put aside their thoughts<,><to> seek<,> and welcome...

[Phyllis lin]

Hi, everyone, can you tell me:
Is there any difference between "infinitive expression" and "A, B, and C sentence structure"?
Take the following sentences as an example.

1 Only humble men can put aside their own thoughts to seek God's work and welcome the Lord.
2 Only a humble man can put aside their own thoughts, seek God's work, and welcome the Lord.

I wrote them according to
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
Do they convey the same meaning?

 

[PaulQ]

1 Only humble men can put aside their own thoughts in order/so as to (i) seek God's work and (ii) welcome the Lord. This indicates the limited distribution of the capability for doing X for the purpose of Y(i) and Y(ii).

2 Only a humble man can (i) put aside their1 own thoughts, (ii) seek God's work, and (iii) welcome the Lord.
This indicates the limited distribution of the capability for doing all of the actions (i), (ii), and (iii). There is no indication of the purpose of doing X, Y, and Z.

I wrote them according to
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

At first reading, Matthew 5:3 seems to say "You are blessed if you have little "spirit"." Some Christians tend to paraphrase this as “Blessed, in spirit, are the poor:" in which "in spirit" = spiritually. It seems to have nothing to do with your examples.


1 note the mismatch of noun and adjective.

 

[Phyllis lin]

@ PaulQ Thanks a million! Your detailed explanation is very helpful to me.