Bible Study on Matthew 5, verses 3 to 12, Blessed are the poor in spirit

 

Matthew 5:3 ¶  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

 

The poor in spirit are defined by cross-referencing. Start with Isaiah 66:2 to see how a poor spirit is synonymous with a contrite spirit. To be contrite is to feel remorse, to be affected by guilt. This is the foundation of repentance, your remorse at your sin against a holy God.

 

Isaiah 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

 

Psalm 34:18  The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

 

Psalm 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

 

Isaiah 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

 

Luke starts off, though, just saying;

 

Luke 6:20  And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

 

As noted earlier, just being poor doesn’t guarantee you will trust in or follow Christ so it is an absurdity for us to think that being without money or of a low social class means automatically that you belong to Christ. Lost poor people are in as great a danger as lost rich people when it comes to eternal damnation.

 

The foundation of salvation is not an intellectual assent to a proposition but of being broken realizing you are spiritually bankrupt before God. I personally don’t believe that people who simply say, “oh I can accept this,” or, “it works for me,” or even, “I was raised with this and its comforting,” are necessarily saved. I think there must be some kind of brokenness, some kind of realization of one’s spiritual poverty without Christ before salvation can happen. I am not sure you will believe in the Saviour if you don’t realize you need to be saved.