📖 Biblical Definition
"Hunger and thirst for righteousness" is the fourth Beatitude: "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6). The verbs are present tense — continuously hungering, continuously thirsting — not seekers who have arrived but seekers who keep seeking. "Righteousness" here includes both the righteousness Christ provides (imputed in justification, 2 Corinthians 5:21) and the righteousness Christ produces (worked out in sanctification, Romans 6:13). Both kinds will be filled. The Christian who has lost his appetite has stopped pursuing the right meal. "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God" (Psalm 42:1). Keep hungering.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Matt 5:6: continuous hunger for both received and lived righteousness.
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The fourth Beatitude: "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matt 5:6). Greek participles are present tense — hoi peinōntes kai dipsōntes — "those who keep on hungering and thirsting." The Beatitude blesses ongoing seekers, not satisfied arrivers. Dikaiosynē (righteousness) here probably includes both: (1) the righteousness Christ provides through faith (justification, alien righteousness imputed); (2) the righteousness Christ produces through the Spirit (sanctification, internal righteousness wrought). Both kinds are gifted to the hungry-and-thirsty. The promise is satisfaction (chortazō, the verb used of feeding the 5000 to the full).
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 5:6 — "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."
Psalm 42:1-2 — "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God."
John 6:35 — "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Self-righteousness mistakes hunger-and-thirst for arrival; cheap grace mistakes filling for license to stop hungering.
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Two opposite errors: (1) the self-righteous have stopped hungering and thirsting because they think they have arrived; (2) the cheap-grace adherent stops hungering because filling is automatic. Christ blesses neither — He blesses the continuous hungerer-and-thirster, who has known filling and still hungers for more.
Recover the present tense: keep hungering. The fillings of this life feed; the eschatological filling completes. Until then, hunger is grace's right disposition.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek peinaō kai dipsaō.
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['Greek', 'G3983', 'peinaō', 'to hunger']
['Greek', 'G1372', 'dipsaō', 'to thirst']
['Greek', 'G1343', 'dikaiosynē', 'righteousness']
Usage
"Blessed are those who keep hungering and thirsting."
"Both received and lived righteousness."
"Filled and still hungry."