The Beatitudes

 The Beatitudes

By Richard P. Joseph

07/25/2025

In Matthew chapter 5 we read what is commonly called the beatitudes.  Many of the prophets attempted to teach these things but the people never seemed to get it.  It always came back to “how to follow the letter of the law the best”.  Seemingly they never understood that there was a deeper meaning to the law.  Paul rightly dubbed the law as the ministry of death.  The Spirit of the law is the higher calling.  In the beatitudes Jesus called blessed those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those that suffer for righteousness sake.  He never mentions the law.  Remember, this is a jew talking to jews in the first century.  But is he really talking about the law?  Maybe he is.  

Next he tells them that you are blessed if you are persecuted for My name's sake because those that apply the law also persecuted the prophets who did what Jesus was doing.  He then calls his followers salt and light in the world.  While the Jewish leadership was busy killing the prophets and setting heavy doctrinal burdens on the people, Jesus is calling those that follow him and meet the standards set above, salt and light to the world.  A definite shift is taking place here.

Verses 17-20 are very interesting as he explains that he didn’t come to abolish the law but rather to fulfill it.  In fact, I prefer that he was the fulfillment of the law.  He then turns around and tells them that not one jot or tittle will pass from the law until all is fulfilled.  Then he sounds like a pharisee and tells them whoever breaks one of these commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.  Then he doubles down and says that your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.  This is something to scratch your head over.  While his jewish followers were to keep the law until the parousia (AD70) when heaven and earth passed away, did he really expect his followers to keep the law better than the priests who kept it nearly perfectly?  I don’t think so, in a literal way.

While the priesthood kept the letter of the law precisely, they neglected the spirit of the law nearly completely.  Throughout Jesus’ ministry he constantly used physical things to explain spiritual truths.  For example, this is why Catholics are led so far astray as they cling to the physical and can’t seem to understand that Jesus was really referring to the spirit.  While Catholics think they are really eating Jesus' physical body, which would make them a cannibal, they can’t grasp what Jesus said.  “That which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit”.    In the same way, Jesus is presenting the “new law”; one of spirit, not flesh.  By loving God and loving your neighbor, you would easily surpass the priests.  By being humble and meek and forgiving your enemies, you move even more up the ladder.  By cleaning your thoughts and mind, you again move closer to what Jesus is talking about.  By understanding that sin starts in you, not in your actions, you then can start real personal reform.  Anyone who clings to the physical meaning of the beatitudes will never really understand it.  Not by following a judicial law can we be cleansed but by cleansing our heart from the inside out.  But what about those who would cling to the law?

Jesus seemed to give a warning to those Scribes and Pharisees who were standing in the shadows waiting for him to slip up.  In Matthew 5:25 Jesus is giving them an invitation to reconcile with God before the upcoming judgement.  

 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 

What the Pharisees failed to understand is that they were actually on their way to court.  Jesus was giving very good advice for them to reconcile with their adversary (Almighty God) before they end up in prison with a life sentence.  Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened in AD 70 as they were judged and jailed.  Their modern day offspring still didn’t get the memo!   This is also good advice for us living today as we ourselves need to come to that point in all of our lives and do the same thing.  Be reconciled to God and move from death to life.  From judgement to grace.  From the physical to the Spiritual.  So to answer my previous question, Jesus is talking about the law, just not the old physical law but rather the law of grace which greatly surpasses the law of judgement. 

They call me Mellow Yellow

 They call me Mellow Yellow

By Richard P. Joseph

In the 1960’s there was a popular song on the radio by a guy named Donovan called “They call me Mello Yellow”.  I really don’t know how it got any play time as it was a stupid song, with no message and not pleasing at all to the ear.  I guess the hook line was simple enough for dumb kids to walk around humming it.  But there is a word game I’d like to play in this article.  It is the English word mellow.  

If we in America hear the word “mellow” phonetically speaking, we all would think of someone who is calm and non-aggressive.  However, in the ancient world influenced by Hellenism, if someone said, phonetically, “mello” they would think of something totally different.  In ancient Greek the word mello is a term that denotes imminence.  It usually defines an event that is soon coming or “about” to happen.  This word would not be used to denote something that is far off or in the distant future.  Since the new testament scriptures that are now extant are all in Greek, the word mello can be found all throughout it.   This definitely matters when the subject of eschatology comes up.  But if you read my articles consistently you would already know that I believe that the entire new testament is really a document of eschatology.  It is a story of a change in formation.  From beginning to end it tells of one era coming to an end and a new era beginning.  A fall of one system and the rise of another all the while maintaining that the God of creation is the organizer of all that is happening.  One system is being fulfilled which gives way to the creation of a redeemed world where man is restored to God through Jesus Christ.  So where does the word mello come in?

While reading the new testament in English we don’t always get the feel of the passage as they did 2,000 years ago.  Since I have not studied ancient Greek, and most of you didn’t either, we need to use the technology that we have today in order to take a deep dive into scripture.  The word mello appears 109 times in the new testament and variants appear many more times.  Obviously we are not going to look at all of them but only a few in order to make the point that when people start telling us that the second coming of Christ is in the future, you can tell right off that they probably don’t know that the new testament was actually written in Greek and they certainly never looked up any of the words.  Mello drives the narrative.  It puts things in perspective.  It creates a more realistic view of what is happening at that present time.  So let’s take a look at just a few instances of that word in context. 

Matthew 2:13

 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

In the above passage the word “will” is mello.  In other words, Herod isn’t going to “some day in the distant future try to kill the baby Jesus”  He is going to do it soon and that is exactly what he attempted to do.  As soon as the Magi left, he ordered the execution of every baby boy in Bethlehem.  I am surprised that the futurist preachers are not preaching on Herod still trying to kill Jesus.  The word mello was clearly understood by those living at that time that Herod meant business and he meant it soon.

Matthew 3:7 

 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

John the Baptist, who was the transition prophet between the old and new testaments made it very clear to the current Jewish administration that there was a soon coming reckoning.  He used the word mello to reiterate that the current leadership was going to experience a severe judgement.  The judgement was for them in that generation, not for us or anyone else.  John’s message had an imminent context to it and they understood it clearly.  This judgement isn’t for some future generation thousands of years later and the word mello made that clear.  

Acts

30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Here Paul is speaking in Athens and uses this word to describe the coming judgement which accompanies the second coming of Christ.  Paul uses mello to indicate that this upcoming judgement is something that was about to take place.  That word eliminates the “thousands of years” doctrine that all futurist pastors are now preaching.  If this was the only time it was used then someone could make an argument against it but the fact remains that any time that the parousia of Christ is mentioned, it nearly always has some sort of time stamp associated with it, not in the least, the word mello.

If you are a serious bible student and a modern day disciple of Christ then you are in luck.  We have today the tools that all generations past never even thought of.  There are apps such as E-SWORD and BIBLEGATEWAY and many others that can assist you in studying the bible.  We have all of the bible in one book, we have multiple translations, and last but not least, we have the internet where you can communicate with millions of people in seconds.  All of this can be either dangerous or beneficial so be careful.  Always stick with conservative thinking sites and be cautious of anything that diminishes the deity of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is God in the flesh and is to always be glorified.  Study and show thyself approved.  Pray and always trust scripture taken in context.