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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 5:7 - 5:7
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_5:7
7"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
Mat_5:7 "merciful" Mercy is the result-not the grounds-of knowing God. It is the ability to put one's self in another's situation and act with compassion (cf. Mat_6:12; Mat_6:14-15; Mat_18:21-35; Luk_6:36-38; Jas_2:13).
A change occurs here in the beatitudes. The two previous ones have focused on the Kingdom person's sense of spiritual need; the following ones, however, focus on the attitudes that motivate one's actions. This was what was missing in Pharisaism then and legalism now.
▣ "they shall receive mercy" This is a future passive indicative which is literally translated "shall be mercied." The implications of this tense are: (1) the future tense was used in the sense of certainty now, in this age or (2) the FUTURE blessing and forgiveness in the Last Day Judgment (eschatology) scene. The passive voice may be another circumlocution like "kingdom of heaven," to avoid using God's name.