"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." Matthew 5:3
Each of the nine Beatitudes opens with the word "blessed." So it is essential that we understand what this word means and just as importantly what it does not mean. Contrary to popular opinion, blessed does not mean "happy," even though some translations have rendered it this way. Happiness is a subjective state, a feeling. But Jesus is not declaring how people feel; rather, He is making an objective statement about what God thinks of them. Blessed is a positive judgment by God on an individual that means "to be approved" or "to find approval." So when God blesses us, he approves us. Of course, blessing likely bring happiness and it is also certainly true that blessed people are generally happy. But we should remember that the root idea of blessed is an awareness of approval by God. Blessedness is not simply a nice wish from God; it is a pronouncement of what we actually are -- approved! Blessedness indicates the smile of God or as Max Lucado entitled a book he wrote on the subject, The Applause of Heaven.
The key to studying the Beatitudes is coming to a place in our souls where God's blessing/approval means more to us than anything else -- even the approval of our friends, business acquaintances, and colleagues -- it is at this place that the Beatitudes will penetrate our hearts and speak to us in the deepest of ways. The question is, do we really want His approval more than anything else? Not, do we want to be happy [as proper as that desire may be] but, do we truly want God's approval above all else? If so, we must heed every word of the first Beatitude, for it gives us the condition of blessing in just three words: "poor in spirit." "Blessed/approved are the poor in spirit."
First, like we did with blessed, we should understand what poverty of spirit is not. It is not the conviction that one is of no value whatsoever. It does not mean the absence of self-worth or theologically, "ontological insignificance." It does not require us to believe ourselves to be zeros. Such an attitude is simply not scriptural, for Christ's death on our behalf teaches us that we are of great value [1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23]. Neither does "poor in spirit" mean shyness. Many people who are naturally shy and introverted are extremely proud. Nor does "poor in spirit" mean lacking in vitality, spiritual anemia, or gutlessness. And most certainly, "poor in spirit" does not refer to a showy humility like that of Uriah Heep in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, who kept reminding everyone that he was a "very umble person."
So if "poor in spirit" means none of these things, then what does it mean? The history of the Greek word for "poor," ptochos, provides us some insight. R. Kent Hughes relates that it is derived from a verbal root that means "to cower and cringe like a beggar." And thus in the classical Greek ptochos came to mean "someone who crouches about, wretchedly begging." In the New Testament it bears something of this idea because it denotes a poverty so deep that the person must obtain his living by begging. He is fully dependent on the giving of others. He cannot survive without help from the outside. Thus an excellent translation would be "beggarly poor." So if we take this meaning and combine it with the following words, "in spirit," we have the idea, "Blessed are the beggarly poor in spirit." "Poverty of spirit," then, is the personal acknowledgment of spiritual bankruptcy. It is the awareness of and admission that we are utterly sinful and without the moral virtues adequate to commend us to God. It is the recognition of our personal moral unworthiness. The "poor in spirit" see themselves as spiritually needy. My favorite rendering of this verse would be: Blessed are those who realize that they have nothing within themselves to commend them to God, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Poverty of spirit is the antithesis of the proud selfishness and self-sufficiency of today's world. The world has its own ideas of blessedness. "Blessed is the man who is smart." "Blessed is the man who is strong." "Blessed is the man who rules." "Blessed is the man who is rich." "Blessed is the man who popular." "Blessed is the man who is satisfied with himself [self-actualized]." Today's men and women think that the answer to life is found within themselves.
Actress Shirley MacLaine was not alone in her journey into self, and perhaps this modern voyage was first championed by Karl Jung. But many in the Church have traveled this path where Christian narcissism is promoted as biblical self-love. However, this subterranean god of self will come to be their Inferno. Someday, if history is allowed to continue, a perceptive artist may sculpt a statue of 21st century man with his arms wrapped around himself in loving embrace, kissing his image in a mirror. To this Jesus answers, "Blessed [approved of God] are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God."
We must understand and embrace a true poverty of spirit, for that is the only way we can ever know God's smile. David became Israel's greatest king and the key to his rise to greatness was his poverty of spirit. Listen to his words when it all began: "Who am I, and what is my family or my father's clan in Israel, that I should become the king's son-in-law?" [1 Samuel 18:18]. Later in life, before his fall, he said, "Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?" [2 Samuel 7:18]. Similarly, Gideon, whom we remember for his amazing deliverance of Israel with just 300 men, began with these words: "But Lord ... how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family" [Judges 6:15].
It is also significant that when Jesus began His public ministry, He opened the scroll to Isaiah 61:1 and began with the opening line: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor" [Luke 4:18]. In Isaiah's context, the poor were the exiled people of Israel who had not compromised and who looked to God alone to save them and establish His kingdom. These are always the people to whom He comes. The incarnate Son of God was born to a woman who sang, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of His servant" [Luke 1:46, 47]. When Christ was born, the angels announced it to humble shepherds, not to the Establishment [Luke 2:8-15]. And when Jesus was presented in the Temple, aged Simeon and Anna, representatives of the poor in Isaiah's prophecy, exalted God because of Him [Luke 2:25-38]. These are the people to whom Christ is born, and in whom He is born. Lay this to heart, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" [Psalm 34:18]. This is the way it has always been and the way it will always be.
Poverty of spirit is also an indispensable sign of grace. No one can truly know Christ without it. There are most likely scores of people in your own community or church, prominent "Christians" if you will, who do not know Christ. They are tares amidst the wheat who perhaps do not even know it [Matthew 13:24-30]. They have never come to a blessed emptiness, to the very end of themselves. They have never confessed, "There is nothing in me to commend me to God," and thus they are lost. The changeless truth is, no one can come to Christ without poverty of spirit. This is not to say that one must have a perfect sense of one's spiritual insufficiency to be saved. Very few, if any, ever come to this. Rather, it means that the spiritually proud and self-sufficient, those who actually think there is something within them that will make God accept them -- these people are lost. Salvation is by faith alone, sola fide, but poverty of spirit is the posture of faith. God pours out His grace to the spiritually bankrupt, for only they are open to believe and receive His grace and salvation.
We never outgrow the first Beatitude, even though it is the basis by which we ascend to the others. In fact, if we outgrow it, we have outgrown our Christianity -- we are post-Christian. This is what was happening in the Laodicean church. And Christ rebuked that failing church with these stern words: "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see" [Revelation 3:17-18]. Just as no one can come to Christ without poverty of spirit, no one can continue to grow apart from an ongoing poverty of spirit.
Poverty of spirit is foundational because a continual sense of spiritual need is the basis for ongoing spiritual blessing. A perceptual awareness of our spiritual insufficiency opens us to continually receiving spiritual riches. Poverty of spirit is something we never outgrow. In fact, the more spiritually mature we become, the more profound our sense of poverty.
The second half of this beatitude describes our reward: "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." "Theirs" is emphatic. It means theirs in the sense of theirs alone, barring all others who approach God with a different spirit than that of beggarliness. Again, none but those who are "poor in spirit" will enter the kingdom of Heaven.
Moreover, this reward of the kingdom is both now and future. It is present because all who have life are in the kingdom now. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places now [Ephesians 2:6]. We are subjects of Christ now. We are overcomers now. We are a kingdom of priests now. This means, literally, that we are kings and queens, and that we reign in life and exercise vast authority and power. It means that our poverty of spirit, our weakness, is a reservoir of power and authority. Our weakness is the occasion for His power, our inadequacy for His adequacy, our poverty for His riches, our inarticulation for His articulation, our tentativeness for His confidence [see 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10; Colossians 2:9, 10]. As kings and queens, we are also free. Pride makes slaves out of all whom it possesses; not so with poverty of spirit. We are free to be full of God, free to be all that He would have us to be; free to be ourselves. We reign now and for all eternity. The kingdom is ours -- our alone! I can hardly fathom all that He has promised ... it seems too glorious to imagine or to comprehend. But His Word is truth so we are left to ponder these eternal realities and to eagerly anticipate their ultimate consummation.
Nevertheless, the supreme lesson of this Beatitude is that without poverty of spirit no one will enter the kingdom of Heaven. Its prominent position -- as the opening sentence in the greatest sermon ever preached -- declares for all time that no one is saved who believes there is something within him or her that will make God prefer or accept him or her. Self-righteousness, moral pride, vain presumption will damn the soul! Jesus made this crystal clear when He contrasted the tax collector and the Pharisee who both went up to the Temple to pray in Luke 18:10-14. Only the one who would not even look up to heaven, beat his breast and cried out "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" was saved. He who has ears to ear, let him hear!
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