Our word study comes from the first twelve verses of the fifth chapter of the gospel of Matthew. This chapter begins with Jesus going up on the mountain, sitting down and starting to instruct his disciples concerning the principles of His kingdom while the multitudes flocked to the hillside to also hear His teaching in what is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12). The Lord began His discourse by using the word μακαριοι (Matthew 5:1-12). The Greek word 'makarioi' is an adjective which occurs approximately 50 times in the Greek New Testament and is defined by the lexicographers as meaning: "blessed, happy."F1 Vincent maintains: "Its root is supposed to be a word meaning great, and its earlier meaning appears to be limited to outward prosperity; so that it is used at times as synonymous with rich."F2 In English the word beatify means "to make happy, to bless"F3 and beatitude means "perfect blessedness or happiness."F4 In the Bible the biblical use of the word 'makarioi' took on a spiritual significance where one is "blessed" or "happy" if he exemplifies the quality of God by seeking His approval founded in righteousness. One's blessedness therefore, rests ultimately on his love to God and his personal communion with the Father in heaven. In the New Testament this word is probably more correctly translated "blessed" because the definition of "happy" is connected with luck, hap from the verb "happen."F5 Happiness can come from without, and can be dependent on circumstances; whereas, blessedness spews forth from the soul of man. It is fed by an inward fountain of joy, which no outward circumstances can seriously affect.F6 Blessedness is therefore higher than happiness for it consists of standing in a right relation to God, and so realizing the true purpose of man's being.F7 In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught that one can only be "blessed" if he humbles himself before God with a pure heart, having sorrow for sin, a meekness of character, and seeking God's approval by hungering and thirsting after righteousness. According to Christ, the blessed life can be enjoyed even by those who are unhappy or suffering, a paradox which the carnal man cannot understand. This was a foreign concept to the Greeks, who taught the blessed life was only possible for a select few and disqualified any who were ever a slave, diseased, poor, or died at a tender age, but, Jesus taught blessedness with God is possible for all humanity no matter your circumstances or station in life.
The setting of the Sermon on the Mount follows the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan (Matthew 3:13-17) and His descent from the mount of temptation (Matthew 4:8-11). We are then told: "And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom" (Matthew 4:23). The next thing in context was the Sermon on the Mount at the conclusion of which, it is recorded: "And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes" (Matthew 7:28,29). Notice, the first passage refers to His preaching as "the gospel of the kingdom," which both He and John had already announced as "at hand" (Matthew 3:1,2; 4:17). The second passage refers to His instruction as His doctrine (KJV) or His teaching (ASV). Thus, the Sermon on the Mount is the gospel of the kingdom and the doctrine of Christ! Jesus, by the divine right of His own person, as the "Son of God" (Luke 1:32,35), "full of the Holy Spirit" from His baptism in the Jordan (Luke 4:1), and "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14), "taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes" (Matthew 7:29). The scribes were merely the professional teachers whose function was to multiply copies of the law and interpret or expound it (Nehemiah 8:1-12). They later became an organized body, membership in which required examination, and they were therefore referred to as lawyers. But Christ did not merely interpret or expound the existing Mosaic Law as did the scribes. His authority was divinely inherent in Himself from the Father, derived from no predecessor. Jesus was Himself, Lawgiver, possessing legislative power and teaching "the law of the Spirit," which is "the gospel of the kingdom" with that authority (Matthew 28:18; Romans 8:2).
Just as God first gave His law to Moses on Mount Sinai, as His covenant to the children of Israel, so now Jesus, as God in the flesh, from the Mount of Beatitudes, the Sinai of the New Testament is issuing God's new covenant to all humanity. On Sinai, God inaugurated the Mosaic covenant and summarized His law with Ten Commandments carved upon tablets of stone. On the Sinai of the New Testament, Christ instituted heaven's gospel covenant to the whole creation by prefacing His kingdom principles with the beatitudes. These beatitudes introduced the discourse of Christ and described the realm of the kingdom of the heavens as a state of spiritual blessedness which produces the highest happiness of the soul. Each of the beatitudes stated a gospel principle and was a preview of Christ's kingdom, the church. Therefore, the Sermon on the Mount outlines the principles for membership into His kingdom, not an earthy reign, but "the kingdom of the heavens," which is mentioned in the present tense (Matthew 5:3,10), as having already begun. At the conclusion of His discourse, Jesus stated: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). The kingdom of the heavens was something new. Jesus declared it would require its members to be a doer, possessing an active faith. The multitudes gathered to hear Christ's gospel message surely knew a new day had come for no longer could one merely be born into covenant with God or be considered His elect by merely acknowledging that He is Lord. In order to enter into the kingdom of the heavens, membership requires one to "be doers of the word and not hearers only" (James 1:22,23). What is worthy of note is that all God has ever created, every place where He has dwelt, every covenant He has ever made, and in every place where His name is recorded God has always first blessed it (Exodus 20:24). Jesus, as God with us, follows the same precedent in the Sermon on the Mount, as He blesses all who seek a right relation to God, by entering into the kingdom of the heavens where they shall find mercy, peace, and comfort and bask in the righteousness of the Almighty.
FOOTNOTES:
F1: Joseph Henry Thayer, D.D., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1901), pg., 386.
F2: M.R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, Vol. 1 (Florida: MacDonald Publishing Company, reprint of 2nd edition 1888), pg., 27.
F3: Noah Webster, Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged Second Edition (New York; Prentice Hall Press, reprinted 1983), pg. 163.
F4: Noah Webster, Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged Second Edition (New York; Prentice Hall Press, reprinted 1983), pg. 163.
F5: Noah Webster, Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged Second Edition (New York; Prentice Hall Press, reprinted 1983), pg. 825.
F6: Rev. J. R. Dummelow, M.A., A Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1940), pg. 639.
F7: Rev. J. R. Dummelow, M.A., A Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1940), pg. 639.
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Bill Klein has been a pastor, counselor, and educator for the past 41 years. He has had extensive training and education in biblical languages, and has authored a Biblical Greek course.
He is currently serving as Professor of Biblical Greek at Master's Graduate School of Divinity, and president of BTE Ministries - The Bible Translation and Exegesis Institute of America, a non-profit organization located in California that provides Bible study tapes and Greek study materials through their website BTEMinistries.org.