Answers from church history on today's questions
What Christian writers said, from about AD 190 to 1909.
48 passages · 27 writers · 9 centuries
Many writers say 'poor in spirit' means the humble: the lowly, who think meanly of themselves and do not rely on their own righteousness. Others stress a felt need, conviction of sin, and dependence on God, and Wesley says this is not 'the virtue of humility,' while Watson holds that it produces humility. Some writers also discuss outward poverty and detachment from goods, with Tauler separating outward poverty from poverty of spirit, Augustine saying God's poor is poor in spirit and not in purse, and Brown noting the Luke 6:20 form. Matthew Henry puts this poverty first among the Christian graces, Maclaren and Spurgeon call it the foundation of what follows, and Brown and Spurgeon say the poor in spirit already possess the kingdom.
17 passages · 14 writers · 100s to 1900s
Chrysostom, Augustine, Matthew Henry, Barnes, and Ryle read 'poor in spirit' as humility and a low opinion of oneself. Tertullian ties it to the patience needed to bear abasement. Tillotson reads it as meekness and humility, and Theologia Germanica as those who are truly humble.
c. 198–203 · Tertullian, On Patience (De patientia) 11
Of that duty great is the reward—namely, happiness. For whom but the patient has the Lord called happy, in saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens?” No one, assuredly, is “poor in spirit,” except he be humble. Well, who is humble, except he be patient? For no one can abase himself without patience, in the first instance, to bear the act of abasement.
c. 390 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 15.2
“Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” What is meant by “the poor in spirit?” The humble and contrite in mind. For by “spirit” He hath here designated the soul, and the faculty of choice. That is, since many are humble not willingly, but compelled by stress of circumstances; letting these pass (for this were no matter of praise), He blesses them first, who by choice humble and contract themselves.
c. 392–422 · Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms (Enarrationes in Psalmos) 74.21
Who are the poor in spirit? The humble, men trembling at the words of God, confessing their sins, neither on their own merits, nor on their own righteousness relying. Who are the poor in spirit? They who when they do anything of good, praise God, when anything of evil, accuse themselves.
c. 393–395 · Augustine of Hippo, Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount (De sermone Domini in monte) 1.1.3
We read in Scripture concerning the striving after temporal things, “All is vanity and presumption of spirit;” but presumption of spirit means audacity and pride: usually also the proud are said to have great spirits; and rightly, inasmuch as the wind also is called spirit. And hence it is written, “Fire, hail, snow, ice, spirit of tempest.” But, indeed, who does not know that the proud are spoken of as puffed up, as if swelled out with wind? And hence also that expression of the apostle, “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.” And “the poor in spirit” are rightly understood here, as meaning the humble and God-fearing, i.e. those who have not the spirit which puffeth up. Nor ought blessedness to begin at any other point whatever, if indeed it is to attain unto the highest wisdom; “but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;” for, on the other hand also, “pride” is entitled “the beginning of all sin.” Let the proud, therefore, seek after and love the kingdoms of the earth; but “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
c. 1350 · Anonymous (Theologia Germanica), Theologia Germanica 26
Christ saith also: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (that is, those who are truly humble), “for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” And thus we find it of a truth, where God is made man. For in Christ and in all His true followers, there must needs be thorough humility and poorness of spirit, a lowly retiring disposition, and a heart laden with a secret sorrow and mourning, so long as this mortal life lasteth.
1555 · John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, part 1 Matt.5.3
Many are pressed down by distresses, and yet continue to swell inwardly with pride and cruelty. But Christ pronounces those to be happy who, chastened and subdued by afflictions, submit themselves wholly to God, and, with inward humility, betake themselves to him for protection. Others explain the poor in spirit to be those who claim nothing for themselves, and are even so completely emptied of confidence in the flesh, that they acknowledge their poverty. But as the words of Luke and those of Matthew must have the same meaning, there can be no doubt that the appellation poor is here given to those who are pressed and afflicted by adversity. The only difference is, that Matthew, by adding an epithet, confines the happiness to those only who, under the discipline of the cross, have learned to be humble.
1555 · John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, part 1 Matt.5.3
We see that Christ does not swell the minds of his own people by any unfounded belief, or harden them by unfeeling obstinacy, as the Stoics do, but leads them to entertain the hope of eternal life, and animates them to patience by assuring them, that in this way they will pass into the heavenly kingdom of God. It deserves our attention, that he only who is reduced to nothing in himself, and relies on the mercy of God, is poor in spirit: for they who are broken or overwhelmed by despair murmur against God, and this proves them to be of a proud and haughty spirit.
1660 · Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes 4
4 He that is poor in spirit is lowly in heart. Rich men are commonly proud and scornful, but the poor are submissive. The poor in spirit roll themselves in the dust in the sense of their unworthiness. ‘I abhor myself in dust’ (Job 42:6). He who is poor in spirit looks at another’s excellencies and his own infirmities. He denies not only his sins but his duties. The more grace he has, the more humble he is, because he now sees himself a greater debtor to God.
1660 · Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes 4
I rather think poverty of spirit is the cause of humility, for when a man sees his want of Christ, and how he lives on the alms of free grace, this makes him humble. He that is sensible of his own vacuity and indigence, hangs his head in humility with the violet. Humility is the sweet spice that grows from poverty of spirit.
1710–1714 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 5.3-12
To be poor in spirit, is to think meanly of ourselves, of what we are, and have, and do; the poor are often taken in the Old Testament for the humble and self-denying, as opposed to those that are at ease, and the proud; it is to be as little children in our opinion of ourselves, weak, foolish, and insignificant, ch. xviii. 4; xix. 14. Laodicea was poor in spirituals, wretchedly and miserably poor, and yet rich in spirit, so well increased with goods, as to have need of nothing, Rev. iii. 17. On the other hand, Paul was rich in spirituals, excelling most in gifts and graces, and yet poor in spirit, the least of the apostles, less than the least of all saints, and nothing in his own account. It is to look with a holy contempt upon ourselves, to value others and undervalue ourselves in comparison of them. It is to be willing to make ourselves cheap, and mean, and little, to do good; to become all things to all men. It is to acknowledge that God is great, and we are mean; that he is holy and we are sinful; that he is all and we are nothing, less than nothing, worse than nothing; and to humble ourselves before him, and under his mighty hand.
1746 · Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections 3.6
A truly humble person, having such a mean opinion of his righteousness and holiness, is poor in spirit. For a person to be poor in spirit, is to be in his own sense and apprehension poor, as to what is in him, and to be of an answerable disposition. Therefore a truly humble person, especially one eminently humble, naturally behaves himself in many respects as a poor man.
1820 · John Tillotson, Works, Volume 5 116
Thirdly, If by the poor we do not only understand those who are in a low and mean condition as to the things of this world, but such, likewise, as had a temper and disposition of mind suitable to the poverty of their outward condition, which our Saviour calls poverty of spirit, by which he means meekness and humility; there is no doubt but that such a frame and temper of spirit is a great disposition to the receiving of truth. And that this is included in the notion of poverty, is very plain, both from the words of the prophecy I cited before, (Isa. lxi. 1.) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek, and to bind up the broken hearted;” and likewise from our Saviour’s description of these persons, in one of the evangelists; (Matt. v. 3.) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” So that, by the poor, who are so nearly disposed to receive the gospel, our Saviour intended those, who, being in a poor and low condition in respect of outward things, were likewise meek and humble in their spirits.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Matthew 5.3
To be poor in spirit is to have a humble opinion of ourselves; to be sensible that we are sinners, and have no righteousness of our own; to be willing to be saved only by the rich grace and mercy of God; to be willing to be where God places us, to bear what he lays on us, to go where he bids us, and to die when he commands; to be willing to be in his hands, and to feel that we deserve no favor from him. It is opposed to pride, and vanity, and ambition.
1856 · J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew 5.1-12
The Lord Jesus calls those blessed, who are poor in spirit. He means the humble, and lowly-minded, and self-abased. He means those who are deeply convinced of their own sinfulness in God's sight. These are they who are not "wise in their own eyes and holy in their own sight."
1890 · Henry Burton, The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel According to St. Luke Chapter XV. The Kingdom of God
What this spirit-poverty is, Jesus Himself explains, in a brief but wonderfully realistic parable. He draws for us the picture of two men at their Temple devotions. The one, a Pharisee, stands erect, with head uplifted, as if it were quite on a level with the heaven he was addressing, and with supercilious pride he counts his beads of rounded egotisms. He calls it a worship of God, when it is but a worship of self. He inflates the great "I," and then plays upon it, making it strike sharp and loud, like the tom-tom of a heathen fetish. Such is the man who fancies that he is rich toward God, that he has need of nothing, not even of mercy, when all the time he is utterly blind and miserably poor. The other is a publican, and so presumably rich. But how different his posture! With heart broken and contrite, self with him is a nothing, a zero; nay, in his lowly estimate it had become a minus quantity, less than nothing, deserving only rebuke and chastisement. Disclaiming any good, either inherent or acquired, he puts the deep need and hunger of his soul into one broken cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner" (xviii. 13). Such are the two characters Jesus portrays as standing by the gate of the kingdom, the one proud in spirit, the other "poor in spirit;" the one throwing upon the heavens the shadow of his magnified self, the other shrinking up into the pauper, the nothing that he was. But Jesus tells us that he was "justified," accepted, rather than the other. With nought he could call his own, save his deep need and his great sin, he finds an opened gate and a welcome within the kingdom; while the proud in spirit is sent empty away, or carrying back only the tithed mint and anise, and all the vain oblations Heaven could not accept.
1905 · A follower of Florentius, quoted by Thomas a Kempis, Lives of the Followers of Father Florentius 8
On a holy day when certain Clerks from the School had come to see him, he began to speak good words to them, and amongst other things said, “Well do we find it written in the Gospel, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven,’ but nowhere do we find it written therein, ‘Blessed are the Masters in Arts.’” And his hearers marvelling at the novelty of his words, received them with much reverence; likewise he explained his saying to them on the ground that knowledge without humility profiteth not, but, that in truth the Kingdom of God is attained by poverty of spirit, that is, by humility; for this virtue doth gain favour from God now, and Eternal Life in the time to come.
1909 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 55 (1909) 3156
A man may be so misled as to make a merit out of his sense of sin and may dream of coming to Jesus clothed in a fitness of despair and unbelief! This is, however, the very reverse of the conduct of one who is poor in spirit, for he is poor in feelings as well as in everything else and dares no more commend himself on account of his humility and despair than on account of his sins. He thinks himself to be a hard-hearted sinner as he acknowledges the deep repentance which his offenses call for. He fears that he is a stranger to that saved quickening which makes the conscience tender and he dreads lest he should, in any measure, be a hypocrite in the desires which he perceives to be in his soul. In fact, he does not dare to think himself to be any other than poor, grievously poor, in whatever light he may be viewed in his relation to God and His righteous Law.
14 passages · 9 writers · 400s to 1900s
Wesley, Philaret, Maclaren, and Brown read the phrase as a felt need: conviction of sin, helplessness, and dependence on God. Wesley says poverty of spirit is a just sense of our sins, guilt, and helplessness, and not what some call "the virtue of humility."
c. 426–429 · John Cassian, Conferences (Conlationes) 10.11
And indeed what greater or holier poverty can there be than that of one who knowing that he has no defence and no strength of his own, asks for daily help from another’s bounty, and as he is aware that every single moment his life and substance depend on Divine assistance, professes himself not without reason the Lord’s bedesman, and cries to Him daily in prayer: “But I am poor and needy: the Lord helpeth me.”
1605–1610 · Johann Arndt, True Christianity 1.19
Whoever thus acquaints himself in faith with his own misery, is truly one of those poor and contrite men, to whom the Lord graciously looks. Without this previous brokenness of heart, man cannot expect to enjoy this blessed aspect of God, nor indeed that grace and kindness which is promised to the poor in spirit only. In this weakness and poverty the apostle glories, when he says: “If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities” (2 Cor. 11:30): and he adds the reason: “that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Cor. 12:9. For so great indeed is the mercy of God, that he will not see the work of his hands destroyed: but the weaker the creature is in itself, the more is it sustained by the power of an Almighty Being. For in the weakness of the creature, the power of God is exalted, as the Lord declared unto Paul: “My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” 13. The more vile and miserable therefore a Christian is in his own opinion, the more freely God looks upon him, to the greater manifestation of the riches of his glory. And in bestowing this heavenly consolation, he does not look at all on man's merit, but barely on his want and poverty.
1660 · Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes 4
Well then, what are we to understand by ‘poor in spirit’? The Greek word for ‘poor’ is not only taken in a strict sense for those who live upon alms, but in a more large sense, for those who are destitute as well of inward as outward comfort. ‘Poor in spirit’, then signifies those who are brought to the sense of their sins, and seeing no goodness in themselves, despair in themselves and sue wholly to the mercy of God in Christ. Poverty of spirit is a kind of self-annihilation.
1660 · Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes 4
The self-denier parts with the world for Christ, the poor in spirit parts with himself for Christ, i.e. his own righteousness. The poor in spirit sees himself nothing without Christ; the self-denier will leave himself nothing for Christ.
1660 · Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes 4
If blessed are the poor in spirit, then by the rule of contraries, cursed are the proud in spirit (Proverbs 16:5). There is a generation of men who commit idolatry with themselves; no such idol as self! They admire their own parts, moralities, self-righteousness; and upon this stock graft the hope of their salvation. There are many too good to go to heaven. They have commodities enough of their own growth, and they scorn to live upon the borrow, or to be beholden to Christ. These bladders the Devil has blown up with pride, and they are swelled in their own conceit; but it is like the swelling of a dropsy man whose bigness is his disease. Thus it was with that proud justiciary: ‘The Pharisee stood and prayed, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican; I fast twice in the week, I give tithes ...’ (Luke 18:11). Here was a man setting up the topsail of pride; but the publican, who was poor in spirit, stood afar off and would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’ This man carried away the garland. ‘I tell you’ (says Christ) ‘this man went down to his house justified rather than the other’.
1754 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on Matthew 5.3
The poor in spirit - They who are unfeignedly penitent, they who are truly convinced of sin; who see and feel the state they are in by nature, being deeply sensible of their sinfulness, guiltiness, helplessness. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven - The present inward kingdom: righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, as well as the eternal kingdom, if they endure to the end.
1823 · Robert South, Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions, Volume 6 42
Nothing could control either the risings of his spirit, or the insolence of his speech, till God himself undertook, and encountered him out of the cloud, displaying his greatness, his power, his wisdom, and his other surpassing perfections, laying all these before his astonished eyes, as we have them fully described in those four excellent chapters, the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st of Job: and then the man’s stubborn heart began to bend, and to come down from its heights; then he presently knows himself, and his distance from God; his deplorable weakness and his vileness, and so breaks forth in those expressions, Job xlii. 5, 6, Behold, says he, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. What follows? Wherefore, says he, I abhor myself. It was the clear sight of the glory and greatness of the divine nature that humbled him to this self-abhorrence, and altered the tune of his former self-justification. Now let every confident, self-valuing person, compare himself with those descriptions of God in the forementioned chapters; and if he has but his under standing and his judging faculties about him, I doubt not but they will have the same effect and impression upon him, that they had upon Job, and make him descend some steps lower, till they have brought him to the level of the poor in spirit. Let this therefore be one way for the obtaining of this evangelical virtue, for a man to think much of the transcendent greatness and majesty of God, and his own unspeakable distance from him.
1830 · Philaret of Moscow, The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church 2.440
What is it to be poor in spirit? It is to have a spiritual conviction that we have nothing of our own, nothing but what God bestows upon us, and that we can do nothing good without God's help and grace, thus counting ourselves as nothing, and in all throwing ourselves upon the mercy of God; in brief, as St. Chrysostom explains it, spiritual poverty is humility.
1871 · David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on Matthew 5.3
Blessed are the poor in spirit—All familiar with Old Testament phraseology know how frequently God's true people are styled "the poor" (the "oppressed," "afflicted," "miserable") or "the needy"—or both together (as in Ps 40:17; Isa 41:17). The explanation of this lies in the fact that it is generally "the poor of this world" who are "rich in faith" (Jas 2:5; compare 2Co 6:10; Re 2:9); while it is often "the ungodly" who "prosper in the world" (Ps 73:12). Accordingly, in Lu 6:20, 21, it seems to be this class—the literally "poor" and "hungry"—that are specially addressed. But since God's people are in so many places styled "the poor" and "the needy," with no evident reference to their temporal circumstances (as in Ps 68:10; 69:29-33; 132:15; Isa 61:1; 66:2), it is plainly a frame of mind which those terms are meant to express. Accordingly, our translators sometimes render such words "the humble" (Ps 10:12, 17), "the meek" (Ps 22:26), "the lowly" (Pr 3:34), as having no reference to outward circumstances. But here the explanatory words, "in spirit," fix the sense to "those who in their deepest consciousness realize their entire need" (compare the Greek of Lu 10:21; Joh 11:33; 13:21; Ac 20:22; Ro 12:11; 1Co 5:3; Php 3:3). This self-emptying conviction, that "before God we are void of everything," lies at the foundation of all spiritual excellence, according to the teaching of Scripture. Without it we are inaccessible to the riches of Christ; with it we are in the fitting state for receiving all spiritual supplies (Re 3:17, 18; Mt 9:12, 13).
1872 · John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions 21
Then thou learnest of him to be “lowly of heart.” And this is the true, genuine, Christian humility, which flows from a sense of the love of God, reconciled to us in Christ Jesus. Poverty of spirit, in this meaning of the word, begins where a sense of guilt and of the wrath of God ends; and is a continual sense of our total dependence on him, for every good thought, or word, or work; of our utter inability to all good, unless he “water us every moment;” and an abhorrence of the praise of men, knowing that all praise is due unto God only. With this is joined a loving shame, a tender humiliation before God, even for the sins which we know he hath forgiven us, and for the sin which still remaineth in our hearts, although we know it is not imputed to our condemnation.
1872 · John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions 21
Poverty of spirit then, as it implies the first step we take in running the race which is set before us, is a just sense of our inward and outward sins, and of our guilt and helplessness. This some have monstrously styled, “the virtue of humility;” thus teaching us to be proud of knowing we deserve damnation! But our Lord’s expression is quite of another kind; conveying no idea to the hearer, but that of mere want, of naked sin, of helpless guilt and misery.
1897 · John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ Part I
Spiritual poverty consists in esteeming oneself as though not existing, and God alone as existing; in honouring His words above everything in the world, and in not sparing anything to fulfil them, even one's own life; in considering God's Will in everything, both for ourselves and others, entirely renouncing our own will. The man who is poor in spirit desires and says with his whole heart: "Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven." It is as though he himself disappears; everywhere and in everything he wishes to see God--in himself and in others. "Let everything be Thine, not mine." He wishes to contemplate God's holiness in himself and in all--His kingdom, also His Will; also to see Him alone entirely filling the human heart, as it should be, because He alone is All-merciful and All-perfect, All-creating; whilst the enemy--the Devil and his instruments, and those who oppose God--are thieves in the kingdom of God, and adversaries of God. To him who is poor in spirit the whole world is as nothing. Everywhere he sees God alone giving life to everything, and ruling everything; for him there is no place without God, no moment without God; everywhere and at every minute he is with God, and as though with Him alone. He who is poor in spirit does not dare and does not think of trying to comprehend the incomprehensible, to discover God's mysteries, to philosophise on the highest; he believes in the single word of the Lord, the Life-giver, knowing that every word of His is truth, spirit, and eternal life; and in the words of His Church, ever instructed in all truth by the Holy Ghost, he believes as a child believes his father or mother, not requiring proofs, but perfectly relying upon them. He who is poor in spirit considers himself the very last and the most sinful of all, reckons himself worthy of being trampled under foot by everyone.
1909 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Matthew (chapters 1 to 8) 5.1-16
The foundation of all is laid in poverty of spirit. The word rendered ‘poor’ does not only signify one in a condition of want, but rather one who is aware of the condition, and seeks relief. If we may refer to Latin words here, it is mendicus rather than pauper, a beggar rather than a poor man, who is meant. So that to be poor in spirit is to be in inmost reality conscious of need, of emptiness, of dependence on God, of demerit; the true estimate of self, as blind, evil, weak, is intended; the characteristic tone of feeling pointed to is self-abnegation, like that of the publican smiting his breast, or that of the disease-weakened, hunger-tortured prodigal, or that of the once self-righteous Paul, ‘O wretched man that I am!’
1909 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Matthew (chapters 1 to 8) 5.3
A great poet has told us that the things which lead life to sovereign power are self-knowledge, self-reverence, and self-control. And in a noble sense it is true, but the deepest self-knowledge will lead to self-abhorrence rather than to self-reverence; and self-control is only possible when, knowing our own inability to cope with our own evil, we cast ourselves on that Lamb of God who beareth away the sin of the world, and ask Him to guide and to keep us. The right attitude for us is, ‘He did not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.’ And then, sweeter than angels’ voices fluttering down amid the blue, there will come that gracious word, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.’
8 passages · 8 writers · 100s to 1900s
Tauler, Clement of Alexandria, Leo the Great, and Augustine discuss outward poverty alongside poverty of spirit and the use of riches. Law describes a spirit of disengagement from the world, and de Sales says that one to whom poverty is unwelcome is no longer poor in spirit. Brown notes the Luke 6:20 form of the saying.
c. 190–210 · Clement of Alexandria, Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? (Quis dives salvetur) 16
But into the impure soul the grace of God finds no entrance. And that (soul) is unclean which is rich in lusts, and is in the throes of many worldly affections. For he who holds possessions, and gold, and silver, and houses, as the gifts of God; and ministers from them to the God who gives them for the salvation of men; and knows that he possesses them more for the sake of the brethren than his own; and is superior to the possession of them, not the slave of the things he possesses; and does not carry them about in his soul, nor bind and circumscribe his life within them, but is ever labouring at some good and divine work, even should he be necessarily some time or other deprived of them, is able with cheerful mind to bear their removal equally with their abundance. This is he who is blessed by the Lord, and called poor in spirit, a meet heir of the kingdom of heaven, not one who could not live rich.
c. 392–422 · Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms (Enarrationes in Psalmos) 132.19
God’s poor one is therefore poor in spirit, not in his purse. Sometimes a man goeth forth having a full house, rich lands, many estates, much gold and silver; he knoweth that he must not trust in these, he humbleth himself before God, he doth good with them; thus his heart is raised unto God, so that he is aware that not only do riches themselves profit him nothing, but that they even impede his feet, save He rule them, and aid them: and he is counted among the poor who are satisfied with bread.
440–461 · Leo the Great, Sermons (Tractatus) 95.2
“Blessed,” He saith, “are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It would perhaps be doubtful what poor He was speaking of, if in saying “blessed are the poor” He had added nothing which would explain the sort of poor: and then that poverty by itself would appear sufficient to win the kingdom of heaven which many suffer from hard and heavy necessity. But when He says “blessed are the poor in spirit,” He shows that the kingdom of heaven must be assigned to those who are recommended by the humility of their spirits rather than by the smallness of their means. Yet it cannot be doubted that this possession of humility is more easily acquired by the poor than the rich: for submissiveness is the companion of those that want, while loftiness of mind dwells with riches.
1608 · Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life 3.16
Do not complain then of your poverty, my daughter,—we only complain of that which is unwelcome, and if poverty is unwelcome to you, you are no longer poor in spirit. Do not fret under such assistance as is needful; therein lies one great grace of poverty.
1710–1714 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 5.3-12
The poor in spirit are happy, v. 3. There is a poor-spiritedness that is so far from making men blessed that it is a sin and a snare—cowardice and base fear, and a willing subjection to the lusts of men. But this poverty of spirit is a gracious disposition of soul, by which we are emptied of self, in order to our being filled with Jesus Christ. To be poor in spirit is, 1. To be contentedly poor, willing to be emptied of worldly wealth, if God orders that to be our lot; to bring our mind to our condition, when it is a low condition.
1726 · William Law, A Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection 6
Blessed are the poor in spirit, because it is a spirit of disengagement and disrelish of the world, that puts the soul in a state of liberty and fitness to relish and receive the offers of true happiness. The doctrine of this text is purely the doctrine of self-denial and daily cross, to which our Saviour called his disciples. For let any one consider, how it is possible for a man to be poor in spirit, but by renouncing those enjoyments, which are the proper delights of such as are high and rich in spirit. Now a man is high in spirit, when his own state and dignity give him a pleasure; he is rich in spirit, who seeks and delights in the enjoyments and felicities which riches afford: he is therefore poor in spirit, that mortifies all vain thoughts, rejects every self-pleasure, and avoids and dislikes the empty satisfactions which riches and fortune give.
1871 · David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on Luke 6.20-21
20, 21. In the Sermon on the Mount the benediction is pronounced upon the "poor in spirit" and those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Mt 5:3, 6). Here it is simply on the "poor" and the "hungry now." In this form of the discourse, then, our Lord seems to have had in view "the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him," as these very beatitudes are paraphrased by James (Jas 2:5).
1901 · John Tauler, The Inner Way: Thirty-Six Sermons for Festivals 26
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” There are two kinds of poverty; one is external, affecting the outer man, and consists of giving up all temporal things for the sake of God, and this is an Evangelical Counsel. The other kind of poverty is that of the spirit and humility of heart. This is required of all men: of each man according to his vocation; and now we will say something of both kinds.
9 passages · 4 writers · 1700s to 1900s
Matthew Henry says poverty of spirit is put first among the Christian graces, and Spurgeon says it underlies each of the succeeding Beatitudes. Brown and Spurgeon say the poor in spirit already possess the kingdom.
1710–1714 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 5.3-12
Now, (1.) This poverty in spirit is put first among the Christian graces. The philosophers did not reckon humility among their moral virtues, but Christ puts it first. Self-denial is the first lesson to be learned in his school, and poverty of spirit entitled to the first beatitude. The foundation of all other graces is laid in humility. Those who would build high must begin low; and it is an excellent preparative for the entrance of gospel-grace into the soul; it fits the soil to receive the seed.
1871 · David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on Matthew 5.3
The poor in spirit not only shall have—they already have—the kingdom. The very sense of their poverty is begun riches. While others "walk in a vain show"—"in a shadow," "an image"—in an unreal world, taking a false view of themselves and all around them—the poor in spirit are rich in the knowledge of their real case. Having courage to look this in the face, and own it guilelessly, they feel strong in the assurance that "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness" (Ps 112:4); and soon it breaks forth as the morning. God wants nothing from us as the price of His saving gifts; we have but to feel our universal destitution, and cast ourselves upon His compassion (Job 33:27, 28; 1Jo 1:9). So the poor in spirit are enriched with the fulness of Christ, which is the kingdom in substance; and when He shall say to them from His great white throne, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you," He will invite them merely to the full enjoyment of an already possessed inheritance.
1907 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 53 (1907) 3065
Are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a paradox that puzzles many, for the poor in spirit often seem to have nothing—yet they have the Kingdom of Heaven, so they have everything! He who thinks the least of himself is the man of whom God thinks the most. You are not poor in God's sight if you are poor in spirit.
1909 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 55 (1909) 3156
The cause for placing this Beatitude first is found in the fact that it is first as a matter of experience. It is essential to the succeeding characters. It underlies each one of them and is the soil in which alone they can be produced. No man ever mourns before God until he is poor in spirit! Neither does he become meek towards others till he has humble views of himself. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness are not possible to those who have high views of their own excellence—and mercy to those who offend is also a Grace, difficult for those who are unconscious of their own spiritual need. Poverty in spirit is the porch of the temple of blessedness. As a wise man never thinks of building up the walls of his house till he has first dug out the foundation, so no person skillful in Divine things will hope to see any of the higher virtues where poverty of spirit is absent.
1909 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Matthew (chapters 1 to 8) 5.1-16
Obviously, its subjects can only be those who feel their dependence, and in poverty of spirit have cast off self-will and self-reliance. ‘Theirs is the kingdom’ does not mean ‘they shall rule,’ but ‘of them shall be its subjects.’ True, they shall rule in the perfected form of it; but the first, and in a real sense the only, blessedness is to obey God; and that blessedness can only come when we have learned poverty of spirit, because we see ourselves as in need of all things.
1909 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 55 (1909) 3156
Human weakness is a small obstacle to salvation compared with human strength—there lies the work and the difficulty! Hence it is a sign of Grace to know one's need of Grace. He has some Light of God in his soul who knows and feels that he is in darkness. The Lord Himself has worked a work of Grace upon the spirit which is poor and needy, and trembles at His Word. And it is such a work that it bears within it the promise, yes, the assurance of salvation—for the poor in spirit already possess the Kingdom of Heaven—and none have that but those who have eternal life!
1909 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 55 (1909) 3156
It is worthy of double mention that this first blessing is given rather to the absence than to the presence of praiseworthy qualities—it is a blessing not upon the man who is distinguished for this virtue or remarkable for that excellence— but upon him whose chief characteristic is that he confesses his own sad deficiencies! This is intentional, in order that Grace may be all the more manifestly seen to be Grace, indeed, casting its eyes first, not upon purity, but upon poverty. Not upon showers of mercy, but upon those who need mercy. Not upon those who are called the children of God, but upon those who cry, "We are not worthy to be called Your sons." God wants nothing of us except our needs and these furnish Him with room to display His bounty when He freely supplies them! It is from the worse and not from the better side of fallen man that the Lord wins glory for Himself. Not what I have, but what I have not, is the first point of contact between my soul and God.
1909 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 55 (1909) 3156
Nor ought we to forget that this lowest note upon the octave of Beatitude, this keynote of the whole music gives forth a certain sound as to the spirituality of the Christian dispensation. Its first blessing is allotted to a characteristic, not of the outer, but of the inner man—to a state of soul and not to a posture of body—to the poor in spirit and not to the exact in ritual. That word, spirit, is one of the watchwords of the Gospel dispensation. Garments, genuflections, rituals, oblations and the like are ignored—the Lord's eyes of favor rest only upon broken hearts and humbled spirits before Him.
1909 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 55 (1909) 3156
A ladder, if it is to be of any use, must have its first step near the ground, or feeble climbers will never be able to mount. It would have been a grievous discouragement to struggling faith if the first blessing had been given to the pure in heart—to that excellence the young beginner makes no claim—while to poverty of spirit he can reach without going beyond his line! Had the Savior said, "Blessed are the rich in Divine Grace," he would have spoken a great Truth of God, but very few of us could have derived consolation from there. Our Divine Instructor begins at the beginning—with the very A B C of experience—and so enables the babes in Grace to learn of Him. Had He commenced with higher attainments, He would have had to leave the little ones behind. A gigantic step at the bottom of these sacred stairs would have effectually prevented many from beginning to ascend—but tempted by the lowly step, which bears the inscription, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," thousands are encouraged to attempt the heavenly way!
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