The word “pure” has had a variety of uses: It was used of soiled clothes which had been washed clean, and an army of soldiers which had been purged of the discontented, unwilling, cowardly, and inefficient soldiers-with only first-class fighters remaining. Interpretation Question: What does it mean to be pure in heart? In this study, we’ll consider the sixth beatitude: the blessing on the pure in heart and the promise of seeing God.īig Question: What does the sixth beatitude mean and what applications can we take from it? The Pure in Heart It is for this reason that some view this beatitude as the climax or pinnacle of the Beatitudes the first five lead to it and the last two flow from it. Here in Matthew 5:8, Christ promises the highest good that man can achieve-seeing and knowing God.
#Pure hearts stay gold full#
However, he would show Moses his back-a manifestation of his glory, but not his full glory. God responded to him that no one could see his face and live. Moses cried out for this in Exodus 33:18, as he asked to see God’s glory. This is essentially what Matthew 5:8 promises-to see and know God more intimately. He names three things that people often pursue in life as the highest good: wisdom, strength, and wealth however, the highest good is knowing God. Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me
1 Throughout history, seeing and knowing God has often been considered the summum bonum-the highest good in life. Some have wondered why it is not the first beatitude or the last, as the culmination.
In many ways, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” is the chief beatitude. He makes them the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers. From there, God begins to fill his people with righteousness. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.Īs a reminder, the fourth beatitude, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, marked a pivot in the Beatitudes.
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