The Beatitudes. Who is the intended audience?

[throughfaith]

And are Christians today not His disciples, and is He not speaking to them personally in those Beatitudes? Every word of Christ is personally directed to His people and not bound by time or circumstance.

Your reasoning is thus : Jesus was speaking to his Jewish diciples , I'm a disciple therfore everything he spoke is now for me .. Which verse says this how we are to reason? Why not go back even further ..God Spoke to Moses ,who then addressed the Jews , who later became followers of Jesus ,therefore everything given to Moses is really to me also now . Why not even further.. God told Adam ....

 

[Lafftur]

Yes. He has the right to believe whatever he wants to. But he does not have the right to keep posting unbiblical nonsense over and over again. There may be many searching for the truth, and along comes someone sowing seeds of spiritual confusion.

@throughfaith is not posting unbiblical nonsense.

His/her only mistake is taking offense when another disagrees or attacks him/her.

Let’s walk in love.

 

[throughfaith]

Yes. He has the right to believe whatever he wants to. But he does not have the right to keep posting unbiblical nonsense over and over again. There may be many searching for the truth, and along comes someone sowing seeds of spiritual confusion.

Whenever we point a finger there's always a finger pointing back at you .

 

[Lafftur]

@cv5 - Thanks for your thread. I'm pretty sure we all agree with you that "at the time" Jesus spokethe Beatitudes publicly, the audience was His disciples and all who were there that could hear Him.

I'm so glad Matthew was taking notes and wrote what Jesus said down for us so all generations could hear the teachings of Jesus Christ. There are so many other teachings that were not written but, I am confident that God made sure all that future generations would need to hear was written for us.

Back in January 2018, I wrote a little blog about the beatitudes on how it is a timeline of the Believers maturity. You can check it out at:

https://christianchat.com/blogs/lets-talk-beattitudes-matthew-5-3-12.176497/

 

[Deuteronomy]

"The 12 " Apostles ( s)

Choosing the Twelve​

Luke 6 ​

12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.​

13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:​

14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew;​

15 and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot;​

16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.​

17 Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon,​

18 who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured.​

19 And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.​

​

The Beatitudes​

​

20 And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.​

21 “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied........................................​

.​

 

[Deuteronomy]

Hello again @throughfaith, in Matthew 10, the Lord Jesus "summoned/called" (proskaleomai) His Apostles to Himself, gave them power, and then sent them forth to minister to the people (to preach, to heal the sick and the blind, to cast out demons, etc.). The Twelve Apostles (at this point in time .. Matthew 10) had already been "chosen" (eklegomai).

Luke 6​

12 It came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.​

13 And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples: and of them He chose/(eklegomai) Twelve, whom also He named Apostles.​

​

Matthew 10​

1 When He had called/summoned (proskaleomai) unto Him His Twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.​

His disciples, which now included His chosen Twelve, were there with the multitudes to hear His sermon that day (the sermon that we refer to as, "The Beatitudes").

~Deut

Luke 6​

12 And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. ​

13 And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples: and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named Apostles; ​

14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, ​

15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, ​

16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.​

17 And He came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of His disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases; ​

18 And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. ​

19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him: for there went virtue out of Him, and healed them all.​

20 And He lifted up His eyes on His disciples, and said,​

Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God................................................​

​

 

[Guojing]

@throughfaith is not posting unbiblical nonsense.

His/her only mistake is taking offense when another disagrees or attacks him/her.

Let’s walk in love.

Once you interact with Nehemiah long enough, whatever he disagrees with, is considered as "unbiblical nonsense"

 

[Deuteronomy]

Hello yet again @throughfaith, if the Gospels were written for the people who were alive when Jesus was, alone, then why did the Holy Spirit bother to see that that even one of them was written down .. much less all four

After all, by the time the Gospels were finally completed, many of the people who were alive prior to the Cross and Pentecost had already died, and those who were still alive and remained from that time would now be under the Gospel of grace, just like everybody else, yes? (under the portion of the NT that follows the Gospels, Acts 4 and following I believe you said, yes?).

Finally, if what you believe is correct, what real value (aside for an historical record) have the Gospels ever had for anyone, ~including~ the people who you claim they were written to exclusively

Thanks

~Deut

 

[cv5]

@cv5 - Thanks for your thread. I'm pretty sure we all agree with you that "at the time" Jesus spokethe Beatitudes publicly, the audience was His disciples and all who were there that could hear Him.

I'm so glad Matthew was taking notes and wrote what Jesus said down for us so all generations could hear the teachings of Jesus Christ. There are so many other teachings that were not written but, I am confident that God made sure all that future generations would need to hear was written for us.

Back in January 2018, I wrote a little blog about the beatitudes on how it is a timeline of the Believers maturity. You can check it out at:

https://christianchat.com/blogs/lets-talk-beattitudes-matthew-5-3-12.176497/

That is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL thread! Please everyone you must give it a read. Highest recommendation....!

 

[Guojing]

Hello yet again @throughfaith, if the Gospels were written for the people who were alive when Jesus was, alone, then why did the Holy Spirit bother to see that that even one of them was written down .. much less all four

After all, by the time the Gospels were finally completed, many of the people who were alive prior to the Cross and Pentecost had already died, and those who were still alive and remained from that time would now be under the Gospel of grace, just like everybody else, yes? (under the portion of the NT that follows the Gospels, Acts 4 and following I believe you said, yes?).

Finally, if what you believe is correct, what real value (aside for an historical record) have the Gospels ever had for anyone, ~including~ the people who you claim they were written to exclusively

Thanks

~Deut

For one thing, it makes the Body of Christ more aware that signs and wonders that accompanied the gospel of the kingdom, during the 4 Gospels, are not to be directed to us.

I lost count to how many times I heard pastors saying this "If we want to know God's willingness to heal, we simply need to look at Jesus in the gospels—He went around healing all that were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). Healing was, and still is, a priority to Him."

Once you rightly divide the Word of Truth, you will respond to this claim with the OT prophets (example, Isaiah 35:4) told Israel that when their Messiah finally comes in the flesh to usher them to the promised kingdom, they will be able to identify who he is by all the healing miracles that he will be doing among them.

Luke 7
19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
20 When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
21 And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight.
22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.

 

[DesertWanderer]

Yes but the question remains who is the intended audience? To be specific I'm talking about at the time and place when these words were spoken.

It might be worthwhile to check out Dr. Constable's notes concerning the prelude to chapter 5 here:

https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+5

I wish I had more time to comment, but it seems that the word multitude is an understatement. It's a great commentary. I implore you to take a look.

 

[throughfaith]

Hello again @throughfaith, in Matthew 10, the Lord Jesus "summoned/called" (proskaleomai) His Apostles to Himself, gave them power, and then sent them forth to minister to the people (to preach, to heal the sick and the blind, to cast out demons, etc.). The Twelve Apostles (at this point in time .. Matthew 10) had already been "chosen" (eklegomai).

Luke 6​

12 It came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.​

13 And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples: and of them He chose/(eklegomai) Twelve, whom also He named Apostles.​

​

Matthew 10​

1 When He had called/summoned (proskaleomai) unto Him His Twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.​

His disciples, which now included His chosen Twelve, were there with the multitudes to hear His sermon that day (the sermon that we refer to as, "The Beatitudes").

~Deut

Luke 6​

12 And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. ​

13 And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples: and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named Apostles; ​

14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, ​

15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, ​

16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.​

17 And He came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of His disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases; ​

18 And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. ​

19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him: for there went virtue out of Him, and healed them all.​

20 And He lifted up His eyes on His disciples, and said,​

Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God................................................​

​

this is not the “Sermon on the Mount.” This sermon is given after the calling of the twelve apostles in Matthew 10, and Christ doesn’t go “up into a mountain” (Matt. 5:1) to preach it. Here He comes down from the mountain with the twelve “and stood in the plain” (vs. 17). So this is the “Sermon on the Plain,” Things different are not the same .

 

[cv5]

It might be worthwhile to check out Dr. Constable's notes concerning the prelude to chapter 5 here:

https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+5

I wish I had more time to comment, but it seems that the word multitude is an understatement. It's a great commentary. I implore you to take a look.

The commentary does not seem to come up with that link can you repost?

 

[seed_time_harvest]

I wonder If the people listening to JESUS beatitudes knew that JESUS was talking about the willing Spirit of any man that wanted these blessings could have It just by believing rather than have these things physically?

 

[Blik]

I wonder If the people listening to JESUS beatitudes knew that JESUS was talking about the willing Spirit of any man that wanted these blessings could have It just by believing rather than have these things physically?

Most of scripture is true historically and interesting, but scripture is breathed by God who is spirit, and all scripture has spiritual meaning for us.

 

[DesertWanderer]

The commentary does not seem to come up with that link can you repost?

https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+5

 

[oyster67]

The Beatitudes. Who is the intended audience?


I am !!

The verses kind of answer for themselves who they pertain to on an individual basis. They are for those who manifest the fruits of the Spirit. The Bible is intended to be read by all.

 

[Guojing]

The Beatitudes. Who is the intended audience?


I am !!

The verses kind of answer for themselves who they pertain to on an individual basis. They are for those who manifest the fruits of the Spirit. The Bible is intended to be read by all.

What always fascinates me is that the very same Christians who think that way, when they come across what Jesus said in Luke 12

32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

They start to make all kinds of excuses, the most popular being "I haven't heard from the Lord personally, but if I hear him speaking to me, I will definitely follow the above, he knows that all my possession belongs to him"

 

[oyster67]

What always fascinates me is that the very same Christians who think that way, when they come across what Jesus said in Luke 12

32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

They start to make all kinds of excuses, the most popular being "I haven't heard from the Lord personally, but if I hear him speaking to me, I will definitely follow the above, he knows that all my possession belongs to him"

Yes, we must not water down the Word just to sooth our own guilty consciences. We should simply admit that our faith is weak and we still have some growing room.

 

[Blik]

Yes, we must not water down the Word just to sooth our own guilty consciences. We should simply admit that our faith is weak and we still have some growing room.

I like the thought that we must not water down the word. It seems to me that when people say the word is not for them but for someone else--like for Israel---it is simply watering down the word.

When the word gives the principles of God, those principles are truth, not watered down by limiting them to a certain audience. The audience does not affect the principles of the Lord.