Christian Character - Poor in Spirit

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The first Beatitude is Matthew 5:3; “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Since all the Beatitudes begin with the word “Blessed”, it would make sense to take a moment to understand what that means even though we are addressing character traits.

According to Strong’s Concordance, “Blessed” is defined as happy, blessed, to be envied (makarios).  Helps Word-studies expands this definition as “a believer in enviable (‘fortunate’) position from receiving God’s provisions (favor) – which (literally) extend (‘make long, large’) His grace (benefits).”  In other words, it describes someone who is happy and fortunate because God extends His grace to him or her.

I believe that being blessed is not a reward for possessing one or more of these character traits we are discussing here, nor do I believe that the trait is a result of being blessed.  We cannot earn grace and even when we do receive grace it does not come with these traits as a byproduct or side effect.  I simply believe that God has extended His grace to those who follow Christ and the natural result is that we are blessed.

Let us move on to the topic “The Poor in Spirit”.

First, we need to break this into two parts (“poor” and “spirit”) and understand them both before we can use them together.  Again I will use Strong’s Concordance and Helps Word-studies to understand the original meaning of these words.

Poor (ptochos) is an adjective Strong’s defines as “poor, destitute, and spiritually poor, either in a good sense (humble devout persons) or bad.  Helps expands this by describing it as bent over, deeply destitute, completely lacking resources.

It is a little more difficult to nail down spirit (pneuma) because both Strong’s and Helps define it as wind, breath, or spirit and that the context determines which it is.  Since this verse speaks to people being blessed, we can rule out wind, leaving breath or spirit.  I think the context also rules out breath as in something we exhale since poor would not be used to describe breath.  This leaves us with spirit.

When not speaking of the Holy Spirit, spirit in man is something given by God that returns to God upon death.  In Job 32:8 Elihu says “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.”  In 1 Corinthians 2:11 Paul speaks of this spirit when he writes “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him…”  In Ecclesiastes 12:7 Solomon says of what happens when a man dies with “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” Paul writes in Romans 8:9-11 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”    And in Romans 8:16 Paul writes, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” 

Throughout the Bible spirit is used to talk about our mind and attitude such as Ephesians 4:23 “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind” and Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” and Romans 8:5-6 “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

There Bible also mentions unclean spirits and ghosts but those do not fit in the context of this Beatitude.  Also, the spirit of man does not seem to work either.  It is what it is and there is no indication that it can be poor or great.

It makes more sense that spirit in this context refers to an attitude or related to the mind.  Blessed are the destitute in attitude and though makes more sense.  These are people who are humble before God.  They have no arrogance or self-righteousness.  They know they are nothing without God.

When we include the last part of the verse into the context I think we get an even clearer picture of this trait.  Who are the ones spoke of when Jesus said “…for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”?  Only those who are saved will enter the kingdom of heaven.  I think this adds another dimension to the poor in spirit.

When taken all together, I believe that being humble in spirit means that one has fully given oneself over to God.  That person knows they have nothing to contribute, no way to earn God’s favor and everything they are is of God and for God.  This person has truly repented and relies fully on God for their salvation.

Those who are poor in spirit are ones who are humble before God.
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