King Jesus is addressing  his followers, explaining what he expects of members of his kingdom.

 

Mat. 5:9 “Blessed are the peace makers, for they will be called sons of God”.

 

A reflection of the character of the heavenly Father and so are called “sons of God”

 

Rom. 12: 14-17. "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.".

 

Christian conduct should never betray the high moral standards of the gospel, it will provoke the distain of unbelievers and bring the gospel into disrepute

(comments NIVSB)

 

Prezy, Prov 3:4 ?

Good morning, Dog.

Something on my mind lately.... "Blessed are the peace makers" What would you extrapolate from these words, said to have been spoken by Jesus? Feel free to delve into context and theological info that may caste light on the topic. What was he getting at, specifically?  Why has mankind been warring throughout our history?

It's important to point out that this verse (matthew 5:9) actually says, 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God' (the 'for' part provides the immediate theological context to the 'blessed' part). Second, the literary context to our verse is to be found in the entire series of beatitudes that Jesus delivered, from verse 5:1 through 5:12 (and these are commonly understood as representing the ethical standards for the Kingdom of God). Jesus didn't invent beatitudes, by the way. The formula, 'blessed/happy are ...' is taken directly from the Old Testament (see, e.g. Psalms 1:1), the implications of which would've been immediately familiar to Jesus' hearers.

So what does it all mean? To begin with, to be 'blessed' is to receive God's favour. The Greek word μακάριος, represents the Hebrew ברך, which is the same word we find being used to describe God blessing the pair in the Garden of Eden. So who are these 'peacemakers' whom God promises to 'bless'? Well, the biblical concept of 'peace' (i.e. שָׁלוֹם) is is directly tied, once again, to God's favour. When 'peace' is used in Scripture the subject providing the peace is generally God, and the object of the peace is generally us. Consequently 'peace' describes not simply the passive cessation of hostility between God and man, but his active goodwill and graciousness extended to us. Those who are 'peacemakers', then, are those who actively seek to promote this relationship between humanity and Yahweh. And just as Jesus served as the 'peacemaker' par excellance, those who follow Christ's example will receive the epithet, 'children of God'.

War, violence and alienation is part and parcel of life lived in a fallen world. Jesus came to reconcile mankind to God, thereby healing the rift in the vertical relationship (that is, between God and us). We certainly must play our part in attempting to heal the rift in the horizontal relationship (intra humanity), but what Jesus spoke to wasn't principally the cessation of the latter, as such won't occur until the end of this age. Remember, when queried about the potential for human-centric hostility, Jesus replied: 'Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword'. (Matthew 10:34).

As always, an appreciation of c-o-n-t-e-x-t is crucial to understanding Scripture aright.

Blessings,

Ian

Ever since the Life of Brian, I hear 'cheesemakers'.

Seriously - thanks Ian for the particularly clear 'vertical' and 'horizontal' relationships explanation. In doing good to and serving our fellow humans in whatever way we can, we will never achieve perfection (the horizonal ...human-wise) but we can reach what naturally would be unattainable, ie being completely reconciled to our maker in the 'vertical' sphere because of Jesus' work. Done deed. Marvellous.

Chips

 Thanks for those responses!

Dog.