What is the Good Life?

Angela Moore
Feb 9
11 min read

Updated: Feb 14

What is the good life? Unless you have aspirations to become a philosopher, this has probably not been a conversation topic at your dinner table. But you have most certainly considered what the good life is, in personal reflections about your own life and your observations of others’ lives.

I wish we had…

If only we could….

I can’t wait until we…

Or even, in joy and gratitude, proclaiming something highly favorable in your life…#blessed.

When you look at others #blessed lives, you’re thinking about what the good life is. You’re even considering it as you look with pity on someone whose life is quite "obviously" not #blessed.

But what is the good life?

It’s clear in secular culture that the “good life” is the American dream: upward mobility, freedom, and equality, which today translates as good health, wealth, and freedom to pursue whatever makes you happy.

The church’s general take on the good life isn’t very different than that of secular culture. It’s evidenced by the fruit: bickering and strife, depression and anxiety, divorce, workaholism, addictions, pride…heartbreakingly, the life seen within the church looks a lot like that on the ‘outside.’

Which begs the question…WHAT are we missing!?

On rare occasion, the church may actually look to Jesus for what the good life is, and this is where the infamous Beatitudes come in. At face value these proclamations make zero sense. You’re blessed if you’re…powerless, poor, meek, striving for justice…grieving?

Who wants that kind of life?

Nobody, obviously!

Do you really think Jesus wants that kind of life for you?

There’s no indication that he does. Rather, he declared:

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
“My purpose for telling you these things is so that the joy that I experience will fill your hearts with overflowing gladness.” John 15:11
“I leave the gift of peace with you – my peace…don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts -instead, be courageous!” John 14:27
"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control.” Galatians 5:13 (That’s the Apostle Paul, but still...)
"The kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans 14:17

So, how are we to think about the Beatitudes?

There are two dimensions that prove incredibly helpful in understanding what Jesus was getting at with the Beatitudes and embracing them for the very Good News that they are: Vision and Linguistics.

Vision for how we see Jesus and his Gospel. Linguistics for understanding the actual Greek and Hebrew words in play with what we translate as “blessed.” Let’s start with that.

Linguistics

To understand this, I went to an insightful teaching produced by The Bible Project, where they explain in detail the Greek and Hebrew words for “blessed,” and how they are used (or not) in the Beatitudes. It’s not a very long episode, but I’ll summarize the key points here.

The book of Matthew was written in Greek. The Greek word that’s translated in English as “blessed” is “makarios.”

The Hebrew word that’s consistently translated for “makarios” is “ashrey”.

“Ashrey” is an adjective indicating the very favorable condition someone is in, as observed by another person. It would be used when one person looks at another person and says, “That’s the good life!" or “Oh how fortunate!” is this person. It’s being used to persuade the listener that someone is in the ideal state.

The Bible Project explains that “ashrey” is the word used in both Psalm 1 and Psalm 2, describing a condition of fruitfulness, abundance, protection, safety, and stability. So, when Jesus is declaring someone “makarios” he is saying, “How fortunate are those who…” or “How good is life for the one who…”

A common example in our culture today might involve a celebrity. Imagine you and a friend were at the store and spotted Taylor Swift. You might say to your friend, “she is makarios” or if you prefer Hebrew, “ashrey”. She has the good life – health, wealth, beauty, fame, - and a popular boyfriend on a winning NFL team. On your way out of the store, you might notice a homeless beggar, with an odor that you could smell ten feet away. You would most assuredly not call this unfortunate person “ashrey.”

"Ashrey" is used to describe the favorable, ideal condition experienced by another person.

But calling someone “ashrey” is not pronouncing God’s blessing upon them. For that, the Hebrew word, “barukh” is used. “Barukh” is the word used to highlight that God is the one who brought about abundance, safety, security.

The problem with the English translation of “makarios” as “blessed” is that it makes it sound like Jesus is pronouncing God’s blessing on these people. That is not the case. Instead, Jesus is pointing at people with conditions that one would generally not label as “the good life” (especially in that culture) and saying that indeed, they are “ashrey”. They do, in fact, have the good life!

But why? Why do they have the good life? Bible Project explains the blessing in each statement as being found in the second line. The blessing is not in the condition described in line one, but rather in line two:

…theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
…they will be comforted.
… they will inherit the earth.

And so on. Now, let’s take it a step further. How do you suppose all of those second-line blessings come about? Keep that thought in mind, and let’s consider the bigger picture: Jesus and his gospel.

Vision

Should you wish, you can also study this directly from the source with Dallas Willard’s book, The Divine Conspiracy. It is phenomenal. But it’ll probably take you a year to study it – once. And you’ll need more than one round. So, to distill a little of the wisdom contained therein, I’ll summarize some key points that shed new light on the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes.

Although, it’s much more than that.

It’s a new perspective on the incredible with-God life in his kingdom that’s available to everyone, right now, through Jesus. “Eternity is now in session!”

Let us first consider Jesus as a person. Willard gives a robust description of him in The Divine Conspiracy.

“Jesus (had) cognitive and practical mastery of every phase of reality: physical, moral and spiritual. He is Master only because he is Maestro. ‘Jesus is Lord’ can mean little in practice for anyone who has to hesitate before saying, ‘Jesus is smart.’ He is not just nice, he is brilliant. He is the smartest man who ever lived. He is now supervising the entire course of world history (Rev. 1:5) while simultaneously preparing the rest of the universe for our future role in it (John 14:2). He always has the best information on everything and certainly also on the things that matter most in human life.” (p109)

He is the most impactful teacher that ever walked the planet. What can be added to that? Jesus is brilliant and too often, we regrettably forget that fact.

But what was the gospel, the good news, that Jesus taught? There is little to no debate among scholars:

Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom - the present availability of the rule and reign of God, available now, to anyone who should wish to enter.

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 10:7

“This is a call for us to reconsider how we have been approaching our life, in light of the fact that we now, in the presence of Jesus, have the option of living within the surrounding movements of God’s eternal purposes, of taking our life into his life.” (TDC p23)

Key to understanding this wonderful opportunity is the reality of our nature as spiritual beings. The concept that we live forever isn't disputed in today's world of Christianity, but it usually has a sharp disconnect from how we live our life today - other than seeking to ensure that we "make the cut" so we can go to heaven when we die. But that is a significant oversight - the invitation of Jesus to enter the kingdom of God is for right now, and can immediately impact (and improve!) our life today.

“You are an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe.”

You are a spiritual being having a human experience, not a human being having spiritual experiences. This does not mean our physicality is bad, it just means that there is much more to it than what we can see, touch, feel…both now and forever.

"So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer person is wearing out, our inner person is being renewed day by day..." 2 Corinthians 4:16

This is key to understanding your identity and to being content -with joy and peace - despite the circumstances. And it is key to understanding the invitation to live in the kingdom of God, right here, right now.

“If we go with the currents of modernity, we shall never make sense of Jesus’ gospel for life and discipleship. Quite simply, his work and teaching, as well as the main path of historical Christianity that sprang from him, is essentially based upon the substantial reality of the spirit and of the spiritual world. They cannot be separated from it.” (TDC p107)

Enter now, the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes:

As Willard so helpfully explains, Jesus’ teaching here is a clarification or development of his primary theme in both this talk and in his life… the availability of the kingdom of the heavens.

You can see how the beatitudes develop that theme by first looking back into Matthew Chapter 4. Recall verse 17 Jesus where is proclaiming his basic message:

"Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!"

(Side note: By saying the kingdom is “at hand” he’s saying that it’s right here. It’s as if you were visiting a friend’s new house and as he’s giving you the tour, he might say…and now, the bathroom is at hand. It’s right here.)

Just a little further in Matthew Chapter 4 we see Jesus continuing to announce the message of the kingdom as well as to demonstrate its accessibility…

Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So His fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to Him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, people possessed by demons or having epilepsy or afflicted with paralysis, and He cured them. And great crowds followed Him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying… Matthew 4:23-25 & 5:1-2

Remember, Jesus is the smartest man that ever lived! He was intentional and strategic and incredibly skilled in the way he taught. Willard explains that in this case, Jesus was:

“…using the method of ‘show and tell’ to make clear the extent to which the kingdom is ‘on hand’ to us. There were directly before him those who had just received from the heavens through him. The context makes this clear. He could point out in the crowd now this individual, who was ‘blessed’ because The Kingdom Among Us had just reached out and touched them with Jesus’ heart and voice and hands. Perhaps this is why in the Gospels we only find him giving Beatitudes from the midst of a crowd of people he had touched.” (TDC p114)

With the Beatitudes, Jesus was giving examples of people to whom the kingdom of God was now available, not because of their condition, rather, in spite of it. These were people not typically thought of as having access to “the good life” (remember our homeless beggar). Yet Jesus calls them “blessed,” not because they are in a meritorious condition, but because through him, the kingdom of God is now available to even them. They too now have the good life, in the kingdom of God.

“The Beatitudes, in particular, are not the teachings on how to be blessed. They are not instructions to do anything. They do not indicate conditions that are especially pleasing to God or good for human beings. No one is actually being told that they are better off for being poor, for mourning, for being persecuted, and so on, or that the conditions listed are recommended ways to well-being before God or man. Nor are the Beatitudes indications of who will be on top ‘after the revolution’.

They are explanations and illustrations, drawn from the immediate setting, of the present availability of the kingdom through personal relationship to Jesus.

“They single out cases that provide proof that, in him, the rule of God from the heavens truly is available in life circumstances that are beyond human hope…” (TDC p121)

“The Beatitudes serve to clarify Jesus’ fundamental message: the free availability of God’s rule and righteousness to all of humanity through reliance upon Jesus himself, the person now loose in the world among us. They do this simply by taking those who, from the human point of view, are regarded as most helpless, most beyond all possibility of God’s blessing or even interest, and exhibiting them as enjoying God’s touch and abundant provision from the heavens. (TDC p132)

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

One may wonder how we ended up with the mistranslation that has rendered the conditions in the Beatitudes as favorable. Willard explains that it is driven by the necessity to make sense of something one just does not understand.

“The struggle with the translation reflects our intense need to find in the condition referred to something good, something God supposedly desires or even requires, that then can serve as a ‘reasonable’ basis for the blessedness he bestows. But that precisely misses the point that the very formulation of the Beatitudes should bring to our attention.” (TDC p116)

And then he goes on to explain the grave danger that comes with such a mistranslation.

“Here we have full-blown, if not salvation by works, then possibly salvation by attitude. Or even by situation and chance…can we really imagine that Jesus had anything like this in mind? (TDC p118)

The Beatitudes simply cannot be ‘good news’ if they are understood as a set of ‘how-tos’ for achieving blessedness. They would then only amount to a new legalism. They would not serve to throw open the kingdom – anything but. They would impose a new brand of Phariseeism, a new way of closing the door – as well as some very gratifying new possibilities for the human engineering of righteousness.” (TDC p121)

Are you convinced yet? Relieved, perhaps! No need to aspire to poverty, grief, weakness or persecution. Even better, despite whatever “deplorable” condition you may currently be in, you can have the good life, too…as you live, right now, with Jesus, in God’s kingdom!

One of the exercises Willard offers in his teachings is to write your own list of beatitudes, for your life, today. Mine came to me quickly: Blessed are those with intractable chronic migraine, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Should you go get whacked on the head and hope to have migraines like I do? No!! But you can live the good life in God’s kingdom even if you do. You can also live the good life right now in God’s kingdom even if you’re…bankrupt, terminally ill, single, bankrupt… (You fill in the blank _______________). (More on my story over here.)