Chapter 5 begins with Matthew’s version of The Beatitudes. While Luke addresses the hearer “Blessed are the poor” Matthew has changed the beatitudes to sound more like general principles. He adds the phrase poor in spirit. It does not mean one who is weak in spirit but rather one who looks to God alone to preserve him in the midst of his afflictions. He does not live out of his own resources, nor is he relying on his own achievements to overcome the seemingly overwhelming difficulties that he faces. His trust is in God. Matthew uses righteousness in a new sense of holy living. Only those wholly devoted to obedience will be found worthy to see the new age. The heart here is understood to be the center of the inner life, the source of thought and understanding. Jesus’ mission is announced to fulfill the law not abolish it. Jesus, in contrast to Moses, addresses not external laws, but interior laws of thought. Moses gives us the ten commandments “Thou shall not kill.” Jesus gives us The Beatitudes to address the spiritual attitudes of wanting to kill, just as dangerous as the actual action. If a person adopts this mode of living Jesus promises the sonship of God. Thus, humans adopt a new goal and mode of life patterned after the very nature of God himself. Chapter 6 gives us Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer. By the end of Chapter 7 it is clear that Jesus is more than a scribe who interprets the law of Judiasm, appealing to legal precedent for his authority. Jesus did not appeal to authorities; he had authority.
Chapter 5 begins with Matthew’s version of The Beatitudes. While Luke addresses the hearer “Blessed are the poor” Matthew has changed the beatitudes to sound more like general principles. He adds the phrase poor in spirit. It does not mean one who is weak in spirit but rather one who looks to God alone to preserve him in the midst of his afflictions. He does not live out of his own resources, nor is he relying on his own achievements to overcome the seemingly overwhelming difficulties that he faces. His trust is in God. Matthew uses righteousness in a new sense of holy living. Only those wholly devoted to obedience will be found worthy to see the new age. The heart here is understood to be the center of the inner life, the source of thought and understanding. Jesus’ mission is announced to fulfill the law not abolish it. Jesus, in contrast to Moses, addresses not external laws, but interior laws of thought. Moses gives us the ten commandments “Thou shall not kill.” Jesus gives us The Beatitudes to address the spiritual attitudes of wanting to kill, just as dangerous as the actual action. If a person adopts this mode of living Jesus promises the sonship of God. Thus, humans adopt a new goal and mode of life patterned after the very nature of God himself. Chapter 6 gives us Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer. By the end of Chapter 7 it is clear that Jesus is more than a scribe who interprets the law of Judiasm, appealing to legal precedent for his authority. Jesus did not appeal to authorities; he had authority.
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