Happy are the Nobodies

Jesus used an order for The Beatitudes. This first one constitutes the foundation from which all the other Beatitudes derive. Being poor in spirit is a fundamental characteristic of the Christian and in that sense, all the other characteristics are the result of this primary quality. If you are not poor in spirit, then neither will you mourn for sin. Neither will you hunger and thirst for righteousness. Neither will you be part of the kingdom of God.

Right at the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus contradicted all human judgments and all nationalistic expectations of the kingdom of God.  The kingdom is given to the “poor in spirit”—those who acknowledge spiritual bankruptcy before God.

My study of the First Beatitude uses Jennifer Kennedy Dean’s Set Apart, John MacArthur’s The Beatitudes: The Only Way to Happiness, and John Stott’s The Beatitudes: Developing Spiritual Character.

Click here to continue with more on the First Beatitude.