A Closer Look at Matthew’s Nine Beatitudes

In the previous post, I translated Matthew’s beatitudes and Luke’s beatitudes and woes, pointing out some of their similarities and differences. In this post, I am going to focus on Matthew’s beatitudes, looking at how these nine beatitudes fit together. I will do the same for Luke’s beatitudes and woes in the next post.

Matthew has eight beatitudes that use third person pronouns (they) and one that uses second person pronouns (you), underlined in the text below. There is a lot of repetition in Matthew’s beatitudes too (see the bold text below): 

• In the first and eight beatitudes, those addressed are told: “theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:3, 10). These two also use the present tense, implying that the poor in spirit and the persecuted have the kingdom now. The rest (except the ninth) are future tense: they will have something happen at some point in the future.
• Righteousness is mentioned in the fourth and eighth beatitudes (5:6, 10) and God in the sixth and seventh (5:8-9).
• Persecution appears three times across the eighth and ninth beatitudes and does “on account of.”

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted on account of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute and say all kinds of evil against you, lying, on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven; for in this way they persecuted the prophets before you.

The change in pronouns from “they” to “you” in the final beatitude (5:11-12) has led some scholars to argue that it was not originally attached to the other eight. It is also much longer and doesn’t follow the same format as the other eight, adding weight to this argument. However, the eighth and ninth beatitudes both address the persecuted, connecting them together. With the ninth beatitude removed, the reference to the kingdom of heaven frames the series, appearing at the beginning and the end. The remaining eight can then be divided into two series of four beatitudes (or two series of three with the first and eights framing the whole list). 

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted on account of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

However, when this is done there doesn’t appear to be much differentiating the two series from each other. If anything, beatitudes 1, 2, 3, and 8 belong together as the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, and the persecuted are all groups who appear down on their luck. By contrast, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers all exhibit admirable behaviours that should be emulated. 

Trying to divide and dissect the structure of Matthew’s beatitudes makes me wonder whether they are supposed to be divided at all. There is no denying that the ninth beatitude is very different from the others, but it is also the beatitude which bridges the gap between the beatitudes and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. As a result, I will assume that these nine beatitudes belong together and should be read together rather than divided into smaller sections.

So, what ties these nine beatitudes together? Put simply, they are, for different reasons, the underdogs in society, whose values or misfortune mean they struggle to get ahead in a competitive social structure. They are blessed by God because they suffer these things “on my account” (Matt 5:11), because of their faith in Jesus. From these beatitudes, Jesus is able to launch into the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, setting out how those who follow him should behave and interact with one another. They are to play by different rules to the rest of the world around them.

So, how does this differ in Luke’s Gospel? More on that in the next post.