“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied”
Matthew 5:6
There are three elements to the fourth beatitude that need explaining: (1) the meaning of “blessed,” (2) the meaning of hungering and thirsting for righteousness and (3) what it means to be satisfied. This article will look at each element individually and then (4) bring everything together for an explanation of the meaning of the fourth beatitude (click the hyperlinks to jump to the section you desire).
I. The Meaning of “Blessed”
The term “blessed” that occurs at the beginning of all the beatitudes is μακάριοι, the plural form of the adjective μακάριος. Although it has become common to hear μακάριος translated as “happy” (such as in the CEB), the term “happy” is much too shallow and superficial. In the New Testament and especially in the Gospel of Matthew, μακάριος is best understood as being the privileged recipient of God’s favour which results in a deep-seated joy. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature (BDAG) states the focus of μακάριος can either be on happiness/joy because of one’s circumstances or the focus can be on privilege that results in happiness/joy (BDAG, s.v. μακάριος).
In the Gospel of Matthew and in the beatitudes, the focus of μακάριος is on being the privileged recipient of God’s favour, rather than the joy or happiness, which is a result of God’s favour (also see Charles Quarles, Sermon on the Mount, 42; Donald Hagner, Matthew 1–13, 91).
We see this idea of being the privileged recipient of God’s favour that results in a deep-seated joy in many passages throughout the New Testament and the Gospel of Matthew. Note the following two passages from the Gospel of Matthew: 13:16–17 and 16:15–17.
In Matthew 13:16–17, Jesus tells his disciples that they are “blessed” (μακάριοι) because they have seen and heard Jesus, his mighty works and his teaching:
“But blessed [μακάριοι] are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
—MATTHEW 13:16–17
Jesus is not simply saying that his disciples are “happy,” but that they are the privileged recipients of God’s favour in that they get to see and hear Jesus and understand what it is that they see and hear! This seeing, hearing, and understanding results in a deep-seated joy of seeing, hearing, and knowing God’s messiah who is in the process of setting up the Kingdom of Heaven.
Another powerful passage that demonstrates Jesus’ understanding of μακάριος is Matthew 16:15–17:
“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed [μακάριος] are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.’”
—MATTHEW 16:15–17
After asking his disciples who they think he (Jesus) is, Simon Peter answers that Jesus is the messiah (“Christ”), who is “the Son of the living God.” Jesus then tells Peter that he is “blessed” (μακάριος). Jesus is not telling Peter that he should now be happy that he got Jesus’ question correct; rather, Jesus is telling Peter that he is the privileged recipient of God’s favour in that the Father himself revealed to Peter the identity of Jesus. This revelation will result in a deep-seated joy because now Peter knows who Jesus truly is.
Thus, we can conclude that the term “blessed” (μακάριος) in the Gospel of Matthew means to be the privileged recipient of God’s favour that results in a deep-seated joy. Regarding the fourth beatitude, Jesus says that those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness” are the privileged recipients of God’s favour, resulting in a deep-seated joy. Let us now turn to the meaning of “to hunger and thirst for righteousness” and then we will discover how the hungry and thirsty are privileged recipients of God’s favour.
II. The Meaning of “to Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness”
There are two aspects of the phrase “hunger and thirst for righteousness” that need interpretation. First, what does it mean to “hunger and thirst” and, second, what does Jesus mean by “righteousness”?
A. The Meaning of “Hunger and Thirst”
To “hunger and thirst” is a metaphor in Matthew 5:6, evidenced by the fact that “righteousness” and not food or water is what is hungered and thirsted for. The metaphor refers to intense longing and craving.
The people of Jesus’ day certainly understood the metaphor of hungering and thirsting because many of them would have understood true hunger and true thirst, having potentially gone days without one or the other. Scripture also gives graphic descriptions of true hunger and thirst. Deuteronomy 28:52–57 describes the horrors of starvation and the lengths people will go to in order to survive. In describing the affliction that will come upon God’s people should they abandon Him and serve other gods, God says to Israel:
“They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you. And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left, so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter, her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.”
—DEUTERONOMY 28:52–57
The promise of God did, indeed, come upon Israel, the northern kingdom, when God sent Assyria against them for their idolatry (2 Kings 6:25–29).
Thus, the metaphor of hungering and thirsting refers to a deep and intense longing and craving. In Matthew 5:6, Jesus says that his disciples should hunger and thirst “for righteousness.”
B. The Meaning of “Righteousness” (δικαιοσύνη)
There is some debate as to what Jesus means when he uses the term “righteousness” (δικαιοσύνη). Three major proposals have been put forward, with the third the most likely meaning. First, it has been suggested that δικαιοσύνη refers to vindication; those who yearn for vindication for the injustices done against them will receive it when Jesus returns. This understanding of δικαιοσύνη is foreign to its use throughout the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5–7).
Second, it has been suggested that δικαιοσύνη refers to imputed righteousness in a Pauline sense, that is, a right state before God or more technically “the righteousness of God or Christ that is transferred to the repentant and believing sinner so that he may be declared innocent in the eschatological judgment” (Charles Quarles, Sermon on the Mount, 59; cf. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. “δικαιοσύνη”). Again, δικαιοσύνη is never used to refer to imputed righteousness in the Sermon on the Mount or anywhere in the Gospel of Matthew.
Third, δικαιοσύνη (“righteousness”) in Matthew 5:6 has rightfully been suggested to refer to personal righteousness or right living as a result of one’s relationship with God. This is the majority view. The seven uses of δικαιοσύνη in the Gospel of Matthew tend toward the meaning of personal righteousness (Matt 3:15; 5:6, 10, 20; 6:1, 33; 21:32; for a good study on the topic, see Righteousness in Matthew and His World of Thought by Benno Przybylski). The same can also be said of the cognate adjective δίκαιος, meaning “righteous” or “just” (Matt 1:19; 5:45; 9:13; 10:41; 13:17, 43, 49; 20:4; 23:28-29, 35; 25:37, 46; 27:19). The idea of δικαιοσύνη (“righteousness”) referring to right living is clearly seen in Matthew 6:1, which states δικαιοσύνη is something someone does, not something someone is:
“Beware of practicing your righteousness [δικαιοσύνη] before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”
—MATTHEW 6:1
C. The Meaning of to “Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness”
Based on the metaphor of hungering and thirsting, as well as the meaning of righteousness, we can confidently conclude that “to hunger and thirst for righteousness” means to continuously deeply crave to live an upright and godly life as God defines upright and godly.[1] Charles Quarles also explains the meaning nicely:
“The true disciple hungers and thirsts for righteousness. He longs to live a goldy life as much as a starving man longs for his next piece of bread or a parched tongue yearns for a drop of water.”
—Charles Quarles, Sermon on the Mount, 59
III. What It Means to Be Satisfied
In the fourth beatitude, Jesus claims that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed “because” (ὅτι) “they will be satisfied” (Matt 5:6). The verb for “satisfied” (χορτάζω) is more literally translated “filled,” which maintains the eating and drinking metaphor from the first half of the verse. “Satisfied” is a great translation of χορτάζω, however, because Jesus is not speaking about literal eating and drinking, but a deep craving for righteousness. Jesus is telling his disciples that those who continuously deeply crave to live an upright and godly life will be enabled to live that righteous life (i.e., they will be satisfied).
Note that the verb “they will be satisfied” is passive, meaning that it is God who enables the believer to live an upright and righteous life. It is God who transforms the disciple’s heart, mind, character, and behaviour so that he can live a righteous, upright, and godly life. Without God’s intervention, the disciple of Jesus will never be able to fulfill the demands given throughout the Sermon on the Mount, such as keeping “the least of these commandments” (Matt 5:19), living a life more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees (5:20), or even being “perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48). Further, if disciples of Jesus are responsible for their own righteous living, obtaining it by their own strength, intelligence, and ability, then the glory would go to them and not God, the one to whom the glory should go.
It should also be noted that because the Kingdom of Heaven arrived in part with Jesus’ first coming, disciples of Jesus experience a level of satisfaction in the present, but must still await the return of Jesus to set up his kingdom fully (i.e., the consummation of his kingdom) in order to receive full satisfaction. This means that God enables disciples of Jesus to live righteously now in the present, but that we will still falter and fail at times, unlike when the kingdom is consummated.
IV. The Meaning of the Fourth Beatitude (Matt 5:6)
Now that we understand (1) what it means to be blessed, (2) what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and (3) what it means to be satisfied, we are able to understand the meaning of Jesus’ fourth beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
In Matthew 5:6, Jesus says that those who continuously deeply crave to live an upright and godly life (to hunger and thirst for righteousness) are privileged recipients of God’s favour (blessed) in that God will enable them to live a righteous life as God’s defines and understands righteousness (they will be satisfied).
[1] The idea of continuously craving righteousness is found in the grammatical tense of the two participles πεινῶντες (“those who continuously hunger”) and διψῶντες (“those who continuously thirst”). The present tense brings an imperfective verbal aspect to the participles, indicating that the hunger and thirst are perpetual or continual.