Matthew 5:3

‘Blessed ones, the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingly Rule of Heaven.'

‘Blessed ones, the poor in spirit.' This certainly includes the thought that they are ‘happy' and ‘enjoying spiritual fullness' and blessed because of the future benefits that they will enjoy, but that is not at the heart of its meaning. Rather His emphasis is that they are that because of what God has done in them. Its central meaning is that they are ‘poor in spirit' because they have been actively and positively blessed by God. They have been worked on by the Holy Spirit (see Psalms 143:7 with 10). They have been given a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26). It means that they are like this because God has worked within them to make them humble within, and that that is why they are as they are.

The use of the passive verb without an obvious reference is regularly a way in Jesus' teaching of indicating God as the subject. It is typical of Jesus' teaching. It was a method used by the apocalyptists, and also later used by the Rabbis. And here Jesus is using the adjective makarios (with the verb assumed) in the same way. He is saying ‘blessed indeed by God are those whom He has made poor in spirit in the right way, so that as a result of that poverty of spirit they have come to listen to Me and to respond to My words in order that they might enjoy ultimate blessing. How glad they should be that they have not been hindered from it by wealth or arrogance or the cares of life, and all this is because God has blessed them and worked in their lives and made them poor in spirit'.

This word ‘poor' basically indicates the destitute. But in the Old Testament it regularly refers to the godly who recognise their own desperate spiritual need. It became a synonym for the godly in Israel. And we therefore regularly have to determine from the context whether the literal poor or the ‘poor in spirit' are in mind (see for example Psalms 22:24 where ‘the poor' refers to the Psalmist, and it is a Psalm of David).

Luke expresses similar words as being spoken by Jesus directly to His listeners. ‘Blessed are you poor' (Luke 6:20) he depicts Jesus as saying, and he compares it with, ‘Alas for you rich'. At first this appears to be saying something different, as though He was saying that it was a blessing to be very poor, but in fact He is not. For the ‘you' is what makes the difference. It is only those poor in front of Him, poor though they may be, who are said to be blessed, and they are seen to be blessed precisely because they are the responsive poor. They are here in Jesus' presence because they recognise the poverty of their lives and are looking for something better. They have thus been chosen by God to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingly Rule which He has promised to those who love Him (James 2:5). On the other hand the rich onlookers, who were probably observing Him either out of disdainful interest or in order to decide what to do about Him, came under His ‘Alas' or ‘Woe' (Luke 6:24). So the reason that the poor were blessed was not because they were poor, but because they were there with their hearts open for Him to speak to them, and were open to God's working on their lives. Jesus is not saying that God had blessed the poor who were not there. They still struggled on in poverty without help. Thus it was only His listeners who in this case should look on themselves as favoured.

We should in this regard consider that among those whom He is addressing, are Peter and Andrew, James and John. While they have left all and followed Him, their background is not one of total poverty, and should they wish to they can go back to their boats, and their businesses (John 21:3 compare Matthew 4:21; Mark 1:20). They are not thus the helplessly poor and destitute. They are the willing poor, the poor by choice. And they are that way because they have been blessed by God within, because they had not suffered the distraction of great riches.

In view of Luke's use of ‘poor', which can mean ‘actually physically poor', at least to some degree, some have suggested that we should perhaps translate Matthew 5:3 as ‘blessed in spirit are the poor' with the emphasis on the fact that Jesus is speaking of the poor and that the poor are more likely to find blessing in spirit because their minds are not taken up with riches and ambition. But that is to miss the dynamic behind the phrase, which is indicating the positive blessing of God. It would in fact have been foolish to say that all the poor everywhere are blessed in spirit. They are not. But it was a very different matter to say it of those who, as a result of God's blessing, were there to listen to Him.

So in neither Matthew nor Luke is there the idea that poverty itself is a blessing. Jesus' idea is not that it is a blessing to be poor, except in so far as it is those who are less rich who tend to think more on spiritual things, and will therefore, if they respond to Him because of it, as these have who are before Him, come into blessedness. Nor is He speaking of those living in abject poverty, (although the word can mean the very poor), as though somehow that was a wonderful thing to be. Nothing was further from Jesus' mind. His whole concentration is on the particular ones whom God has blessed, and what the result has been in their attitude towards life. Show me the person who is humbled and lowly and contrite and hungry after God and merciful and seeking to be pure in heart and desirous of making men's peace with God and I will show you a person whom God has blessed. It will be a person who was dwelling in darkness but on whom the light has shone (Matthew 4:16). He will have repented and come under the Kingly Rule of Heaven, and will have been drenched with the Holy Spirit.

The world, and the Pharisees, tended to think that it was the rich who were blessed by God, but Jesus did not see material ‘blessings' as a blessing. He was only too aware of what wealth could do to a man's soul. He knew that in such people ‘the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things choked the word and it became unfruitful' (Mark 4:19). For such people's minds were fixed on other things than the things of God. They had too many distractions. That is why Jesus did not see the rich young man as blessed. He was indeed far from blessed. He went away sorrowful because he had great possessions. While he was rich, he was really ‘poor, and still in need of mercy, and wretched, and blind and naked' (Revelation 3:17). That is why even today Jesus has many lip-followers whose satisfaction with their affluent lifestyles prevents them from a true living commitment. They call Him ‘Lord, Lord' but do not do what He says (Matthew 7:21). They should take note of the fact that Jesus said that there is sadly no place for them in the Kingly Rule of Heaven (it was Jesus Who said it, not us). They have not been blessed, otherwise the thoughts of their hearts would be different. But they can be blessed. Let them but respond to Him truly and they will be blessed, and will become like those described here.

Thus we must interpret Matthew here as signifying mainly poverty ‘of spirit' (see Proverbs 29:23). This does not mean poor-spirited (although some might be that for a while) but those of whom Jesus is speaking who have a sense of lowliness, who are not bumptious or overbearing, but who rather are aware of spiritual need, and of the fact of their total undeserving. They admit that without Him they can do nothing really worth while and lasting. And this change of heart is because of God's work within them. It may be that being poor helped them to come to this position. But it is certainly not a position enjoyed by all who are poor.

A similar phrase, ‘poor in spirit', was found at Qumran which supports this interpretation. There it signified a helplessness and lowliness of spirit which was looking for God to step in and help them, because they could do nothing of themselves (although in a different context). So the whole point in Luke is that their hearts (whether rich or poor) have not been prevented by riches from coming to Him, while in Matthew we may see it as similar to its meaning at Qumran. Indeed the Psalmists regularly spoke of ‘the poor' when they were indicating the humble and lowly, possibly because most of such were to be found among the relatively poor in contrast with the godless rich (see Psalms 34:6; Psalms 37:14; Psalms 40:17; Psalms 69:28; Psalms 69:32; Isaiah 61:1). Such people may in the end be seen as summed up in the words of Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:2; Psalms 51:17. They are those who are of a contrite and humble spirit who tremble at His word.

The idea of the godly poor thus becomes synonymous with the righteous, while the ungodly rich become synonymous with the unrighteous. Compare Psalms 37:14 where ‘the poor and needy' are paralleled with ‘the upright in the way'. This is something later exemplified in the Dead Sea Scrolls (for example the War Scroll parallels ‘the poor in spirit' with ‘the perfect of way' (War Scroll 14), and says of them ‘you will kindle the  downcast of spirit  and they will be a flaming torch in the straw to consume ungodliness and never to cease until iniquity is destroyed' (the War Scroll 11)). But the final attitude of those mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls was not the same as the one that Jesus was encouraging, for they wanted nothing less than to destroy their enemies and put the ungodly to rout. However, the initial idea of poverty of spirit was similar, even though it had a very different outcome.

But with all this emphasis on ‘the poor' it is quite clear in the end that not all the poor are actually righteous, nor are all the rich actually unrighteous. For as Jesus declared in the context of the failure of the rich young man, God can work miracles in all (Matthew 19:26). God is merciful to all who call on Him from a true heart.

‘For theirs is the Kingly Rule of Heaven.' To them (hoi ptowchoi) ‘belongs' the Kingly Rule of Heaven. That is, they have entered under His Rule now, and they will also enjoy it now, and also in the everlasting future. We may here bear in mind Psalms 22:28 where the Psalmist declares ‘of YHWH is the Kingly Rule (Psalm 21:29 LXX tou kuriou he basileia), and He reigns over the nations', and this in a context where He has ‘not despised the affliction of the poor' (Psalms 22:24; Psalms 22:25 LXX ptowchou), where ‘the poor' is the Psalmist, and it is a Psalm of David. Thus it is to the poor (ptowchoi) in spirit that the Kingly Rule of Heaven belongs.

Almost the whole of Judaism was waiting and longing for this ‘Kingly Rule of God' to be manifested on earth (although in a totally distorted way) but it was these few who were poor in spirit who were to receive it and enjoy it. For God had purposed His Kingly Rule and eternal life for those whom He had purposed to bless, those whom He will draw to His Son (John 6:44). And the reason that the Kingly Rule of God is now seen to be theirs is because they are now responding to Jesus and following Him (see John 10:27). They have put themselves under His kingly rule. Their awareness of their spiritual need and their lack of concern for worldly goods (they were willing to leave all and follow Him) is the consequence of their having turned their thoughts towards Him, and they have submitted to His Reign over their lives. Notice the present tense, which contrasts with the future tenses that follow, thus stressing its ‘presentness'. ‘Theirs  is  the Kingly Rule of Heaven'. It is something that they enjoy even now. For the Kingly Rule of God is within them and among them (Luke 17:21). They are pressing into it and refusing to take no for an answer (Matthew 11:12). But it is also a permanent present. It signifies that the Kingly Rule of God will also be theirs in the future, when they will enter into the everlasting Kingdom, for that is in the end simply a continuation of His Kingly Rule on earth (see Isaiah 11:4; Isaiah 42:4). Thus those who have been blessed by God, and are His, enjoy both present and future blessedness.