Matthew 5:3

The "poor in spirit" are those who recognize their natural unworthiness to stand in God’s presence and who depend utterly on Him for His mercy and grace (cf. Psalms 37:14; Psalms 40:17; Psalms 69:28-29; Psalms 69:32-33; Proverbs 16:19; Proverbs 29:23; Isaiah 61:1). They do not trust in their own goodness or possessions for God’s acceptance. The Jews regarded material prosperity as an indication of divine approval since many of the blessings God promised the righteous under the Old Covenant were material. However the poor in spirit does not regard these things as signs of intrinsic righteousness but confesses his or her total unworthiness. The poor in spirit acknowledges his or her lack of personal righteousness. This condition, as all the others the Beatitudes identify, describes those who have repented and are broken (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17).

"’Poverty in spirit’ is not speaking of weakness of character (’mean-spiritedness’) but rather of a person’s relationship with God. It is a positive spiritual orientation, the converse of the arrogant self-confidence which not only rides roughshod over the interests of other people but more importantly causes a person to treat God as irrelevant." [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 165.]

Such a person can have joy in his or her humility because an attitude of personal unworthiness is necessary to enter the kingdom. This kingdom does not go to the materially wealthy only but to those who admit their spiritual bankruptcy. One cannot purchase citizenship in this kingdom with money as people could purchase Roman citizenship, for example. What qualifies a person for citizenship is that person’s attitude toward his or her intrinsic righteousness.

One writer believed that Jesus was not talking about entering the kingdom but possessing it (i.e., it will be theirs in the sense that the poor in spirit will reign over it with Jesus [cf. Revelation 3:21]). [Note: Hodges, "Possessing the Kingdom," The KERUGMA Message 1:1 (May-June 1991):1-2.]

The first and last beatitudes give the reason for blessedness: "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (cf. Matthew 5:10). This phrase forms an inclusio or envelope that surrounds the remaining beatitudes. The inclusio is a literary device that provides unity. Speakers and writers used it, and still use it, to indicate that everything within the two uses of this term refers to the entity mentioned. Here that entity is the kingdom of heaven. In other words, this literary form shows that all the beatitudes deal with the kingdom of heaven.