Texts in Conversation
Jesus blesses the poor in spirit in Matthew and simply the poor in Luke. In the Gospel of Thomas he blesses the poor with no mention of spirit and addresses them directly, as Luke does, but speaks of the kingdom of heaven, as in Matthew.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 5:3
New Testament
1 When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. After he sat down his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to teach them by saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Luke 6:20
New Testament
19 The whole crowd was trying to touch him because power was coming out from him and healing them all. 20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God belongs to you. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Gospel of Thomas 1:54
Nag Hammadi
53 His disciples said to him, “Is circumcision beneficial or not?” He said to them, “If it were beneficial, their father would beget them already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become entirely profitable.” 54 Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.” 55 Jesus said, “Whoever does not hate his father and mother cannot be my disciple; and whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross as I do will not be worthy of me.”
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Notes and References
“... Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Lit. “blessed (are) the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Luke’s Greek has the same first three words as Matt 5:3, makarioi hoi ptochoi, but the Matthean form continues, “in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Yet another form of this beatitude is found in Gos. Thom. § 54: “Blessed (makarios) are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.” This form is clearly dependent on the two canonical forms, being closer to Luke save for “heaven” instead of “God.” The Matthean form with the third person and “heaven” instead of “God” is undoubtedly the more original (see COMMENT): “Blessed are the poor, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” By adding “in spirit,” Matthew has adapted the original beatitude to the [...] among the early Jewish Christians; see COMMENT on 1:39-56 (p. 361 above). Some mss. of Luke [...] have added “in spirit” to the text; but that is clearly a copyist’s harmonization of the text with Matthew. ...”
Fitzmyer, Joseph A.
The Gospel According to Luke: Introduction, Translation, and Notes
(p. 632) Doubleday, 1981
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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