer 26:11); Jewish tradition amplified the number of prophetic martyrs further and made it a major emphasis. The burden of proof was always on the prophet who spoke what people wanted to hear (Jer 28:8–9; cf. 6:14; 8:10–11; 23:17).
Most Jewish people did not believe that prophets still existed in the Old Testament sense, so Jesus’ comparing his followers to the prophets indicated that they would have an extraordinary mission. To suffer for God was meritorious (Ps 44:22; 69:7), and Judaism highly honored martyrs for God’s law; yet no other rabbi called disciples to die for his own teachings or name.
These two verses (cf. Luke 6:22–23, 26), switching from third person to second, apply the force of the last beatitude (Mt 5:10), not to the church (which would be anachronistic), but to Jesus’ disciples. Doubtless Matthew and his contemporaries also applied it to themselves. Verse 11 extends the persecution of v. 10 to include insult, persecution, and slander (Luke 6:22–23 adds hate). The reason for the persecution in Mt 5:10 is “because of righteousness”; now, Jesus says, it is “because of me.” “This confirms that the righteousness of life that is in view is in imitation of Jesus. Simultaneously, it so identifies the disciple of Jesus with the practice of Jesus’ righteousness that there is no place for professed allegiance to Jesus that is not full of righteousness” (Carson, Sermon on the Mount, p. 28)
The appropriate response of the disciple is rejoicing. The second verb, agalliasthe (“be glad”), Hill (Matthew) takes to be “something of a technical term for joy in persecution and martyrdom” (cf. 1 Peter 1:6, 8; 4:13; Rev 19:7).
one which the early Christians readily understood (cf. Acts 5:41; 2 Cor 4:17; 1 Peter 1:6–9; cf. Dan 3:24–25).
Opposition is sure, for the disciples are aligning themselves with the OT prophets who were persecuted before them (e.g., 2 Chronicles 24:21; Neh 9:26; Jer 20:2; cf. Matt 21:35; 23:32–37; Acts 7:52; 1 Thess 2:15).
5:10 All of these characteristics which Jesus labels as blessed are usually not welcomed in the world at large. Hostility may well arise against Jesus’ followers, but even persecuted people are seen by Christ as fortunate.
This persecution, however, must be the result of righteous living and not due to individual sin or tactlessness (cf. 1 Pet 3:14; 4:14–15). What is even more tragic is when one Christian persecutes another, allegedly “because of righteousness,” when the persecution actually stems from too narrow a definition of Christian belief or behavior.
“Because of me” provides another key qualification. As in v. 10, the only persecution that is blessed is that which stems from allegiance to Jesus and living in conformity with his standards. Because this life is just a fraction of all eternity, we can and must rejoice even in persecution. The joy commanded here, as elsewhere in Scripture (esp. Jas 1:2), is not an emotion but an attitude.
The prophet Jeremiah provides the classic example. The same is true of Christian history. When we suffer, we must avoid the trap of thinking that we are the only ones who have ever experienced such problems.
The eighth beatitude makes it once again clear that the Beatitudes are not entrance requirements to the kingdom of God, or else Jesus would be sanctioning torture or martyrdom as a way of earning one’s entrance to the kingdom.
This is a central New Testament theme (cf. 10:24–25; John 11:16; 15:18–25; 2 Tim. 3:12; 1 Peter 4:13–14).
In the same way that the Beatitudes express the blessedness that comes to the crowds from the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, they also express the blessedness that comes from the renewing work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a disciple. I don’t believe I have ever tried to be poor in spirit or consciously wanted to mourn or be meek. I tend to be repulsed by people who talk too much about wanting to be righteous, merciful, or pure, or who talk about making peace and will gladly suffer for Jesus’ sake. But remarkably, I have seen these characteristics produced in this formerly cocky, arrogant young man as I have focused my life on walking with Jesus.
The individual characteristics of the Beatitudes are not self-produced, nor can we simply learn or emulate them in an attempt to bring them about in our lives. They are products of a life energized by the Spirit of God. They are, like the listing Paul gives in Galatians 5:22–23, the fruit of the Spirit. They are a wholistic view of what the Spirit will produce in the life of a disciple of Jesus who is walking in his ways and is being transformed into his image.
Pure in heart should not be restricted to moral, still less sexual, purity; it denotes one who loves God with all his heart (Deut. 6:5), with an undivided loyalty, and whose inward nature corresponds with his outward profession (cf. Isa. 29:13).
Cf. Psalm 24:3–4. Pure in heart should not be restricted to moral, still less sexual, purity; it denotes one who loves God with all his heart (Deut. 6:5), with an undivided loyalty, and whose inward nature corresponds with his outward profession (cf. Isa. 29:13). ‘Such is the generation of those who seek him’ (Ps. 24:6), and they receive the promise that they shall see God. This can only fully be realized in heaven, when ‘we shall see him as he is’ (1 John 3:2); then ‘we shall be like him’, and the longings of v. 6 will be finally satisfied. But in a lesser sense the vision of God is already the experience of his true lovers on earth, who persevere in his service ‘as seeing him who is invisible’ (Heb. 11:27).
The pure in heart (v. 8) are those who are inwardly clean from sin through faith in God’s provision and a continual acknowledging of their sinful condition.
People possessing these qualities would naturally stand out in the crowd and would not be understood by others. Thus they would be persecuted; others would speak evil of them (v. 11). However, Jesus’ words encouraged His followers, for they would be walking in the train of the prophets, who also were misunderstood and persecuted (v. 12; cf. 1 Kings 19:1–4; 22:8; Jer. 26:8–11; 37:11–16; 38:1–6; Dan. 3; 6; Amos 7:10–13).
10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And
“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Shepherd the Flock of God
6:22 For the Son of Man’s sake. Persecution per se is not something to be sought. But when evil is spoken against a Christian falsely and for Christ’s sake (Matt. 5:11), such persecution carries with it the blessing of God.
But Matthew mentions no woes, and his eight beatitudes (Mt 5:3–10) are in the third person, followed by an expansion of the last one in the second person (vv. 11–12).
5:8 Purity in heart refers to moral uprightness and not just ritual cleanliness. The Pauline theme of the impossibility of perfect purity in this life should not be imported here. Rather, as with “righteousness” in general for Matthew, what Jesus requires of his disciples is a life-style characterized by pleasing God (see comments under 1:18–19).