Christians: How do you interpret this verse?

Question

Mathew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

What does this verse mean to you personally?

I recently read Oswald Chambers’ Studies in the Sermon on the Mount and he describes it as knowing that you are a spiritual pauper, knowing your need to seek God.

Only if you know that you are poor in spirit will you be hungry for spiritual knowledge and seek understanding. If you think you have it all figured out, why would you keep seeking?

I’ve been giving this a lot of thought and wondered how others see it.

Pinkribbon, sounds like a good translation.

Answer 1

The opposite of being poor in spirit is being prideful. Therefore, to be poor in spirit is to have a right and proper evaluation of oneself toward God; such a person is totally dependent upon God for mercy and salvation. There is the recognition that one has no righteousness of his own, and whatever righteousness he has is a righteousness received from God.

Answer 2

Verse 3
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The word "blessed" means "happy" and is so translated by some. The "poor in spirit" is understood in two ways, both of which harmonize with the Holy Scriptures: (1) It is that quality of recognizing one's spiritual destitution in such a degree as to enable the sinner to approach God, not as the Pharisee, but as the publican, supplicating the Father for all necessary and desirable blessing. The poor in spirit are the opposite of the proud, conceited, arrogant and disdainful. Only the poor in spirit can enter God's kingdom. Others will never feel their need nor know their poverty until too late. (2) Another conception of the poor in spirit is seen in the account of this beatitude by Luke (Luke 6:20), "Blessed are ye poor." Dummelow expressed it thus, "A Christian, whether rich or poor, must have the spirit of poverty, i.e., he must possess his wealth as if he possessed it not, and be able to resign it at any moment without regret, and to say with Job, `The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord'." F3

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven
means that persons with the attitude of the poor in spirit shall have the privilege of becoming members of the kingdom, namely by entering it by means of the new birth.

Answer 3

So, we know Jesus is going to be the king of the "kingdom of Heaven", so as this verse gives a different prespective of view. So if you are going to read it in this way, you think that, people who don't know the spiritual things, will go into kingdom of heaven. But if you give a deep insight you can see that jesus was too poor in wealth and he did not have more than one dress, so jesus was not a rich man in wealth, but despite this he had a precious relationship with his father and he fully focused his attention to spiritual things, so he was rich in spiritual things, so what does this verse mean......!

Again give a deep thought to it, so it gives us a meaning "poor in spirit" , which should be taken in the way, that despite the poor having attention to spritiual things are the blessed ones as per this verse.

So, i hope you could have understood the verse in a different view

Answer 4

If one is poor in Spirit, it could likely mean that one has not had the correct information.
Without correct information, one would not be held accountable for not knowing about Heaven.
They would get a " Pass " if you will.

With the fighting over who has the best religion, many are so confused, that without Divine intervention, they are sheep looking for a shepard.
They cannot be held responsible for not knowing what to believe.

Because of this, I would like to believe that all who live, and die, will go to Heaven.
The ones who face the wrath of God are those who profess the truth as they see it, and force or coerce, or otherwise convince others of that truth, and lead them down a path of hypocrisy.
The led cannot be blamed, but the leaders can.

With this idea in mind, re-read your holy books, and tell me if the meanings are the same as they were yesterday.

That is what it personally means to me.

Sorry so long, but I hope I was clear enough to be understood.

Thank you for asking this question.

Answer 5

Hello,

Perhaps in two ways:

1) If poor spirit means poor morale, then they will be happier when recieved into heaven in the next life.

2) If spirit means soul or inner conscience. it means the poor or blessed because they concentrate on their spiritual needs rather than being obsessed bt material riches which is a better ticket to heaven.

Regards,

Michael Kelly

Answer 6

You'll find a lot of cryptic stuff in the Old Testament, but this has to be mentioned because that was the law. We can all see that everyone will always always fail the law, and that's why we need a Savior, which we do. For the verse in Luke, Jesus is most definitely not telling us to hate our family. What I get from this verse is that we love our family, but some people may love their family more than God. If you'd be willing to give up everything you love to follow God, you are absolutely worthy to be His disciple.

Answer 7

This whole sermon is a step by step description of how to live for God. The poor is spirit are whose who see that in themselves they have no power to inherit the Kingdom. They receive a new Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and not by the power of their spirit the become strong in the Spirit of God.. Jim

Answer 8

This is restated in Luke 6:20. Happy are you poor, the Kingdom of God is yours!
I think this means the people that don't KNOW about God. At the time this was written, the word hadn't spread.

Answer 9

Ahh the verse where most ignorant people translate this to the meaning that God wants people to live in poverty....lol

Really the true meaning is quite simple
It is a person that has spiritual poverty.
1. This the person who realizes that he or she cannot save themselves, that they are without an ability to glorify themselves.
2. The spiritually poor have a keen sense of their own sinfulness and need for God's grace.
3. "This poverty of spirit is a prerequisite to acquiring the other beatitudes. Spiritual beggars who have abandoned pride and self-sufficiency and who rely totally on God for support are in a position to inculcate the mournful, meek, hungry, merciful, pure, and peaceful disposition suggested by the other beatitudes

Answer 10

I, personally, think it connects with the verses which speak on persecution. Those who are being persecuted (poor in spirit) in this life, will inherit the kingdom of heaven (be great in spirit) in the next.