The Beatitudes are a series of blessings pronounced by Jesus Christ during His Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 5:3-12) and echoed in a shorter form in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 6:20-23). These declarations are foundational to Christian ethics and spirituality, offering a vision of the Kingdom of Heaven and the character of its citizens. The term "Beatitude" comes from the Latin "beatus," meaning "blessed" or "happy."

Context and Structure

The Beatitudes are the opening statements of the Sermon on the Mount, a collection of teachings by Jesus that outline the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven. Delivered on a mountainside to His disciples and a large crowd, the Beatitudes set the tone for the radical, counter-cultural message of Jesus. Each Beatitude begins with the word "Blessed," indicating a state of spiritual well-being and prosperity in God's favor.

The Beatitudes in Matthew

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
· This Beatitude emphasizes spiritual humility and the recognition of one's need for God. The "poor in spirit" are those who acknowledge their spiritual poverty and dependence on God's grace.

2. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)
· Mourning here refers to a deep sorrow over sin and the brokenness of the world. The promise of comfort points to God's compassion and the hope of restoration.

3. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)
· Meekness is characterized by gentleness and humility. Contrary to worldly power, the meek trust in God's sovereignty and are promised a share in His eternal kingdom.

4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)
· This Beatitude speaks to a deep desire for personal holiness and justice. The promise of being filled reflects God's provision and the fulfillment of righteous desires.

5. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
· Mercy involves compassion and forgiveness towards others. This Beatitude underscores the reciprocal nature of mercy in God's economy.

6. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)
· Purity of heart refers to sincerity and single-minded devotion to God. The promise of seeing God highlights the ultimate reward of intimate fellowship with Him.

7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. (Matthew 5:9)
· Peacemakers actively seek reconciliation and harmony. Being called "sons of God" signifies a likeness to God's character and participation in His mission of peace.

8. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10)
· This Beatitude acknowledges the reality of suffering for the sake of righteousness. The assurance of the kingdom of heaven offers hope and vindication.

9. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you. (Matthew 5:11-12)
· Jesus extends the blessing to those who endure persecution for His sake, linking their experience to that of the prophets and promising a heavenly reward.

Theological Significance

The Beatitudes reveal the values of the Kingdom of Heaven, contrasting sharply with worldly values. They call believers to a life of humility, mercy, purity, and peace, reflecting the character of Christ. The Beatitudes also offer comfort and hope, assuring believers of God's presence and future reward despite present trials.

Practical Application

Christians are encouraged to embody the Beatitudes in their daily lives, cultivating the attitudes and behaviors that align with the teachings of Jesus. This involves a commitment to spiritual growth, social justice, and the pursuit of peace, trusting in God's promises and His ultimate plan for redemption.Matthew 5:1-48
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came to him:
Topicalbible.org

BEATITUDES

be-at'-i-tudes:

1. The Name:

The word "beatitude" is not found in the English Bible, but the Latin beatitudo, from which it is derived, occurs in the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) version of Romans 4:6 where, with reference to Psalm 32:1, 2, David is said to pronounce the "beatitude" of the man whose transgressions are forgiven. In the Latin church beatitudo was used not only as an abstract term denoting blessedness, but in the secondary, concrete sense of a particular declaration of blessedness and especially of such a declaration coming from the lips of Jesus Christ. Beatitudes in this derivative meaning of the word occur frequently in the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms (Psalm 32:1, 2; Psalm 41:1; Psalm 65:4, etc.), and Jesus on various occasions threw His utterances into this form (Matthew 11:6; Matthew 13:16; Matthew 16:17; Matthew 24:46, with the Lukan parallels; John 13:17; John 20:29). But apart from individual sayings of this type the name Beatitudes, ever since the days of Ambrose, has been attached specifically to those words of blessing with which, according to both Matthew and Luke, Jesus began that great discourse which is known as the Sermon on the Mount.

2. The Two Groups:

When we compare these Beatitudes as we find them in Matthew 5:3-12 and Luke 6:20-23 (24-26), we are immediately struck by the resemblances and differences between them. To the ordinary reader, most familiar with Matthew's version, it is the differences that first present themselves; and he will be apt to account for the discrepancy of the two reports, as Augustine did, by assigning them to two distinct occasions in the Lord's ministry. A careful comparative study of the two narratives, however, with some attention to the introductory circumstances in each case, to the whole progress of the discourses themselves, and to the parabolic sayings with which they conclude, makes this view improbable, and points rather to the conclusion that what we have to do with is two varying versions given by the Evangelists of the material drawn from an underlying source consisting of Logia of Jesus. The differences, it must be admitted, are very marked.

(a) Matthew has 8 Beatitudes; Luke has 4, with 4 following Woes.

(b) In Matthew the sayings, except the last, are in the 3rd person; in Luke they are in the 2nd.

(c) In Matthew the blessings, except the last, are attached to spiritual qualities; in Luke to external conditions of poverty and suffering.

Assuming that both Evangelists derived their reports from some common Logian source, the question arises as to which of them has adhered more closely to the original. The question is difficult, and still gives rise to quite contrary opinions. One set of scholars decides in favor of Matt hew, and accounts for Luke's deviation from the Matthean version by ascribing to him, on very insufficient grounds, an ascetic bias by which he was led to impart a materialistic tone to the utterances of Jesus. Another set inclines to theory that Luke's version is the more literal of the two, while Matthew's partakes of the nature of a paraphrase. In support of this second view it may be pointed out that Luke is usually more careful than Matthew to place the sayings of Jesus in their original setting and to preserve them in their primitive form, and further that owing to the natural tendency of the sacred writers to expand and interpret rather than to abbreviate an inspired utterance, the shorter form of a saying is more likely to be the original one. It may be noted, further, that in Matthew 5:11, 12 the Beatitude takes the direct form, which suggests that this may have been the form Matthew found in his source in the case of the others also. On the whole, then, probabilities appear to favor the view that Luke's version is the more literal one. It does not follow, however, that the difference between the two reports amounts to any real inconsistency. In Luke emphasis is laid on the fact that Jesus is addressing His disciples (Luke 6:20), so that it was not the poor as such whom He blessed, but His own disciples although they were poor. It was not poverty, hunger, sorrow or suffering in themselves to which He promised great rewards, but those experiences as coming to spiritual men and thus transformed into springs of spiritual blessing. And so when Matthew, setting down the Lord's words with a view to their universal application rather than with reference to the particular circumstances in which they were uttered, changes "the poor" into "the poor in spirit," and those that "hunger" into those that "hunger and thirst after righteousness," he is giving the real purport of the words of Jesus and recording them in the form in which by all men and through all coming time they may be read without any chance of misunderstanding.

As regards the Beatitudes of the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, which are given by Matthew only, they may have been spoken by Jesus at the same time as the rest and have been intended by Him in their association with the other four to fill out a conception of the ideal character of the members of the Kingdom of God. In view, however, of their omission from Luke's list, it is impossible to affirm this with certainty. That they are all authentic utterances of Jesus Himself there is no reason to doubt. But they may have been originally scattered through the discourse itself, each in its own proper place. Thus the Beatitude of the meek would go fitly with Luke 6:38, that of the merciful with Luke 6:43, that of the pure in heart with Luke 6:27, that of the peacemakers with Luke 6:23. Or they may even have been uttered on other occasions than that of the Sermon on the Mount and have been gathered together by Matthew and placed at the head of the Sermon as forming along with the other four a suitable introduction to our Lord's great discourse on the laws and principles of the Kingdom of God.

3. Number, Arrangement, Structure:

With regard to the number of the Beatitudes in Matthew's fuller version, some have counted 7 only, making the list end with Matthew 5:9. But though the blessing pronounced on the persecuted in Matthew 5:10-12 differs from the preceding Beatitudes, both in departing from the aphoristic form and in attaching the blessing to an outward condition and not to a disposition of the heart, the parallel in Luke (Luke 6:22) justifies the view that this also is to be added to the list, thus making 8 Beatitudes in all. On the arrangement of the group much has been written, most of it fanciful and unconvincing. The first four have been described as negative and passive, the second four as positive and active. The first four, again, have been represented as pertaining to the desire for salvation, the second four as relating to its actual possession. Some writers have endeavored to trace in the group as a whole the steadily ascending stages in the development of the Christian character. The truth in this last suggestion lies in the reminder it brings that the Beatitudes are not to be thought of as setting forth separate types of Christian character, but as enumerating qualities and experiences that are combined in the ideal character as conceived by Christ-and as exemplified, it may be added, in His own life and person.

In respect of their structure, the Beatitudes are all alike in associating the blessing with a promise-a promise which is sometimes represented as having an immediate realization (Matthew 5:3, 10), but in most cases has a future or even (compare Matthew 5:12) an eschatological outlook. The declaration of blessedness, therefore, is based not only on the possession of the quality or experience described, but on the present or future rewards in which it issues. The poor in spirit are called blessed not merely because they are poor in spirit, but because the kingdom of heaven is theirs; the mourners because they shall be comforted; those that hunger and thirst after righteousness because they shall be filled; those who are persecuted because a great reward is laid up for them in heaven. The Beatitudes have often been criticized as holding up an ideal of which limitation, privation and self-renunciation are the essence, and which lacks those positive elements that are indispensable to any complete conception of blessedness. But when it is recognized that the blessing in every case rests on the associated promise, the criticism falls to the ground. Christ does demand of His followers a renunciation of many things that seem desirable to the natural heart, and a readiness to endure many other things from which men naturally shrink. But just as in His own case the great self-emptying was followed by the glorious exaltation (Philippians 2:6), so in the case of His disciples spiritual poverty and the bearing of the cross carry with them the inheritance of the earth and a great reward in heaven.

LITERATURE.

Votaw in HDB, V, 14; Adeney in Expositor, 5th series, II, 365; Stanton, The Gospels as Historical Documents, II, 106, 327; Gore, Sermon on the Mount, 15; Dykes, Manifesto of the King, 25-200.

J. C. Lambert

The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12
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The Beatitudes.
... CHAPTER IX. SECOND COURSE OF EXTENDED LABOURS IN GALILEE. I. The Beatitudes.
Section 149. Moral Requisites for Entering the Kingdom ...
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An Appendix to the Beatitudes
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beatitudes. His commandments are not grievous 1 John 5:3. ...
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The Beatitudes.
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Beatitudes. 1 Blest are the humble souls that see Their ...
/.../adams/hymns for christian devotion/344 the beatitudes.htm

Whether the Beatitudes Differ from the virtues and Gifts?
... OF THE BEATITUDES (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether the beatitudes differ from the
virtues and gifts? Objection 1: It would seem that the ...
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Of the Beatitudes (Four Articles)
... OF THE BEATITUDES (FOUR ARTICLES). We must now consider the beatitudes: under
which head there are four points of inquiry: (1) Whether ...
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Whether the Fruits Differ from the Beatitudes?
... OF THE FRUITS OF THE HOLY GHOST (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether the fruits differ
from the beatitudes? Objection 1: It would seem that the ...
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Whether the Rewards of the Beatitudes are Suitably Enumerated?
... OF THE BEATITUDES (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether the rewards of the beatitudes
are suitably enumerated? Objection 1: It would seem that ...
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Whether the Beatitudes are Suitably Enumerated?
... OF THE BEATITUDES (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether the beatitudes are suitably enumerated?
Objection 1: It would seem that the beatitudes are unsuitably enumerated. ...
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The Beatitudes, Matt. 5 3-12.
... Hymns. Book 1. Hymn 1:102. The beatitudes, Matt. 5. 3-12. 1 [Bless'd are the
humble souls that see Their emptiness and poverty; Treasures ...
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Beatitudes
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia BEATITUDES. be-at'-i-tudes: 1. The Name:
The word "beatitude" is not found in the English Bible, but ...
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Sermon (1 Occurrence)
... Capernaum. It was afterwards called the "Mount of Beatitudes.". Noah Webster's
Dictionary. ... 12). The Sermon opens with the familiar Beatitudes. ...
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Jesus (10891 Occurrences)
... the Mount, is highly instructive. Seldom, indeed, has the structure of
the Beatitudes been clearly understood. Each of them is an ...
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Plain (113 Occurrences)
... The Lukan discourse includes only a portion of the Beatitudes, with a set of four
"woes," a rather brief section on the social duties, and the concluding ...
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Malchiel (3 Occurrences)
... 5:3-12). The Sermon opens with the familiar Beatitudes. Unlike many ... and
for society. There are two groups of Beatitudes. The first ...
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Ziddim (1 Occurrence)
... Chattin, about 5 miles Northwest of Tiberias, in the opening of the gorge that breaks
down seaward North of Qurun Chattin, the traditional Mount of Beatitudes. ...
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Mount (311 Occurrences)
... numerous caves, some of large extent, found there. Mount of beatitudes. See
SERMON. Mount of corruption. (2 Kings 23:13; Vulg., "mount of ...
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Beatings (5 Occurrences)

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Beats (3 Occurrences)

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Persecution (22 Occurrences)
... a blessing, whenever it came to His loyal followers when they were in the way of
well-doing; and He thus speaks of it in two of the Beatitudes, "Blessed are ...
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What are the beatitudes? | GotQuestions.org

What does it mean that blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness? | GotQuestions.org

What does it mean that blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake? | GotQuestions.org

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