The Beatitudes, Pt 5: The Foundation of Kingdom Ethics
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
What does it mean to be “poor in spirit?” We learn by contrast. Consider what “poor in sprit” does NOT mean. It does NOT mean that:
- You are of no value, for you were bought with a great price. You are a little lower than God, in fact you bear the image of God.[i]
- You are shy or introverted. Introverts can be, in fact, proud; thinking they are too good for others.
- It does not mean making a show of humility. Self-deprecation can be a manifestation of a proud person’s pity party, it could be an effort to look good in the eyes of others because you are such a humble person.
What then is “poverty of spirit?” The Greek word translated “poor” in Matthew 5:3 is ptwcoi (from ptwcoV). In his commentary on Matthew, R. Kent Hughes writes:
The history of the Greek word for “poor,” ptochos, provides some insight. It comes from a verbal root that denotes: “to cower and cringe like a beggar.” In classical Greek ptochos came to mean “someone who crouches about, wretchedly begging.” In the New Testament it bears something of this idea because it denotes a poverty so deep that the person must obtain his living by begging. He is fully dependent on the giving of others.
Now, if we take this meaning and combine it with the following words (“in spirit”) we have the idea, “Blessed are the beggarly poor in spirit.” The sense is: “Blessed are those who are so desperately poor in their spiritual resources that they realize they must have help from outside sources”[ii]
Isn’t this the starting point of the gospel? You are fallen, you have absolutely nothing that you can bring to the table to offer God. You “naked” and “ashamed.”[iii] Your sin touches every decision, every action, every aspect of your being. YOU are, PERSONALLY, wretched and without hope. Again, quoting Kent Hughes:
“Blessed are those who realize that they have nothing within themselves to commend them to God, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”[iv]
Too often, far too often, Christians approach the beatitudes as standards that they are to strive to attain, when in fact each subsequent “beatitude” points us to our need, our desperation. Who among us:
- is truly “pure in heart?”
- is the “peacemaker” he, or she, should be?
- hungers and thirsts for righteousness as he or she ought?[v]
Several years ago, as I was preaching through the Sermon on the Mount, I often reminded the congregation at the completion of each individual Beatitude that they were now brought back to the first beatitude! They didn’t reach the standard, they were “poor in spirit.”
As we are confronted by Jesus with the ethical attitudes found in, and necessary for, the kingdom of God we are repeatedly brought to confront our need. In the flow of the beatitudes, Jesus constantly confronted his hearers with their desperate need. The beatitudes are the Ethics of the Kingdom. Members of the Kingdom demonstrate these “attitudes.” If you, now the reader of Jesus words, are “listening”, you will hear Jesus telling you:
You are “beggarly poor,” thus You need Christ.
Thus, the first beatitude is the gateway to the Kingdom. When you recognize your utter inability to meet the ethical standards found in the Beatitudes, by the grace of God you will come to Christ. You will not come with your inadequate efforts to justify yourself, for “your righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”[vi] No, you will come with words! The prophet Hosea writes:
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.2 Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good,[vii]
These are the words of someone who is “poor in spirit”:
“I am poor and needy. Take away my iniquity. Please clothe me with Christ, let His righteousness be mine.[viii] Then I will be accepted, for He alone is “good.”
The grace of God is incredible. We come with nothing (poor in spirit) and become rich! Once in Christ God writes his law on our hearts and minds[ix] and the ethics of the kingdom are worked into our lives. Poverty of spirit is the entre to the Gospel. The Beatitudes, as they drive you relentlessly to the gospel, are in fact, the Foundation for Kingdom Ethics.
[i] ! Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23, Psalm 8:5, Genesis 1:26
[ii] R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2001), 17.
[iii] Genesis 2:24-25 – guilty and without resources
[iv] Hughes, Sermon on the Mount, P. 18.
[v] Matthew 5:3-12.
[vi] Isaiah 64:6
[vii] Hosea 14:1-2a
[viii] 2 Corinthians 5:21
[ix] Jeremiah 31:31-34
