Mathew 5:3 Blessed are

the poor in spirit, for theirs

is the kingdom of heaven.
f late I have been pushed into

meditating (hagah /chewing,eating)

on this verse. I am enclosing three
interpretations that although not very

E.Stanley Jones Christ of the

Mount

esus hits the essential and always the

essential. His was the sifted mind. He was
never misled by a subordinate issue, never

took a bypath and never missed the point. This

will come out, I trust, as we look more specifically
at these twenty-seven marks.

different. Each in their own way digs

out nuances of the verse, in so many colors. I

The presentation of the perfect life by Jesus

have not done any changes to what the

divides itself into five major portions:

authors wrote. Its a copy paste.

I.

The first I am enclosing is from E.

1. What believers are in themselves the

Stanley Jones Christ of the Mount

Beatitudes (verses 2-12).

II.

Adam Clarks exposition

2. What they are to the world salt, light (verses 13-

III.

James Faussets exposition

16).
3. What they are to the past they fulfill rather than

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destroy (verses 17-20).

4. What they are in intimate relationships with

There are just two great

philosophies of life. Nietzsche
summed up the one when he
said: "Assert yourself. Care
for nothing except for
yourself. The only vice he
said is weakness, and the
only virtue is strength. Be
strong, be a superman. The
world is yours if you can
get it." Here is the cult of
self-expression. It is
Darwinism as a philosophy
of life

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others (verses 2147).

5. What they shall be perfect as the Father is
perfect (verse 48).
Jesus begins at what they are to be in themselves.
He begins at the center. He insisted that men
could not live at the circumference unless they
were alive at the center. The modern attempt is to
have quantity of life at the circumference
regardless of quality of life at the center. Jesus
knew this would end in futility and cynicism and

utter shallowness. When he would make all things

teaching is Suffering; the first note that Jesus

new, he would first of all lay hand upon the

strikes is Joy. But this happiness is not dependent

human heart. He knew that "you cannot make the

on happenings. Its sources are within. "Blessed

golden age out of leaden instincts." He spoke of

are." So this note of joy is not a jazz note cheap,

what they were to be (verses 2-13) before he

easy, and surface. It sounds the depths before it

spoke of what they were to do and not do (rest of

reaches the heights.

Sermon).
But the word "blessed" is more than joyful; it
He begins by saying, "Blessed are" what you are in

means literally, "not subject to fate," "deathless."

yourselves determines life for you. You are your

It depicts the kind of life that rises above the fated

own heaven and you are your own hell. He knew

mechanism of earthly life into moral and spiritual

that "hell often breaks out within man by

freedom. So the two meanings taken together

spontaneous combustion," and that heaven is a

would give the meaning of blessed, that is, "to be

state of mind before It can be a place. He came,

deathless and happy."

therefore, not to get men into heaven but to get

heaven into men; not to get men out of hell but to

The Beatitudes are nine in number and they break

get hell out of men. If "conduct is three fourths of

themselves up into three groups of three each.

life," then character is the whole of It, for

The first group starts with, "Blessed are the poor

"character is destiny,"

in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Many guesses have been made at the meaning of

To describe the state of those who are right within

"poor in spirit some choose the Old Testament

he uses a word that is crammed full of meaning

meaning of "a poor remnant looking for the

"Blessed." The word is makarios^ a word which

redemption of Israel," some taking it to be

Aristotle used for divine blessedness in contrast

'synonymous with "humility," and some, as

with human happiness. The ordinary word for

Tertullian, making it mean, "beggars in spirit."

human happiness was eudamonia, but he passed

None of these, it seems to me, sound its depth.

that by as weak. Since we are to partake of the

They are too tame. We would expect Jesus to

perfection that God has, so we are to partake of

sound a more thoroughgoing, radical note in the

the joy that is divine. The first note of Buddha's

very beginning. He does. The word Luke uses for

"poor" is ani one poor by stances, but the word

of hell in the last war a natural outcome of this

used here is anav one poor by choice. The word,

self-assertive attitude. Its genesis is selfishness,

then, that would come nearest to expressing its

its exodus is suicide.

meaning would be "renounced in spirit.

Jesus strikes a blow at the self-assertive attitude
in the very beginning. He says that this "self" must
There are just two great philosophies of life.

be renounced. In Mark 9. 43, he says, "It is better

Nietzsche summed up the one when he said:

to enter into life maimed," and in verse 47: "It is

"Assert yourself. Care for nothing except for

better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God

yourself. The only vice he said is weakness, and

with one eye." Here "life" and "the kingdom of

the only virtue is strength. Be strong, be a

God" are used synonymously.

superman. The world is yours if you can get it."

Here is the cult of self-expression. It is Darwinism
as a philosophy of life. The method of survival in
lower nature is turned into the method of survival
among men. In Nietzsche this cult of selfexpression is ruthless. In others it is refined; but
they all hold that the way to find life is to look
after yourself, whether by ruthless self-assertion

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. 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.

or by refined self-culture. Jesus stands as the utter

opposite of that, and says that the way to find life
is to lose it, that the way of self-realization is by
the way of self-renunciation.

This first beatitude could then read, "Deathless

and happy are the renounced in spirit for theirs is
life." They have found life found it by letting it go.

He says, "If any man would come after me, let him
deny himself [literally, "utterly reject himself] and
take up cross and follow me. No two ways could
be more opposed. Nietzsche died in a madhouse
and the world that followed him went to the brink

This is another way of putting that verse which, to

me, is the center of Christ's teaching: "He that
saveth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his
life shall find it."

himself, thus bringing in a kingdom of higher

It is very interesting to note that Walter Lippmann,

values.

in his Preface to Morals, after letting God go, with

somewhat of a pang, and turning wistfully to

Lippmann ends in a disillusionment toward the

humanism, gives what he calls "a high religion."

world; Hinduism ends in a losing of the world and

His high religion is this: "Learning not to demand

of personality in the impersonal Brahman;

anything of life that life does not contain; of

Buddhism ends in the extinction of the world and

limiting one's desires until they harmonize

of personality; Jesus ends in a kingdom of positive

with reality; of facing life in the spirit of

values the finding of one's life and the finding of a

disinterestedness." . . . "We yearn for comfort, for

new world, the kingdom of God on earth. With the

success, for eternal life. High religion is

exception of Jesus, who ends in a final fullness,

regeneration from these desires." It is very

each ends in a final emptiness.

remarkable that Hinduism, Buddhism, Lippmann,

and Jesus all converge on one thing, namely,

Jesus asks for the only possession we have

renunciation of desire. Lippmann says :"Limit

ourselves. Self-renunciation is far deeper than

desires" ; Hinduism says, "Give up desire for

world-renunciation, for one may give up the world

separate existence"; Buddhism says: "Cut the root

and not give up himself. I have seen many a

of desire even for life"; Jesus says, "Blessed are

sadhu who was poor in material things, but not

the renounced In spirit." Lippmann would limit

poor in spirit, for if you crossed him, he would

desires, so that in a world that is sure to

flash back in anger. No man is free until he is free

disappoint, you will not be disappointed, for yon

at the center* When he lets go there, he is free

have not asked too much; Hinduism would get rid

Indeed. When the self Is renounced, then one

of desire for separate personality by passing into

stands utterly disillusioned, apart, asking for

the desire less Brahman; Buddhism would rid men

nothing. He anticipates the sorrows, the

of sorrow by cutting the root of suffering, namely,

buffetings, the slights, the separations, the

desire for life itself, thereby attaining Nirvana,

disappointments of life by their acceptance in one

which is the state of "the snuffed-out candle."

great renunciation. It is life's supreme strategic

Jesus would get rid of desire at the level of the self

retreat. You can then say to life : "What can you

by replacing it with a higher desire of love to

do to me? I want nothing!" You can say to death:

Buddha saw that the end of life was death and

"What can you do to me? I have already died!"

that it stopped there; Jesus saw that the beginning

of life was death, and that it did not stop there but

Then is a man truly free. In the bath of

went on to an Easter morning.

renunciation he has washed my soul clean from a

thousand clamoring, conflicting desires. Asking for

I saw a very unhappy and angry bird beating

nothing, if anything comes to him, it is all sheer

himself for hours against a glass, fighting with the

gain. Then life becomes one constant surprise.

reflection of himself. Then he suddenly stopped,

listened, seemed to catch the call of the great out-

The Greek philosophy tried to make a man

of-doors, left off fighting with himself and flew

Invulnerable, but there was always an Achilles

away. After a while I heard him singing out in the

garden. Jesus comes to men who are fighting with

Happy is he who gains the

themselves and with one another, full of clash and

knowledge of the first cause of all

confusion, and in the words, "Deathless and happy

things; who can trample on every

fear, and the doctrine of
inexorable FATE; and who is not
terrified by death, nor by the
threatened torments of the

is the man who is renounced in spirit," gives to

them the call to the complete life. They listen, let
go of themselves, enter into larger life and then in
the garden of a restored paradise I hear them
singing.

invisible world!"

Adam Clark Commentary

heel exposed where life would wound. The gospel
begins at the cross, so that a man chooses to be
utterly vulnerable he wounds himself to death.
Then he is impervious to wounds. You cannot
defeat a man who has already accepted defeat;
you cannot break Brokenness; you cannot kill a
man who has chosen to die he is now deathless.

atthew 5:3. Blessed are the poor in

spirit, happy, from or
, not, and , fate, or

death: intimating, that such persons were endued

with immortality, and consequently were not liable
to the caprices of fate. Homer, Iliad i, 330, calls

the supreme gods, , the ever happy

pedibus; strepitumque Acherontis avari! Virg.

and IMMORTAL gods, and opposes them to

Geor. ii. v. 490.

, mortal men.
Which may be thus paraphrased:

"Happy is he who gains the knowledge of the first

cause of all things; who can trample on every fear,

and the doctrine of inexorable FATE; and who is

"Be ye witnesses before the immortal gods, and

not terrified by death, nor by the threatened

before mortal men." From this definition we may

torments of the invisible world!"

learn, that the person whom Christ terms happy is

one who is not under the influence of fate or

Poor in spirit:- One who is deeply sensible of his

chance, but is governed by an all-wise providence,

spiritual poverty and wretchedness. , a

having every step directed to the attainment of

poor man, comes from , to tremble, or

immortal glory, being transformed by the power

shrink with fear. Being destitute of the true riches,

into the likeness of the ever-blessed God. Though

he is tremblingly alive to the necessities of his

some of the persons, whose states are mentioned

soul, shrinking with fear lest he should perish

in

without the salvation of God. Such Christ

these verses, cannot be said to be as yet blessed

pronounces happy, because there is but a step

or happy, in being made partakers of the Divine

between them and that kingdom which is here

nature; yet they are termed happy by our Lord,

promised. Some

because they are on the straight way to this

contend, that should be referred to,

blessedness.

, and the verse translated thus: Happy, or

blessed in spirit, are the poor. But our Lord seems

Taken in this light the meaning is similar to that

to have the humiliation of the spirit particularly in

expressed by the poet when describing a happy

view.

man.
Kingdom of heaven.:- Or, , of the
FELIX, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas: Atque

heavens. A participation of all the blessings of the

metus omnes et inexorabile FATUM Subjecit

new covenant here, and the blessings of glory

above.

14:17; does not consist in the gratification of

sensual passions, or worldly ambition; but is

The kingdom of heaven is at hand] Referring to

righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost.

the prophecy of Daniel, Da 7:13,14, where the

Now what can there be more than this in glory?

reign of Christ among men is expressly foretold.

Righteousness, without mixture of sin; peace,

This phrase, and the kingdom of God, mean the

without strife or contention; joy, in the Holy Ghost,

same thing, viz. the dispensation of infinite mercy,

spiritual joy, without mixture of misery! And all

and manifestation of eternal truth, by Christ Jesus,

this, it is possible, by the grace of the Lord Jesus

producing the true knowledge of God,

Christ, to enjoy here below. How then does heaven

accompanied with that worship which is pure and

itself differ from this state?

holy, worthy of that God who is its institutor and

its object.

Answer. It makes the righteousness eternal, the

peace eternal, and the joy eternal. This is the

But why is this called a kingdom? Because it has

heaven of heavens! The phrase, kingdom of

its laws, all the moral precepts of the Gospel: its

heaven, malcuth shamayim, is frequently used by

subjects, all who believe in Christ Jesus: and its

the rabbinical writers, and always means, the

king, the Sovereign of heaven and earth.

purity of the Divine worship, and the blessedness

which a righteous man feels when employed in it.

N. B. Jesus Christ never saved a soul which he did

not govern; nor is this Christ precious or estimable

Blessed are the poor! this is God's word; but who

to any man who does not feel a spirit of subjection

believes it? Do we not say, Yea, rather, Blessed is

to the Divine will.

the rich?

But why is it called the kingdom of HEAVEN?

The Jewish rabbis have many good sayings

Because God designed that his kingdom of grace

relative to that poverty and humility of spirit which

here should resemble the kingdom of glory above.

Christ recommends in this verse. In the treatise

And hence our Lord teaches us to pray, Thy will be

called Bammidbar Rabbi, s. 20, we have these

done on earth, as it is in heaven. The kingdom of

words: There were three (evils) in Balaam: the evil

heaven is not meat and drink, says St. Paul, Ro

eye, (envy,) the towering spirit, (pride,) and the

extensive mind(avarice.)

Ps 68:10,69:29-33,132:15,Isa 61:1,66:2), it is
plainly a frame of mind which those terms are

Tanchum, fol. 84. The law does not abide with

meant to express. Accordingly, our translators

those who have the extensive mind, (avarice,) but

sometimes render such words "the humble" (Ps

with him only who has a contrite heart.

10:12,17), "the meek" (Ps 22:26), "the lowly" (Pr

Rabbi Chanina said, "Why are the words of the law

3:34), as having no reference to outward

compared to water? Because as waters flow from

circumstances. But here the explanatory words,

heights, and settle in low places, so the words of

"in spirit," fix the sense to "those who in their

the law rest only with him who is of an humble

deepest consciousness realize their entire need"

heart."

(compare the Greek of Lu 10:21,Joh

11:33,13:21,Ac 20:22,Ro 12:11,1Co 5:3,Php 3:3).

James Fausset Brown commentary

athew 5: 3. Blessed are the poor in

spiritAll 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" (Jam 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 classthe 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

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).
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven(See on Mt
3:2). The poor in spirit not only shall havethey
already havethe 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 themthe 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.

Walter Lippmann, in his Preface to Morals, after letting

God go, with somewhat of a pang, and turning
wistfully to humanism, gives what he calls "a high
religion." His high religion is this: "Learning not to
demand anything of life that life does not contain; of
limiting one's desires until they harmonize
with reality; of facing life in the spirit of
disinterestedness." . . . "We yearn for comfort, for success,
for eternal life. High religion is regeneration from
these desires." It is very remarkable that Hinduism,
Buddhism, Lippmann, and Jesus all converge on one
thing, namely, renunciation of desire.