Blessed they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for *they* shall be filled.
この節の注解
The Fourth Beatitude — "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matt. 5:6) — is treated by these writers as the turning-point of the Beatitudes: the most active of the inward graces, and the one that secures perfect satisfaction from God's own hand.
Its place among the Beatitudes
Walter Scott (in his exposition of the Sermon on the Mount) sets this fourth saying at the very center of the series:
Walter Scott"Blessed they which hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." This is the central trait of the seven, and it seems to bind them all together like the central light on the candlestick. Do we know what this means? David cried, "As the hart pants after the water-brook so pants my soul after God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." No person ever sought the Lord and was disappointed, and no amount of this world's goods can ever satisfy the heart that has fed upon the bread of God.
William Kelly sees it as the climax of the first half of the Beatitudes — the active side, before the Lord turns to speak of mercy, purity and peace-making:
William KellyThe fourth blessedness is much more active. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (ver. 6). Perfect soul-satisfaction they shall have. Whatever was the form of the spiritual feeling of the heart, there is always the perfect answer to it on God's part. If there was sorrow, they shall be comforted; if there was meekness, they shall inherit the earth, the very place of their trial here. Now, there is this activity of spiritual feeling, the going out after what was according to God, and what maintained the will of God.
W. T. P. Wolston likewise marks this verse as closing the first group of Beatitudes — those which have righteousness as their key — before the subject changes to grace:
W. T. P. Wolston"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Matt. 5:6). Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, God will fill. It is a hungering, and thirsting, after practically meeting the mind of God. Do we know that? I suppose the reason why we know so little of what it is to be filled, is because we so little hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Now the subject changes. Hitherto we have had righteousness. It is a right thing to be poor in spirit, it is a right thing to mourn, it is a right thing to be meek, it is a right thing to hunger and thirst after practically meeting the mind of God. Now we come to the other side of the subject. Grace. Christ!
What the hungering and thirsting is
For these writers, the language is not about longing for imputed righteousness in a forensic sense, but for practical righteousness — the will of God carried out in a world that opposes it.
Andrew Miller devotes his fullest meditation to this beatitude, and insists that the desire itself is already the work of grace in the soul:
Andrew MillerThis is grace, and like the ways of the Lord in grace, from the beginning. His answer meets the felt need of the soul. He creates the desire that He may satisfy it. When the heart desires that which is good, we may be sure that His grace is there. As there is nothing spiritually good in the natural heart, the first, as every good desire after, must come from God. "I will arise, and go to my father," was the effect of grace working in the heart of the prodigal; and he was then as safe as when he was in his father's arms, though he did not know it. So that a good desire is the fruit of grace, and, in a certain sense, the possession of all that is desired. It is like the earnest of the inheritance.
Miller then defines the appetite itself:
As we are all well acquainted with the force of the figure, we can easily see its spiritual application. To hunger and thirst after righteousness evidently means an earnest desire of the renewed mind to do the will of God in this world; and this desire is increased from finding the world opposed to what is right in the sight of God — to righteousness. Hence the intensified feeling of hungering and thirsting.
He warns that this appetite will always be costly to the one who has it:
But though blessedness is the sure reward of righteousness, the righteous path will be one of great trial and many difficulties. The maxim of the world is, not what is right before God, but what is convenient, profitable, or suitable to self. What the mind of God may be on the subject is never thought of; and he who would suggest the inquiry would be set down as unfit for the practical realities of this life.
And Miller fastens the whole thing to a single piercing question the Christian is to ask about every course of action:
As a test of the real character of much that we allow and do, it would be impossible to over-estimate the value of this short and simple question, Is it right? Not that we are to expect an express passage of scripture for everything we do or allow; but we may seriously inquire, is this in accordance with the revealed will of God in Christ? Are we sure that it has His approval? If not, what is it worth? It is worse than useless, it is wrong… To hunger and thirst after righteousness is the earnest desire to maintain what is right in the sight of God, though it may expose us to the opposition and oppression of the world, or to that of worldly-minded Christians.
The test of sincerity
Thomas Watson, quoted at length in William Smith's compilation, makes this verse the touchstone of a real Christian as distinguished from a hypocrite. It is the desire, not merely the outward act, that tells the story:
Thomas Watson"BLESSED are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matt. 5:6). Though thou hast not so much righteousness as thou wouldst, yet thou art blessed, because thou hungerest after it; desire is the best discovery of a Christian, actions may be counterfeit; a man may do a good action for a bad end. So did Jehu. Actions may be compulsory: a man may be forced to do that which is good, but not to will that which is good. These hungerings after righteousness proceed from love; a man doth not desire that which he doth not love; if thou didst not love Christ, thou couldst not hunger after Him.
Watson then draws a sharp line between the true appetite and its counterfeit:
The hypocrite doth not so much desire the way of righteousness as the crown of righteousness: his desire is not to be made like Christ, but to reign with Christ. This was Balaam's desire, "Let me die the death of the righteous" (Num. 23:10). This is the hypocrite's hunger; a child of God desires Christ for Himself. To a believer, not only heaven is precious, but Christ is precious (1 Peter 2:7). Hypocrites' desires are but desires, they are lazy and sluggish. "The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour" (Prov. 21:25). But true desire is quickened into endeavour, "With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early" (Isa. 26:9).
"They shall be filled"
On the promise itself, Watson gives the richest treatment:
"They shall be filled." God never bids us seek Him in vain. "He has filled the hungry with good things" (Luke 1:53). "He satisfieth the longing soul" (Ps. 107:9). God will not let us lose our longing.
A man may hunger after the world and not be filled; the world is fading, not filling. A man may be filled and not satisfied. A sinner may take his fill of sin, but it is far from satisfaction… but he that hungers after righteousness shall be satisfyingly filled. "My people shall be satisfied with My goodness" (Jer. 31:14).
God can fill the hungry soul. "With Thee is the fountain of life" (Ps. 36:9). The cistern may be empty and cannot fill us. But the fountain is filling. The fulness of God is an infinite fulness, it knows neither bounds nor bottom. It is a constant fulness, "Thou art the same" (Ps. 102:27). God can never be exhausted, His fulness is overflowing and ever-flowing.
Miller closes his own meditation on the same note, that no heart which has begun to long for Christ will be disappointed:
We conclude, then, from these reflections… that every desire of the heart after Christ shall be satisfied for ever. So far this is true now. May the Lord awaken and draw forth many deep, earnest, longing desires after Himself, in these last and closing days.
Synthesis
Four threads run through all of this. First, the hunger itself is already grace at work — no unrenewed heart ever reached after the righteousness of God, so the ache is God's own pledge that He intends to satisfy it. Second, the righteousness in view is practical: an eager desire to do God's will in a world that contradicts it, not a merely imputed standing. Third, the desire is the truest mark of a Christian — actions may be forged, but longing cannot; the hypocrite wants the crown without the Christ, while the child of God wants Christ Himself. And fourth, the promise is absolute — "they shall be filled." The world is a cistern that cannot fill; God is a fountain that never runs dry, and He has never yet allowed a soul that hungered after Him to go away empty. The very fact that you hunger after His righteousness is His own work in you, and is itself the earnest of the fullness He has pledged to pour in.