A four week message from Pastor Tate which was preached starting the week of Jananuary 31, 1993
The name "beatitude" comes from the Latin beatitudo/beatus, because the first word of each statement in the Latin Vulgate is beati,
which translates Matthew's Greek word makarios (traditionally translated "blessed"). Some recent versions translate makarios as "happy"
or "fortunate", which can be good renderings, but the modern usage of those terms tends to trivialize the meaning by simply suggesting
a temporary emotional or circumstantial state. The somewhat ambiguous English "blessed" perhaps is still the best term to describe
Jesus' statements.
Eight primary statements of blessing make up the Beatitudes, with the ninth statement of blessing (5:11–12) being an extension and
personalization of the eighth beatitude for Jesus' disciples who experience persecution:
The Beatitudes are pronouncements in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1, Jesus is the Coming One, who is endowed with the
Spirit and anointed by the Lord to preach good news to the poor and to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners
(cf. 11:5). The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who respond. The boundaries that separate successful from unsuccessful, clean from
unclean, righteous from unrighteous, have tended to be of human creation, and they are now broken down. In these eight brief declarations,
Jesus makes two sweeping pronouncements.
From Zondervan Academic