3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matthew 5:3-12 KJV)
Thomas Haweis’ Commentary
Verses 3-12: To be happy is the universal desire; but while all pursue this as their aim, few, very few attain the accomplishment of their wishes; and the reason is evident: they mistake both where man’s true happiness consists, and the means which lead to it; consequently are ever bewildered in a fruitless search, and tormented with continual disappointment. To divert us from our wrong pursuits, to inform us what is our true good, and to direct us to the attainment of real blessedness, is the gracious design of our adored Lord. Yet, to many, the doctrines he advances will appear paradoxical and strange; though, blessed be his name, every enlightened and converted soul will own, that, however strange they seem to others, they are found by his happy experience, to be indeed the true sayings of God.
In eight characters Christ shows wherein true blessedness consists; and pronounces on each, Blessed are ye: at present they are the truly happy souls on earth, and their reward awaiteth them eternally in heaven. O may this blessedness be mine!
The first beatitude:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Wherein then does this poverty of spirit consist? I answer, (1.) In a deep and humbling sense of our own spiritual wants and wretchedness, which brings off the sinner from every dependence upon his own goodness for acceptance with God, and his own abilities to walk and please him, to a constant renunciation of himself, to a repose in his confidence on the blood and righteousness of Jesus alone, as his title to God’s regard, and on the grace of Jesus for all-sufficiency to think or act aright. (2.) In an entire resignation of ourselves to God, and contentment with our lot; sitting loose to the world, and all the things of it; in poverty cheerful, our minds conformed to our condition; in prosperity humble, condescending, kind, and sympathizing with the necessitous. (3.) In low thoughts of ourselves, our abilities, attainments, and possessions, of whatever kind: in honour preferring others to ourselves, the last and least in our own opinion, and seeing much, very much to humble us, in the view of our misimprovement of those blessings which God hath bestowed on us, and in which he hath made us to differ from others. Now such as these are blessed in the present satisfaction arising from the exercise of such a spirit and temper, and in a happy freedom from the murmurs, repinings, discontent, and mortifications, which make the proud and discontented perpetually uneasy. They are blessed with the experience of God’s love and favour, who looks with delight and approval on him that is poor and of a contrite spirit: and, as the summit of all felicity; theirs is the kingdom of heaven; the riches of the kingdom of grace below, and all the unsearchable riches of Christ and glory above, are their assured and eternal portion.
The second beatitude:
Blessed are they that mourn. We are apt to count mourners miserable, and to judge of happiness by the smiles of the countenance; but Christ teaches us a different lesson. Not that all who mourn are blessed; there is the mourning of discontent, the sorrow of the world that worketh death, the inconsolable tears of those who lament, like Micah, after their idols, and the melancholy of despair: these bring a curse and torment, instead of a blessing. The mourning here commended is, (1.) A penitential mourning over sin, in the views of our base ingratitude; a mourning after God, under darkness and desertion; a mourning over the dishonour brought upon him by the impieties of the wicked, and the unfaithfulness of his people; a mourning over the distresses of the miserable, and especially a mourning over lost souls, which makes our tears, like those of Jesus, flow, while we are pouring forth before God our fervent prayers on their behalf. These are blessed: the tears shed for sin have a sweetness unutterable: a sacred pleasure mingles with them, to which all the noisy mirth of fools, exclusive of the heaviness which succeeds, is not to be compared; and they are the seed of eternal joy: for they shall be comforted, here below in a sense of God’s love shed abroad in their hearts, in the consolations arising from a sense of pardoning love, in the sacred delight of beholding sinners turned from the evil of their ways; and, hereafter, in the eternal fruition of God, and the inconceivable blessedness thence arising, when every tear shall be wiped from our eyes, and we shall drink of pure, unsullied, and eternal pleasures, as out of a river.
The third beatitude:
Blessed are the meek. Respecting God, submissive to his word and providences; never replying against the one, or murmuring against the other: respecting man, mild, inoffensive, easy to be entreated, unmoved with provocation, forbearing and forgiving, resenting no injuries, actuated by no private revenge, in patience and peace possessing their souls; yet not mean-spirited, cowardly, and tame, through fear of man; but while in either own cause gentle as the lamb, in the cause of God and truth bold as lions; zealous to maintain the rights of others, while they recede from their own; and steady patrons of the injured and absent. They are blessed; they are, like their Lord, happy in themselves; beloved of all who know the value of such a spirit, and dear in the sight of God. They shall inherit the earth, shall have as much of this present world as is for their good; but above all, and what seems here chiefly intended, they shall have a part in that better new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, and be counted inheritors among the saints in light.
The fourth beatitude:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. The righteousness here spoken of as the object of desire is, (1.) The imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, which the guilty sinner who feels his spiritual nakedness, eagerly longs for, as the famished cry for food, or the parched throat craves the cooling draught, assured without it he must perish. (2.) The implanted righteousness which the Spirit of Jesus communicates: and for this the poor and helpless sinner hungers more than for his daily bread; inasmuch as the life and health of his soul are infinitely preferable to the life and health of his body. These are blessed souls, for every such desire is in a measure the proof of our possessing the righteousness after which we pant; and they shall be filled out of the fullness of Jesus, who hath enough of both to supply all our wants, to make them completely righteous in himself here, and to fill them with joy and peace in believing, and hereafter to perfect them in holiness, and bring them to happiness eternal.
The fifth beatitude:
Blessed are the merciful. This is the most amiable character of God, and herein his people resemble him. (1.) Mercy is their temper; they have a heart that can be touched with human wretchedness; and though they may not have it always in their power to relieve, they are ever tenderly compassionate towards the distresses of the miserable. (2.) Mercy is their practice; so far as their power extends, they are ready to show mercy: yea, they take delight therein, and count this work its own reward. They are merciful to men’s souls; pitying and instructing the ignorant, warning the unruly, comforting the feeble minded, helping the weak, and labouring to snatch the wicked as brands from the burning. They are merciful to men’s bodies; relieving the necessities of the poor, the friendless, and the destitute; they are eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, physicians to the sick, supports to the aged and infirm; ready to assist with their advice, their purse, or influence; according to the various distresses of those who apply to them: yea, diligent to discover those objects of modest worth and neglected indigence, that are ashamed or backward to apply for relief. They are merciful even to the brute beasts; not only their servants and labourers are never vexed with unreasonable burdens; their very cattle share their clemency, and own the kind and tender master. This is blessedness. They who are thus like God in spirit, will taste something of divine felicity; and of all the joys beneath the sun, none will be found comparable with the exalted pleasure of doing good. And they shall obtain mercy; such merciful ones plead no merit; the more they are enabled to do, the less opinion they entertain of their deserts, as every advance in grace brings proportionably greater light, and therewith greater humility. They cast themselves, therefore, wholly on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and they shall find mercy of the Lord in the great day; and more they need not wish for, since his mercy includes eternal life and glory.
The sixth beatitude:
Blessed are the pure in heart; who, by faith, are cleansed from all allowed hypocrisy, covetousness, pride, and sensuality; jealous to keep themselves unspotted from the world; maintaining undefiled religion; in simplicity and godly sincerity walking with God; and desiring, as the summit of their happiness, to be perfect as their Father who is in heaven is perfect. They are blessed in the present paths of pleasantness and peace in which they go, and they shall see God as the consummation of all felicity; be with him where he is; be like him as he is; and, from the light of his countenance, and the constant effusions of his love, drink in blessedness unutterable and eternal.
The seventh beatitude:
Blessed are the peace-makers; men of peace themselves, and desirous to cultivate the like disposition among others; following it with all men, as far as is consistent with truth and purity; averse to all disputes and angry contentions; softening the spirits of the exasperated; and kindly interposing, though sometimes at the expense of much ill will, to repair the breaches, and heal the divisions, which the fiery and self-willed spirits of others have occasioned; the first to forgive, the last to be offended; and, where others prepare themselves for battle, still ready, though injured, to seek reconciliation. Such men shall be blessed in their deed: they shall be accounted faithful subjects of the Prince of peace, and be called the children of God, who is the God of peace; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, appointed to reign with him in glory everlasting.
The eighth beatitude:
Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. All who follow Christ must expect his cross; and every godly man, as long as a child of wickedness is in the world, must suffer persecution of one kind or other: where power is with oppressors, there it will extend to fines, imprisonment, and even death itself. Where milder governments give protection from severe injuries, there reviling, falsehood, insult, ridicule, and vile misrepresentation will be the lot of Christ’s disciples. Various pretexts, indeed, are commonly used to give a nice sounding colouring to this conduct in lands professing godliness, as if it was not righteousness men persecuted, but what they were pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other opprobrious name: but whatever occasional offences may have been given, the ground and root of the malignity shown against the people of God is, their profession of the doctrines of the divine righteousness, which the proud and wise men must ever scoff at; and the practice of experimental godliness which is equally reproving and offensive to the formal and profane: on which accounts therefore, now and ever, the few faithful must expect to follow Jesus bearing his reproach. But however they are regarded among men, they are pronounced blessed by the Author of all blessing, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Nor need any now marvel at these things among us, when among God’s professing people of old, the prophets were so persecuted before us, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah, &c. and therefore we are commanded to rejoice and be exceeding glad to be numbered among such worthies; and expect that great reward in glory which God hath promised to those who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek, with them, glory, honour, and immortality.