Μακάριοι (Makarioi) in Matthew 5:3: Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
Μακάριοι (Makarioi) in Matthew 5:3
Textual Witness
The witness reads Μακάριοι in Matthew 5:3.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The adjective frames the Beatitude as Jesus' blessing pronouncement.
How To Communicate It
Use it to show that Jesus pronounces blessing before giving the kingdom reason.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not detach blessed from the because clause that follows.
- Do not build a full doctrine from this form alone.
- Do not use morphology to detach the word from Matthew's immediate argument.
What Does The Label Mean?
Adjective: the form describes or qualifies another word in the clause.
Nominative: the case marks how the form functions in this occurrence.
Plural: the number should be read from this occurrence, not generalized beyond the clause.
Masculine: grammatical gender marks form agreement and does not by itself make a theological claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Jesus' opening Beatitude declaration in Matthew 5:3
Describes the people Jesus calls blessed.
Do not make blessed into mere emotional happiness.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The adjective opens the first Beatitude.
Predicate adjective in the Beatitude. declares the poor in spirit blessed. Attached to Blessed are the poor in spirit. Governed by Jesus' opening Beatitude declaration in Matthew 5:3. Read with the group and the kingdom reason.
Whom does Jesus call blessed? The poor in spirit.
Direct: The form directly supports blessed.
The blessing is clear, while the Beatitudes as a whole shape its meaning.
Blessed means mere happiness: The occurrence is Jesus' kingdom blessing, not a generic mood word.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads Μακάριοι in Matthew 5:3.
The lemma μακάριος carries the gloss "happy, blessed", and here it names blessedness in Jesus' Beatitude.
The adjective begins the statement and describes the group named in the clause.
Jesus opens the Beatitudes by declaring the poor in spirit blessed.
The form fits the kingdom-reversal shape of the Sermon on the Mount.
Use it to show that Jesus pronounces blessing before giving the kingdom reason.
Do not use the adjective alone to define all blessedness.