Outline // Sunday School #22: The Beatitudes

July 26th, 2026

Matthew 5:1-12

What exactly does Beatitude even mean? It's not a word I've heard used outside of this specific context in Matthew 5. So where did the name come from?
Beatitude is our english equivalent to the latin word beh-ah-tee-TOO-doh
Pronounced exactly the way you’d think the latin word for Beatitude would be pronounced.
But it means supreme happiness, blessedness, or perfect joy
Now lets take a look at that word blessed.
It's repeated again and again. If we share these values Jesus is declaring that we are blessed but what exactly does that mean?
Well the word for blessed here is the Greek word Ma-Kar-E-Ahs and Ma-Kar-E-Ahs means blessed or happy. Consistent with the meaning of beatitude. BUT that's not all it means. The word Ma-Kar-E-Ahs can also be understood as The Highest Possible Good.
When Jesus is going through these virtues he’s not simply saying that those who possess these virtues are blessed or are happy. He is saying that those who possess these virtues are blessed, happy and they have received the highest possible good that can be aspired to.
And when Jesus makes a statement like that, you better be paying attention.
This is one of the reasons why I love going back to the Greek and breaking down what these words mean. So often we see words and think we understand its meaning then you go and break it down and the word comes alive in a new way you didn't see before.
This is how we're going to break down the beatitudes.
- We're going to go through each one, and we're going to define it.
- We're gonna go back to the Greek, break down the word’s meaning.
- I'm going to give you a description of what this virtue looks like in the life of one who possesses it.
- And I'm going to give you the opposite. What the flesh’s corruption of that virtue looks like.
And with all of that together we're going to leave with a new understanding of the blessings that Jesus has pronounced for those with these virtues. Blessings that Jesus has pronounced for us.
Now the beatitudes can be separated into two parts. The first 4 really build on each other and all have to do with how we relate to God. And out of those first 4 the remaining 4 come naturally as they have to do with how we relate to other people.
Which shouldn't be surprising, the greatest commandments are love God and love your neighbor so if this is the highest possible good for our lives naturally it would have to do with how we relate to God and to others.

The first beatitude is found in Verse 3
- 3 “Blessed are those who are poor and realize their need for him,
  for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
I feel the NLT would've done better to stick with the more direct greek wording. The Greek says blessed are the poor in spirit.
And here is where we need to realize something that's true for all of the beatitudes. All of the beatitudes relate to spiritual virtues. Not physical, material things.
Jesus isn't talking about the homeless here, those with little capital. Jesus is saying blessed are those whose spirit is impoverished.
Doesn't sound like much of a blessing. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. What does that even mean?

What is the promise attached to this blessing? Blessed are the poor in spirit for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Salvation has been gifted to you. You are blessed and will enter into the kingdom. Again, the greatest possible good! This is what it means to be blessed!

Onto the second beatitude in verse 4
- 4 Blessed are those who mourn,
  for they will be comforted.
Again these are spiritual virtues, Jesus isn't talking about someone who’s loved one just died. So what does it mean to mourn spiritually?
Well as I said these beatitudes build upon each other so with Toe-ckhas an understanding of our spiritual poverty it also brings to light an understanding of the gravity of our sin and offense towards God.
And that's what Jesus is talking about with Pen-Theo. Blessed are those that mourn, meaning blessed are those who mourn with deep regret over their spiritual need, over the condition of their sin and offense towards God.

And what is the promise with this blessing? Blessed are those that mourn for they will be comforted.
In the midst of the convicting work of the Holy Spirit that brings sorrow you will receive comfort.
Because although your sin is great Jesus died for you while you were still a sinner. The debt is paid. And he will comfort you rather than drive you away.
The next beatitude is verse 5
- 5 Blessed are those who are humble,
  for they will inherit the whole earth.
This is one of the beatitudes that is often translated a number of ways. You might have heard this beatitude worded blessed are the gentle, or blessed are the meek.
And the reason why you'll see this worded so many ways is because this is the only beatitude where there really isn't an English equivalent to the meaning in the Greek.
The Greek word for Humble here is the word Prous.
And Prous means Quiet, Gentle, Humble, Mildness, Submissive, Easily Imposed On
But Prous is really not any one of those things. It's kind of all of these mashed into one and then some.
To give you a better idea of all that is encapsulated in the word Prous I took this directly from Blue Letter Bible and Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible:
- “Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice. Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time”
Prous is not an easy beatitude. But it comes after salvation as you grow in your understanding of God and his character. It is a spiritually mature beatitude.
It's an understanding and acceptance that God is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Good. All at the same time.
- Omnipotent meaning all powerful. Meaning there is nothing that can stand against his will if he so desires. Meaning that the good and just things we see in the world are actively done by him and the injustices we see around us and the evil is actively permitted by him. He has the power to stop it. He didn't, which means there is a reason he didn't. And he can be trusted even though we’re unable to understand why he didn’t.
- Which leads into his Omniscience meaning all knowing. He has eternity before him. He knows the outcome of every little decision and action taken and how it will affect the world 500,000 years from now and beyond. What we’re only able to see in the moment God sees the domino effect into eternity. So what we can only see as evil, unjust and tragic in the moment God sees the ultimate purpose by permitting what he permits.
- And Good. Knowing and trusting that despite all we see God is still God and God is still good. It's knowing that there is nothing that takes place on this Earth that is so evil that God cannot use it for good. And that ultimately despite what we see we can trust in God knowing that his good plans are being worked out and that he has good plans for everyone that loves him and are called according to his purposes.

And it is a blessing that carries with it the promise that you will inherit the Earth. It is a kingdom minded eternal promise. You will share in the inheritance of Christ, you will rule with him in the kingdom to come, and you will see his plans come to bear. You won't necessarily see the good God is working towards in this life but you will in the next.

The last beatitude pertaining to how we relate to God is verse 6
- 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice,
  for they will be satisfied.
Sometimes this is written as righteousness.
The Greek words used here for Hunger and Thirst are one for one. But the Greek carries the idea of suffering. So hunger and thirst but maybe not the way we commonly use it here in America. Actually suffering from hunger and thirst
And the Greek word used for Justice is Di-kay-yas-soon-ey.
Di-kay-yas-soon-ey is the state of being right or just particularly before God; the righteousness of God or Justification before God.
So building atop of one another first you receive an understanding of your spiritual poverty and along with that understanding comes the gravity of your sin resulting in mourning then comfort in the gift of salvation.
You begin to learn about God and his character and come to a place of humble submission to him, acceptance that his ways are higher than my ways. And then you desire his character, you seek to mirror his righteousness and you desire his justice to reign on the earth.
The heart of this beatitude comes right out of the Lord’s prayer
- Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
The people who have received this virtue long for Christ and this deep longing, and hunger and thirst for Christ brings about suffering in the understanding that although you might see aspects of Christ's righteousness and justice here on the earth you will never see the fullness of it until Christ returns and reigns.

And the promise that comes with this blessing, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
You will be satisfied! You will see God’s righteousness reign. You will receive a new incorruptible body free from death and the desires of sin. You will be justified before the Lord. You will see Christ reign upon the earth and his perfect justice enacted. Your hunger and thirst will be satisfied. And your suffering will end.

Halfway through. The remaining 4 beatitudes all have to do with how we relate to others and they come out of the first 4.
Verse 7
- 7 Blessed are those who are merciful,
  for they will be shown mercy.

Jesus has shown us all mercy. Hebrews 2:17 says
- 17 Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people
Jesus came down and experienced suffering, temptations and trials so that he could be more merciful having been in our shoes. And he has treated us favorably when we didn't deserve it.
It's easy to want others to get what they deserve when all we do is look outwardly and don't take the time to realize what would happen to us if we likewise received what we deserve. Believers should be the most merciful. Those who are eager to show compassion for what has been done for us.
The promise that comes with El-Eyy-ah-mone. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
This is an ongoing promise! One we get to experience every single day, Lamentations says God is faithful and his mercies are new every morning.

Verse 8
- 8 Blessed those whose hearts are pure,
  for they will see God.

Those with this the blessing of Kath-ar-ahhs they are promised this: Blessed are those whose hearts are pure for they will see God.

Onto the next Beatitude. 2 more to go.
Verse 9
- 9 Blessed are those who work for peace,
  for they will be called the children of God.

Those whose spirit longs and works for peace are promised that they will be called children of God.
Because our God is a peacemaker. He brings restoration, and ultimately in the end when sin is done away with there will be perfect peace. This virtue is a reflection of God as a child is a reflection of their parents.
The last beatitude. Beatitude number 8 starting in verse 10 though 12
- 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for doing right,
  for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
- 11 “Blessed are you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for doing right or for the sake of righteousness. One thing that I want to point out that is different from all the rest of the beatitudes is that this blessing is the only one that is repeated.
When you see things repeated in scripture that should send off alarm bells in your brain that tells you to pay close attention because this is important. In middle eastern culture often they repeat things as an emphasis. And this was true in ancient biblical times too.
So when you see the same thing repeated it's their equivalent to our explanation mark.

What are the promises for those who have experienced Di-o-koh? Blessed are those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. The Kingdom of Heaven is yours! And again it doesn't stop there. A great reward awaits you in heaven one day. A reward you’ll share with the prophets of old.
So be happy and be very glad, because it's not for nothing!
And with that we made it through all 8 beatitudes.
Now let's take everything and summarize it.
These beatitudes, these blessings are the highest possible good for your lives. Don't forget that. From the mouth of Jesus these virtues and the promises that come along with them, our hearts should long for them.
And all of these blessings relate to the spiritual. Jesus’ main focus was never the physical, the here and now.
Look at the promises that come with these blessings. All of these promises although we may see some fulfillment in this life, ALL of these promises find their ultimate fulfillment in the Kingdom. In eternity. I don't know if you caught it, but did you see that like the blessing of persecution one of the promises was also repeated? And when something is repeated that means its… Important!
The first promise and the last promise are the same.
- For the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
No wonder these blessings are the highest possible good! What is the highest possible good for us? To be with Jesus in eternity, in the Kingdom! In these beatitudes Jesus is describing the hearts of those who HAVE received the Kingdom.
Don't get it twisted though. The Beatitudes are not INSTRUCTIVE on how to receive the kingdom, that is only through saving faith in Jesus Christ resulting in good works.
No, the Beatitudes are DESCRIPTIVE of the virtues and the hearts of those who have already received the Kingdom.
If your life does not measure up to the description of each of these beatitudes that means to some degree you’re still living in your flesh rather than the spirit.
We all have some work that needs done in us. None of us have been perfected yet.
But the solution to this is not to try harder to replicate these beatitudes. These are spiritual fruits. God alone is capable of developing these inside of you.
If you've fallen short, if these blessings are not a description of your life the solution is abiding in Christ. Because as you pursue Jesus these blessings will develop naturally.