Quick Devotional from Matthew 5:10 (Observation from the Greek)

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:

 

1. God says it is blessed to be meek: “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness” (v.10a)
   1. Who are “are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness”?
      1. “persecuted”
         1. This refers to being treated badly (Tehan, 23).
         2. It is a passive voice to show what is done to the subjects.
         3. 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).
      2. Mercy is a loving response prompted by the helplessness and misery of someone that is being shown the love (Carson, 24).
   2. What are they being persecuted for? “for the sake of righteousness”
      1. In the Greek “for the sake of…” is just one word. This term indicates the reason persecutors are persecuted.
      2. About “righteousness”
         1. Seems to be personal righteousness here being meant and that means right conduct of living in conformity to God’s Will (Tehan, 18).
         2. Notice it has nothing to do with the person’s sins but for what is right they are doing.
         3. Those this blessing is restricted to those who are suffering because of righteousness (Carson, 27).
      3. Yet being persecuted for doing right is not an easy place to be at.
      4. Here God says it is blessed to be merciful
         1. Again it is a predicate nominative; nuanced appearing before the subject.
         2. 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)
   1. “for” is a causal conjunction giving the reason why this is the case.
   2. 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.