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Matthew 5:10-12 Persecuted for righteousness sake 1
1. Matthew 5:10-12 Persecuted for righteousness sake 1
2. Matthew 5:9-12 Verses
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. [kjv]
5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [kjv]
5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. [kjv]
5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. [kjv]
What does "blessed" mean?Happy
What does "persecute" mean?Pursued
What does "kingdom of heaven" mean?Kingdom of the air
What does "righteousness" mean?What is "right" according to an "opinion" or "glory" or "law".
3. Psalms 1: Here come the pigs
Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of evil men. [bs3]
μακιαριος ανηρ ος ουκ επορευθη εν βουλη ασεβων και εν οδω αμαρτωλων ουκ εστη και επι καθεδραν λοιμων ουκ εκαθισεν [lxx]
Psalms 1 presents an interesting bottom-up forward-chaining progression of the toleration and acceptance of sin. It is a slippery slope. From the "
not" and "
nor", there are three ways to
avoid.
1. walking in the counsel of the ungodly (associate like "fish")
2. standing with (in the way of) sinners (condone like "pigs")
3. sitting in the seat of scornful (participate like "birds")
Barnabas makes these connections but Jesus uses each of "
fish", "
pigs", "
birds" and "
sheep" (and others) in corresponding roles.
4. Matthew 5:13-16 Context
pigs
 |
Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. [kjv]
|
fish
 |
5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. [kjv]
|
birds
 |
5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. [kjv]
|
sheep
 |
5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. [kjv]
|
Words in these verses may be
code words, have
double meanings, be
play on words, etc. The Greek words may have been changed, omitted, etc. [top-down view]
5. Matthew 5:10
KJV: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Greek: μακαριοι οι δεδιωγμενοι ενεκεν δικαιοσυνης οτι αυτων εστιν η βασιλεια των ουρανων
6. Matthew 5:11
KJV: Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Greek: μακαριοι εστε οταν ονειδισωσιν υμας και διωξωσιν και ειπωσιν παν πονηρον ρημα καθ υμων ψευδομενοι ενεκεν εμου
7. Matthew 5:12
KJV: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Greek: χαιρετε και αγαλλιασθε οτι ο μισθος υμων πολυς εν τοις ουρανοις ουτως γαρ εδιωξαν τους προφητας τους προ υμων
The Latin word
"caelis" ≈ "heavens, skies" as a plural of the Latin word
"caelum" ≈ "heaven, sky".
8. Beatitudes connections
9. Historical interpretation of church history
1 Churches
2 Parables
3 Beatitudes
4 Time periods
| Interpretations |
| ☐ Literal |
☐ Christian living |
| ☐ Figurative |
☐ Heresies over time |
| ☐ Historical |
☐ Prophetic details |
|
Note that the time of Roman persecutions was that of the universal church as a collection of small "mustard seeds" while the time of Roman acceptance was that of the universal church as "tree with birds making a home in the branches".
|
10. Historical interpretation of church history
| * |
Churches |
Parables |
Beatitudes |
Church ages |
| 1 |
Ephesus |
Sower |
Poor in Spirit |
Jesus and the Good News |
| 2 |
Smyrna |
Weeds |
They that mourn |
Roman persecutions |
| 3 |
Pergamus |
Mustard |
Meek inherit |
Roman acceptance |
| 4 |
Thyatira |
Leaven |
Hunger and thirst |
Catholic Church |
| 5 |
Sardis |
Treasure |
Merciful and alms |
Protestant Reformation |
| 6 |
Philadelphia |
Pearl |
Pure in heart |
Great Awakenings |
| 7 |
Laodicea |
Harvest |
Peacemakers |
Apostate church age |
If you do not like the historical interpretation, as prophecy, just use the model to remember the order of the Churches, Parables and Beatitudes.
11. Bottom-up forward-chaining
Matthew 11:5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. [kjv]
| Six noun‑verb pairs decoded |
| 6. |
poor=fallen, beggars |
start |
gospel=good news preached |
|
| 5. |
dead=asleep |
then |
raised=wake up you deadhead |
| 4. |
deaf=not listening |
then |
hear=listen and understand |
repent |
| 3. |
lepers=sinners |
then |
cleansed=be born again, cleansed in the blood |
Ask |
| 2. |
lame=passive |
then |
walk=active start walking in righteousness |
Seek |
| 1. |
blind=not seeing |
then |
sight=look up/ahead and see God & others |
Knock |
The
top-down verses (in English) may be more understandable as a
bottom-up progression (as events unfold in time) using the Greek meanings of the words. Approaches to change: (
stop,
repent, be
cleansed and
walk).
11:6 And blessed is he, who soever shall not be offended in me. [kjv]
… blessid… sclaundrid … [wy]
… happy … offended … [ty]
12. Inferred word
One can infer the word "
blessed" or "
happy" (same word in the Greek) for each if the parts of Matthew 11:6. One might assume that those to whom the action was done were "
blessed" or "
happy".
| 6. |
Blessed |
Happy |
those to whom Gospel preached |
| 5. |
Blessed |
Happy |
those dead woken up |
| 4. |
Blessed |
Happy |
those deaf hearing |
| 3. |
Blessed |
Happy |
those lepers cleansed |
| 2. |
Blessed |
Happy |
those lame walking |
| 1. |
Blessed |
Happy |
those blind seeing |
| 7. |
Blessed |
Happy |
those not deceived |
If the "
Blessed" or "
Happy" had been added to each part by Jesus, the patterns presented would have been much easier to detect.
13. Comparison summary
Here is a summary table of the comparison of the parts of Matthew 11:5 (reverse order) and Matthew 11:6 and the Beatitudes.
| * |
Beatitudes |
Matthew 11:5‑6 |
|
ASK |
| 1 |
Poor in Spirit |
6. Gospel preached |
receive Good News |
|
| 2 |
They that mourn |
5. dead woken up |
receive comfort |
|
| 3. |
Meek inherit |
4. deaf hear |
listen and called to inherit |
grace |
| 4. |
Hunger and thirst |
3. lepers cleansed |
outside pure and satisfied |
ask |
| 5. |
Merciful and alms |
2. lame walk |
alms taker to alms giver |
seek |
| 6. |
Pure in heart |
1. blind see |
inside pure and satisfied |
knock |
| 7. |
Peacemakers |
7. misinterpret |
danger of self‑deception |
|
The rest of the Sermon on the Mount (102 verses) fills out these details. Much of this has to do with what to do, what not to do, and deceptions or traps to avoid.
14. Matthew 5: A eulogy of some blessed words on being blissfully happy
Each of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 start with the word
"blessed". What does it mean to say someone is "
blessed"?
The Latin word
"beati" ≈ "happy, fortunate, blessed" and is the origin of the English word
"beatitude" and the name of the "
Beatitudes". Latin has
one word as "
fortunate" for which Greek has
two separate words:
"blessed" from the Greek "happy" or "content".
"blessed" from the Greek "good words" as in "eulogy".
Observation: It is easier for a priest, pastor, etc., to wave their hands and
"bless" you than to actually make you
"happy".
In English, both words are merged as one
"blessed" and, historically, conflated with the word "
bliss" which is associated with "
joy".
15. Greek language translation
1 Greek language
2 Language dictionaries
3 Modified dictionary
|
The Bible dictionary used by pastors, etc. is often explained away as being a different Greek, the Koine Greek, that the people spoke, with special idioms of Greek. Changes are often attributed to:
☐ Koine Greek being different than Ancient Greek.
☐ Originally written in Aramaic. Koine Greek had many idioms.
☐ English changing over the years.
A problem arises when ancient, medieval and modern Greek, as one continuous language, have the same meaning for the same word but the Koine Greek definition is different and matches the Latin word used to translate that Greek word in the 4th century. This happens with many important words but not so much with less important words. Suspicion arises when the common Greek meaning makes more sense in the Bible text than the English word based on the Latin word.
[language
ambiguity,
preciseness of Greek language fallacy]
16. The Greek language - then and now
Here is an
incomplete custom-generated chart from 2015. Almost half of the words in a modern Greek translation of the Bible are the same as in the original.
Width of bar corresponds to book length. Genesis at left. Revelation at right.
Words are considered the same if a Bible Greek word is in a modern Greek dictionary.
Proper nouns are often the same but not accounted for here.
17. Philippians: Bible and modern Greek word comparison
18. Nature and law and justice
In his
On Sophistic Refutations, Aristotle says that from ancient times, nature (truth) and law (opinion) are opposites and that justice goes with the law (opinion) but not with nature (truth).
English: Nature and Law are opposites, and justice is a good thing according to the law but not according to nature. Loeb #400, p. 73.
Greek: ἐναντία γὰρ εἶναι φύσιν καὶ νόμον, καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην κατὰ νόμον μὲν εἶναι καλόν, κατὰ φύσιν δ´ οὐ καλόν Sophistic Refutations [173b]
"φύση" ≈ "nature, reality" (reality truth) as in "physics".
"νόμος" ≈ "custom, law" (opinion truth) as in "Deuteronomy" as in "second law".
"δικαιοσύνη" ≈ "righteousness, justice".
19. Truth and opinion
20. Stair analogy
A stair analogy can be used to help understand
top-down design and
bottom-up implementation.
The goal is the top of the stairs.
The start is the bottom of the stairs.
Implementation:
Do it: 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 (same either way)
Design: When it works,
top-down tends to be
better.
Think bottom-up: 1 then 2 then 3 then 4 then 5 (start to goal)
Think top-down: 5 if 4 if 3 if 2 if 1 (goal to start)
21. Matthew 5:10-12 Persecuted for righteousness sake 2
Matthew 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [kjv]
5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. [kjv]
5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. [kjv]
Jesus appears to use a
top-down presentation right before and during the
"salt" verses. Let us go
backwards for the three verses before the
"salt" verse.
Matthew 5:15 (candles), 14 (light), 13 salt of the earth.
Matthew 5:12 (candles), 11 (light), 10 (salt) (pursuing as persecution)
One similarity in verses 12, 11 and 10 is the Greek word for
"pursue" that is translated as
"persecution". The
focus in the
"salt" verse is usually that of
"walked on" or
"trampled". What meaning might the
"walking" as
"pursuing" or
"persecution" have in the
"salt" verse?
22. Continued
23. End of page
