Jesus’ Beatitudes (Matt 5:3-12) are arguably the most famous of his teachings, the opening to his most famous sermon, what we call now The Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:1-7:28). Despite this deserved fame, there are many technical questions about the Beatitudes that are not always clear. We can explore three of these important questions here.

First, how many Beatitudes are there? This would seem obvious, but a survey of Christian interpretation across the centuries and in modern commentaries reveals that opinions vary. Throughout much of history Christians said there are seven (connecting them to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 11:2-4)...sign up to read more.