Jesus’ first public sermon was recorded in the Gospels of Matthew (Matthew 5) and Luke (Luke 6). His eighth blessing from God, called the “Beatitudes,” that Matthew recorded was:
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
In an earlier post we’ve already looked at what the word “righteousness” means. If you missed that one, I recommend going and reading that post first. For this verse, I want to take a closer look at what “persecution” means. In the original Greek, it is διώκω and is transliterated “diókó” (pronounced dee-o’-ko), which means to “persue with haste” or “aggressively chase.” It can be used in a positive way, such as to “earnestly pursue,” or a negative way, such as to “zealously hunt down” or “earnestly desire to apprehend.”
Read More “Blessed are Those who are Persecuted because of Righteousness”
