Posted: Apr 02, 2015 4:36 pm
jinxu wrote:To answer the original question :
"Blessed are the poor in spirit..." I like NLT's version of :
"“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,[a]
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs."
I see. So the 'Word of God' has different versions? Is your quote from Matthew? Because it seems to neglect the 'in spirit' bit.
"...realize their need for him." Helps me to better understand what "poor in spirit..." or "...the poor" means to me. Poor can mean simply a financial situation but to me it means the understanding that I need God. I accept that God is my ultimate provider and that all things come from him.
As you wish. But consider: the 'poor' in Luke seems to suggest materially poor but in Matthew 'poor in spirit' seems to suggest a humbleness of 'spirit'. Even the materially wealthy can be humble in spirit...
The Beatitudes were only one part of the Sermon on the Mount. The entire sermon goes on until chapter 7 in Matthew.
True. But one bit at a time.
Matthew's audience were Jews so the relevance to the OT would be more profound to them. As someone mentioned Jesus' claim was that he came to fulfill the Law.
Fulfil what Law, precisely? Would this be The Ten Commandments or the similar teachings of earlier prophets?
Luke's audience were for mixed audience primarily Greek so the relevance to the OT wouldn't mean as much to them. Additionally, Luke's account doesn't even have most of the Sermon on the Mount.
Perhaps the Greeks were more mercenary...
My personal belief is that the Bible is inspired by God, written by men.
As you wish.
So not literally written by God like the laws on the stone tablets.
Utter rubbish!
Does that leave room for errors? Could be, but because of its inspiration I believe the message remains.
The words remain - but even they are subject to change, according to the beliefs of the scribes. The 'message' is open to many interpretations as this short thread has shown on just the phrase 'poor in spirit'.
Edit. I use the term 'scribe' in a global sense.