Poor in Spirit

Bridges breaks down the first beatitude, found in Matthew 5:3, in this chapter. He starts by describing what Christ meant by poor in spirit. The Greek word Jesus used for poor was ptochos which was used to describe abject poverty.  

Abject poverty, is not simply struggling to get by, or in the example Bridges gives, surviving on pinto beans and corn bread, as he and his family did during the Great Depression. Abject poverty describes being “completely destitute and helpless to do anything about it.”  

Spirit refers to “one's inner being” and in this context means “how we evaluate ourselves with regard to our own sinful condition.” Putting this together then shows that to be “poor in spirit” means understanding you are completely destitute and helpless in your sinful condition.  

Bridges then points to two examples, the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14, who beat his breast in sorrow over his recognized helplessness towards sin, and Isaiah who states in Isaiah 6 who also recognized his helplessness towards sin. One man was a tax collector, so, Bridges states, we may just overlook this example of being poor in spirit since tax collectors were despised men. But Isaiah was a prophet and obedient servant of God who also recognized his helplessness.  

Bridges points out that Jesus did not preach this only to the unsaved, but to believers. Christ said, “...we should be poor in spirit. It should be the ongoing daily battle of one who is growing spiritually.” Bridges then pivotally points out that when believers grow, they see more sin in their lives. It is not because they are necessarily sinning more, but because they are recognizing more sins in their lives. Sins such as selfishness, jealousy, lack of love, etc. He gives the example of Paul who stated that he is the “foremost sinner” (1 Timothy 1:15). He did not say he used to be the foremost sinner but that he was, at that present time, the foremost sinner. 

The believer who is poor in spirit recognizes that even their good deeds have sinful, impure motives. They don’t come close to obeying the greatest commandment, to love the Lord their God with all their heart soul and mind and to love their neighbors as themselves (Matthew 22:37-39). However, a believer who is poor in spirit does not wallow in his sin, but looks up. He recognized his helplessness, but also recognizes and rejoices in the hope he has in God and His righteousness. 

He also must pursue holiness since he is commanded to be holy, but he does not trust in his own abilities to become holy. He knows he is helpless. And if he does what is right he realizes that he is simply doing what he is supposed to (Luke 17:10). He does not look down at others but identifies himself as the worst of sinners, and he recognized the fact that anything good in themselves or that they have done is wholly due to the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10). 

Bridges then continues to other attributes displayed by those who are poor in spirit. They recognize that they are fully reliant on God for everything, even breathing. The talents they have are not because of anything they have done, but because God gifted them with those talents (1 Corinthians 4:7). They recognize that when adverse circumstances occur that appear unfair, they are sinners and God has His reasons for bringing them into their life. Those reasons may be that God is using those circumstances to reveal different sins. 

The believer who is poor in spirit is filled with awe that God would look at and love a sinful creature like us. Because of this they delight to worship and praise God for His goodness, holiness, and majesty, understanding that we owe everything to Him. 

After giving these examples, Bridges states that it may appear he is exaggerating our lowly condition. But he reminds the reader that it was Jesus who used the word ptochos to describe our lowly condition. Society preaches self-esteem, which Bridges fears, affects us all and makes us view ourselves better than we are. Instead of looking at what society teaches we ought to look at what the Bible teaches.  

Bridges then ends the chapter by writing that we may recognize that we are not poor in spirit, but he hopes that we will begin to pursue to become poor in spirit. It is where he believes true humility begins to grow. It is in recognizing our sinfulness that we begin to see how far short we fall from what God expects from us and that is where humility can begin to grow.