Poor in Spirit

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”(Matthew 5:3)

I remember reading this verse as a teen and wondering, What does that mean? I read the verse, I looked at the context, and I thought as hard as my teenaged mental capacity could manage, but to no avail.

Well, as I looked at this verse last week, (a couple decades and two college degrees later) I took a more sophisticated approach: I looked up the words “poor” and “spirit” in my Strong’s Concordance.

After scanning the list of other verses that use the same Greek words and looking up the definitions in the Greek dictionary at the back, I found that the words “poor” and “spirit” literally meant -- drumroll, please -- poor and spirit.

That’s when I decided that maybe it was time to get some help from a couple of commentaries.

I had some ideas about what the phrase might mean, but I wanted to make sure I was on the right track before I got too far.

Rummaging through my overstuffed bookshelves, I came up with commentaries by John Wesley and Matthew Henry, who confirmed my assumptions of what “poor in spirit” might mean. Here is how they described it:

“The poor in spirit –they who are unfeignedly penitent, they who are truly convinced of sin; who see and feel the state they are in by nature, being deeply sensible of their sinfulness, guiltiness, helplessness.” -- John Wesley

“They are humble and lowly in their own eyes. They see all their want, bewail their guilt, and thirst after a Redeemer.” -- Matthew Henry

Poverty of spirit is essentially humility. In fact, to be poor in spirit is necessary for salvation, for only the poor in spirit see their need of Christ’s sacrifice as payment for their sin.

To be poor in spirit is to have a repentant heart: a heart that agrees with God that it cannot measure up to God’s standard of holiness —and that accepts God’s holiness as the standard.

After salvation, it takes this same “poor in spirit” humility to “walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory.” (1 Thessalonians 2:12)

And yet, just as Jesus said, such humility is not without reward: 2 Peter 5:6 declares,

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”

Jesus Christ, as God, willingly humbled Himself and lived as a man. He possessed all riches of spirit, and yet He chose to demonstrate His love by making Himself an example for the utterly destitute in spirit. (1 Peter 2:21)

And God did exalt Him in due time. Philippians 2 says,

“Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name” (v.9)

While we who really are poor in spirit do not and could not deserve the exaltation that belongs to Christ, God has chosen to exalt us, regardless of our poverty. He exalts poor ransomed sinners far beyond what we deserve, even making us “joint-heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17)

I believe this is what Jesus is referring to when He says “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” As joint-heirs, we will inherit a portion of the kingdom of heaven with Christ.

Our position as heirs is due to the fact that when we trust Christ for salvation, God the Father adopts us as His own children. Romans 8:15-17 says,

“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

Another passage which describes this truth is Galatians 4:5-7, which says that Christ came,

“To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

The wonderful gift of salvation is not only given to allow us to escape from sin’s penalty. It is also given to raise us from our poverty and welcome us into a family, a home, and an inheritance beyond anything we could ever dream possible.

And it is all of His mercy, which He freely lavished on us, knowing how undeserving we truly are. Titus illustrates this wonderfully:

“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (3:3-7)

When we set our hearts to seek God, we are demonstrating that “poor in spirit” humility which acknowledges our need for God, whether for salvation or for sanctification.

The poor in spirit yield to God because they see their own inadequacy to live life apart from His presence and help, and receive in return an inheritance “incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you”(1 Peter 1:4)