{"id":336,"date":"2014-07-30T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T12:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=336"},"modified":"2014-07-13T21:40:38","modified_gmt":"2014-07-13T21:40:38","slug":"matthew-51-12-the-beatitudes-historical-backgrounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-51-12-the-beatitudes-historical-backgrounds.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 5:1-12; The Beatitudes (Historical Backgrounds)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jesus\u2019 final beatitude (Matthew 5:11-12) differs from the earlier ones in its specificity and personal application. Up to this point, Jesus has used general pronouns as the object of blessing. For instance, \u201cblessed are those<\/em>\u2026blessed are they<\/em>\u2026\u201d Beginning in verse 11, though, his teaching shifts to the personal pronoun, \u201cyou<\/em>,\u201d\u2014a direct reference that included his twelve apostles, each person in the large crowd of listeners and, by extension, you and me today.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that this final beatitude promises great suffering for Jesus\u2019 followers: \u201cBlessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me\u201d<\/em> (verse 11).<\/p>\n

Jesus didn\u2019t say \u201cif<\/em> people insult you\u2026\u201d but \u201cwhen<\/em> people insult you\u2026\u201d The message is clear: undeserved hardship is an expected part of the Christian life. It\u2019s rare to find anyone today who would be willing to \u201cname and claim\u201d this promise of God, but Jesus\u2019 followers experienced it nonetheless. Consider what happened to each of Jesus\u2019 original disciples (minus Judas the betrayer, who killed himself):<\/p>\n

\u2022 Andrew: Crucified on an X-shaped cross.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Bartholomew: Flayed alive with knives until he died.<\/p>\n

\u2022 James (son of Alphaeus): Sawed to pieces.<\/p>\n

\u2022 James (son of Zebedee): Beheaded.<\/p>\n

\u2022 John: Poisoned (but miraculously survived). Boiled in oil (but miraculously survived). Imprisoned, in his old age, on the island of Patmos, where \u201cmen worked chained to their slave barrows\u201d in the marble mines.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Matthew (Levi): Died a martyr while preaching in Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Peter: Crucified upside down.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Philip: Hanged to death.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Simon (the Zealot): Sawed in half.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Thaddaeus (Jude): Martyred while preaching in Persia.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Thomas: Speared to death.<\/p>\n

This teaching of Jesus, and its subsequent fulfillment in the lives of the Apostles, leaves us with one question that must be answered by each follower of Christ today: What will you do with this difficult promise of God?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[NAS, 1277\u20131280; WWW, 211]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n

About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jesus\u2019 final beatitude (Matthew 5:11-12) differs from the earlier ones in its specificity and personal application. Up to this point, Jesus has used general pronouns as the object of blessing. For instance, \u201cblessed are those\u2026blessed are they\u2026\u201d Beginning in verse 11, though, his teaching shifts to the personal pronoun, \u201cyou,\u201d\u2014a direct reference that included his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2],"tags":[110,85,112],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historicalbackgrounds","category-matthew","tag-blessed","tag-disciples","tag-persecution"],"yoast_head":"\nMatthew 5:1-12; The Beatitudes (Historical Backgrounds) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-51-12-the-beatitudes-historical-backgrounds.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 5:1-12; The Beatitudes (Historical Backgrounds) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jesus\u2019 final beatitude (Matthew 5:11-12) differs from the earlier ones in its specificity and personal application. 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