+ Mt 57 paxcpion of trchoves, ors adrol tAenOhoovres. Luke has no parallel.
t So closely connected are the two ideas that the Heb. 77s, which more commonly should be and is represented in the LXX by dizesoctyy, is at times translated by éAenuocivy; cf. Dt 625 2413, Ps 245 335 1036, Is 127. In the Sermon passage Mt 61 tAenmoctvyy appears as a variant reading of Sixesoovyyy; the former, however, is not strongly attested (EL against NBD), and is accepted by few scholars.
§ So H. Holtzmann, B. Weiss, Wendt; cf. Ps 33°,
and gave them great
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rominence in His instruc- tion. Mercy is twofold: subjective and objective. Subjectively, mercy requires that a man shall be loving and forgiving towards all; not revengeful nor cherishing ill-will; not thinking evil of others (Mt 1821-85, 1 Co 137, Eph 4°"). Objectively, mercy requires that a man shall show deep, inexhaustible sympathy with all his fellows, manifesting itself in unremitting, helpful service, and in a loving considerateness towards all (Mt 5:48 910-18 127 2581-46, Lk 10-37 1619-31, Ro 12921, Gal 53, Col 32-14] Jn 34-18), It is striking that in the Beati- tudes no specific mention is made of love, although love (towards God and man) is proclaimed by Jesus as the sum of all duty (Mt 22%”, cf. Ro 13°, Gal 54), And farther on in the Sermon, at Mt 5*-48, the duty of love is explicitly taught. But the fact is, that although the term ‘love’ does not appear in the Beatitudes, yet the idea of love underlies every one of them. Roughly grouped, the first four concern love to God, the last four love tomen. All that the eight Beatitudes contain is but an application of the principle of love to the most important aspects of life, formulating more specifically what love requires in the essential ex- perience and relations of human existence.
The mercy of God precedes the mercy of men, and is its prototype. Inasmuch as God is merciful towards men, He rightly requires that men shall be merciful towards one another. In the parable of the Unmerciful Servant this is most impressively taught, Mt 187%, And as the last verse of the passage sets forth, unless men show mercy in their relations to each other, God cannot ultimatel deal mercifully with them; cf. also Mt 6", Mk 11%, Eph 4”, Ja 2%, This is not retaliation on God’s part. If it seems severe, itis yet a necessary provision to the end that love may triumph in His world. If love is to transform all and to reign supreme, then what is unloving must disappear.
(6) ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’* The phrase ‘ pure in heart’ occurs in Ps 731 (225 12, LXX rots edOéor 7H Kapdia) and in Ps 244 (ano 12, LXX xadapds 7H xapdia); cf. also Ps 512°. In the NT the phrase is only twice used (1 Ti 1’, 2 Ti 2), although the thought is all-pervasive. The term xapdia, corresponding to the Hebrew 24 and in the NT deriving its signification there- from, denotes the essential personality, the inner central self, where all feeling, thought, and action originate.+ In its dative form here it indicates the sphere in which the purity is predicated, like 7@ wvevare in the first Beatitude. By ‘purity of heart’ is meant that profound sincerity and up- rightness of thought and feeling which produces an honest, clean, holy life in all its elements and relations. It does not need to be said that this condition of things can exist only where the indi- vidual is committed, body and soul, to the love and obedience of God, and regards all men as his brethren and himself as a sacred trust. Jesus has in mind the superficial standards of goodness which prevailed in His day. The rich young man had kept all the commandments from his youth, and yet his heart was set upon his material possessions (Mk 1017*!); the Pharisees outwardly appeared righteous unto men, but within they were full of hypocrisy and iniquity (Mt 2375-5), Against such shallow, false conceptions of right living, Jesus most emphatically sets the duty of real righteousness, of purifying the fountain of a man’s life in order that what flows from it may indeed be pure.
That the ‘pure in heart’ ‘shall see God’ is an
* Mt 58 pozcepior of xoeDopol 7% xecpdice, Ors abrol cov Dedy opovrecs. Luke has no parallel.
+See Wendt, Lehre Jesu, ii. 116-121; Cremer, Bibi.-Theol. Worterbuch7 (1892), in loc.; art. HEarv in vol. ii,
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essential result of their character, not a mere un- related reward for their goodness. Nor is this seeing of God a solely eschatological event; for, while the perfect vision of Him belongs to the future, there is a present vision which increases day by day with the growth of the pure in heart. Seeing God is, of course, not a physical process, but a spiritual one ; it is to enter into full communion with Him, to be spiritually in His immediate pres- ence and to be at rest there, to share directly His favour, joy, and blessings. The phrase to ‘see God’ arose in ancient Hebrew usage out of the fact that men counted it a supreme privilege to come into the presence of an earthly king (1 K 108, Est 1) ;* how much more would it mean to come into the presence of the King of kings! The hope of such a vision of God grew with the development of the Hebrew religious conceptions, and became the rapturous aspiration of the OT saints (Ps 117 ‘the upright shall behold his face’; 17% ‘ As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy like- ness’). In the NT also the aspiration, now become a certainty, reappears (1 Jn 3? ‘we shall see him even as he is’; He 124, Rev 224) ; the veil of the temple has been rent in twain (Mt 27°), for in and through Christ men have immediate access to God. This standing in the very presence of God, this direct communion with Him and direct re- sponsibility to Him, is more than a theological theory—it is an actual and essential fact of the utmost practical significance. God is not an absentee ruler, who can be dealt with only through intermediaries; on the contrary, those who love Him live in His presence, rest in His care, receive His blessings, and participate in His oy.