The Beatitudes of Jesus the Messiah

Daily, I receive "John Stott Bible Study" via emails from Langham Partnership. On March 4, 2020, they started sending Stott's studies on the Sermon on the Mount. Here are some summary statements about the Beatitudes, with which the sermon starts.

"The beatitudes set forth the balanced and variegated character of Christian people. They are eight qualities of the same group."

Here are the Beatitudes with additional comments/clarifications from Stott:

• Poor in spirit - one who is humble and contrite in spirit (J. Stott, from e.g., Isaiah 66:2 and others)

• Mourn - one who mourns over sin, including/particularly one’s own sin

• Meek - one who is humble and gentle towards others

• Hunger and thirst for righteousness 

• Merciful

• It is ‘the meek’ who are also ‘the merciful’. For, to be meek is to acknowledge to others that we are sinners; to be merciful is to have compassion on others, for they are sinners too” (J. Stott).

• Pure in heart - one who is utterly sincere.

• Peacemakers - Peacemakers are:

• called to peace (1 Cor.7:15)

• actively to ‘pursue’ peace (1 Pet.3:11),

• to ‘strive for peace with all men’ (Heb.12:14), and

• so far as it depends on them, to ‘live peaceably with all’ (Rom.12:18).

• Persecuted for righteousness

The following is intended to help focus on the benefits of having these characteristics. 

Do you want:

• To be a part of the kingdom of God?  Then be humble and contrite in spirit, trusting in the Lord.

• To be comforted?  Then mourn over sin with God’s help.

• To inherit the earth?  Then be humble and gentle towards others with God’s help.

• To be satisfied because you drink and taste righteousness?  Then long for it with God’s help.

• To receive mercy?  Then be merciful with God’s help.

• To be a child of God?  Then be a peacemaker with God’s help.

• To see God?  Then be utterly sincere with God’s help.

• To be a part of God’s kingdom?  Then be persecuted for righteousness because of being the above.

Stott concluded the Beatitudes with this terrific summary:

"The beatitudes paint a comprehensive portrait of a Christian disciple. We see him first alone on his knees before God, acknowledging his spiritual poverty and mourning over it. This makes him meek and gentle in all his relationships, since honesty compels him to allow others to think of him what before God he confesses himself to be. Yet he is far from acquiescing in his sinfulness, for he hungers and thirsts after righteousness, longing to grow in grace and in goodness.

"We see him next with others, out in the human community. His relationship with God does not cause him to withdraw from society, nor is he insulated from the worlds pain. On the contrary, he is in the thick of it, showing mercy to those battered by adversity and sin. He is transparently sincere in all his dealings and seeks to play a constructive role as a peacemaker. Yet he is not thanked for his efforts, but rather opposed, slandered, insulted and persecuted on account of the righteousness for which he stands and the Christ with whom he is identified.

"Such is the man or woman who is ‘blessed’, that is, who has the approval of God and finds self-fulfillment as a human being."