Twelfth Bible Class
(Romans 15:14—16:27)

VI. Conclusion, or Purpose, Plans and Praise in Connections with the Dissemination of Righteousness
(15:14—16:27)

A. Paul the Minister to the Gentiles (15:14-33)

As Paul leaves the doctrinal section of the book he picks up the personal note with which he began the epistle, in which he expressed his desire to visit Rome.

Paul was convinced of their maturity in the faith; but he wrote boldly to them on some points because of the grace that God had given him to be a minister to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the Gospel. Here he adopts the language of the Levitical priesthood and the Temple to stress the point that he was to make the Gentiles an acceptable offering to God, sanctified by the Spirit. Paul gave the Gospel; the Lord gave the Spirit when they believed. It is hard for us today to understand the tensions of this ministry by a Jew to Gentiles; but because of it we who are Gentiles have entered into all that the Gospel implies.

So in verse 17-22 Paul affirms that his main task has been to preach the Gospel, that his ministry is Christ-centered. He glories in Christ and what Christ has done, and will take no credit for himself. Many ministers today could learn from this. Paul does not lack conviction or confidence; but there is no personal assumption in it—he has it only in relation to Christ. God gave him the ministry as an apostle; and God gave signs and wonders to them as credentials for the early church. If Paul raised someone from the dead, or healed, or converted the Gentiles—that was the work of the Lord through him.

Paul had no spirit of competition with other ministers; he was not interested in taking over works that others had started. To him there were so many Gentiles who had not yet heard, that he knew his calling was to preach the Gospel to them. This is the point of the quotation from Isaiah 52:15. The implication for the Church of Rome is that it apparently had no apostolic founding apart from Paul who preached to those who migrated to Rome and formed a church. If another apostle had founded it, Paul would not have been eager to write to them or visit them to preach the Gospel. Thus, Paul was probably the apostle of influence for the Roman Church.

Paul’s plans are disclosed in verses 23-29. He was on his way to Jerusalem to deliver the money collected for the poor there, and then he was going to go to Spain. On his way to Spain he planned to stop in Rome and enjoy some fellowship with them. Paul had a particular concern to help the believers in Jerusalem who were facing hard times—before his conversion he had wasted that church with his persecutions. He insisted on taking the gift to them personally (see Acts 24:17 as well as 2 Corinthians 8 and 9). The reasoning for the contribution was that if the Gentiles had shared in the spiritual blessing that came through the Jews, then they should contribute to the needs of the Jews in return. This was foreign missions in reverse!

But he needed their prayers. This was a difficult journey. He could be in danger from the unbelievers, the Jews who wanted to destroy him. And his gift from Gentiles might not be well received by the believers. Paul is probably full of uncertainties about his escaping alive; he therefore wants them to agonize in prayer—strive earnestly—over this issue. Of course the prayer was answered, his life was spared, he finished his course. He did come to Rome—after he spent two years patiently in jail at Caesarea, then endured a shipwreck at Malta, and then finally arrived in Rome—in chains (Acts 28:16-31). Did Paul find joy and peace and refreshment when he came to Rome. Yes, but not as he had hoped. His joy was full while under house arrest in Rome. Paul knew God’s peace down in a prison, in chains, or in shipwreck. In Rome he could write,

“I am ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

B. Relationship of Christians to One Another Demonstrated (16:1-27)

The last chapter of the book is an extensive list of personal greetings with many explanatory comments included. It has been said that Paul here leaves the mountain peaks of doctrine to come down to the pavement of Rome. Here is witness to the fact that the faith was being lived out by these people.

1. Commendation to Phoebe (1,2)

Phoebe is the first believer mentioned in this list. She was a Greek woman. She was the bearer of this epistle—she was entrusted with the whole future of Christian theology! She receives here several commendations: she was a sister in the Lord, a deaconess of the church in Cenchrea (9 miles from Corinth), and she was most helpful in the work of the Lord.

2. Christians in Rome Greeted (3-16)

First of the Roman Christians are Priscilla and Aquila—Paul’s fellow workers. At great risk to themselves they worked in ministry, discipled young Christians, and opened their home for the church to meet in. When Claudius had sent Jews from Rome, they had come to Corinth where they met Paul, and accompanied him to Ephesus where they taught Apollos. Here they are back in Rome, either in defiance of the edict or after it had ended. Because of the order of their names, it is likely that Priscilla was the most forthright in active ministry.

According to verse 5, an assembly of believers met at their house. Also there was Paul’s first convert in Asia—Epenetus.

Verse 7 mentions Andronicus and Junia, fellow prisoners with Paul, Jews. Some debate persists here over the name Junia. Junia can be either masculine or feminine, and so we really do not know if this is a man or a woman. Those who argue for its being a woman’s name contend that here we have a woman who was a fellow apostle, because they were said to be “outstanding among the apostles.” But while some take this to mean that they were apostles, that also is not very clear. The line could easily mean that they had an excellent reputation among the apostles. Paul had apparently met them in one of his prison terms; they were wonderful believers with high regard by the Church.

The rest of this section has an extended list of names of people that Paul knew, loved, and appreciated for their stand in the faith and service to the Lord. There is much interest in the meanings of the names and the identification of these people. For example, Bishop Lightfoot identified Aristobulus of verse 10 as the grandson of Herod the Great. The people mentioned here than might have been slaves of his household. Narcissus was a well-known freedman who was put to death by Agrippina. These were probably slaves who belonged to him and had therefore taken his name.

Rufus (v. 13) was probably the son of Simon of Cyrene (Mark 15:21). Mark wrote for the Romans and Rufus was well known in the Roman Church. The father of Rufus had carried the cross for Jesus; the mother of Rufus had been a mother to the apostle Paul. What a family!

Paul tells them to greet one another with a holy kiss. Men kissed men; women kissed women, as a Near-Eastern expression of love and unity. Many customs today of believers greeting each other and sharing the peace come dangerously close to overstepping some bounds of propriety.

3. Defense of the Faith (17-20)

The saints are commended to the unity within Christ. There were people causing divisions and scandals contrary to sound doctrine. They were to be avoided. The specific form of these descriptions suggests that Paul had something definite in mind—and they would know it. A troublemaker is to be avoided in the church (compare 2 Thess. 3:6; Titus 3:10; and 2 John 1:10). These were clever people, smooth talking, flattering “saints” as they appeared; but they were self seeking. Note the irony of his words: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under his feet. In the meantime Christians are to resist the Devil, be sober and vigilant.

4. Christians with Paul send greetings (21-24).

Timothy, of course, is well-known to us. Tertius is the man who wrote down the letter Paul was dictating. Paul probably wrote Galatians in his own hand; but elsewhere he employed an amanuensis.

5. Concluding Benediction (25-27)

This is the third and final benediction of the book. The focus of it is the gospel—”Now to Him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ.” Here is the means by which God changes lives. The mystery is probably the present age of the gospel when God is taking both Jew and Gentile and fashioning them into one body. This has been Paul’s concern in much of the book, as indeed in much of his ministry. This is the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; therefore, the “prophets” mentioned here as “now” revealing this truth are likely the New Testament writers. Paul then returns to his theme of the wisdom of God—all of it, from beginning to end, is the divine plan that is beyond our comprehension. We can only stand amazed at the wisdom of God. “To God alone wise” means that God sets the standards of wisdom. In fact, the cross is the wisdom of God, even though it seems foolishness to mankind. Paul affirmed that he preached Christ—the power of God and the wisdom of God, for the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Cor. 1:21-25).

Things to Consider

1. What are some of the “doubtful things” that have become issues in the churches or areas of Christianity in which you have moved?

2. Can you think through some of modern Christianity with its many splinter groups and discover what has divided Christians into denominations. Which of them were probably legitimate reasons for separating to different forms of Christianity (whether or not they did it with peace or animosity)? Which of them were disgraceful reasons and likewise were handled poorly?

3. Think of all the ways in the New Testament that Christian love will manifest itself. You might have to get the help of a concordance. But what would Christianity look like if all the saints in the churches manifested genuine love for one another? Get a Bible concordance and look up all the New Testament verses with “one another” in them. You may wish to start in these chapters with the ideas of relinquishing rights, mutual edification, collection for the poor, and the like.

4. Some time you should write your own Romans 16. Make a list, as if in corresponding, of all the Christians who have had an impact on your spiritual life—no matter how small, or how great, whether you knew them, or just heard about them. The list will grow and grow—but it will reveal how the Lord works through the different parts of his body, to bring about unity in the faith through spiritual growth.

5. When you think through the way that God calls people and gives them spiritual gifts and uses them in his program, that calls for some evaluation and commitment. So, what should we do, next, now, today? Always ask yourself, “Why am I on earth and not in heaven?” The LORD obviously has something for us to do here before taking us to glory.

© The Biblical Studies Foundation (www.bible.org)              2004

The Book of Matthew begins with a genealogy tracing the line from Abraham (to whom the promises were made), through David (who became the first king in the line of the covenant promises), to Jesus Christ. This genealogy shows that the family of Joseph was in the line of the kings--that Jesus was the “son” of David. Accordingly, Matthew will present Jesus as the promised King--the Messiah. But we will begin our study with the first narrative paragraph.

Note of clarification: The word christos is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word mashiah (pronounced mah-she-ack), which means “anointed one.” It is a description of a king. ”Christ,” then, is a title indicating that Jesus is the anointed king, the promised Messiah.

The Reading

¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³”The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”-- which means, “God with us.”

²⁴When Joseph awoke, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Initial Observations on the Reading

It is helpful to read through the passage several times and make a number of observations about the text. Most of the observations will raise questions that you will try to answer (Bible study involves learning what kind of things to look for, what kind of questions to ask). But spend as much time as you can observing what the text is saying, how it says it, what it is not saying, what it is emphasizing, and the like.

For example, the passage says nothing about the difficulty of the situation for Mary and Joseph and their family, which must have been considerable. But that difficulty may be the reason that an angelic revelation was required. Whenever something like this occurs, something so removed from human experience, there is usually some revelation from God that will set their hearts at ease and encourage their faith response. And besides this, Mary herself had received an angelic visit (Luke 1:26-38) with the same message, and that revelation was confirmed for her by the response of her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45). When you gather together the accounts of the announcement of this supernatural birth, it is easier to understand the straightforward compliance of Joseph and Mary.

Now then, we need to look at how the narrative is constructed. The passage has a little introduction telling us that this is how the birth came about. If you read through the passage again and make a note (mental, if not literal) of the story line, you will see how our study will proceed. The main clauses tell that Mary was pledged to be married, she was found to be pregnant, and Joseph was planning to divorce her, albeit in a kind way. But a revelation from God explained her condition, and so he completed the marriage agreement, but did not have sex with her until after the birth of Jesus. This is a short passage, and so the story line is easy to identify.

Two things in the narrative give it all the meaning that it needs. The first is the quotation of what the angel said. Without that nothing in the story could be understood. And so a lot of attention will be focused on the revelation about the birth of Jesus. The second thing that is added to the story that is essential to the interpretation is the editorial explanation that Matthew makes in verses 22 and 23, telling us how this was all a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. No doubt Mary (and Joseph) understood this connection in due course, but perhaps not at the time of the event. The explanation is put in for the readers of the account that this supernatural birth is a fulfillment of a prophecy from God. This too will have to be studied.

So then, identifying the quotations and the comments in the narrative that explain the story line will direct us to what is most important in understanding the story. We still have to make sure we understand the story line, but these things will lead us to the full meaning of the event.

The Subject Matter of the Story

This account, as its heading says, is about the birth of Jesus the Christ. If we had to identify a principle actor in the narrative, it would have to be the Lord, moving behind the scenes to bring about the birth of Christ. Mary is found to be with child (the verb is passive, and so the story is not emphasizing anything she did). Joseph is about to act, but is prevented from doing so by the Lord through a dream. His actions are in response to the revelation from God. But it is God who is at work in the narrative: God the Holy Spirit brings about the conception in Mary, the angel from God reveals the mystery to Joseph and gives him the instructions, and all of this is a fulfillment of what God had prophesied hundreds of years earlier.

With the emphasis being on the work of God like this, the birth can only be seen as supernatural. This is the tone that Matthew wants to set at the outset of his gospel--there is nothing purely human about this Jesus. The birth was of God, explained by God, in fulfillment of a prophecy by God. God planned it, God carried it out, and God made sure the main participants understood it (as much as they were capable of understanding). The whole thing was supernatural.

Identifying the subject matter and the main “character” in the story helps us stay close to the point of the story, or at least to do justice to the tone of it.

Cultural Aspects of the Story

It will be helpful to deal with the cultural aspect of marriage at this point since it comes up so quickly in the story line. Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married, betrothed as some versions translate it. In that culture the betrothal was tantamount to being married, except that they waited for a period of about a year before they actually consummated the marriage. This was to show that the couple remained pure until they were united. If there was a violation in that period--as this appeared at first to be--then it would take a divorce to end the engagement-marriage. For more on the subject of marriage and betrothal you can read relevant discussions in the Bible dictionaries. A good general work to look for (it may be temporarily out of print) is the work by Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel (published in paper back in two volumes by McGraw-Hill; one volume on religious institutions and one on social institutions--like marriage).

Another subject you may wish to think about, if you have time, is the importance of dreams in the Bible as a means of divine revelation. Here too you can start with Bible dictionary discussions. Dreams given to Israel in the Bible usually have verbal revelation at the center; dreams that concern the nations often are symbolic and require an interpreter, usually a Hebrew (like Joseph or Daniel). The dreams at the birth of Jesus are clearly revelation. In other words, these dreams are not ordinary dreams capable of various interpretations. They bring a clear word from God. And the people knew about such things because the Old Testament had a good number of them in the revelation of God’s program.

The Meaning of the Names

There are not a lot of words in this passage that need defining. But at the heart of the revelation is the giving of the name “Jesus.” Here too you could get help from a good Bible dictionary. But to cut the process short I will summarize what you would find. This is a good Hebrew name very similar to the Old Testament name “Joshua.” The Hebrews loved to give names with meaning; and the meaning usually involved some word play on the name. The word play with this name is on the verb “to save.” That verb in Hebrew is yasha’. Names like Hosea, Isaiah, and Joshua, to name but a few, are all based on this verb. The name “Jesus,” like the name “Joshua,” would mean “the Lord saves,” or shortened would mean “he saves.” This is why the significance of the name is then explained, “For he shall save his people from their sins.”

This latter clarification was necessary because in the Old Testament the verb “to save” is most often used for physical deliverance--saved from enemies, from disease, from oppression, from death. It is also used in the sense of salvation from sin, but folks would probably think of other types of salvation first. In fact, the followers of Jesus often thought more in the sense of a national deliverance from Rome than in a spiritual salvation from sin. The word from God makes it clear from the outset that the salvation Jesus will bring will be a salvation from sin. Once sin is dealt with, then the results of the sin can be taken care of as well (and there will be deliverance from the problems that sin has caused).

The Angelic Revelation

Since we are considering the giving of the name, we might as well deal with the whole revelation through the angel at this point as well. The core of the revelation is that “what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” This is completely supernatural, of course, and beyond any human comprehension. The point is simply made that Jesus was born of Mary and without a human father.

The genealogy in the chapter prepared us for this: verse 16 said, “and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” It does not list Jesus as a son of Joseph. He was born of Mary. We will come back to this when we discuss doctrinal meanings based on the text. But at this point we should simply recall how Jesus so often said things like “I am from above, you are from below,” or that “God sent His Son into the world.” There was a birth in Bethlehem to be sure. Jesus, the human, was born of Mary; the child was conceived supernaturally in her womb by the Holy Spirit. But the Son, the divine Son, was sent into the world from heaven by the Father. And the person of Jesus Christ has these two natures, the earthly human and the eternal divine, supernaturally united in Him.

The point of the supernatural birth, the revelation about it, and the giving of the name, follows a long tradition of such things in the Old Testament. It all underscored that this one would be a child of destiny, a Godsend as it were. But all of those provisions of children of destiny were mere shadows in comparison to this one, the coming of the Son of God into the world. The body of Jesus was specially prepared by God the Spirit for the Son who came into the world.

The Fulfillment of the Prophecy

Now we need to study the other clarifying section of the passage, the note that this was a fulfillment of the prophecy by Isaiah. This will be a little more involved because most Christians are not that well-versed in Isaiah, and may find it a little complicated to sort through. Any time there is a mention of a prophecy that was fulfilled you have to go back and read it in the Old Testament within its context in order to understand the prophecy, and then see how it was fulfilled in the New Testament.

Here is where a good commentary on the Bible would save you some time; you could read the chapter in Isaiah and then the chapter’s commentary to give you an idea of what is going on. But I shall cut the process short here by summarizing what it going on in Isaiah 7 and how it points to this amazing birth. But you should read the chapter in Isaiah.

The setting. The setting for the chapter was an impending invasion about 734 B.C., just a few years before the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed (722). The threat was from an alliance being made between the king of Damascus (Rezin) and the king of Israel (Pekah) against the king of Judah in Jerusalem (Ahaz). To put it in understandable terms, it would be like modern Syria joining with the people of the West Bank (which is the heart of Samaria/Israel) against Jerusalem--except that in those days the people in Samaria/Israel were Israelites. The troubling alliance sought to remove the king in Jerusalem and replace him with a puppet king, the son of Tabeel.

The prophet was called to go and meet the king as he checked the water supply for the siege. The word from God was that there was no reason to fear these two northern kings--they were smoldering brands or stubs of wood. The invasion was not going to happen. The word of the Lord was that in a few years the whole northern territory would be destroyed and taken into captivity and Judah would survive.

But the message to the king demanded faith if he was to have a part in the future program of God: “If you do not believe, you will not be confirmed” (v. 9). In modern expression we would say that Isaiah told the king that God had a future planned for the kingdom of Judah, but he was not a part of it. Isaiah knew that this king was not going to trust the Lord.

In fact, the prophet offered a sign to the king. To guarantee the reliability of the word from the prophet, the king could have asked for any sign, no matter how strange or how supernatural. But this put him in a dilemma. You see, he was not a believer, not by any means (read 2 Chronicles 28). So he did not want to submit to the prophet’s advice or call for faith; but he did not want to appear as an unbeliever before the people. So he pretended piety and refused to ask for a sign, saying he did not want to test the Lord.

This angered the prophet (and the Lord) and so a sign was given to the House of David (in general, not to this king) anyway. The sign was that there would be a birth that would guarantee the future of the dynasty. War was coming; extinction was possible; but God was guaranteeing a future for the royal Davidic family by an unexpected birth: a virgin would conceive and have a son. The Davidic Covenant would remain in place--but Ahaz would have no share in the future.

The prophecy. Biblical scholars have different interpretations on how this prophecy worked, and you can spend a lot of time sorting them out if you like. Some argue that because this is such a special prophecy it has only one fulfillment, the birth of Jesus. But a careful reading of the passage indicates that some partial fulfillment or application of the words was expected in their lifetime, for things would be happening before the child reached a certain age. It seems more likely that there was a birth in the days of Isaiah, not an actual virgin birth, but an unexpected birth of a young prince to a woman in the royal family, a woman who was a virgin at the time. The unexpected birth would be seen as a Godsend because it was a sign that the royal family would continue. It would tell them that God was with them.

The Hebrew word translated “virgin” essentially means a young woman who is mature enough, or ripe enough, for marriage. But this context would require the connotation of “virgin” since this was a birth of a prince in the royal family, but more importantly it was a sign from God.

Some scholars have suggested it looks to the birth of the good king Hezekiah. Others suggest it is a prophecy of Isaiah’s own son recorded in similar terms in Isaiah 8. But the text does not say; it is simply the oracle given in anticipation of the birth.

We do know that the prophecy has its fullest meaning, and its divinely intended fulfillment therefore, in the birth of Jesus. The Davidic royal family was almost non-existent (Herod was not even a Jew); Rome was completely dominating the political scene. And in the middle of all this a sign was given, which was a fulfillment of the ancient sign of Isaiah: there would be an actual virgin birth in the lineage of David. Any partial fulfillment in Old Testament times would merely have been a foreshadowing of the true fulfillment in Jesus. We shall see this pattern of the way prophecy works again and again.

Please note: the doctrine of the virgin birth does not depend on the etymology of the Hebrew word for “virgin” or “young woman.” The doctrine is clearly taught in the Gospel accounts. But the word for “virgin” has its very specific nuance in reference to the birth of Jesus.

The context in Isaiah. Now, one further thing is necessary for understanding the announcement of this prophecy--its context. Isaiah 7--11 is called the Book of Immanuel. Let me walk you through it so you can see the significance of the section from which this prophecy comes. In chapter 7 the sign of an extraordinary birth is announced, ultimately a virgin birth, and the one born will be known as Immanuel, God with us. In other words, the birth would be evidence of God’s presence with his people. In the Old Testament, that presence could be felt in a number of ways. But in the New Testament, in the incarnation, Jesus was fully “God with us.” The sign was that the Davidic family would continue, and would have a future; but sharing in that future required faith.

Then in chapter 8 Isaiah the prophet lets people know that Immanuel, this king, will be either a stumbling stone or a foundation stone, depending on whether they believe in him and make him their sanctuary or not. If they do not, if they continue to go after spiritists and necromancers and the like, they will find no answer. Why should they seek the answer among the dead? They should seek the living God. (The angels in the garden tomb used this line: Why do you seek the living among the dead?).

Then in chapter 9 Isaiah identifies this wonder king, Immanuel, and gives him throne names: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. He will reign with peace and righteousness. Amazingly Isaiah says that a child will be born, a son will be given. The fulfillment in Christ shows how precise this distinction would be.

And then according to Isaiah 11, Isaiah says that this king will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to bring about universal changes in all creation.

So the announcement of the supernatural birth of Messiah is in a context filled with descriptions of this coming king. He is, to say the least, much more than a mortal king. He is supernatural in every sense of the word. And from that context the New Testament writers knew that this Jesus, born of the virgin Mary, was the fulfillment of the prophecy given some 700 years earlier. They may not have always understood it, but they soon came to realize that Jesus was indeed God with them, in the flesh (incarnation). When Matthew explains that the verse in Isaiah 7 finds its fulfillment in the birth of Jesus, he is also saying that everything in Isaiah 7--11 that describes the one born of the virgin applies also to Christ.

New Testament Correlations

The better you come to know the New Testament the easier it will be for you to make the connections to related passages. At this point you can use dictionaries and concordances. Once you know how to describe what the passage is about--the incarnation, the supernatural birth of Jesus, the virgin birth--then you can look these up in Bible dictionaries and they will include references in the Bible in their discussions. Or, a commentary you might be using should have some cross references as well.

Gospels. It will be easy to look at the other Gospels to see what they say about the birth of Jesus. I have already mentioned the account in Luke 1. There the annunciation to Mary described Jesus as “the Son of the Most High” and “the Son of God.” And it declared that he would reign forever. Obviously the passage is not talking about just another king. This one is special. This one is divine.

But John offers some more clarification. He describes Jesus as the “Word,” the complete revelation of the Godhead. This Word, Jesus, is the creator of all things (1:3). And this Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us (1:14). And John said that they beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten Son. His description of Jesus as the “only-begotten” is crucial (I think the NIV has made the translation very weak). The verb “beget” (unlike verbs such as create or make) can only mean that the one begotten shares the nature of the father. If Jesus shares the nature of God the Father, it means that Jesus is divine and therefore eternal. There never was a time that he did not exist. Therefore the word “begotten” must not be understood to mean that he had a beginning, but that his nature is divine. And John does not mean “divine in any watered down sense of “godlike”; rather, he means that in this aspect Jesus is truly unique. So he adds the word “mono-” to the front of the Greek word “begotten”-- “the only begotten Son.” There is only one in the human race that is truly divine. The historic creed of the church got it right when it wrote that Jesus was “begotten, not made.” Jesus is God manifested in human flesh.

There are two supernatural signs that speak of Jesus’ nature. The first is the supernatural birth that shows he was not born as we are. The other is the resurrection, that shows that he is not limited to this world’s experiences as we are. He is above it all. Both of these signs attest to the fact that He is the Son of God.

Epistles. There are many passages in the apostles’ writings that address the birth and what it signified. Two stand out above the rest. The first is Galatians 4:4, which says “In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” It was on time because God prophesied it; it was a birth through a woman, without a human father, and it was for the purpose of redemption. If Jesus had had a normal birth with a human father, he would have been totally human and a sinner like us. Redemption required the work of someone different, someone above it all, from on high, sinless and supernatural. Without this description of Christ our salvation would be without any foundation.

Philippians 2:6-11 should also be read. This tells how He did not cling to his lofty position and power in heaven, but laid aside his privilege of divinity and took on the form of a servant, born in human likeness. He humbled himself, even to the death of the cross. Therefore, God the Father has highly exalted him in glory, and someday everyone will exalt and praise him. Someday everyone will acknowledge that Jesus Christ was not simply a good man from Nazareth, not simply a teacher or a prophet, but God in mortal flesh.

Applications and Conclusions

The passage is clearly written to inform the readers, us, that Jesus Christ came into this world supernaturally. The child Jesus was conceived by the Spirit of God in the womb of Mary. We do not know how that was done. But we do know from the rest of Scripture that this was only the human part formed in the womb--the divine Son was sent into the world.

The natural response to this is that it is incredible, incomprehensible, impossible, amazing. Of course, once one actually believes in God, nothing is impossible for God. But unbelief has trouble accepting something like this. So we are not surprised to see skeptics trying to explain it away. In fact, there is some evidence that even in the time of Jesus people considered his birth “troubled”: John 8:41 records the enemies of Jesus saying, “We are not born of fornication,” possibly hinting at some question about his birth. But Jesus’ response to them was that He was from above, and they were from below, from their father the devil.

So the first response we are to have to the passage is to consider what it is asking us to believe. The Old Testament prophecy, the angelic revelations, the account of the event, and the other witnesses and explanations of it, all declare that the birth of Jesus was completely supernatural, because He is not a mere mortal. While some might balk at this at first, as the chapters unfold in the Book of Matthew it will become clear that no one could do these things if merely mortal. So if at the outset this is hard to grasp, continue through the book and see how the works of Christ attest to His nature. After all, it took the disciples a long time to come to grips with this.

The natural corollary to this response is then to consider what we should do in response to the revelation of the passage. Other passages in Matthew will spell out the application--give to the poor, give thanks to God, pray, or a number of things like that. This one does not so specify. But the natural response would be one of adoration and worship. If this child born of Mary is indeed who Scripture says He is, then He deserves our devotion. And it begins with our faith response to Him as the Messiah sent from Heaven.

This has been the theme captured by so many of the writers of carols celebrating the birth of Jesus. Consider this most popular one:

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie;
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee to-night.
For Christ is born of Mary; and gathered all above
while mortals sleep the angels keep their watch of wondering love;
O morning stars! Together proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King and peace to men on earth.
How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven;
No ear may hear His coming ; but in this world of sin
where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.
O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in--be born in us today!
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell--
Oh come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel.

So Matthew sounds the note from the very beginning. God has visited this planet in order to redeem people from their sins. It all began with the extraordinary birth through a virgin, Mary, which had been foretold centuries earlier. Everything about this incarnation was to be supernatural, or it would not work. And so from the outset we are confronted with the divine nature of Jesus the Messiah, and with the purpose of his coming into the world.

As Isaiah said, this would all be a stumbling block to some, but a foundation stone to those who believe. Whether people believe this first sign or not, the point is clear as to what the Word of God is clearly saying about Jesus. Matthew will now build on this introduction through the chapters.

Now if you were organizing this little section for a Bible study, it can be outlined rather neatly. The first few verses would cover the situation, the unexpected pregnancy and Joseph’s response to it (vv. 18,19). Then, the next few verses explain the pregnancy (vv. 20-23): the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and would be the Savior of the world, and this child would be Immanuel, the wonder king prophesied by Isaiah. The final section would then report the obedience of Joseph in marrying Mary and naming the child “Jesus.”

In addition to the main idea of the revelation about Jesus Christ, the passage also illustrates a practical principle for God’s people that would be applicable in many other situations. The works of God are always supernatural, and so the revelation about His works must be studied in order to discern what the divine plan is and how it should be embraced by faith. Those who believe in the Lord will receive His Word and obey it.

The rest of Matthew 2 is essentially about how Herod killed the infants in Bethlehem, and how the holy family escaped that terror by going to Egypt, and then by settling down in Nazareth. It is a tragic report of how a wicked ruler tried to destroy Jesus, but how God prevented it from happening. The story lets the reader know immediately that the coming of the Messiah would not be welcomed by everyone.

This section will also give us the opportunity to study more closely how the New Testament uses passages from the Old Testament. Hosea, Jeremiah, and Isaiah are all brought into the events recorded here. At the very least this will underscore the fact that God was at work in these events to reveal who Jesus was and what He was here to do.

Reading the Text

¹³When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” ¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod.

And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

¹⁶When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

¹⁷Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ¹⁸ “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” ²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.

So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.

Observations on the Text and the Subject Matter

The story is marked off by three quotations from the Old Testament, showing that each of the three parts of the narrative--the flight to Egypt, the killing of the children, and the settling in Nazareth--fulfilled prophetic words.

Dreams again figure prominently in the account. The two that have verbal content quoted begin the account by telling Joseph to go to Egypt, and then begin the last section by telling him to return to Israel.

As you read the passage you might begin to make some preliminary connections, as if you have read something like this before. The setting is in Egypt, the story is about a wicked king trying to kill the little boys, and after the death of the king there is the Lord’s instruction to go to the land of Israel. We shall come back to these links to Israel in bondage in Egypt a little later.

Sorting out the story line is a little different here because we have three scenes. The first is about the Lord’s telling Joseph what to do and Joseph’s obedience; the second is about Herod’s killing of the children; and the third is about the Lord’s telling Joseph what to do and Joseph’s obedience. The first and last scenes are clearly connected to the second or middle scene--they flee to escape the slaughter, and they return when the threat is over. The point is clearly the preservation of the Holy Child.

Once again the human actors are Joseph, Herod, and Joseph. But behind Joseph’s actions there is God once again, revealing in dreams what he should do. And in contrast to Herod’s actions, God is forewarning Joseph. One reads these stories and gains the immediate sense that God the Father was superintending all the details about the birth and childhood of Jesus. And the meaning of this story is pretty clear--there was a concerted effort to destroy the Christ child and to prevent the fulfillment of the New Covenant, but God was not going to let that happen. There is something very evil here, something Satanic (and we will meet Satan’s attack in chapter 4). Other tyrants in different ages were also eager and willing to destroy the people of Israel in order to destroy the work that God seemed to be doing. Herod was simply the instrument that was available at the time.

Old Testament Prophecies

Since these figure so prominently in the passage we should probably give attention to them right away.

General overview. To start with, let me give you a little bit of an overview. (Do not be frustrated as you read some of these things and begin to think you do not know enough to make these kinds of connections. The more you do Bible Study, the more you will learn about the whole Bible, if you do it right, and then gradually these kinds of things will be easier to connect.) There were two major, major traumatic experiences for the nation of Israel in their Old Testament history, their bondage in Egypt and their exile in Babylon. The Jews never got over these, because they were the historical foundations of the covenants.

The Exodus from Egypt and the Old Covenant. The first experience in Egypt is the subject matter of Book of Exodus. Recall that God delivered Israel under Moses, by the blood of the Passover lamb applied to their doorways. When they got out, God made a covenant with them at Sinai, the Law. This covenant revealed to them God’s standard of righteousness; but it also made provision for forgiveness through the blood of the sacrifice so that they could have fellowship with God. The New Testament writers clearly saw that Jesus was the fulfillment of these passages, the redemption out of bondage by the Passover and the atonement through the sacrifices on the altar. This is the substance of the Old Covenant.

The Babylonian Captivity and the New Covenant. The other crisis came at the end of Israel’s kingdom period when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and carried the people into exile. Most of the prophetic books deal with this theme in one way or another. But in the middle of the trouble, when the cities lay in ruins, the prophets began to predict a New Covenant. This New Covenant would be characterized by several things, not all of which would happen at once: Israel would be regathered to the land, she would rebuild the city and the temple, the Messiah would come to drive out all enemies and to establish a kingdom of peace, the Spirit of the Lord would be poured out, the Law would be written in their hearts, and there would be universal righteousness in a new creation. The New Testament writers clearly saw that Jesus was also at the center of the fulfillment of these prophecies, even though the various fulfillments would take place gradually, starting in the upper room and extending to the second coming. This is the substance of the New Covenant. The New Covenant could not be enacted until the Old Covenant was fulfilled--which Jesus did at the cross.

Now with that background in mind we can look at the first two Old Testament citations, the first referring to the Exodus from Egypt (the historical foundation of the old covenant), and the second referring to the Babylonian invasion (the historical foundation for the revelation of the new covenant).

Hosea 11:1 and the Exodus. Now then, when Matthew records how an angel directed Joseph to take the holy family into Egypt for safety from the king who was trying to kill the boy, he adds that this fulfilled what Hosea said, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” This is Hosea 11:1. If you read that passage you will see that Hosea is writing about the nation of Israel that God called out of Egypt at the Exodus. He refers to Israel when the nation was a child, meaning at the beginning of its national existence--a young nation. But the metaphorical language of the nation as a child, and as God’s son, comes from Exodus itself. Moses said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD says, Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, ‘Let my son go so he may worship me.’ But you refused to let him go, so I will kill your firstborn son” (Exod. 4:22,23). God was about to bring retribution on the Egyptians for their killing of the Israelites. And in the announcement, there is a word play on “son.” The nation of Israel was God’s firstborn “son”--this is a figurative use of the word. But the firstborn “son” of pharaoh was a literal son. So there are two different meanings of the word “son” in the passage in Exodus. Hosea refers to the first when he refers to Israel as God’s “son.”

Matthew is fully aware that Jesus is God’s Son--in another sense of the word. This word to Matthew catches some of the meaning of both the uses in Exodus. He is the Son of God in that like Pharaoh’s son He shares the nature of His Father and is the heir to the throne (even though He was never procreated); and He is also the Son as Israel was a son in that He fulfills the destiny of the nation of Israel. In other words, Matthew sees Jesus as the true Israel, the Seed of Abraham in the purest sense. Everything Israel was supposed to be, Jesus would be. And the things that God did for and through Israel find fulfillment in the person and works of Jesus.

We will have to leave this for the moment since the subject would be too large to carry further; but to draw this point out would call for a survey of how the sacrifices, festivals, temple, and significant events in Israel were types and figures of the coming Christ.

But Matthew sees the parallels between Jesus’ sojourn in Egypt, preservation from the killing of the children, and return to the promised land, and the historical event of the nation in Egypt, being preserved through the killing of the children, and the call to leave Egypt and go to Israel. He sees the old event as a type, a preview, of the new event. Jesus would walk through (as it were) the experiences of the nation, in order to fulfill all the needs of the nation. So Matthew sees that Hosea’s words that were written for the nation of Israel using the figure of a son find their fullest meaning in the experience of Jesus the Son as He is “called” out of Egypt to go to the land of Israel. We therefore have two levels of meaning for Hosea 11:1--the primary reference is Israel in the Exodus, but the ultimate application is to the fulfillment of the exodus from Egypt in the person of Jesus. Matthew is not simply connecting Jesus’ return from Egypt with the exodus of Israel from Egypt; he is connecting all that was involved with that exodus with Jesus.

If you look at the verse in Hosea in isolation, the quote does not seem to make much sense. But when you put it into its whole context, in fact the context of the Bible and how God is working through history to prepare for the Messiah, then you can understand how the passage fits Jesus’ Egyptian “sojourn.” This may seem confusing to you at the moment because it is so different from simply quoting a proof text; but the more you see it working out in Matthew you will see that the New Testament writers came to realize how God’s history with Israel was a preview of the person and work of Jesus.

Jeremiah 31:15 and the New Covenant. The second Old Testament citation is used in a similar way. It is a lament that comes from the Book of Jeremiah, 31:15. Jeremiah records his vision with tears of lamentation as he watches not only the city of Jerusalem being destroyed, but innocent children being slaughtered in the Babylonian invasion. He imagines, with his poetic vision, that Rachel, the wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin, is weeping for her descendants, her children. Rachel becomes the ancestral representative of all those mothers in the land who wept for their little children.

But his lamentation is in the middle of four chapters, Jeremiah 30-33, that are filled with comfort and consolation and joy. These chapters look beyond the grief of death to the dawn of a new age that will come with the Messiah’s coming, One whom Jeremiah calls the Branch. And with that new age there will be a New Covenant that will pave the way for everlasting peace and righteousness. Out of the chaos of violence and death at the hands of wicked rulers there would come a New Covenant, bringing forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life.

Matthew knew that Jesus is the Messiah, the Branch, and that in the upper room at the Last Supper He inaugurated the New Covenant (“This cup is the new covenant in my blood” [1 Cor. 11:25]). So when he reported the killing of innocent children in Bethlehem, he immediately saw the parallel with Jeremiah’s day. Once again God would bring life out of death, the life of Jesus out of the deaths of the innocent children, and with His life He would bring eternal life for those who died for him in that little village of Bethlehem. And Matthew indicated that if Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Messiah the Branch, and if He inaugurated the New Covenant by His blood, then the lamentation over the children in Jeremiah’s day also finds fulfillment in the weeping of the mothers for their infants in Bethlehem in the days of Jesus.

It is one of the most tragic episodes in New Testament history. It is a reminder of how evil men can become in their quest for power. And to Matthew it is a reminder of how very much the world needs a Redeemer. The only solution for this kind of world is a Savior who will save people from their sins and usher in a new age of righteousness and peace.

Isaiah 11:1 and the Branch. The third use of the Old Testament comes at the end of the chapter. Joseph brought Mary and Jesus to the region of Galilee, and settled into a town called Nazareth. It was a little village, up in the hills away from the main roads. Remote, obscure, tiny, Nazareth was meaningless in most folk’s opinion of Galilee--which also was not very high. This was a region of Gentiles, of despised place of impure commerce and traffic. And so Nazareth was a “nothing” town in a region that was looked on with contempt.

Matthew says this fulfilled what was spoken of the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” Now, you will look high and low, but you will not find a verse in the Bible that says that. But what Matthew has apparently done is relate the word Nazareth to a well-known prophecy, well-known in Hebrew of course. Isaiah 11:1 says, “And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a Branch out of his roots.” Here we see another use of the idea of a Branch. Isaiah pictured the kingdom of Israel as a tree. At the captivity God cut down the tree, but left a stump, which he said was the remnant of believers (Isa. 6). Out of the stump a little shoot would grow, a tender branch. And that branch out of the stock of Jesse would be King Messiah. The image of the tender branch is one of humility, or of lowly beginnings, one of inauspicious origins. That Jesse is mentioned and not David agrees with this, for it stresses the non-royal beginning of the family. Eventually that little branch would become the King of kings an Lord of lords, but His beginnings would be humble--and considered worthless by many, even despised.

The connection is that the Hebrew word for Branch in Isaiah 11:1 is neser (pronounced nay-tser). It sounds just like the name Nazareth. Matthew immediately saw the connection. Isaiah’s prophecy about the Branch (neser) meant that He would have a humble and inauspicious beginning; and when the family settled in Galilee, they settled in a humble and inauspicious village, called Nazareth. To Matthew the very word of that prophecy found its full meaning and therefore its fulfillment in Jesus the Nazarene. In His early days Jesus would be a man from a town not worth mentioning; a man away from the highways of life, seeing nothing of the great movements of kings and armies and caravans; a Nazarene.

But if you read the rest of Isaiah 11, this lowly Nazarene was to become a great King, empowered by the Spirit of God, judging the world in righteousness, and transforming all of creation into a peaceful, harmonious world.

So with these three Old Testament passages, Matthew charts the movement from flight into Egypt to the return to Israel in peace, from the lament over the slaughter of the innocent children to the hope that is in the life of the Savior, and from the adoration of the Magi and the attention of the wicked king to a humble life in the hills of Nazareth. But as one reads the section, one is keenly aware that Matthew will re-visit all these themes as the gospel narrative unfolds.

New Testament Correlations

The other gospels do not include any of this material. Luke 2:40 mentions that Joseph and Mary and Jesus had their home in Nazareth; and this was where Jesus grew up and was filled with wisdom and the grace of God. When Jesus began His popular ministry, the religious leaders were baffled: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” “No prophet ever came from Galilee!” And interestingly, at the empty tomb the angel said, “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified. He has risen!” (Mark 16:6). The contrast here becomes great--the lowly Nazarene has conquered the grave.

The New Testament does not deal with the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem. But it does emphasize the humility of Jesus in coming into this world. Again, the passage in Philippians 2 is the best example, because it stresses how He made Himself nothing and took on Himself the form of a servant. This theme then becomes one of the major points of the nature of Jesus as the promised Messiah who would be a suffering Servant before He would reign as King of Glory.

The Bible as a whole reveals how in the end of time the Judge of the whole earth will make things right. And part of His judgment will be to avenge the deaths of the martyrs and to make things right for them. We do not know how all this will be done, but we know that those who have lost their lives for Him will be fully recompensed in glory. In the Book of Revelation the martyrs are nearest to God in the heavenly scenes.

The passage’s main emphasis fits the emphasis of both testaments, that is, that although Jesus was feared and hated by wicked men, despised by many who tried to destroy Him, humble and low in the eyes of the world, He is the Son of God, the King of Glory, the Imperial One in all the human race.

Clarification of Names and Ideas

There are not many words and names in the section that call for detailed study. The passage is pretty easy to understand, now that the Old Testament prophecies have been sorted out a bit.

Perhaps the dates and the kings might be put into perspective, although this is not really that critical for understanding the passage. But a little clarification on the family of Herod might be useful. Herod the Great died in the spring of 4 B.C.; his will divided up the kingdom among three sons. Archaelaus was to rule over Judea, Herod Antipas received Galilee, and Philip received the northern frontier and some of the region of the Decapolis (so his lands were north and east of the Sea of Galilee). Philip lasted the longest, as we shall see later. He is the one who built Caesarea Philippi in the north. Herod Antipas is the Herod that Jesus dealt with in His life, as we shall see. Archaelaus lasted only ten years in Judea. Rome removed him, and replaced him with a governor. These governors were called Procurators. The best known was Pilate who came later.

So Joseph took Mary and Jesus and fled for Egypt some time before Herod died. We do not know how long they stayed in Egypt--a few months, a year or so? They returned to Israel when Archaelaus was king, but apparently had heard enough about him that they went to Galilee to live, in the territory of Herod Antipas.

Conclusions and Applications

The narrative records how the holy child was preserved in safety when Herod sought to kill him. From a theological point of view, then, the passage reveals how God was ensuring that the work of salvation would be accomplished. God was not about to allow some wicked king like Herod to ruin the plan. And so the account essentially tells how God used angels and obedient people to carry out His will.

But in the process the events recorded here fulfilled several Old Testament prophetic messages. And this also reveals that God’s plan was right on course. Even the hatred of Herod and the slaughter of innocent children was not something unexpected that God had to deal with quickly or lose His Son. No, the prophetic passages that are included here show that the pattern of the age-old conflict between good and evil had re-appeared, only now the threat was greater because the life of the Messiah was threatened. But out of the danger, and the flight, and the quiet and humble setting of Nazareth, would come one who would triumph over it all.

We can think through several ways to look at this passage in practical ways.

1. One point to be made at the outset is based on the evil recorded here. The passage reminds us how wicked humans can be, and how wickedness in power can act, especially when threatened by God’s plan. At the very least these tragic events remind us how very much the world needs the Savior. Man in defiance of God will do what he will, no matter the cost. One can only guess at the countless innocent people who have been killed by wicked and corrupt leaders. Here Herod thought he was getting rid of the problem (the birth of the king) by killing all the children; but the child survived and would live to fulfill the will of God.

Our response to this certainly includes lamentation and sorrow over the suffering in this world; but it also must include hope and prayer for the Lord to make things right. Those who have this hope will then work to bring about peace and safety, and to promote life and justice for all, but especially for those who are victims of evil. Jesus’ teachings will address this later in the book.

2. We can also make a point out of the Old Testament citations. What this passage shows is that every detail of the life of Christ is a fulfillment of the prophetic revelation. We need to remember that prophecy is only possible if God is in control of history--otherwise “prophecy” could only be guesswork, and not always accurate. But God was revealing His plan through the events in the Exodus with Christ in mind; He was working through the Babylonian captivity with Christ in mind. And what He had in mind for Christ is that He would deliver His people from bondage by becoming the Passover Lamb, and then He would bring in a New Covenant that would change everything by the power of the Spirit. These citations at the infancy of Christ point us in the direction the Gospel will go. And they remind us that God will not let anything interrupt His program in Christ.

Our response to this begins with our thanksgiving that Jesus is the One who can deliver people from the bondage of sin and death in this world and bring them into a New Covenant that will last forever. The Lord did not simply step in to judge the world; rather, He came to bring salvation first, to provide the way of escape. By His death on the cross which fulfilled the Old Covenant and inaugurated the New Covenant, and by the work of the Holy Spirit through this New Covenant, God is working in and through us to bring about a holy people who will champion righteousness in the world. So in addition to our thanksgiving to God for sending His Son there should be our commitment to promote the plan of God in Christ--just as Joseph in the story was obedient to make sure that God’s program succeeded.

3. And we are reminded of a principle in this passage too as we read how Jesus was known as a Nazarene. To the world He looked ordinary, commonplace, by no means kingly. But people forget how God works. He does not choose as the world chooses; the world looks on the outer appearance, but God looks on the heart. This lowly Nazarene would turn the world upside down; and at His coming in glory this exalted Nazarene will judge the world and create a new heaven and earth.

Our response to this should be to learn how to see things as God sees them. We are often too quick to judge people by their appearance or by their natural abilities. We should instead be trying to see what God sees in His people, and be assisting all of them to find their place in the work of God.

And finally, a word about Bible study methods. When we see citations of Old Testament passages with expressions like “that it might be fulfilled,” we know that we have to understand the connections with the broader context in the Old Testament. The passage referred to may not be a direct prophecy (we will see those), but it may be an event or a person or a place that forms a parallel with the New Testament event, and owing to the fact that those passages are part of the prophetic message, the parallel with Christ was divinely intended. Thus, those passages have their fullest meaning in Him. So the process of studying Matthew will lead to a greater understanding of the Old Testament prophets.

This section of the “Beatitudes” is one of the most loved portions of the Gospel. It forms the beginning of what has come to be known as the “Sermon on the Mount” which is recorded in Matthew 5-7. The preaching of this sermon may have come a little later in the chronology of the life of Christ; but Matthew placed it here at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry because it forms such a grand proclamation of the kingdom. It is the first of the five major discourses that Matthew includes.

We first need to fill in what Matthew has included between this passage and the last one we studied. Matthew followed the account of the temptation of Jesus with a brief note that Jesus began to preach a message of repentance because the kingdom of heaven was near (4:12-17). In order to reach a wider audience, He moved from Nazareth to the city of Capernaum, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, but more importantly, on the main highway through the land. His declaration of beatitudes would come, but not until He called for repentance.

Matthew then reported the calling of the first disciples, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, who were fishing (4:18-20). Jesus promised to make them fishers of men, for He was beginning to build His kingdom. He then called James and John, also fishermen, who were mending nets in their boat (4:21-22). The authority of the king to call people to follow Him is clearly portrayed by these events.

Then Matthew reports the popular success of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (4:23-25). He went throughout the region proclaiming the message of the kingdom, and authenticating His claims by healing people. Throngs of people responded to His ministry from as far away as Jerusalem.

So that brings us to the present lesson, from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus saw the crowds coming to Him, so He went up on a mountainside and sat down, the well-known posture of the teacher. The traditional location of this “mount” is the low hills behind the region of Capernaum and the other fishing villages on the shore. His disciples came to Him, and so Jesus began to teach them. And what follows is the material of Jesus’ teaching.¹_ftn1

This is the first and longest message of Jesus that we have in the gospel. Jesus had been announcing that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and He had been calling for people to repent. Now, in what has been described as the manifesto of His kingdom, Jesus unveils the foundations and character of life in that kingdom. Here He teaches the ethical guidelines for life in His kingdom; and the guidelines point to the quality of righteousness that characterizes life in the kingdom, now in part, but fully in the future.²_ftn2

The discourse was intended for the nation of Israel, the crowds who had been flocking to Jesus. But it was delivered immediately to the disciples. Jesus here considered His disciples the “true Israel” (the spiritual Israel) which is already present and beginning life in the kingdom; and He considered the crowds the “Israel” of the future, the Israel that is hoped for, who should repent and follow the king. Or to put it another way, Jesus spoke to all the people of the true will of God, the righteousness that they must all exhibit if they repent and enter His kingdom, but which the disciples had already begun to perform. So the entire sermon is directed to all. And its theme is the righteousness that is the standard of his kingdom.

So in some ways this sermon will tell people just how righteous they must be to enter the kingdom, and what that righteous life should look like for citizens of the kingdom. But it does not include the details of how this righteousness may be attained.

The sermon begins with the beatitudes. These qualities give a picture of the character of the true people of God, those who are a part of his kingdom and have the full blessings of the kingdom to look forward to. Taken together they give the picture of the perfect disciple of Christ who is the heir of the promises. Jesus does not here tell people how to become like this; that will come in subsequent teachings.

One of the most convincing descriptions of the meaning of the beatitudes at the beginning of this sermon is that they are planned echoes of Isaiah 61:1-3, a passage which is certainly eschatalogical³_ftn3 in its orientation. Matthew constantly shows how Jesus came in the light of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, and so this one would fit as well. So as we study the passage we will have to look at Isaiah’s prediction of what the Messiah and the Messianic kingdom will be like.

The Beatitudes are a little different to study than ordinary story-passages. Each saying is proverb-like. Cryptic, precise, and full of meaning. Each one includes a topic that forms a major biblical theme. So you could spend a lot of time on each one--and that would be worth doing if you so desired. But we will make this a brief, introductory Bible study on the passage, and leave more to be done later.

Reading the Text

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him, ²and He began to teach them, saying:

³Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,

for they will be filled.

⁷Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.

⁸Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.

¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Observations on the Text

So here we have a series of proclamations without a narrative. The narrative introduction simply sets up the sermon; and the sermon begins with these proclamations. Each of the beatitudes is formally a declarative sentence; but each is implicitly hortatory, calling for a response.

The method of studying these will be a little different. We still must think in terms of the contexts, not only the historical context of the first century Jewish culture and beliefs, but also the context of the beatitudes in the sermon on the mount, the proclamation of the nature of the kingdom. The study of this section will have to deal primarily with the meanings of the words within those contexts, especially the context of the culture that knew these ideas from their Hebrew and Aramaic languages. Here is where it would be good to have a good word study book, or a book on biblical theological themes or ideas, and possibly a good Bible dictionary if it deals with words like “meek” or “poor” or the like.⁴_ftn4

Once the meanings of the words are understood, then we will have to consider the relationships between the clauses, primarily the connections between the “blessed” sayings and the promised result. To understand these saying we will have to relate the teachings to the biblical understanding of the kingdom of heaven as it is presented in both testaments. Here we will see that with Christ’s first coming the kingdom has been introduced--believers are in the kingdom; but we shall also see that the kingdom will yet be fulfilled in the second coming. So we will have to fit these sayings into both aspects of the idea of the kingdom.

Most summaries of the beatitudes say that there are eight of them--but you may observe nine “blesseds.” The difference is that the last saying in the list is different: it does not say “blessed are they” but “blessed are you.” Moreover, it seems to be a further clarification of the eighth one with specific application being made to the disciples.

Perhaps it would be helpful at the beginning to deal briefly with this word “blessed.” There is a desire today to translate the word with “happy.” But that does not seem to capture all that is intended here in the text, primarily because modern usage of the word “happy” has devalued it. This term is an exclamation of the inner joy and peace that comes with being right with God. Happiness may indeed be a part of it; but it is a happiness that transcends what happens in the world around us, a happiness that comes to the soul from being favored by God. That is why it can call for rejoicing under intense persecution. In some ways the Lord’s declaration of “blessed” is a pledge of divine reward for the inner spiritual character of the righteous; in other ways it is His description of the spiritual attitude and state of people who are right with God.

The opposite of Jesus’ “blessed” in Matthew 5 would be the “woes” pronounced in Matthew 23 against the scribes and pharisees. Those woes pass judgment on the apostate people who refuse to recognize and do the full will of God. The woes describe their character as well, but it is an evil and hypocritical character; and the woes are a divine pledge of judgment if those lives continue in their wickedness.

So when Jesus says “blessed are they,” He is not only describing them as being filled with an inner sense of joy and peace because they are right with God, but He is praising them for their character and pledging divine rewards for it.

One interesting Old Testament connection that would make a good related study is the section in Proverbs 6:16-19, which lists seven things that the Lord hates. These have been taken as the antithesis of the righteous who receive this blessing from the Lord. The first one is “haughty eyes” or arrogance, which is certainly the opposite of the “poor in spirit.” The last is “one who stirs up dissension among brothers,” which is the antithesis of the peacemaker. In between the characteristics include lying, killing, scheming wicked things, rushing to do evil, and bearing false witness. These differ sharply from the spiritual characteristics that the Lord loves.

A Close Analysis of the Beatitudes

Probably the best way to study these beatitudes would be to work through the basic process for each one--the definitions, the backgrounds, the connections and the applications. If you were teaching the beatitudes to a class you would do better by applying each one as you discuss it, rather than to wait til the end to try to apply them one by one.

1. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The Old Testament Background. Part of the understanding of the beatitudes is to see the Old Testament background concerning these descriptions of the Messianic kingdom and the people who enter it. I mentioned Isaiah 61:1-3 before, and so this for one passage could be read. In it the Messiah would be anointed “to preach good tidings to the poor” (recall that in Luke 4 Jesus read that passage in the synagogue and said it was fulfilled in their hearing). That passage helps us a little with our understanding of “the poor.” We tend to think of the “poor” primarily in terms of finances or possessions. That is part of it, but there is a spiritual side to it too. The word Isaiah uses describes the people who had been taken into exile. They were of course poor, having their land and possessions ripped away; but they were also afflicted and oppressed, they were powerless and without hope, and they were desperate. The physical poverty was intensified by the poverty in their spirit.

The Meaning of the Text. The words that describe the poor in the Bible include these aspects, for the poor in Jesus’ day had few possessions, were usually oppressed, had little power and less hope. They had no resources to fall back on; they had to depend on others for survival. Isaiah brought the people of his day good news--they would be delivered from bondage. But Jesus fulfilled that promise of bringing good news by proclaiming the gospel, the “good news” of God. He did not make them rich in earthly possessions and power; but he fulfilled their greatest need.

People who are “poor in spirit” are those who are humble before God. They realize that they have nothing in this life that they can contribute to receiving the kingdom of heaven. They have afflicted their souls, meaning that they have humbled themselves and repented with deep contrition; and they have come to the king as helpless and hopeless sinners. There is no arrogance in them, no self-righteousness, no self-sufficiency. They are free from their own pretensions, and therefore they are free for God. Everyone who wishes to enter the kingdom must be “spiritually poor,” for salvation is a gift from God.

And that is the good news for the genuinely poor and oppressed in this world. The poor person is not excluded because of his poverty; and the rich person is not accepted because of his wealth. Both must humble themselves before the Lord in order to be part of the kingdom. It is often easier for the down and out of this world to do that, than for the rich to do it.

The blessing Jesus announces that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Now this of course does not mean that all poor people are in the kingdom. One thinks of the self-made poverty of the prodigal son. No, the poverty is not the chief thing, but the qualification of the spirit it. It is the poor in spirit, those who have humbled themselves and become dependent on God--they have the kingdom of heaven. In fact, everyone who is in the kingdom had to become poor in spirit. They all come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit seeking the Savior.

Application. The clear lesson is that if any are going to enter the kingdom of heaven they must become poor in spirit. This is the message of the kingdom; it is the call of repentance. They must humble themselves before God and acknowledge that they bring nothing of their own power, possessions or merit to gain entrance. Those who truly humble themselves and express their need of the Lord, they have the kingdom of heaven. And in this they find heavenly bliss.

So how does one become poor in spirit? The implication from the context preceding this is that one would hear the message of the kingdom and learn what kind of a kingdom it is and how to enter it--through repentance for sin and submission to the will of God. The first step is to confess that by themselves they can do nothing, and then seek the gracious provision that God has made.

A secondary application would be to develop how this attitude is to characterize the attitude of the believers who are in the kingdom. They do not simply humble themselves to get in and then become self-sufficient (although some try to do it); they are to live their lives in total dependence on God to supply their needs. This will open the study to themes such as humility, faith, prayer, and obedience.

2. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Now we have a slightly different beatitude. In the last one the promise was that those who are poor in spirit have the kingdom. Here now the promise is for the future, for those who mourn will be comforted.

Old Testament Background. Isaiah also said that the Messiah would bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim the hour when the mourners would be comforted, when their ashes would be replaced by a crown of joy, and their mourning would be replaced with the oil of gladness (61:1-3). Mourning indicates the pain and the grief and the anxieties of the soul over some loss, often the death of a loved one. But it could be over the loss of a valued life, such as those Israelites who went into exile had to mourn. Or it could be over the loss of possessions, or status, or health. People mourn over any disaster or tribulation. And in times of mourning they look for hope. And most often in this world there is little hope.

The Meaning. The focus here is on the people of God who mourn, because they will be comforted. Everyone experiences sad and tragic losses at some time or another in this life. But the mourning that leads to comfort in the kingdom is a mourning over the humiliation of Israel and its cause. The nation was in the grips of tyrannical powers and ruthless rulers--because of their sin. Jesus came and announced the kingdom was at hand; He expected the response of people would be tears of contrition (see also Isaiah 40:1). Messiah would comfort those who mourn, but the comfort would come because the Messiah would save them from their sin, the cause of the mourning.

So for mourning to be “in the faith,” it will be likewise be a mourning not just for the suffering and sadness of life, but for the sinfulness that causes it. They understand that their grieving is ultimately for a world that is lost and ruined, in which God and his will do not prevail. But in their mourning the disciples of Jesus have opened their heavy hearts to the Lord, and they know that their grieving is not without hope. They know that their weeping and grieving is but for a time only. They know that death does not have the final victory, for the dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible. They know that the Messiah will turn all that away someday. And that hope brings them comfort.

So the promise is that they will be comforted. They will be consoled above all when God wipes away all tears, and death will be no more, nor grief nor tribulation (Isa. 25:8; Rev. 21:4). This is what citizens of his kingdom can expect.

Application. The instruction here would concern the focus of the mourning, not the mourning itself. The mourning that will be comforted is the mourning of the disciples, those who have the proper understanding of the reasons for the mourning. And they will have the proper faith to see them through. As people face the sadness of life, they can do so with hope if they have mourned over sin--a clear sign of faith in the Savior.

3. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

The Old Testament Background. This beatitude is very much like the promise in Psalm 37:11, “The meek shall possess the land.” And if you study that passage you will see that it also is a Messianic psalm. The promise of the land certainly was the Promised Land.

The Meaning. In the Bible the meek are those who have a spirit of gentleness and self-control; they are free from malice and a condescending spirit. The meek may like the poor have no resources of their own; but then they may, for Moses was described as being meek and humble (Num. 12:3). But the meek do not exploit and oppress others; they are not given to vengeance and vendettas, they are not violent, and they do not try to seize power for their own ends. In short, they have emulated the nature of Jesus in their lives and learned from him. This does not mean that they are weak or ineffective in life. They may be gentle and humble, but they can and do champion the needs of the weak and the oppressed.

The promise here is that they will possess the land. What land is meant? Probably the promised land. All through the Bible this was the promise to the people of Israel, a land. But possessing the land signified much more than a possession; it signified a sense of place, security, an inheritance from God. But the land was constantly invaded and the people exiled and scattered. And yet the promise of the regathering to the land remained in the promises of the New Covenant. Those promises seem now to be realized with the second coming of the Messiah when there will be a new heaven and a new earth. The promise is for all who are in the New Covenant. And the promise will be fulfilled in a far more glorious way than anyone could imagine. The new creation will not be possessed by the powerful despots, the ruthless tyrants, or the manipulative schemers. It will be possessed by the meek.

The Application. How does one become meek? What if one’s nature is not meek? The answer to this comes from other passages of the Bible that describe how the spiritual life works. Meekness and gentleness and goodness are part of the fruit of the Spirit--they are produced in the Christian by the Holy Spirit. So the direction people should follow to cultivate a spirit of meekness would be to walk by the Spirit, or be controlled by the Spirit of God so that the qualities of Christ can be produced in and through them. That instruction alone will call for some study, but that is the way the Bible describes meekness developing.

4. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled”.

The Old Testament Background. The image of hunger and thirst compares this drive for righteousness with the deepest and most constant needs we have (see Ps. 42:3 and 63:1). Hunger and thirst constantly cry out for satisfaction; it is a basic human drive. The image then is portraying the desire to do the will of God as that constant and strong.

The Meaning. This beatitude is saying much more than most people think. It is not simply describing those who are righteous, or who try to do good things. It is describing their passion in life--they hunger and thirst for it. Like the poor and the meek these people put their lives into the hand of God and hope for his help.

We have already thought about righteousness with its meaning of conforming to the standard, i.e., doing the will of God. Here the word probably has two meanings. One would certainly be in the personal life--the strong desire to be pleasing to God, to do what God wants, to live up to the will of God. But out of this would grow the desire for righteousness in the land, for social justice in a world that is unrighteous and unjust. The desire for personal righteousness cannot be separated from the world around.

And because that is a proper desire it will be fulfilled. It may not be filled immediately, but certainly shall be in the future when the king establishes his reign of righteousness. But the promise of the King is that the desire for righteousness will be filled. Theologically this happens in several stages. The basic desire to be right with God is met by the gracious gift of righteousness. This we call justification, being declared righteous in the courts of heaven. Then, as a disciple of the Savior, the desire to do righteous works will find fulfillment by the power of the Spirit. This we call practical sanctification, becoming more and more like Christ. And in the future, when the Lord returns and establishes universal righteousness, we shall be changed. This we call glorification, being transformed into the glorious state.

The Application. Here too we must ask how this desire is developed. Most Christians are for righteousness--but how does the desire become so intense? It also has to come from the development of the spiritual life. Paul teaches that the spiritual person is one who yields his or her members as instruments of righteousness. So it begins with commitment to God’s will. Then, as the spiritual walk is guided by the Holy Spirit, He leads the believer into righteousness. And the closer one lives to the Lord, the more sensitive he or she becomes to the unrighteousness and injustice in the world. The truly spiritual person then will begin to long for righteousness.

5. “Blessed are the Merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

The Meaning. One thing that is common to the poor in spirit, the meek, and those who hunger for righteousness is that their life is not self sufficient but looks outward for help. They understand mercy for they know their own inadequacies, dependence, weaknesses and incompleteness. And, when they receive gracious and merciful bounty from the King, they in turn know to show mercy to others. Showing mercy to others includes both the forgiveness of the sinner and compassion for the suffering and the needy.

They are called blessed because they place showing mercy above their own rights; they take no hostile stand against people in need, but try to show kindness to others and heal wounds. It is not that they are merciful by nature, but because they have been shown mercy and live in constant dependence on the Lord.

And because they understand mercy and show mercy to others, the word from God is that they shall obtain mercy. Ultimately this looks forward to the coming of the king and the day of judgment when by his mercy they will be welcomed through the judgment and into the kingdom. They will receive mercy, not because they did enough good deeds, but because they understood how important mercy is in their own spiritual pilgrimage and having entered into that state of grace were eager to share it with others. They learned to forgive others because they were constantly being forgiven; they learned to show mercy to others because they were being shown mercy every day.

The Application. Here to the act of showing mercy comes from the genuine spiritual experience. People who know more of God’s mercy will be merciful. It is important, then, that people have a good understanding of the grace of God in their own lives. This will come from the experience of confession of sin and thanksgiving for forgiveness--two aspects of the believers walk that often get neglected. Christians some times get to the point of thinking that they deserved the grace they have received, and they become then intolerant of others, even judgmental. The reality of our own spiritual condition and God’s provision must never be forgotten.

6. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

The Meaning. This beatitude picks up an Old Testament image and applies it to its fulfillment in the kingdom. It describes both an inner purity and a singleness of mind. The “heart” is used in the Bible for the will, the choices. And so to be pure in heart means that the decisions one makes, the desires one has, the thoughts and intentions of the will, are untarnished by sin, and that the will is determined to be pleasing to God. From the pure of heart come only good things, acts of love and mercy, desires for righteousness and justice, decisions that please God.

The description of the human “heart” outside the household of faith is very different--at its worst it is constantly acting selfishly and causing pain (Gen. 6:5). Jesus said it was what came from the heart that defiled people, evil thoughts, impure desires, blasphemies and the like (Matt. 15:18,19). Nothing short of a change of heart will bring about a pure heart. Jesus does not explain that here; but his language of being born again will necessarily begin the process. The transformation from a heart of flesh to a pure heart will come by following Christ, but it will not be an easy or a swift change. But those who enter this kingdom of righteousness must have this new heart.

And the promise for them is that they will see God. What an incredible statement! The Bible says that no one has ever seen God (Exod. 33:18-23; 1 Tim. 6:16). People have seen appearances of the Lord in various forms, like Moses on Mount Sinai seeing the hem of the garment(Exod. 33), or the Israelite leaders eating with the Lord and seeing the God of Israel in the form of the revealed presence (Exod. 24), or an Isaiah (Isa. 6) or John (Rev. 1).

One aspect of this promise is here and now by faith--they will see God in all the events and circumstances of life. But the Bible promises much more. Here on earth the vision of God is denied to us; but one day when heaven will be opened he will be visible to our transfigured eyes. As Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes--I and not another. Howe my heart yearns within me” (Job 19:25-27).

The Application. How does one gain a pure heart? It begins with conversion when God gives us a “new heart,” and it continues through the spiritual growth as we follow Christ. Walking in the light, meaning learning to live by the word of God, will change the way we think so that our hearts will grow more and more pure. But as the light of the word reveals impurities, we must deal with them and change.

7. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.”

The Meaning. God is the God of peace; His whole plan of redemption is to provide peace with God for those who were formerly alienated from God, and ultimately bring peace to the whole world (Isa. 9:6,7). This is the goal of the work of the Messiah.

But in the human race, however, there is strife and conflict with little hope for peace and unity. The peace that God brings is not a cessation of hostilities, tolerance, or the readiness to give way. True peace that the world needs calls for a complete change of nature. And only God can give this kind of peace. It is a peace that the world does not understand (John 14:27). It begins with reconciliation with God and extends to reconciliation with other people.

Those who are peacemakers are then first and foremost people who understand what true peace is. Their effort is to strive to establish a peace that embraces God’s provision of peace, so that people will be in harmony with one another because they are at peace with God. In other words, the true peacemakers are they who promote the kingdom of God. Their lives are given to working for promoting the kingdom of God, reconciling adversaries, quenching hatred, uniting those who are divided, promoting true understanding and spiritual love. And they do this because they know what true peace is. So the quality described here is one that is spiritual and not simply a political seeking of peace.

And the promise is that they shall be called the sons of God. That means they will be true children of God. This adds to what life will be like in the kingdom--possession of land, stilling of hunger, vision of God, and now sonship. And all these begin when people enter the kingdom by faith, but will be fulfilled completely when the kingdom finally comes.

In the Old Testament “sons of God” is a description of angels, and rarely is such language used for salvation. But in the New Testament sonship is a powerful expression for salvation. It means that believers have been born into the family of God by the Holy Spirit, and that those so designated have a personal relationship with the Father through Christ the Son, that they are joint heirs with Him, that they have a place in their heavenly home by birthright. Not yet in the full sense, but truly in the certainty of the promise can believers say, “We are called the children of God” (see John 1:12,13 and 1 John 3:1).

The Application. So the disciples of Jesus should be promoting peace. They do this by spreading the Gospel of peace to the world, and by promoting reconciliation within the household of faith as well. In short, they should be doing the work of the Messiah.

8. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The Meaning. In this fallen world when people try to promote peace, or champion righteousness, or live a life of gentleness and meekness, they find opposition. One would think that such a life would attract people to the kingdom of God. But the fact that it does not naturally do that tells us clearly that the race is not only alienated from God, but in rebellion to God. They might want a form of justice, but in their own terms. They much prefer power, and privilege, and possessions. And so John the Baptist called for righteousness and went to an early death. And Jesus proclaimed all the right virtues but found opposition to his message because it called for them to enter his kingdom. And if they persecuted these, will they not also oppose the disciples?

The beatitude is not simply for all who have suffered persecution. God, as the righteous judge of the earth, will deal with that as well. But this beatitude is for followers of Christ, those who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness. And as the next verse clarifies to the disciples, that means suffering for Christ’s sake. They have been identified by faith with the King, they carry his name, and they proclaim the good news that there is a kingdom of righteousness and peace that is spiritual and eternal. But they will find opposition. Nevertheless, they should rejoice, for their reward in heaven will be great. God will make it up to them, and more.

But the blessing stated here for those who suffer such persecution in this world is that their destiny will be a complete contrast to their present humiliation--theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And that, the disciples know, is something worth dying for. But it is not a future reality only--they have it now (and so this blessing parallels the first).

The Application. The lesson would simply be that people should be living for Christ in this world, living the way members of the kingdom should live, championing righteousness and justice, showing mercy, remaining meek and poor in spirit--all the things that the beatitudes praise. But they should know that genuine righteousness is offensive to many, and so they will be prepared for opposition.

The last couple of verses have an implicit claim to deity by Jesus. In the Old Testament the prophets were persecuted because of their faithfulness to God. Now Jesus says that His disciples will be persecuted because of their faithfulness to Him. He is God.

---

¹ _ftnref1If you read widely about this portion of the Bible you will find a great range of views and interpretations. The very radical views, the skeptical views, we do not have to spend much time here discussing--that can await a more opportune time. But you should know that there is a very vocal group of teachers and writers who are teaching that practically nothing in the Gospels is true--that Jesus did none of these things, and said very few of the things he was supposed to have said. To them Matthew did not write Matthew, but the book was the product of teachings in the church from a much later period, most of which were embellished if not fabricated. This is not a new position, just better published today because of modern means. The view still means that these chapters have been fabricated, no matter how you look at it.

A less offensive view, but still somewhat problematic on several levels, is that the Sermon on the Mount is what Jesus taught, but not here and not in one sermon. The teachings have been moved from other settings to form this sermon. This view at least acknowledges that what we have in Matthew 5-7 are the teachings of Jesus himself. It simply says that Matthew has put this material together in this place to form one major address on the kingdom. In theory one could accept some of this, if it could be shown that that is exactly what Matthew did. But proving such a theory would be difficult to do.

The plain reading of the text supports the traditional view that this was a message proclaimed by Jesus. The passage begins by saying that Jesus taught them, saying . . . . And then the teachings follow one after another on the related topics of the kingdom. And then Matthew says he finished. For those who believe the Scriptures are historically true in what they affirm, it would be appropriate to say that wherever Matthew or the other writers connect a sermon or teaching to a place and time, that is where it was given. If there is no such note, then the material might have been put together.

To say Jesus delivered this sermon on the mount, then, does not necessarily mean that these are the exact words that were used. Matthew has translated the teachings into Greek; and he very well may have condensed some of the teachings and put them in his own words; and he may have appended clarifications to some of the things that are in the sermon. Comparisons with Luke and with other teachings in the Gospels may suggest some of this went on. But we can also be sure that Jesus probably preached these themes rather frequently in his Galileean ministry, and so the memory of them would reflect the oft-repeated themes. In sum, the study of the sermons and teachings of Jesus is a rather involved study and not easy to address with any certainty. We shall return to this matter (called “historical criticism”) later at the end of the study of Matthew when we summarize the various issues to be included in the study of this book. I will just say at this point that I believe that the reader can be confident that these are indeed the teachings of Jesus, and that the wording presents what Jesus said, either precisely, or in summary form (as was done with Matt. 4:17). Matthew’s record of the sermon on the mount was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that what is written in these chapters is the truth, and truly what Jesus taught in his sermon.

² There is an enormous amount of literature on the Sermon on the Mount, which, in time, you may begin to work through. But at the risk of oversimplifying the issue of the meaning and nature of the sermon, these comments will do for now.

³ Another big word, “eschatology” is the study of last things; it is the portion of doctrine that deals with the events yet to come, such as the second coming, the judgment, the eternal state. It is primarily concerned with “Messianic” events, things that Jesus the Messiah will do to fulfill all things.

⁴ You can work for the time being with whatever resources you might have, perhaps a commentary or perhaps a good dictionary. If you really get into Bible study it would be of great benefit to invest in a couple of thorough sets on the meanings of words and theological ideas--Colin Brown’s (editor) set for the New Testament, and Willem van Gemeren’s (editor) for the Old Testament. These are both several volume sets, but certainly would give you all the word study material you would need on both testaments. See the recommended lists at the end of the studies.