The Beatitudes

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Hey everybody:wave:

Can anyone explain the meaning of the beatitudes to me? Are they meant to be literal or metaphorically?

Thanks in advance
RA:D
 
It would help if you could be more explicit by what you mean by metaphorical here. In any case, The Beatitudes is part of the larger sermon of Jesus known as the Olivette Discourse; this is Jesus’ longest sermon, encompassing Matthew 5-7. Jesus is very explicit here about His view on justification (and hence, why sola fide could not be reconciled with His view on justification, but that is another issue). I would suggest reading the whole Discourse, though the Beatitudes in a way summarizes His thoughts that range in those chapters.
 
The Beatitudes are not metaphors; however, they *are *profoundly spiritual. Often called the “blueprint” for the kingdom of God, they are a brief synopsis of how we are to live as citizens of this new kingdom now, and when it is fully fulfilled in heaven. If the Creed is technical data of **what **we are to believe, the Beatitudes are the practical model and instructions on how we are to live, and serve as a kind of introduction to the remaining Sermon on the Mount, especially in Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 5–7.

Here are a series of articles from the very reliable “Rosary Light & Life” page which I am sure you will find helpful.

rosary-center.org/ll58n3.htm
rosary-center.org/ll58n4.htm
rosary-center.org/ll58n5.htm
rosary-center.org/ll58n6.htm
rosary-center.org/ll59n1.htm
rosary-center.org/ll59n2.htm
rosary-center.org/ll59n3.htm
 
Not that the Beatitudes are metaphorical, but certainly one or two of them are far from obvious - what does it really mean to be ‘poor in spirit’ after all?
 
LilyM said:
Not that the Beatitudes are metaphorical, but certainly one or two of them are far from obvious - what does it really mean to be ‘poor in spirit’ after all?
Click to expand...
To be “poor in spirit” means to recognize your dependence on God in all things and to not depend on created things in place of God. The poor have little to rely upon but God. It does not necessarily call for giving up all your worldly possession - after all Jesus had many wealthy friends, but it does recognize that love of money is the root of evil and putting things (like wealth) above God is idolatry.
 
The beatitudes seemed, for a long time, to be a rather random collection of sayings of somewhat mysterious meaning. But one day for no particular reason that I recall, they seemed to make a lot more sense.

Jesus begins his teaching of the sermon on the mount by reaching out to the most miserable and wretched of sinners and showing them how to reach towards God’s kingdom and become strong in the faith.

Consider this:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of God is theirs”

Translation : When your life has failed completely and you are absolutely miserable, you now have the chance to start over and do things right according to God’s ways rather than the ways of the many false god’s that pull at us. This is good news.

“Blessed are those who mourn, they shall be comforted.”

Translation: The failure of your past life does cause sorrow but we can know that God is willing to comfort us.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.”

Translation: In building your new life, you don’t need to go out and grab God’s kingdom from someone else or shout out how much better you are than others. God is in charge. All you have to do is follow Him.

The next beatitudes about being single-hearted, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, a peacemaker, are all about how a person becomes strong in their faith.

When a person has strength in their faith, then they can stand up even to persecution - thus becoming a true witness to their faith.

I take them to be quite literal, if expressed somewhat poetic

peace

Jim
 
Here is what Augustine has to say on being ‘poor in spirit’…’

The fear of God corresponds to the humble, of whom it is here said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,”
*i.e. *those not puffed up, not proud: to whom the apostle says, “Be not high-minded, but fear;”33 *i.e. *be not lifted up.
 
Looking at my previous post I realize I failed to mention one of the most important. (I guess they are all important)

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy”

Is a great thing to remember as we are trying to get better at seeking God’s kingdom. We will make mistakes on the way and moving on from those mistakes will be a lot easier if we are willing to forgive others for their mistakes

Jim
 
We are doing Jeff Cavin’s Matthew study in our Sunday morning bible study. We just finished with Matthew 5 and I have to say that I have a new appreciation for the Beatitudes. So much so that I have determined to memorize the Sermon on the Mount. It is a great source of comfort and a wonderful guideline for living my life. One of my personal favs from Matt 5 is regarding those who ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness…’ Here is another quote from Augustine…i’m on a big Augustine kick right now:)

Fortitude corresponds to those hungering and thirsting: for they labour in earnestly desiring joy from things that are truly
good, and in eagerly seeking to turn away their love from earthly and corporeal things: and of them it is here said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
 
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