Matthew 5:8–Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:6 and 5:8 speak of the state of hungering and thirsting for righteousness, which leads to purity of heart because God satisfies the hunger. The result of purity of heart is being able to to "see" God, to perceive his presence and work, even in the present time.

A. Two possible lines of interpretation:

1. Those who are pure in heart are blessed because they will see God in Heaven, in the future (and others won’t). OR
2. Those who are pure in heart are blessed because they will perceive God here and now (and others won’t).

The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but the distinction is important for understanding what is in view when Jesus speaks of the “pure in heart.”

B. This beatitude is closely related to an earlier one, Matthew 5:6. To hunger and thirst for righteousness—give it first priority—and to be satisfied with God’s righteousness, appears to be at least a prerequisite for purity in heart. God will satisfy this desire:

1. In the Greek of Matthew 5:6, “hungering” and “thirsting” are present participles, active voice, used as descriptions of those (οἱ) who are “blessed”–the hunger and thirst are their continual present state.
2. These people are presently “blessed”–μακάριοι, makarioi–blessed, happy, to be envied. There is no indication this is limited to the distant, eternal future.
3. “Hunger” and “thirst” come from straightforward, common verbs that appear to have no hidden meanings in Matthew 5:6. “Hunger” (πεινάω, peinao, here as a participle) refers primarily to physical hunger for food, though it has recognized metaphorical extensions that indicate being in need (of anything), being hungry, or desiring something intensely (the same way a hungry person craves food). “Thirst” (διψάω, dipsao, also here as a participle) primarily means being thirsty for water, but again has established metaphorical extensions to thirsting for, or intensely desiring, anything.
4. “Righteousness” is δικαιοσύνη, dikaiosune, a somewhat complicated word which, in different contexts, can mean God’s justice or judgment, practicing right judgment ourselves, our own righteousness, or righteousness God imparts to us. In this verse, it quite likely refers to all of these, as things one who is blessed hungers and thirsts for.
5. Dallas Willard was probably correct that people who hunger and thirst for dikaiosune are some of the people the world is least likely to perceive as “blessed.” Instead, the world is likely to perceive their obsession with rightness in their own lives and justice in their world, and their grief over the absence of these things, as a great pain in the neck!
6. The “for” clause in this beatitude, expressing the result of their blessedness, is “for they will be satisfied.” The underlying verb (χορτάζω, chortazó) can mean to satisfy human hunger or to fatten an animal.
7. In Matthew 5:6, chortazó is used as a future indicative passive verb (χορτασθήσονται). Just as in Matthew 5:8, the simple future tense could indicate eternity future, with my next breath, both, or any time in between. The common interpretation limiting this consequence entirely to after death is not required by the language.
8. The verb is passive indicating that the person hungering and thirsting for righteousness does not fill their own need. Someone else–implicitly, God, though this is not stated–fills the need, and fills it completely.

C. Understanding the promise in Matthew 5:8—“they shall see God.”

1. The future verb “shall see” (ὄψονται, opsontai, future indicative, middle voice) favors the “eternity future” reading, but only slightly. Tomorrow is also future, as we see time.
2. Many commentators also favor the “not in this life” interpretation.
3. It is argued that no one will literally “see” God in this life. But we all perceive God, at some point in our lives. (Rom. 1:19-22).
4. The underlying verb in Matthew 5:8 (ὁράω, horáō) is a primitive verb that has a fairly broad range of meaning—it can mean “perceive” (with an emphasis on visual perception).
5. The use of the middle voice in this verse appears to be deliberately ambiguous about who is responsible for the pure in heart being able to see God. It is not active, as if these blessed people simply saw God all on their own. But it is also not passive, as if they see God only because God causes them to see Him, with no choice involved on their part. A reasonable reading of this would be that action is involved by both parties–i.e., God must make Himself perceptible, and the person to whom God reveals Himself must choose to see him.
6. During Jesus’ time among us in the flesh, MANY people saw God, but did not perceive His presence in His Son. (John 14:9; Phil. 2:6-10.)
7. At the present time, God is visible through the Church, the Body of Christ, but most cannot perceive him there.
8. In the final judgment, EVERYONE will both see and perceive God (Rev. 20:11-15; Mt. 25:31-46).
9. The blessing that distinguishes the pure in heart is their ability to perceive God now. This flows directly from their purity in heart…

D. The “heart”—καρδια, kardia, is the broadest of several different words that are translated “heart,” “mind” or “soul” depending on context (or simply “inner being” in some modern translations). It is the first of the three words used in Mt. 22:37, the first and greatest commandment: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…” The core of multiple alternative definitions is “the center and source of the whole inner life, with its thinking, feeling and volition” (per Bauer’s Lexicon), but with a focus “more upon the result of thought” than upon emotion (per Louw & Nida).

E. Pure—καθαρος, katharos—is a simple word: “clean, pure, unadulterated.” It would be used of hands that have been washed (a verb derived from it is used in James 4:8 with exactly this meaning), dishes that have been washed (Mt. 23:25-26, with reference to the Pharisees, who were “washed” only on the outside!), or metals that are free of impurities (the gold in the streets of the New Jerusalem, Rev. 21:18, 21). It was also used of ritual cleanness or purity. (E.g., Luke 5:12, 14). So to be “pure in heart” would appear to mean a state of being washed free of all impurities in the very center of the inner life.

F. Where purity in heart leads:

1. Love from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith (1 Tim. 1:5); compare the works of “pure and undefiled religion” in James 1:27.
2. Righteousness, faith, love and peace; fleeing youthful passions, avoiding arguments (2 Tim. 2:21-23).
3. Sincere love of other believers (1 Pet. 1:22).

G. Examples from the Sermon on the Mount (the immediate context of Matt. 5:8):

1. Negative examples of keeping God’s rules with an impure heart: harboring and planning to act upon (or actually acting upon) anger and contempt are like murder (5:21-22); trying to serve God while permitting an offense to remain unresolved invites the one you offended to act in anger against you (which is like murder on their part) (5:23-26); harboring and secretly planning to act upon lust are like adultery (5:27-28); believing an oath is needed to make others believe you is like swearing a false oath (regardless of whether you were being truthful) (5:33-37); seeking revenge (5:38-42) and hating those who treat you as an enemy (5:43-50) show a heart that is not like God’s; serving God religiously but simultaneously serving wealth is false service showing a heart separated from God (6:18-24) .
2. Positive examples of a pure heart in contrast to misapplied parts of the Law: being truthful rather than relying on oaths (5:33-37); giving to those who make demands, even evil people, rather than seeking revenge (5:38-42); “love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you” (5:44).
3. More positive examples: Doing right, but not to be seen by other people and praised by them (6:1), specifically: giving alms in secret (6:2-4); praying in secret (6:5-6) and without imagining that it is the number or ritual correctness of my words that make God hear me (6:7); fasting in secret (6:16-18).
4. No one can serve two masters. (6:24).

H. What does all this have to do with being able to perceive God? Everyone who practices evil hates the light, and avoids it, so that what they are doing will not be exposed. But those who live by the truth come to the light. John 3:19-21. Or, as Paul says, God’s wrath is revealed against an unbelieving world that once recognized Him, but suppressed the truth “by their unrighteousness,” with the result that their understanding was darkened. Rom. 1:18-21. See, also, Adam and Eve: Idolatry in the Fall for a discussion of hiding from God because we have chosen sin. It was because the people of Jesus’ day clung to the impurity of their hearts that they were unable to perceive God walking among them—except for the minority Jesus chose to give sight. This is still what prevents people from perceiving God today, even though He is working among us. This also has effect in my life as a believer. To the extent my loyalty is divided, and I am clinging to myself and my own interests, I will not clearly perceive God at work. I will not see God.

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