Beatitudes

Blessed, happy, favoured by God, to be envied - people who are poor in spirit. They are! Because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Blessed, happy, favoured by God, to be envied - people in mourning: They are! Because they'll be comforted.

Blessed, happy, favoured by God, to be envied - meek people: the humble, the humbled, the subjugated. They are! Because they'll inherit the earth.

Blessed, happy, favoured by God, to be envied - people who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They are! Because they'll be satisfied.

Blessed, happy, favoured by God, to be envied - merciful people. They are! Because they'll be shown mercy.

Blessed, happy, favoured by God, to be envied - people whose hearts are pure. They are! Because they'll see God.

Blessed, happy, favoured by God, to be envied - people who make peace. They are! Because they'll be recognised as God's children.*

Blessed, happy, favoured by God, to be envied - people who are persecuted because of righteousness. They are! Because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

* Like father; like son.

Put on the Full Armor, Ya’ll

Throughout Ephesians, the Greek word translated in English as you is predominately the plural: humeis. Where the author addresses the individual, he does so very intentionally and very explicitly (as in 4:7, 5:33, and 6:8). In general, however, the book is addressed – every bit as intentionally an explicitly – to the whole, or to use an American term, to ya’ll.

Perhaps the most striking implication of this, for western readers, comes in chapter six. Throughout the description of the armor, the body of believers is addressed, rather than the individual. It is not you, individually, who wrestle against the enemy, but rather we, corporately.

This point is most clearly illustrated by the instruction to, “take up the shield of faith, with which [ya’ll] can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Roman soldiers had various shields, but the one used to extinguish flaming arrows was the scutum, which was four feet high, covered with leather on the outside, and soaked in water before battle to snuff out ignited arrows. It is also the shield you picture when you imagine legionaries closing rank to form the testudo (Latin for "tortoise"), where the shields form protective walls and a ceiling (an excellent illustration from a second century column erected in Rome is shown here). It is, by design, a weapon intended for members of a fighting unit. In individual, hand-to-hand combat the scutum was really only useful as a bludgeon, being too large and heavy to be used for much else. So, the implication of this particular shield being a part of our armor is that we are in this fight together.

These are not peaceful times we live in. We are in a struggle against our enemy, the Devil. But, as we engage in warfare we must be sure to stay in our position in the ranks. If we head off on our own, we endanger not only ourselves, but our fellow soldiers.

An Inch or a Day (Matthew 6:27)

In Matthew 6:27, Jesus poses the rhetorical question, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" A least, that's how the NIV translates it. Look a little further, though, and you will see a footnote offering an alternate translation: "Who of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his height?"

These two translations seem significantly different. How is it possible that the Greek can be translated both ways, and which is the better rendering? Well, the simple fact is, the word for life used here is helikia, and this word really can refer either to the length of a person's life (or a portion of it) or to a persons stature. And where the NIV says "an hour," the Greek word is pechus, which means a length as in a length of string. How long is a piece of string? It's just as long as it is. Pechus is no more specific than that. So, if the subject is a lifetime, an hour is a reasonable span to use in the translation, as would be a day or a year or any other measurement of time. Likewise, if the subject is a person's stature, a cubit, an inch, or a millimeter would all be reasonable similes.

But here's the thing, in context, ether translation works. Or rather, both translations work. This sentence, in the Greek, is a fantastic double entendre. It refers backward to the preceding verses, which talk about fear over the the basics of sustaining life, having food to eat, and it introduces the following verses about vanity, the need to look good or impressive. In fact, in the latter case, it plays a double meaning again. The illustration of grass is a common Old Testament metaphor for the brevity of life. So worrying about how long you will live applies here, too.

As nice as this word play is, the need for an application remains. After all, the Bible does not exist to inform us alone. The informing should lead to transforming. So, what's the application here?

For me, the biggest value is in what it tells me about the Bible in general, and the Gospel of Matthew in particular, and more specifically, the Sermon on the Mount itself. These are not words thrown carelessly together, not "random thoughts by Jesus," as I once suspected them to be. I read one commentary that suggested the latter half of the Sermon on the Mount consisted of all the teachings Matthew could not logically fit anywhere else. I strongly disagree with that idea. The closer one looks, the more one finds evidence of meticulous care by the author. In some cases, this precision seems to reach beyond the capabilities of man and suggest divine direction. An example of that can be seen in a (slightly cheesy) video titled "The Bible, Pi & Logarithms - Supernatural Design II."

So, the general application here is theological. Is there, then, a more direct application. Indeed there is, and it has to do with both possible meanings of the verse. The application is simple this: Get a grip. Life is short. Don't waste it worrying about things that will die when you do. Focus on what really matters, seeking God's rule in your life.