Q&A with BBH

What does it mean to be poor in spirit?

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

To be poor in spirit seems primarily to connote an attitude of dependence upon, and emptiness without, God. It is a palpable sense of one’s need of God’s grace and strength – the opposite of being proud and self-satisfied (like Laodicea in Revelation 3:17-19).

The lesson Jesus gives concerning the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-25) reminds us that the poor may be infinitely more rich than the worldly rich; yet, the example of Joseph of Arimathaea (Mark 15:42-46) also reminds us that a rich man can still be poor in spirit.

This is because being poor in spirit, at its core, means embracing Jesus Christ as God’s only way of salvation (Luke 6:22-24).

One can not simultaneously be poor in spirit and be calling God a liar: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son” (1 John 5:10).

Truly being poor of spirit toward God will also necessarily involve lowliness toward others, of course.

In Matthew 23, Jesus pronounces woes that contrast sharply with the beatitudes in Matthew 5. It begins : “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (11-13).

Jesus contrasts the poor in spirit, whose is the kingdom and whose spirit is servant-like, with the proud in spirit who shut up the kingdom of heaven to others.

Yet, lest we completely disconnect the idea of being poor in spirit from our possessions, the Bible clearly teaches that it may also include physical and financial poverty, because of personal sacrifice for Christ’s sake:

“There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches” (Proverbs 13:7).

And so to the church at Smyrna Jesus addresses these encouraging words: “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer…” (Revelation 2:9-10).

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