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Part 4 of a special eight part series, A New Look at the Beatitudes, using The New Testament: An Expanded Translation, by Kenneth Wuest.

“Spiritually prosperous are those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, because they themselves shall be filled so as to be completely satisfied.”
–Matthew 5:6

Because we are so enslaved by our desire for pleasure and our aversion for pain, we try to avoid even discomfort or inconvenience–to such a degree that we consider wanting something we cannot have to be a form of suffering. We may say “no pain no gain” to others, but we do not want that to apply to ourselves. This beatitude, however, commends discontent to a great degree: the hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Peinao means to be famished, to crave desperately, not just to be simply hungry. Without food we will die, so those suffering from intense hunger are desperate to be fed. In the same way we must see that God-contact is not a wonderful option but an urgent necessity without which we inwardly die. Our yearning for God must be intense to the maximum degree. Otherwise we will not do the needful for the attainment of God-vision. We will foolishly feel that “the price” is too high. Peinao carries with it the connotation of keenly knowing our lack, and this knowledge spurs us on to spiritual fulfillment.

Peino has another meaning that is significant, both it and its root word penes mean to labor intensively (Strong says “pinching toil), to strive for subsistence. Here the idea of strong spiritual desire is supplemented with the concept of intense spiritual practice–also a necessity for blessedness.

Since thirst (dipsao, dipsos) can be even worse than hunger, it, too, is used by Jesus to symbolize the urge toward union with God.

Righteousness

The word dikaiosune does not mean righteousness in the sense of social goodness or approval, or even the approbation of God. Rather it means correctness or “rightness” of the person’s character, inner and outer. It means to be “straight” and “square” and “true” in our mind, our personality, and their expression in our daily life. Rectitude might even be a better word than righteousness. It is not an external matter, but an internal disposition of spiritual health that of course does manifest outwardly as is indicated by one of the root words of dikaiosun: deiknuo, which literally means “to show.”

There are two other significant root words: dikaios and dike. Dikaios means to be just and fitting in deed and thought to such a degree that a person is innocent of all wrong, the idea being that the individual has been purified from all fault by becoming righteous. So righteousness is an effective, positive thing, not just a passive characteristic. Dike is very interesting, for it literally means the judgment and punishment of wrong. In the context of this beatitude it means that a righteous person clear-sightedly detects his defects and eliminates them consciously through self-discipline and mastery.

“Filled so as to be completely satisfied”

The Bible frequently uses eating as a spiritual symbol, so much so that spiritual life is likened to a banquet or feast.

The Greek word employed by Saint Luke in his translating of Jesus’ words is chortazo, which means to eat beyond the point to satiety to that of outright incapacity to eat a bite more. “Gorge” is a synonym given by Strong. In other words, we shall be filled to total capacity with the righteousness of God if we hunger and thirst sufficiently. Abundance is the key thought here, and chortazo also means to completely satisfy all desire. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)

There is more. The root word chortos means edible herbage or vegetation, but its literal meaning is “garden,” the idea being that the righteous are restored in spirit to Paradise, the Garden of Eden, and fed from the Tree of Life and thereby made immortal. (Can it be without significance that Saint Luke chose a word that explicitly implied vegetarian fare? [See Spiritual Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet])

Next: Part 5 of A New Look at the Beatitudes – Mercy and the Law of Karma.

Previous posts in this series:
• What Did Jesus Really Say in the Sermon on the Mount?
• The Kingdom of Heaven According to Jesus
• What Jesus Really Means by Meekness

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