Quick Devotional from Matthew 5:3 (Observation from the Greek)

This is from my daily Greek exercise of sight reading a few weeks ago, courtesy of Vincent S Artale Jr.

Our text is from the Greek translation of Matthew 5:3  Here is my translation:

“Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι,
Blessed are those poor in spirit

ὅτι αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. ”
because theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Here are some observations:

 

1. God says it is blessed to be poor in spirit: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (v.3a)
   1. The word “poor” convey absolute and abject poverty (Tehan, 14).
   2. But this is not talking about financial or physical poverty. It is talking about spiritual poverty.
   3. This is usually seen as a bad thing. But note the verse says: “Blessed” (3a)
      1. It is a predicate nominative; nuanced appearing before the subject.
      2. We are blessed by God when we are poor in spirit? This leads us to ask what does it mean to be poor in spirit.
2. What does it mean to be poor in spirit?
   1. What it does not mean:
      1. Humble brag
      2. Thinking of yourself or your situation worst than it really is.
   2. Good quote from Alexander Maclaren: “But the deepest reason for a habitual and fixed lowly opinion of ourselves lies in a sadder fact. We are not only recipient nothingnesses; we have something that is our own, and that is our will, and we have lifted it up against God…for only the man who has been down into the dungeons of his own character, and has cried unto God out of the depths, will be able to make the house of his soul a fabric which may be a temple of God, and with its shining apex may pierce the clouds and seem almost to touch the heavens” (Source: Alexander Maclaren, The Beatitudes and Other Sermons (London: Alexander and Shepheard, 1896), 5–7.)
   3. Recognizing our own sins is what it entails.
   4. There’s a sense it means humble as seen from Proverb 16:19: “It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly Than to divide the spoil with the proud.”
      1. Note that the term for “lowly” here is literally in the Hebrew for “poor” (Carson, 17).
      2. But humility don’t require us to make up bad lies about ourselves, only to truly see ourselves and our sin as it really is.
   5. Taking extreme responsibility will result in one discovering oneself is truly poor in spirit.
   6. But we don’t stop there: Once we RECOGNIZE we are poor in Spirit we need to go to the cross and confess our sins to the Lord.
   7. Again everyone already is poor in spirit but blessed is the one who acknowledges that and go to God in dealing with their sins.
3. Reason to be poor in spirit: “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (v.3b)
   1. “for” in some version is translated “because” and in the Greek it is a conjunction giving the reason why those poor in spirit are blessed.
   2. The subject of the reason to be poor in spirit concerns “the kingdom of heaven”
      1. Literally in the Greek it is “kingdom of heavens” (plural).
      2. Why the plural?
         1. It is because of Hebrew/Aramaic influence (Tehan, 16).
         2. 31 out of 35 times the word appears in Matthew it is in the plural form (Tehan, 16).

Application:

• Again everyone already is poor in spirit but blessed is the one who acknowledges that and go to God in dealing with their sins. Our main application therefore should be recognizing our need to acknowledge our spiritually poor state.Do you recognize the signs of when we are no longer aware of our state of being poor in spirit?
  • Sometimes the symptom is that we are quite judgmental of others’ sins. We are so quick to see others’ problems and not see our own.
  • Sometimes our problem in life is we are not content because we think we are deserving of something or someone. But are really deserving?  Are we really that rich in merit and good works that we can complain to God or feel sorry for ourselves?  Let it sink in: We are poor in spirit.
• Yet have you also considered that we have been spiritually enriched by God in Christ?
  1. We have a relationship with Him!
  2. We are saved!
  3. We will be going to heaven!

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