Beatitudes

Text and Content

The Beatitudes appear in Matthew 5:3-10. They form the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, which Jesus taught to his disciples and the crowds after going up on a mountain. In the New Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong), as in English, each verse opens with a pronouncement of blessing ("Blessed are…"). The eight blessings are as follows:

• The poor in spirit: "theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
• They that mourn: "they shall be comforted."
• The meek: "they shall inherit the earth."
• They which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: "they shall be filled."
• The merciful: "they shall obtain mercy."
• The pure in heart: "they shall see God."
• The peacemakers: "they shall be called the children of God."
• They which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: "theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

The verses that follow, 5:11-12, pronounce a blessing on those who are reviled and persecuted "for my sake." Some count this as a ninth beatitude, while others regard it as an elaboration of the eighth. Luke 6:20-23 contains four blessings, followed in 6:24-26 by four corresponding woes.

Background and Vocabulary

The Greek word makarios, translated "blessed," carries the sense of being blessed or happy. It is understood to continue a form of expression found in Old Testament wisdom literature, such as "Blessed is the man" (Psalm 1:1). The first and eighth beatitudes end with the same promise, "theirs is the kingdom of heaven," framing the entire series. The third beatitude is nearly identical in wording to Psalm 37:11. The Beatitudes are also frequently read alongside Isaiah 61:1-3, which speaks of comfort for the poor and those who mourn.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

Most of the promises in the Beatitudes are in the future tense. For this reason they are commonly read within the New Testament tension that the kingdom of God has already begun but is not yet consummated. Interpreters often emphasize that the Beatitudes overturn conventional values by declaring blessed before God those who appear unfortunate by the world's standards.

Interpretation and Issues

• "Poor in spirit" and "poor": Matthew's phrasing is often read as referring to spiritual humility before God. Luke's phrasing is frequently interpreted as also encompassing actual economic poverty.
• Conditions or declarations: Some read the Beatitudes as ethical requirements for entering the kingdom of heaven. Others read them as declarations describing the character of the people of God's kingdom who have already received grace. The Reformation tradition has addressed this question within the framework of the relationship between law and gospel. Some within classical dispensationalism regarded the Sermon on the Mount as the ethic of the millennial kingdom.
• Scope of practice: The Anabaptist tradition has emphasized the literal practice of being "peacemakers," treating it as a basis for nonviolence and pacifism.
• Later traditions: The text says only "a mountain." The present-day identification of a hillside by the Sea of Galilee as the "Mount of Beatitudes" is a later tradition. In addition, prosperity theology readings that interpret the "blessing" of the Beatitudes as material prosperity are criticized as far removed from the context of the text.

In the Korean Church

The Beatitudes are frequently used for sermon series that expound the passage one verse at a time. They are also among the best-known passages memorized in Sunday school from the New Korean Revised Version. On Holy Land pilgrimages, the Mount of Beatitudes in Galilee is a widely known destination.