The Beatitudes – The poor in spirit (part 1)

Have you ever wondered how the Beatitudes got their name? They are so called because of the Latin translation of the opening words, “beati sunt”, meaning “blessed are” (Matt. 5:3). In this passage Jesus explains what true blessedness is and to whom such blessedness belongs.

Reading through the Beatitudes, you may have noticed that true blessedness is not defined the way the world would. The prevailing culture tells us that the ambitions, wealthy, popular, confident or gifted are the truly blessed ones. Parents and children are being bombarded with these messages through social media and the entertainment they consume. Their idols are a far cry from what Jesus describes in this passage.

Jesus says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” (Matt. 5:3). Some interpret this to mean that material poverty is the key to true spirituality. Some professing believers take a “vow of poverty” to grow closer to Christ and sympathize with the poor. However, poverty does not necessarily bring one closer to God. The poor can harden their hearts against the gospel as well as any rich person can. As the Scottish preacher, John Brown, once said: “Extreme poverty is not favourable to religion any more than extreme affluence.”

Some Christians, in their zeal to help the poor, misinterpret or misapply the Bible. They’ll point to passages like James 2:5, which says: “has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” This, they believe, proves that the poor are the true people of God. The next verse, however, explains James’ statement: “But you have dishonoured the poor man.” (v. 6). They were showing favouritism based on people’s social status or wealth. The poor are not prevented from entering the kingdom because of their poverty, but they are not guaranteed entrance because of it.

True, there is one occasion where Jesus asked a rich you man to: “sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."” (Matt. 19:21). The next verse explains why Jesus asked this of the young man: “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Matt. 19:22). It was not the wealth of his possessions that kept him from Christ, but his love of those possessions that did so.
The Bible warns us against the “love of money” (1 Tim. 6:10). It leads to all kinds of temptation and has ruined the lives of many. Riches aren’t the problem, but setting our hearts and hope on it is. Money has a way of becoming a destructive idol. We so easily convince ourselves that money will solve all our problems. Ecclesiastes 5:11-12 warns that when “goods increase, they increase who eat them” and that “the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.” 

Abraham was a godly man and is even called a “friend of God” (Isa. 41:8), and the Lord blessed him with wealth (see Gen. 13:2). Our Lord Jesus Christ never enjoyed such riches during his earthly life. Though he was rich in glory, for our sake he became poor (2 Cor. 8:9). 

Blessedness is not measured by the wealth of our possessions. Scripture is clear on that (see Heb. 11:37-38). True blessedness comes to those who are “poor in spirit”, which we will explore next week.

Because of Christ,
Pieter