Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5:3-12
To me the beatitudes are not a list of qualifications which determine my acceptance into the kingdom of God. Rather, I consider them as both gifts given to me in Christ, and powerful promises held out to me by Christ.
I see them as gifts in sense that they are spoken of as qualities granted to me as a disciple if Christ. Jesus wasn’t speaking abstractly or in generalities in the beatitudes, He associates these blessings with the “you” who were listening to Him. If I am one of the “you,” one of His disciples, I am granted and assigned these qualities by Jesus. But is it right for me to receive these blessings and identify myself with them, even if I am not really, in my experience, poor in spirit, or a peacemaker? One half of the answer to this question is yes. In as much as the beatitudes are perfect descriptions of the character of Jesus Himself, they become traits which are gloriously imputed to me also, in Him. Because I am in Christ, and Christ is perfectly poor in spirit, I can be declared to be poor in Spirit, or mourning, or gentle. I inherit these qualities in Christ. But that’s only half the answer.
The imputation of Christ’s righteousness, mysteriously by God’s grace, goes to work in me to transform me and make me progressively more righteous. God both declares that I am “of the kind (of Christ)” who hungers and thirsts after righteousness by imputation, and then begins to actually make me hunger and thirst after righteousness.
These blessings are both gifts and means, both fact and promise. The blessings are powerful promises through which I have the means of truly becoming poor in spirit, gentle, and pure in heart.
Having imputed these qualities to me in Christ, he effectually motivates my soul to experientially hunger after righteousness. For the promises held forth in these blessings, creates an object for my faith to lay hold of. As I desire to enter the kingdom of God, as I long for His comfort, as I want an eternal inheritance, as I seek satisfaction and mercy, as I look forward to the day I will see God and be adopted into God’s family, as I look joyfully and gladly to an eternal reward, God transforms me. These promises provoke my faith and cause me to pursue these blessings.
In as much as I do not see these qualities as realities in my life today, I should not reinterpret them out of fear of be excluded from the promises. Rather, I should first rejoice that my righteousness is not my own. I’ve inherited Christ’s righteousness and so I qualify based on His character and His action. Second, I should not think that such characteristics do not need to be actually present in my life. I should, by faith in the promises held forth, pursue them and watch for God, plead for Go, to produce them genuinely in my life. I should seek that my heart become consistent with these precious qualities given to me in Christ.
O Lord, “Establish Thy Word to Thy servant, as that which produces reverence for Thee.” Ps 119:38
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