What are the Beatitudes - And Why Are They Important
The Beatitudes are a group of teachings recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. In perhaps His best known sermon, The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught the people and gave them a short list of eight teachings. Each of these eight teachings begin with the word 'Blessed". The word 'Beati' is the Latin term for happy, rich, or blessed. This term was eventually lengthen to become Beatitudes. Four of the Beatitudes recorded in the Gospel of Matthew are repeated in the Gospel of Luke when he records the Sermon on the plain. The Gospel of Luke also contains a list of four woes, or counterparts to the Blessing listed in the Beatitudes. Each of the Beatitudes has two parts, a condition and a result. In the Gospel of Matthew he lists the eight Beatitudes which are followed by two additional blessings, but these are traditionally considered to be separate from the Beatitudes. In some newer translations of the Gospel these blessings are included as a ninth Beatitude. The purpose of t...