How does "eulogon/blessing" Hebrews 6:14 compare with "makarios/blessed" Luke 14:15?

Question

Hebrews 6:13-14 [NKJV; my emphasis].

"For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, 'Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you'". [eulogon/blessing].

Luke 14:15 [NKJV; my emphasis].

"Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, 'Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." [makarios/blessed].

"eulogon" and "makarios" are different parts of speech, but in these verses why are different words used? Do they allude to:

A. different sorts of blessing.

B. different aspects of the same sort of blessing.

C. another explanation for their particular use?

Answer 1

There is no question that the meanings of εὐλογέω (to bless by saying good words) and μακαρίζω (to make happy by pronouncing a blessing and its associated cognate noun μακάριος) overlap. Heb 6:14 contains the verb εὐλογέω and Luke 14:15 contains the noun μακάριος.

The precise meanings of these two almost-synonyms is given in many good lexicons:

• μακάριος (happy, blessed) - see https://biblehub.com/greek/3107.htm
• μακαρίζω (to make happy, bless) - see https://biblehub.com/greek/3106.htm
• εὐλογέω (to pronounce good words) - see https://biblehub.com/greek/2127.htm

The difference in the two verses listed in the question involves a set of hebraisms:

In Heb 6:14, the author of Hebrews in quoting from an unrecorded pronouncement in typical Hebrew idiom that evokes a an extreme blessing and double format:

• Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you

That is, the great blessing emphasis (because of the repetition) is to result in great multiplying of Abraham's descendants.

By contrast, in Luke 14:15, Jesus is not pronouncing a blessing but making a predictive promise - people in the Kingdom of God will be "happy" ie, in a state of μακάριος. That is, Jesus is stating a simple fact about the future state of those in the spiritual kingdom of God.

Thus, the two are fundamentally different but their meanings clearly overlap.