Pursued for Righteousness
Two (true) ways to read the Eighth Beatitude
Blessed are those pursued for righteousness sake, because of them is the kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 5:10).
The more I study, the more I stand back to consider possibilities, the more I ask the question, “what is Jesus saying here?” the more I realize that the Scriptures cannot be put in the box of settled interpretation. Not that I try to be a rebel in interpretation (though I do not fear that), but I myself want to discover the depths of the Word of God and to convey it to others (and vice versa).
Within the frame of traditional exegesis, the possibilities are almost always wider than the “well, that’s what I was taught so it must be so” approach to the Bible.
Every Bible study—personally or with others— is an opportunity to listen to the text, to each other (including study Bibles, commentaries, etc.), and ultimately to God.
At the conclusion to study, an interpretation that is linguistically possible and coherent with the context, both immediate and wide, even if it goes against the grain of normal interpretation, must be considered as a reasonable option alongside others.
Occasionally two or even more legitimate options present themselves and may be true at the same time.
This long preface leads to the eighth beatitude. The standard interpretation is certainly legitimate and true, but a different angle leads to more truth in plain sight.
Repetition
When we get to the eighth beatitude something interesting happens. All of the sudden words get repeated. Not that some repetition isn’t already noticeable: “blessed (makarios)” is repeated for each beatitude and the word “because (hoti).” In six of them “they (autoi)” is explicitly stated. But besides these three terms the content of each of the first seven is unique.
Until the eighth.
“Righteousness,” and “of them is the kingdom of the heavens” are repeated from previous beatitudes.
Did Jesus run out of ideas?
No.
Instead, he is pushing his listeners to consider how this beatitude relates to the previous ones and also how it is different. That difference makes all the difference.
Sameness
First, Jesus repeats “righteousness (dikaiosynē).” With this repetition, he reminds his listeners of beatitude six: “blessed are those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, for they will be filled.” In this eighth beatitude Jesus assumes (for the sake of argument) that his listeners are hungering and thirsting for righteousness and have in some way embodied God’s character in themselves. “Those pursued for the sake of righteous” assumes righteousness is present in them.
Second, the reward in this beatitude is the same as the first: “for of them is the kingdom of the heavens.” In my post on that beatitude I wrote: “The poor in spirit, those who realize they have nothing to bring to God, are the ones who inhabit God’s realm.” So also here.
Because of the identical habitations, this eighth beatitude would indicate that “those pursued for righteousness” are the same people as “the poor in spirit.” And in fact, Jesus sees all eight beatitudes as intertwined, not mutually exclusive—none of the beatitudes can be separated out from the others; all of the blessed people embody all the characteristics together.
A Double Entendre
With the repetition and with the consistency of the translations, one would think the interpretation of this beatitude to be straightforward.
As always, a deeper look puts a wrinkle in this idea.
First, let’s look at the translations.
The KJV has “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and is the model for all others in English. The participle dediōgmenoi is rendered “are persecuted” or “have been persecuted” in the vast majority of English translations (at least 45), while a few others simply use slightly different words for the same idea: “are harassed” (CEB), “are treated badly” (CEV, ICB), “suffer persecution” (DRA, ERV, GNV, RGT, WYC), “have it very hard” (NLV), “have trouble,” (WE), “provokes persecution” (MSG).
There is no variation in the negative sense of this verb in any translation.
Yet …
The term dediōgmenoi in its most basic sense means “being pursued.”
In fact, Paul uses the active form of the verb diōkō several times alongside the word for “righteousness (dikaiosynē)” in Romans 9:30-31, then in 1 Timothy 6:11 and 2 Timothy 2:22— both have “Pursue righteousness.”
This verb simply cannot mean “persecute” in these cases, nor in a number of others (Luke 17:23; Romans 12:13; 14:19; 1 Corinthians 14:1; Philippians 13:12, 14; 1 Thessalonians 5:5; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 3:11).
In all of these, the sense “pursue” is a positive one.
In fact, diōkō always means pursue, it is just that “persecute” is the negative end of the spectrum. In the Old Testament a neutral sense of “pursue” (or “run after” or “follow after”) is present in most its occurrences (Hebrew: radaph), as well as the positive and negative. Context makes the difference.
When Jesus spoke this beatitude, the verb could be taken in a negative or positive sense depending on who is doing the pursuing!
Positive Pursuit
If the pursuers are pursuing the pursued person because they see in that person the embodiment of God’s righteousness in their character, and the pursuers desire that same righteousness and so follow the model of righteousness, then that pursuit is a positive one. Whew!
The pursuers are hungering and thirsting after righteousness also and see the righteous model as one to follow (pursue).
This type of pursuit is precisely what Jesus models (he pursued the righteousness of his Father) and what he calls us to do with respect to him as model.
We pursue Jesus for the sake of righteousness. As we pursue Jesus as our model, we then become models of righteousness ourselves, and when people follow us we are blessed to be leading them to God.
We never become perfect models (we must remain poor in spirit, mourning, humble, etc.), but what we do model is the pursuit of Jesus’s righteousness in his pursuit of the Father’s.
This type of pursuit is positive imitation and is the foundation of a life devoted to God and not the world (which exemplifies negative imitation).
In Philippians 3:17, Paul called on his readers to “be my co-imitators,” and in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be my imitators, as I also am of Christ.” Pursue me and the righteousness by faith that I exhibit, because that is the faith that Jesus exhibited, Paul is saying.
The kingdom of God will indeed be inhabited by those pursued for being models of righteousness.
But at the same time …
Negative pursuit
If positive pursuit happens, embrace it, because negative pursuit—persecution—will occur right alongside.
No matter, Jesus says “blessed” anyway, but the blessing is accompanied with pain. Joy and pain coexist in this life. Joy makes the pain bearable and pain places the immeasurable joy and blessing of God in relief.
As all of the translations indicate, diōkō in its negative sense means to pursue in order to bring harm, to persecute.
To persecute another implies in itself that the persecution is without merit. Persecution implies that the one persecuted is innocent.
Persecution is different from prosecution. The prosecuted person may or may not be guilty/innocent of charges. Persecution implies innocence; there is no reason for it.
But Jesus goes beyond mere innocence and adds virtue to innocence: those persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Those people who should be models to live life by in their pursuit of God, instead become objects of persecution.
How can this be?
Scandals
Those who pursue righteousness become stumbling-blocks to those who are seeking everything else. The Greek term is skandalon, from which we get the English word scandal and is translated correctly as “stumbling-block” or “impediment.” To call a person a stumbling-block is to say the person is impeding the desires of another.*
Jesus was a stumbling-block because he told the truth to and about those in power, and thus impeded their desires for more power and recognition (the opposite characteristics of the beatitudes).
The person modeling righteousness, who is the conduit (and example) of God’s love, kindness, mercy, justice and truth, is a perceived impediment to anyone around them desiring the values of the world.
They must be gotten rid of.
They become the scapegoats of those pursuing Mammon in any form. Usually the pursuers of righteousness are scapegoated with fictive charges of wrong-doing (a key insight of Renée Girard).
Once again, Jesus himself is exhibit number one, though not yet at this point in his ministry. But Jesus knew the Scriptures (as he will state explicitly in the followup to this beatitude). He knew what the powers had done to the prophets … and what they would do to anyone who got in their way.
The negative sense of this beatitude, those persecuted for righteousness sake, has been borne out over and over in the past two millennia against Christians pursuing and modeling righteousness, and unfortunately borne out by “Christians” who have traded the cross for power, instead of being crucified with Christ.
*This definition of scandal is different from the current popular notion. Scandal today is the aftermath of the stumbling, not the stumbling itself. Scandal today is the public spectacle that follows the scandalous deed.
An Invitation
Are you interested in learning New Testament Greek? I will be teaching an intensive course with 50 hours of live instruction via Zoom from June to August. Please contact me at jack.painter@gmail.com or go to https://www.rightonmission.org/intro-to-new-testament-greek for more information. I would love to have you!
*“Conflictual desire” is a concept I draw from Renée Girard. At some point I will post further on Girard’s thinking about human interactions.