This is from my daily Greek exercise of sight reading some time ago, courtesy of Vincent S Artale Jr.
Our text is from the Greek translation of Matthew 5:10. Here is my translation:
“μακάριοι οἱ δεδιωγμένοι ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης,
Blessed are those who are persecuted on account of righteousness
ὅτι αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. ”
because the kingdom of heaven is theirs
Here are some observations:
We need to be courageous in doing right (v.10)
Proof
1. God says it is blessed to be meek: “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness” (v.10a)
- Who are “are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness”?
- “persecuted”
- This refers to being treated badly (Tehan, 23).
- It is a passive voice to show what is done to the subjects.
- Why is this a perfect tense? Answer: A present state resulting in a past action and thus conveying continual effect at the present (Tehan, 24).
- Mercy is a loving response prompted by the helplessness and misery of someone that is being shown the love (Carson, 24).
- “persecuted”
- What are they being persecuted for? “for the sake of righteousness”
- In the Greek “for the sake of…” is just one word. This term indicates the reason persecutors are persecuted.
- About “righteousness”
- Seems to be personal righteousness here being meant and that means right conduct of living in conformity to God’s Will (Tehan, 18).
- Notice it has nothing to do with the person’s sins but for what is right they are doing.
- Those this blessing is restricted to those who are suffering because of righteousness (Carson, 27).
- Yet being persecuted for doing right is not an easy place to be at.
- Here God says it is blessed to be merciful
- Again it is a predicate nominative; nuanced appearing before the subject.
- In other words this is something God approves of!
2. Reason we can be blessed when mourning: “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (v.7b)
- “for” is a causal conjunction giving the reason why this is the case.
- The phrase “theirs is the kingdom of heaven” is repeated from verse 3, the first beatitude (Tehan, 24).
Application:
- Do you realize that there is a risk in following Christ?
- Remember what Jesus taught in John 15:18-20 that the world hates Jesus first and therefore those who belong to Jesus would be hated and persecuted (Carson, 28).
- See also Philippians 1:29 and 2 Timothy 3:12 and 1 Thessalonians 3:3 on the reality that Christians will see persecution (Carson, 28).
- Does fear stop you from doing what is right and speaking about what is right? Notice we are called to do what is right and be willing to suffer for it.
- If you are persecuted have you put it in eternal perspective? Meditate on the future Kingdom of God.
[…] via Quick Devotional from Matthew 5:10 (Observation from the Greek) — The Domain for Truth […]
did you do one of these helpful posts for Matthew 3?
Thanks for asking; wow how did you find this post? I’ve only looked at two verses from Matthew 3; here are the links: https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2019/06/27/quick-devotional-from-matthew-32-observation-from-the-greek/ and https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2019/07/04/quick-devotional-from-matthew-317-observation-from-the-greek/
I love how James expounds on this (and the SOM at large) in his letter. Thanks for taking the time to share this! Happy Monday! Mandy
Yeah! Sorry last night I had a long day and after seeing your question of how I was doing I fell asleep. My Sunday went well but busy with many things unexpected. When does the semester/quarter end for you for your doctoral program?
How’s it going with translating Ruth?! Praise God my classes end on Dec 1. I love my cohort and I am looking forward to my next two classes which are OT and NT backgrounds. Thank you for asking!
Thank you Jim for directing me to Scripture from Philippians, 2 Timothy, and 1 Thessalonians. This will help with my prayers and writing about Christians who are persecuted for their faith.
Wow, this is so helpful! Thank you brother
You’re welcome! Hope you are having a blessed Tuesday!
Thank you, brother! It’s been a difficult day, prayer would be very much appreciated.
Very enlightening.
Thanks! Also concerning your comment on Cavalry, the book said the same thing as your professor concerning the use of horse. Wow you remembered what your prof taught you many years ago! You have a good memory RG! I bet others in your family notices that
Well, my long term memory seems to be good, but my short term memory is really bad. In any event, The Good Lord gets me through it and I give Him all the Glory.
There is indeed a risk in following Christ. Sometimes we believe that it is only sweet and dandy, but we have to take up the cross and follow Him. The cross was bitter! Thank you for your gentle reminder of this.
Thank you for reading this sister and affirming what the Word teaches. You have a blessed week sister!
Blessings to you also.
Thanks for this quick devotional/word study. God’s Word contradicts the false prosperity gospel which promises “your best life now.”
Yep! It contradict the shallow Evangelly-fish message sometime you hear that somehow makes Christianity is about life being easy. Verses like Matthew 5:10 then become nonsensical. How did your steps go yesterday?
Only 3.2K steps so far today. My steps are definitely down the last couple of weeks, especially with the snow stopping my leaf campaign. Need to take 3 walks a day during the winter or I’ll never hit 10K. How’s your steps look?
Am happy reading that exposition that encourages Christians to live for Christ in this perverted world