Who are the poor?

As was suggested, there are many different interpretations of who Christians should consider as "the poor." What standard should we use in determining who Scripture is referring to when the words poor and needy appear?


There are several different definitions of poverty offered by governments and other organizations. There are also lots of less formal definitions of poverty. In looking for reliabe sources that offered well researched and thought-out definitions, I came across in the Urban Dictionary that claimed that being poor meant living without cable and videogames. (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=poor). Although amusing, this definition points out the heart of the difficulty in defining what it means to be poor. As standards of living rise in some places around the world, the definition of poverty tends to expand. Should we as Christians assume that Scriptural intended to use these expanded definitions? Or should we automatically exclude these expanded definitions from our discussons?


To answer that question, I believe we should first examine what is meant by the words used to identify the poor and needy in Scripture. One word that seems to be used repeatedly throughout the Old Testament. (II Sam. 12:1-4, Prov. 10:4, 13:7-8, 13:23, 14:20, 17:5, 18:23, 19:1, 19:7, 19:22, 22:2, 22:7, 28:3, 28:27, 29:13; Eccl. 4:14, 5:8). That word is defined by Strong's Exhaustive Concordance as meaning to be destitute, and according to biblical lexicons it means "to be in want or in hunger." (Brown, Driver, Briggs, Genesius Lexicon, http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/OldTestamentHebrew/heb.cgi?search=7326&version=kjv&type=eng&submit=Find).


According to Strong's Concordance, the word used most often in the New Testament to describe the poor indicates beggars or paupers. (Mt. 5:3, 11:5, 19:21, 26:9-11; Mk. 10:21, 12:42-43, 14:5-7; Lk. 4:18, 6:20, 7:22, 14:13, 18:22, 19:8, 21:3; Jn. 12:5-8, 13:29; Rom. 15:26; II Cor. 6:10; Gal. 2:10; Jas. 2:2-6; Rev. 3:17, 13:17). When looking at the explanation for this word given in biblical lexicons, it has several colorful interpretations ranging from being "reduced to beggary," "destitute of wealth," "helpless and powerless to accomplish an end," to "destitute of wealth of learning and intellectual culture." (Brown, Driver, Briggs, Genesius Lexicon, http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/NewTestamentGreek/grk.cgi?search=4434&version=kjv&type=eng&submit=Find). These two words appear to be the Greek and Hewbrew words most commonly used to denote the poor. However, several other words are used that would bear examination as well.


The use of these two particular words in Scripture, at a minimum, indicates that the poor that we are to be concerned with incompasses the group that we typically think of as poor - those who can't afford food, clothing, or shelter, the destitute. The Greek word used in the New Testament includes the destitute, but may also imply a broader group of people. Even if we canot agree on how far the definition of the poor should be expanded, we surely will not err if we start with those who are destitute. Since Scripture indicates that poverty will never be eradicated (note Jesus' reference in the Gospels to us always having the poor, see Mt. 26:11, Mk. 14:7, Jn. 12:8), we will likely never run out of destitute people to help.