The Beatitudes

Among the sermons recorded in the Bible, the Sermon on the Mount is perhaps the best known. Jesus’ hearers literally were astonished when they heard Jesus’ words for the first time. Gently, yet forcefully Jesus expounded the Old Testament with a New Testament focus. It is aptly called the Constitution of the Kingdom of God. In this series we will limit our study to the opening passage of the sermon, commonly known as the Beatitudes. No Scripture equals the description of the citizens of Jesus’ Kingdom than the elementary yet comprehensive sketch of His genuine subjects.

Before we take a close look at the Beatitudes, which are the nine statements beginning with “blessed are” found in Matthew 5:3–12, we need to first start with a bird’s-eye view of the context, the context of the Gospel of Matthew, and the context of the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 to 7.

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Rev. A.T. Vergunst is minister of the Gospel in the Reformed Congregation of Carterton, New Zealand.