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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain Matthew 5:3:
Matthew 5:3
Excerpted from: Children of the LightLet us look at this word blessed right here for a minute. According to Mounce's Concise Greek-English Dictionary, blessed is defined as happy, and a lot of times you will see some translations that translate it happy, and most of them will translate it as blessed, but it goes a little deeper than that. It goes on to say, "As a noun it can depict someone who receives divine favor, someone who is approved by God." I think this is more what we are speaking about when He talks about blessed, and certainly if you have God's divine favor and you are approved by God, I would think that that would be a good reason to be happy. Do you not feel blessed?
But when we look at this, the poor in spirit, it is not really that hard to understand. Poor in spirit is referring to an attitude of mind. It is the way you respond to people; the way we respond to people is what He is talking about. It describes an honest humility in a person, and it is reflected in how we treat others, or other people, or each other.
Now, "blessed are the poor in spirit" are those who exhibit an attitude of humility, and it shows in the way, again, that we treat each other or treat other people. And I believe that is very important. So this character trait is opposed to the proud and haughty, and we might even add, arrogant. Solomon said that in Proverbs 18:12; you can just reference this: "Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty [or proud], and before honor is humility."
Without a humble spirit, we would never truly repent. So humbleness of spirit, or poor in spirit, precedes grace and inheritance into the Kingdom of God because He goes on to say, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, as Matthew puts it.
Matthew 5:2-3
Excerpted from: God's 'Heart Measure'So Jesus chooses this to start His ministry. It is kind of interesting. It is the most critical attitude of our hearts that must come before anything else. It is a precursor, a prerequisite attitude, the most essential element that opens the door to our relationship with God.
Only those who are poor in spirit will be in God's Kingdom. But being poor in spirit is maybe not what we would think on the surface. It has nothing to do with finances. Jesus uses a play on words here with an adjective most often associated with the physical to describe something spiritual.
He uses the Greek adjective to describe our underlying spirit that is translated rather poorly as poor, pun intended. It is Strong's 4434, ptochos, and it carries a much more severe meaning than the English word poor, and that is why I say it was poorly translated. The real meaning here is someone that is a beggar, a pauper, completely destitute, helpless, wretched, powerless, much more significant than just being poor.
Jesus is saying, "Blessed are those who understand they are spiritually bankrupt and spiritually destitute. Blessed are they who come to understand that we have earned nothing of spiritual value."
Matthew 5:3
Excerpted from: Faith (Part Seven)In Matthew 5, Jesus began His ministry (at least it appears so here) by giving the foundation of the kind of people that He expected would be in His Kingdom. He says the very first thing in verse 3:
Poor in spirit does not mean to conduct one's life without vitality. It does not mean that a person is weak. Would we ever accuse Jesus of being weak? Yet Jesus was the epitome of humility. People think of humility as being weak because they are judging carnally by man's spirit. They are judging by sight. But the Spirit of God, the faith of God, judges according to things not seen—the Kingdom's standards.
Matthew 5:3
Excerpted from: Prayer and FervencyI mentioned the poor in spirit. Do you know that those who are poor in spirit—are going to be the best prayers of all? Look at the title, "poor of spirit." These are people who properly evaluate themselves against God. They see how rich God is in terms of love, generosity, kindness, mercy, wisdom, all the good qualities; and they see how poor they are in comparison. And they want to be like God so they ask Him for the qualities that He has. Those are the kinds of prayers that God responds to. So, the proud, they will not be good at praying because they are secure in their own frame.
Matthew 5:3
Excerpted from: Psalm 51 (Part Four): Psalm 51:13-19That is what He wanted to see from from David, this rich man who had dealt so arrogantly with his people. He wanted to see him humble himself. That was a great sacrifice for a proud man. To become aware of his sinfulness and become poor in spirit, as it says in Matthew 5:3. Because the first step in spiritual renewal is humility. Realizing that we are weak and evil, that we are not God. That we are not so wonderful as we think we are. And because of that we feel crushed when we finally realized it.
Matthew 5:3
Excerpted from: Pure in HeartAnd now we are actually going to read verse 8, which we could argue is the summation of verses 3 and 5—3 + 5 does equal 8, after all. When we are poor in spirit and meek, our heart is just like Jesus Christ's. He tells us that His heart is meek and lowly, right? And that heart then is what? It is pure.
ArticlesConfessions of a Finger-Pointer
Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part Eleven): Paradox, Continued
Hating Evil, Fearing God
Ingratitude
Job, Self-Righteousness, and Humility
Living by Faith and Humility
The All-Important Introduction to Revelation
The Beatitudes, Part Two: Poor in Spirit
The Fruit of the Spirit: Joy (2)
The Fruit of the Spirit: Joy
Bible StudiesBasic Doctrines: The Reward of the Saved
Essays'I Was Only Joking!'
Entrance Exam
Making the Cut (Part One)
On Self-Righteousness
The Unique Greatness of Our God (Part Five)
The Unique Greatness of Our God (Part Six)
SermonsLiving By Faith: Humility
Thou Shall Love Thy Neighbor
Do You Recognize This Man? (Part 7)
What Is Happening Is Ordained of God
Is the United States a Christian Nation? (Part 6)
Is the United States a Christian Nation? (Part 6)
Don't Disregard Satan!
The Tenth Commandment
Sin and Overcoming (Part 3): The Battle For Eternal Life
What Would You Die For?
Living by Faith: Humility and God's Justice
Matthew (Part Four)
Blessing Promises: Our Spiritual Inheritance
Blessed Are the Meek (2014)
Psalms: Book One (Part One)
Psalms: Book Three (Part One)
Happiness is Circumstantial, but Joy is Not!
Purpose-Driven Acts of Conciliation
Who Then Is In The Kingdom Of Heaven?
How Much Do You Value the Kingdom of God?
Shouting Gleanings and Singing Olives (Part Two)
Deuteronomy (Part 5) (1994)
The Christian Walk (Part Four): Mutual Submission in Godly Fear
Four Warnings (Part One)
Four Warnings (Part One)
Flee From Idolatry (Part Two): Faithfulness
Blessed Are: Summary
Blessed Are: Summary
Blessed Are: Summary
The Poor in Spirit
Job and Self Evaluation (Part Three)
Zephaniah (Part Two): God's Wrath on the Whole World
Peace
God's Epistle
How Big Is God?
Keeping God's Standards
Poor in Spirit
Poor in Spirit
Sow for Yourself
New Covenant Priesthood (Part Three)
New Covenant Priesthood (Part 6)
New Covenant Priesthood (Part 9)
Authority: Why So Many Resent It
Anointing Our Eyes
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