Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
All Commentaries on Matthew 5:3 Go To Matthew 5
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Whence then does He begin? And what kind of foundations of His new polity does He lay for us?
Let us hearken with strict attention unto what is said. For though it was spoken unto them, it was written for the sake also of all men afterwards. And accordingly on this account, though He had His disciples in His mind in His public preaching, yet unto them He limits not His sayings, but applies all His words of blessing without restriction. Thus He said not, Blessed are you, if you become poor, but Blessed are the poor. And I may add that even if He had spoken of them, the advice would still be common to all. For so, when He says, Lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, Matthew 28:20 He is discoursing not with them only, but also, through them, with all the world. And in pronouncing them blessed, who are persecuted, and chased, and suffer all intolerable things; not for them only, but also for all who arrive at the same excellency, He weaves His crown.
However, that this may be yet plainer, and to inform you that you have great interest in His sayings, and so indeed has all mankind, if any choose to give heed; hear how He begins these wondrous words.
Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 5:3
What is meant by the poor in spirit? The humble and contrite in mind. For by spirit He has 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.
But why said he not, the humble, but rather the poor? Because this is more than that. For He means here them who are awestruck, and tremble at the commandments of God. Whom also by His prophet Isaiah God earnestly accepting said, To whom will I look, but to him who is meek and quiet, and trembles at My words? For indeed there are many kinds of humility: one is humble in his own measure, another with all excess of lowliness. It is this last lowliness of mind which that blessed prophet commends, picturing to us the temper that is not merely subdued, but utterly broken, when he says, The sacrifice for God is a contrite spirit, a contrite and an humble heart God will not despise. And the Three Children also offer this unto God as a great sacrifice, saying, Nevertheless, in a contrite soul, and in a spirit of lowliness, may we be accepted. This Christ also now blesses.
3. For whereas the greatest of evils, and those which make havoc of the whole world, had their entering in from pride:— for both the devil, not being such before, did thus become a devil; as indeed Paul plainly declared, saying, Lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil: 1 Timothy 3:6 — and the first man, too, puffed up by the devil with these hopes, was made an example of, and became mortal (for expecting to become a god, he lost even what he had; and God also upbraiding him with this, and mocking his folly, said, Behold, Adam has become as one of us Genesis 3:22; and each one of those that came after did hereby wreck himself in impiety, fancying some equality with God:— since, I say, this was the stronghold of our evils, and the root and fountain of all wickedness, He, preparing a remedy suitable to the disease, laid this law first as a strong and safe foundation. For this being fixed as a base, the builder in security lays on it all the rest. But if this be taken away, though a man reach to the Heavens in his course of life, it is all easily undermined, and issues in a grievous end. Though fasting, prayer, almsgiving, temperance, any other good thing whatever, be gathered together in you; without humility all fall away and perish.
It was this very thing that took place in the instance of the Pharisee. For even after he had arrived at the very summit, he went down Luke 18:14 with the loss of all, because he had not the mother of virtues: for as pride is the fountain of all wickedness, so is humility the principle of all self-command. Wherefore also He begins with this, pulling up boasting by the very root out of the soul of His hearers.
And what, one may ask, is this to His disciples, who were on every account humble? For in truth they had nothing to be proud of, being fishermen, poor, ignoble, and illiterate. Even though these things concerned not His disciples, yet surely they concerned such as were then present, and such as were hereafter to receive the disciples, lest they should on this account despise them. But it were truer to say that they did also concern His disciples. For even if not then, yet by and by they were sure to require this help, after their signs and wonders, and their honor from the world, and their confidence towards God. For neither wealth, nor power, nor royalty itself, had so much power to exalt men, as the things which they possessed in all fullness. And besides, it was natural that even before the signs they might be lifted up, at that very time when they saw the multitude, and all that audience surrounding their Master; they might feel some human weakness. Wherefore He at once represses their pride.
And He does not introduce what He says by way of advice or of commandments, but by way of blessing, so making His word less burthensome, and opening to all the course of His discipline. For He said not, This or that person, but they who do so, are all of them blessed. So that though you be a slave, a beggar, in poverty, a stranger, unlearned, there is nothing to hinder you from being blessed, if you emulate this virtue.
