The Nugget:
Mat 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (KJV)
Mat 5:9 Great blessings belong to those who work to bring peace. God will call them his sons and daughters. (ERV, Easy-to-Read Version)
Mat 5:9 God blesses those people who make peace. They will be called his children! (CEV, Contemporary English Version)
My Comment:
We have a genuine need for peacemakers today. There are all too many working in the opposite direction.
I believe the best way to work toward lasting peace is to encourage more people to become followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
The way to do that is to encourage more people to become readers of the New Testament and the Bible as a whole.
One of the very best books to start reading first and repeatedly is the Gospel of John. John states his purpose for writing his Gospel: “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). Another most important text in John’s Gospel is John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
It is very important to reject all sources of supposed authority that place themselves above the Bible in an effort to control what you are allowed to believe what it means.
You can understand the Bible. You can interpret the Bible. Your interpretation of the Bible will become more accurate as you gradually learn more of its content. The Bible is a self-interpreting, self-correcting Book. You might wonder, if this is the case, why are there so many different and even contradictory understandings about what the Bible teaches? Why are there so many different denominations? A very central answer to those problems is that too many are taught by others who have themselves not carefully studied the Bible.
It is necessary not only to read the Bible continuously and repeatedly but also to study the Bible carefully.
It absolutely is possible, given two interpretations of something in the Bible, to make a sound, reasoned judgment about which interpretation, if either, is better.
Inference skills are sadly lacking among many readers. Inference skills are developed naturally by doing more reading. When it comes to Bible reading and Bible study, it is most important to make correct use of inference skills. For example, the word “Trinity” does not occur in the Bible. Yet the doctrine of the Trinity is taught in the Bible. It is discerned by necessary inference from what is stated in the Bible when you compare Scripture with Scripture.
Cross Reference Bible Study for Matthew 5:9 using references from:
A. The original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:
Matthew 5:9
are: 1Ch 12:17; Psa 34:12, Psa 120:6, Psa 122:6, 7, 8; Act 7:26; Rom 12:18, Rom 14:1,, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; Rom 14:17, 18, 19; 1Co 6:6; 2Co 5:20, 2Co 13:11; Gal 5:22; Eph 4:1; Php 2:1, 2, 3; Php 4:2; Col 3:13; 2Ti 2:22, 23, 24; Heb 12:14; Jas 1:19, 20, Jas 3:16, 17, 18
for: Mat 5:45, Mat 5:48; Psa 82:6, 7; Luk 6:35, Luk 20:36; Eph 5:1, 2; Php 2:15, 16; 1Pe 1:14, 15, 16
B. The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:
Matthew 5:9
Blessed. Gr. makarios (S# G3107, Mat 5:3).
peacemakers. T913, %Mat 23:27; %Mat 23:28, *Gen 13:8; *Gen 13:9, Exo 2:13, 1Ch 12:17, 18, Job 25:2, *Psa 34:12; *Psa 34:13; *+Psa 34:14; *Psa 37:37; Psa 120:6, 7; +*Psa 122:6, 7, 8; **Psa 133:1, Pro 12:20; Pro 15:18; +*Pro 16:7, *Zec 8:16, Mal 2:6, Act 7:26, **Rom 12:18, 19, 20; Rom 14:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; Rom 14:17, 18, 19, 1Co 6:6, 7, 8, 2Co 5:18, 20; *2Co 13:11, Gal 5:22, Eph 2:14; Eph 4:1, 2, 3; **Eph 4:32, Php 2:1, 2, 3; *Php 2:14; Php 4:2, Col 1:20; Col 3:13, 14, 15, 1Th 5:23, 2Ti 2:22, 23, 24, **Heb 12:14, Jas 1:19, 20; *Jas 3:16, 17, 18, 1Pe 3:10, 11.
called the children. or, sons. Mat 5:44, 45; Mat 5:48, Mat 18:3, Psa 82:6, 7, Mal 3:17, Mrk 10:15, +*Luk 6:35; Luk 18:17; Luk 20:36, Rom 8:14, Eph 5:1, 2, *Php 2:14, 15, 16, +*Heb 12:14, 1Pe 1:3; 1Pe 1:14, 15, 16, +1Jn 3:1.
of God. Joh 11:52, Rom 8:16, 21; Rom 9:8, Gal 3:26, 1Jn 3:10; 1Jn 5:2.
Dear Jerry, I really appreciated your point about how the Bible is a self-interpreting book and that we must develop better inference skills to avoid being misled by outside authorities. As I was studying your thoughts on Matthew 5:9 regarding the role of peacemakers, I found myself in a bit of a dilemma trying to apply this to modern social structures. For instance, when an organization claims to be a “peacemaker” by funding social works through controversial means—like the case described here regarding the Ecuadorian National Lottery’s digital platform at https://GuiadeBet593Columbia.com which claims to fund health and social causes—how should we use our inference skills to judge if the “fruit” of their labor counts as biblical peacemaking, or if the source of the funds (betting) contradicts the message of Christ? I would value your perspective on whether we can truly call those who work in such industries “children of God” if they are providing for the poor, or if this is an example of an authority placing itself above the Word?
Dear Heather,
You ask a very good question!
One passage I have often considered is 2 Chronicles 19:2.
2Ch 19:2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.
I, too, have encountered this question. We have from time to time contributed to the American Diabetes Association. I am sure they are at least to some degree sincere in their efforts to improve the condition of those afflicted with diabetes. Yet, as my wife and I have read and learned more about the medical establishment in general, they are not always interested in solving the problem they allegedly address. As for diabetes specifically, that can be alleviated if not totally cured for each individual by eating the right foods. We have decided to no longer contribute to that cause.
I think the wisest thing to do is to contribute to those efforts and ministries which most need our help and which are faithful Christian ministries.
I have learned from my studies that God is against gambling and lotteries. This can be inferred from Genesis 24:44 and Isaiah 65:11.
Genesis 24:44. And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom the LORD hath appointed out for my master’s son.
appointed. Gen 20:16; Gen 45:8, S# H3198, used in this sense only here and Gen 24:14. Other renderings of this word include “correcteth,” Job 5:17; “chastened,” Job 33:19; “reason,” *Isa 1:18; “plead,” Mic 6:2. Note: Those events which appear to us the effect of choice, contrivance, or chance, are matters of appointment with God (**Pro 16:33; Pro 21:1); and the persuasion of this does not prevent, but rather encourage, the use of all proper means; at the same time that it confines us to proper means, and delivers the mind from useless anxiety about consequences. *Psa 37:23; Psa 48:14; Psa 73:24, Pro 3:5, 6; Pro 11:5; *Pro 16:9, Isa 28:26; *Isa 30:18; Isa 42:16; %**Isa 65:11 h,mg. Arthur Carr, in the opening sentence of an intriguing essay titled “The Exclusion of Chance from the Bible,” states that “There is, perhaps, no point more impressively dwelt upon by the Hebrew Prophets in their interpretation of history or of human life than the exclusion of chance as an element to be taken into account” (Horae Biblicae, p. 33. See related note, Isa 65:11 note). Carr states further that “The pervading prophetical interpretation of history and of men’s lives is that events are ordered and determined by the divine will, and not by luck or chance or happy accident” (p. 34). “It is remarkable that neither tukē nor any other word signifying luck or chance or accident occurs in the New Testament….We meet with the same phenomenon in the Old Testament” (pp. 36, 37). Thus the Biblical worldview or philosophy of sacred history identifies purpose and result in the Hebrew mind, and leaves no place for chance or fortune in any theory of life or in religious terms. %Gen 30:11, %Jos 14:2 note. Jdg 20:22 note. %+Rut 2:3, +1Sa 6:9, +2Sa 1:6, %1Ki 22:34, Est 3:7 note. %Est 9:24 note. +Ecc 9:11, **Isa 65:11 note. +*Amos 3:6, %Luk 10:31.
Isa 65:11 But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
troop. or, Gad. or, fortune. The well-known Syrian god of “Fate” (CB). Note: The disquisitions and conjectures of the learned, says Bp. Lowth, concerning Gad and Meni, are infinite and uncertain: perhaps the most probable may be, that Gad means good fortune, and Meni, the moon. “But why should we be solicitous about it,” says Schmidius. “It appears sufficiently, from the circumstances, that they were false gods; either stars, or some natural object; or a mere fiction. The Holy Scriptures did not deign to explain more clearly what those objects of idolatrous worship were; but chose rather that the memory of the knowledge of them should be utterly abolished. And God be praised, that they are so totally abolished, that we are now quite at a loss to know what sort of things they were.” +Gen 24:44 note. +Gen 30:11, Jos 11:17; Jos 12:7; Jos 13:5; Jos 15:37, Ezr 2:12, Psa 37:16; Psa 37:21, 1Ti 6:5, Jas 4:13.
number. or, Meni. or, fill up mingled wine unto Destiny. The same as the god Manu (or, Destiny) of the Assyrian inscriptions (CB). Thus a reference to the gods of Fortune and Fate. Arthur Carr, Horae Biblicae, “The Exclusion of Chance from the Bible,” remarks that this passage “contains a direct protest by the prophet Isaiah against the worship of Fortune or Good Luck as a divinity,” further noting that Isaiah plainly indicates that the Jews of the Exile had been attracted by the cult of Fortune. Evidence of this worship is found in Palestine in the place names of Baal-Gad (Jos 11:17; Jos 12:7; Jos 13:5) and Migdal-Gad (Jos 15:37). The name Azgad (“strong is Gad,” Ezr 2:12), may indicate that a Jewish family had at one time devoted itself to the service of Fortune. Carr cites Prof. G. A. Smith that this practice of “preparing a table for Gad, and filling up mixed wine to Meni,” may be closely connected with the commercial spirit which the Jews imbibed for the first time during the Exile. “The merchants of Mesopotamia had their own patron gods. In completing business contracts a man had to swear by the idols, and might have to enter their temples” (G. A. Smith, Book of Isaiah, ii. 62). In this way the Jewish trader would be drawn into idolatry.—If this conjecture be true, and it carries with it the highest probability, how closely does the whole subject connect itself not only with the commercial transactions of the present day on their speculative side, but with the spirit of gambling generally. It was quite in accordance with the teaching of Holy Scripture that games of chance were repudiated by the stricter Jews (Schurer, ii. 1, 36). It has sometimes been thought difficult to discover a principle on which to base a general condemnation of games of chance. However this may be, a sufficient justification will be found for discountenancing and condemning what Bishop Cosin calls “inordinate gaming,” not only in the stern reproof of the prophet (Isa 65:11), but in the whole of the remarkable and suggestive contrast presented to the life and literature of pagan civilization by the thought, and utterance, and silence of the Bible (Arthur Carr, pp. 38-46). See Note on Gen 24:44 note. Gen 50:20, Dan 5:25, 26, Jas 4:14.