BEATITUDES

[Yitzchak]

I was browsing the shelves of a local used book store recently and came across a book which caught my attention. The title is "the plain man looks at the beatitudes" by William Barclay. It was published in 1963 and I have never heard of the author but it has turned out to be quite good. Anyway, in reading the first few chapters, I have come up with several questions.
First question is this. The author says that in the english the word "blessed" is rendered as a statement. He says in the Greek however that there are no verbs used and that they are exclamations and not statements. My first impulse was to say "so what?" But as he goes on to explain this means they are not promises of future happiness but rather congratulations on present bliss. Not promises of what will happen to the christian in some other world but affirmations of a present bliss for the here and now.
He says the greek word used is "makarios" . Any comments or insight on this??

 

[Crazy Liz]

The Greek word is makarios and definitely can be interpreted that way. Another popular/devotional-type book I read on the Beatitudes said it could be translated as "on the right track." I thought that was interesting.

The Beatitudes definitely are poetic, and as poetry, are rich in many levels of meaning, although economical in words.

I would say makarios deals with the here and now, but it is important to look at the second half of each beatitude, also. The first and last say, "for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" - present tense, with an actual verb. The verbs in the second half of each of the other beatitudes is in the future tense. So I would say, for the most part, they are declarations of present happiness because of a future event that is being either promised or predicted.

This is not an unusual literary form. In Luke 1:45, Elizabeth pronounces a similar blessing on Mary, using the word makarios, because she believed what the Lord promised her - i.e. a future event. Beatitudes in this form are not uncommon in Jewish literature of this period. Other examples can be found in Sirach, and a scroll of beatitudes was found at Qumran.

 

[Serapha]

I was browsing the shelves of a local used book store recently and came across a book which caught my attention. The title is "the plain man looks at the beatitudes" by William Barclay.

Hi there!



William Barclay is a tremendous writer! You should check out his commentary...

First question is this. The author says that in the english the word "blessed" is rendered as a statement. He says in the Greek however that there are no verbs used and that they are exclamations and not statements. My first impulse was to say "so what?" But as he goes on to explain this means they are not promises of future happiness but rather congratulations on present bliss. Not promises of what will happen to the christian in some other world but affirmations of a present bliss for the here and now.
He says the greek word used is "makarios" . Any comments or insight on this

The Beautitudes are meant to be exclamations! And a call to action! "Blessed!" Be blessed if...!



And in Aramaic, the beautitudes rhyme, but not in any other language.


A lot of the textual meaning is lost in translating into the Greek.


Barclay's exposition on the Beautitudes is online if you do a search for beautitudes and Barclay...


~serapha~

 

[pmarquette]

the beatitudes are a literal demonstration of Genesis 50.20 and romans 8.28

blessed are "...... " , [comma ] for they "........ " shall
problem ....................................solution

blessed are those who weep [ for time , faith , and the compassion of others will strengthen them ], for they will reap in joy [ be used by God to comfort others ]

blessed are the peace makers [ for they defeat strife ] , for they shall be called the children of God [ by faith , by impartation , by charim's are able to find middle ground between extremes ]

 

[Crazy Liz]

That is one of several levels of their meaning, PMA.