Such an expansion should not be charged to Luke himself, but is
to the line of tradition from which he drew his material. t
The blessedness which Jesus in His Beatitudes affirms of men who attain to the character and per- form the service therein described, belongs both to the present and to the future. In one aspect it is eschatological: the endless future of such men is assured as one of perfect happiness, glory, and com- munion with God. Since Jewish hopes and ex- pectations were largely eschatological, Jesus met them on this ground. But the blessedness which Jesus promised belonged also, and primarily, to the present life ; in His teaching Jesus constantly kept the present life clearly and strongly to the front. Jesus’ Beatitudes, just as the Beatitudes of the
* For this view see Campbell, Cvitical Studies in St. Luke’s Gospel (1891), ch. 2; Rogge, Der irdische Besitz im NT (1897), pp. 9-68; Peabody, Jesus Christ and the Social Question (1901), pp. 190-201 ; Schmiedel in Hneyel. Bibi. vol. ii. col. 1841; Cone, ftich and Poor in the NT (1902), pp. 118-142; and J. Weiss, Predigt Jesu vom Reiche Gottes2 (1900), p. 182 f., who says: ‘There can no longer be any doubt that Luke [in his Beatitudes] aims to draw a sharp contrast between the different external social conditions ; his Beatitudes contain nothing of an ethical or religious element.’
+ Mathews, Social Teaching of Jesus, ch. 6; Peabody, op. cit. ch. 4; Rogge, op. cit. pp. 1-68.
{ The authenticity of the Woes in Lk 62426 is defended by Wendt, Lehre Jesu, ii. 168f.; Bacon, Sermon on the Mount, p. 126; O. Holtzmann, Leben Jesu, p. 187; and by Plummer, Comm. on Luke, p. 181£., who says : ‘There is no evidence that these were not part of the original discourse. Assuming that Matthew and Luke report the same discourse, Matthew may
have omitted them. But they may have been spoken on some
other occasion.’ On the other hand, many reject them. Tholuck, Bergrede5, p, 54 (Eng. tr. p. 62): ‘Unquestionably, these Woes must be regarded as an expansion of the thought by the recorder of the narrative.’ H. Holtzmann, Synoptiker, j
p. 102: ‘The Woes of Luke were constructed for the purpose of — |
strengthening and explaining [the Beatitudes] according to the model of Dt 2715-26, Is 58-23, and not without a remembrance of Jer 5%1, Mic 211.’ Similarly B. Weiss, Feine (Jahrb. f. Protest. Theol. 1885, p. 15f.), Wernle (Synoptische Frage, p. 62), Schleier- macher, Strauss. F. H. Woods, Hapos. Times, 1893, p. 256, says: The first Christians ‘aimed at giving the general sense rather than the exact words. We can easily understand, e.g., an early preacher so repeating the Beatitudes as to give them in what may be called a negative as well as a positive form ; especially when by so doing he would be making a more’ exact parallel between the blessings and cursings of the old law and the bless- ings and cursings of the new law. Such a modification of Christ’s language might arise in course of time quite uncon. sciously, when we remember how often so striking a portion of our Lord’s teaching must haye been repeated to catechumens,’
id
SERMON ON THE MOUNT
Psalms, have to do first of all with present well- being. The term paxdpos appears in this con- nexion, as always,* to refer to that condition of true well-being which results from committing one’s self wholly to God, with the purpose of living according to His will; it connotes also the effect produced by this status, namely, the peace and joy arising from the consciousness of God’s approval and blessing, and the feeling that one’s present and future well-being is assured. The conception of blessedness in Mt 5*-!?is not essentially different from that which the OT at its best had already presented, but Jesus perfected and exalted the idea of blessedness, setting it before men with a new attractiveness and power. That Jesus’ Beatitudes re-echo the highest ideals and promises of the Psalms and of the Prophets has been frequently and truly noted; both the conceptions and the
hrases stand in the closest relation to the OT.
n the Beatitudes, as everywhere in His teaching, Jesus was building upon the foundation of the Hebrew religion, fulfilling it, z.e. perfecting it and establishing it.
The Beatitudes consist each of two phrases: the one expresses the condition, the other the result ; the one states the character or service to be attained, the other the blessedness of attaining it. In neither portion of the sayings are the phrases used by Jesus new ones; on the contrary, they are taken up by Him from the OT and current Jewish ter- minology, and turned to good account in His own teaching, receiving from Him a larger, higher im- port. Thus the phrases the ‘ poor,’ the ‘mourners,’ the ‘meek,’ the ‘hungering and thirsting,’ the ‘merciful,’ the ‘ pure in heart,’ the ‘ peacemakers,’ the ‘ persecuted,’ are staple conceptions and terms of the OT and of the Judaism of Jesus’ day. And the same thing is true of those ideas and phrases which constitute the second members of the Beati- tudes, the ‘Kingdom of Heaven,’ the ‘comfort of the afflicted,’ the ‘entering into possession of the earth,’ the ‘satisfaction of longing for righteous- ness and truth,’ the ‘seeing God,’ and the ‘ becom- ing sons of God.’+ Jesus’ use of OT and current religious terminology served to form an essential connexion between His hearers and Himself; but He did not use it as a mere matter of expedience, a pedagogical device to gain the attention and con- fidence of His hearers; rather He used it because He found an essential unity between His own ideas and those of the Hebrew prophets. These phrases in their highest meaning were rooted in fundamental spiritual needs, realities, and aspirations such as Jesus came to satisfy, to proclaim, and to fulfil.