Blessed [are] the poor in spirit, for *theirs* is the kingdom of the heavens.
The Sermon on the Mount opens by describing who is blessed in the kingdom, and it starts with a quality that runs against everything people admire. Everything turns on what "poor in spirit" means, and on how a kingdom can belong to people who have nothing.
The ground of all the rest
One writer locates this poverty inside a person rather than in their circumstances, and tests it with an everyday example:
The first beatitude, notice, lies at the basis of all the others. It is not only a distinct feature in itself, but it should mark all the others and all who belong to Jesus. Surely nothing can be so necessary to a soul that has to do with God as poverty of spirit. Not poverty in circumstances only, or poverty in words and ways, but in spirit. It is poverty in the heart, the feelings, the inward man, and all before the living God. How often we may have said about someone who has injured us, "I freely forgive him, and I will be the same to him as ever. But I can't forget it for all that." That is not being "poor in spirit."
Another writer traces the order of these blessings and shows where a person enters it:
He really sketches for us a moral picture of the godly remnant who will finally enter the kingdom. He mentions eight things. They begin with poverty of spirit and end with persecution, and their order forms a sequence. Repentance produces poverty of spirit, and there all must start. Then comes the mourning and the meekness that a true sight of oneself produces. After that comes a thirst for the righteousness which is only found in God.
What the words mean
One writer sums up the phrase in three denials:
To be poor in spirit is to have low thoughts of self, to realise that before God I am nothing, I have nothing, I deserve nothing. It would be quite consistent with standing up for what is due to God.
Set that against what people admire, and the contrast is total:
Nothing more contrary to man! What people call "a man of spirit" is exactly the opposite of being poor in spirit. A man of spirit is one who — as Cain was — is determined not to be beaten; a soul who would fight it out with God Himself. He who is "poor in spirit" is the very opposite of this. It is a person who is broken, who feels that the dust is his right place.
Not about money
Some read the blessing as being about people with little money. The wording itself answers them:
This idea rests on Luke 4: "And He lifted up His eyes on His disciples, and said, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." There the words "in spirit" do not appear. But there is no ground in this text for such an idea… It is a question of the inner man in contrast with the outer. A man who is poor as to this world's goods may have a proud, unbending spirit, while the rich may be truly humble.
The character seen in Christ first
These traits describe Christ Himself before they describe anyone else:
We know from the beatitudes how He pronounces blessed those who through grace are like Him poor in spirit. In truth nearly all of these beatitudes are just a description of what Christ was, though given as a character to which blessing belongs. Poor in spirit, meek, pure in heart — who was like Him, the great Peacemaker?
Where it comes from
Nobody arrives at this by effort or temperament:
Everyone who is born of God has by grace these characteristics. Poor in spirit is the very first characteristic. The unsaved sinner knows nothing of it. It is altogether the work of the Holy Spirit. It means to take the right place before God, which is in the dust in absolute helplessness. It is the continued attitude of a saved person on the earth — poverty in spirit and entire dependence on the Lord.
"Theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
One writer separates going to heaven later from living under heaven's rule now:
This is not a question of people going to heaven by and by, but of heaven ruling them now. It is how to go on before you get to heaven.
One writer puts the exchange as a paradox:
This poverty is your riches. You may have the world's riches and yet be poor; you cannot have this poverty without being rich. Poverty of spirit entitles you to Christ's riches.
Summary
- Start — repentance produces poverty of spirit. The other seven beatitudes rest on this first one.
- Inward — not an empty purse but a low view of self: I am nothing, I have nothing, I deserve nothing.
- Opposite — the world's "man of spirit" refuses to be beaten; the poor in spirit accepts the dust as his right place.
- Given — no unsaved person has this; it is the Spirit's work, and it is a settled attitude, not a mood.
- Rich — heaven rules such a person now, and Christ's riches already belong to them.