“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3 ASV)1
What does it mean to be poor in spirit? In the Greek language, the word which is used for “poor” here can also mean “beggar” or “beggarly”. This means that if a person is beggarly in spiritual things, then he will get into heaven. This is to realize that nothing he has or can do by himself can get him into heaven. It is only by the death of Jesus Christ and our surrender to Him that we can get to heaven. When a person realizes this, he is poor in spirit.
Look at the following verses:
“And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, even God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor thy father and mother. And he said, All these things have I observed from my youth up. And when Jesus heard it, he said unto him, One thing thou lackest yet: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. But when he heard these things, he became exceeding sorrowful; for he was very rich. And Jesus seeing him said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” (Luke 18:18-24 ASV)
In the previous verses, Jesus knows that the rich young ruler is self-sufficient. Not only can he take care of himself financially, but also he thinks he can spiritually. He said he follows all the commandments so he thinks he will go to heaven. When Jesus tells him to sell what he has and give to the poor, He realizes that if a man is willing to do this physically he might be willing to let go of the spiritual things that he thinks will get him into heaven. Jesus knew that this ruler would probably not be willing to let go of his self-sufficiency and lean on the all-sufficient arm of God through Jesus Christ.
“For we are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6 ASV)
When we realize that what the previous verse from Isaiah wrote is true, then we are poor in spirit. Then if we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, we will gain the kingdom of heaven which starts that instant.
Dean W. Masters
homefurn@preferred.com
Owner of the Masters List
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/masterslist/
Unedited redistribution approved
1 1901 American Standard Version, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1994.