“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
3. Happy are the poor in spirit. Luke 6:20. Happy (are ye) poor. Luke gives nothing more than a simple metaphor: but as the poverty of many is accursed and unhappy, Matthew expresses more clearly the intention of Christ. Many are pressed down by distresses, and yet continue to swell inwardly with pride and cruelty.
Christ crowns His sermon with blessings because He came to bless us, and His pronouncement makes us truly blessed. The world is wrong about happiness: it calls the rich and powerful blessed, but He calls the poor in spirit blessed instead, overturning every carnal notion of what makes a man happy.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 5:3-12
Blessed are the poor in spirit,.... Not the poor in purse, or who are so with respect to things temporal: for though God has chosen and called many, who are in such a condition of life, yet not all; the kingdom of heaven cannot be said to belong to them all, or only; but such as are poor in a spiritual sense.