Sermon on the Mount

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The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch. Christians believe that Jesus is the mediator
of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6). His famous Sermon on the Mount, the mount representing
Mount Zion, is considered by some Christian scholars to be the antitype[1] of the proclamation of
the Old Covenant by Moses from the Biblical Mount Sinai.
In the Gospel of St. Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount is a compilation of Jesus' sayings,
epitomizing his moral teaching.[2] According to chapters 5-7, Jesus of Nazareth gave this sermon
(estimated around AD 30) on a mountainside to his disciples and a large crowd. Matthew groups
Jesus' teachings into five discourses, of which the Sermon on the Mount is the first.[3] The others
concern instructions for the disciples, parables of the Kingdom, instructions for the Church, and
a harsh denunciation of scribes and pharisees.[3]
The best-known written portions of the open-air sermon comprise the Beatitudes, found at the
beginning of the section. The Sermon also contains the Lord's Prayer and the injunctions to
"resist not evil" (5:39) and "turn the other cheek", as well as Jesus' version of the Golden Rule.
Other lines often quoted are the references to "salt of the Earth," "light of the world," and "judge
not, lest ye be judged."
Many Christians believe that the Sermon on the Mount is a form of commentary on the Ten
Commandments. It portrays Christ as the true interpreter of the Mosaic Law.[2] To many, the
Sermon on the Mount contains the central tenets of Christian discipleship, and is considered as
such by many religious and moral thinkers, such as Tolstoy, Gandhi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and
Martin Luther King, Jr. It has been one of the main sources of Christian pacifism.[2]
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Origin
• 2 Location
• 3 Comparisons with the Sermon on the Plain
• 4 The sermon's audience
• 5 Structure
○ 5.1 Introductory narrative (Matthew 5:1-2)
○ 5.2 Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12)
○ 5.3 Metaphors of Salt and Light (Matthew 5:13-16)
○ 5.4 Expounding of the Law (Matthew 5:17-48)
○ 5.5 Discourse on ostentation (Matthew 6)
 5.5.1 Lord's Prayer
○ 5.6 Discourse on judgementalism (Matthew 7:1-6)
○ 5.7 Discourse on holiness (Matthew 7:7-29)
• 6 Interpretation
• 7 See also
• 8 Notes
• 9 References
• 10 External links

[edit] Origin
Those accepting the ancient Church tradition of Matthean authorship take the Sermon on the
Mount as what it purports to be (Matthew 5:2), namely the words of Jesus. For those, however,
who consider one or other of the modern source hypotheses of the Gospels more credible (cf.
Synoptic Problem), the source of the Sermon on the Mount is uncertain. It contains only a
handful of parallels with Mark, but does have a number of loose parallels with Luke's Sermon on
the Plain. The parallels indicate to those who hold the Two source hypothesis that much of this
text likely came from the hypothetical Q. Furthermore, some of the sayings can be found in the
apocryphal Gospel of Thomas. However, McArthur argues that the parallels in Luke tend to be
very loose, and that there are a considerable number of verses having no parallel, thus theorising
that there was an extra step between the sources used by Matthew and Luke.[citation needed]
[edit] Location
There are no actual mountains in this part of Galilee, but there are several large hills in the region
to the west of the Sea of Galilee, and so a number of scholars do not feel "the mountain" is the
most accurate understanding of the phrase. Gundry feels it could mean "mountainous region,"
while France feels it should be read as "went up into the hills". Less clinical academic analysis
amongst some modern Christians has suggested the location as a hill on the north end of the Sea
of Galilee, near Capernaum.

The Church of the Beatitudes on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee.
One possible location of the sermon is on a hill that rises near Capernaum. Known in ancient
times as Mt. Eremos and Karn Hattin, this hill is now the site of a twentieth century Roman
Catholic chapel called the Church of the Beatitudes.
The reference to going up a mountain prior to preaching is considered by many to be deliberate
reference to Moses on Mount Sinai, and though Hill disagrees, arguing that the links would have
been made far clearer, Lapide feels that the clumsy phrasing implies that this verse is an exact
transliteration from the Hebrew passage describing Moses. Augustine of Hippo in his
commentary on the Sermon on the Mount supported the Moses parallel, arguing that this
symbolism showed Jesus is supplementing the precepts of Moses, although in his later writings,
such as the Reply to Faustus, he carefully backs away from this view.
[edit] Comparisons with the Sermon on the Plain
While Matthew groups Jesus' teachings into sets of similar material, the same material is
scattered when found in Luke.[2] The Sermon on the Mount may be compared with the similar
but more succinct Sermon on the Plain as recounted by the Gospel of Luke (6:17–49), which
occurs at the same moment in Luke's narrative, and also features Jesus heading up a mountain.
Some scholars believe that they are the same sermon, others that Jesus frequently preached
similar themes in different places.[citation needed] However, a number of scholars believe that at least
one sermon never took place but was a conflation created by the author to frame the primary
teachings of Jesus recorded in the Q document.[4]
[edit] The sermon's audience
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be
challenged and removed. (June 2008)

That Matthew has Jesus sit down might indicate this is not meant to be a public address, and
Jewish leaders in schools and synagogues would always sit when delivering a lesson. Matthew
also appears to indicate that the disciples were intended to be the principle recipients of the
address, and so the traditional view, as depicted in art, is that the disciples sat near Jesus, with the
crowd beyond but still able to hear, while Lapide feels that Jesus' sermon is directed at three
circles of listeners, his disciples, the crowd, and the world in general. John Chrysostom was of
the opinion that the sermon itself was delivered to the disciples, but that it was intended for wider
distribution, which is why it was written down.
[edit] Structure
Major events in Jesus' life from the Gospels
• Nativity of Jesus
• Baptism
• Temptation
• Ministry
• Commissioning Apostles and Disciples
• Sermon on the Mount
• Miracles
• Rejection
• Transfiguration
• Giving the Evangelical councils
• Entering Jerusalem
• Cursing the Fig Tree
• The Temple Incident
• Giving the Great Commandment
• Second Coming Prophecy
• Promising a Paraclete
• Anointing
• Last Supper
• The Passion:
○ Arrest
○ Sanhedrin Trial
○ Before Pilate
○ Flagellation
○ Crown of Thorns
○ Via Dolorosa
○ Crucifixion
• Entombment
• Empty tomb
• Resurrection appearances
○ Giving the Great Commission
 • Ascension

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The sermon comprises the following components:

[edit] Introductory narrative (Matthew 5:1-2)
A large crowd assembles due to Jesus healing the sick, so he climbs a mountain and speaks.
[edit] Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12)
Main article: Beatitudes
They describe the character of the people of the kingdom. These are Christ's promises of coming
blessings.[5] In Matthew, there are eight (or nine) blessings, while in Luke there are four, followed
by four woes.[6] In Matthew, more than in Luke, the Beatitudes refer to moral or spiritual
qualities of Christian discipleship.[7]
[edit] Metaphors of Salt and Light (Matthew 5:13-16)
Main article: Salt and Light
This concludes the picture of God's people drawn in the beatitudes, as well as an introduction to
the following section.
[edit] Expounding of the Law (Matthew 5:17-48)
Main article: Expounding of the Law
Jesus fulfills and reinterprets Mosaic Law and in particular the Ten Commandments, contrasting
with what "you have heard" from others, also known as the Antitheses.
[edit] Discourse on ostentation (Matthew 6)
Main article: Discourse on ostentation
Jesus condemns the "good works" of fasting, alms, and prayer, when they are only done for
show, and not from the heart. The discourse goes on to condemn the superficiality of materialism
and call the disciples not to worry about material needs, but to "seek" God's kingdom first.
[edit] Lord's Prayer
Main article: Lord's Prayer
Within the discourse on ostentation, Matthew presents as an example of correct prayer. Luke
places in a different context.
[edit] Discourse on judgementalism (Matthew 7:1-6)
Main article: Discourse on judgementalism
Jesus condemns those who judge others before first judging themselves.
[edit] Discourse on holiness (Matthew 7:7-29)
Main article: Discourse on holiness
Jesus concludes the sermon by warning against false prophets, and emphasizing that humans are
unable to do right ("bear fruit") apart from God. The Foundation must be on the Rock.
[edit] Interpretation
 See also: Biblical law in Christianity
One of the most important debates over the sermon is how directly it should be applied to
everyday life. Almost all Christian groups have developed nonliteral ways to interpret and apply
the sermon. McArthur lists twelve basic schools of thought on these issues:
1. The Absolutist View rejects all compromise and believes that, if obeying the scripture
costs the welfare of the believer, then that is a reasonable sacrifice for salvation. All the
precepts in the Sermon must be taken literally and applied universally. Proponents of this
view include St. Francis of Assisi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and in later life Leo Tolstoy. The
Oriental Orthodox Churches fully adopt this position; among heterodox groups, the early
Anabaptists came close, and modern Anabaptist groups such as the Mennonites and
Hutterites come closest.
2. One method that is common, but not endorsed by any denomination, is to simply Modify
the Text of the sermon. In ancient times this took the form of actually altering the text of
the Sermon to make it more palatable. Thus some early copyists changed Matthew 5:22
from "whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment" to the
watered-down "whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of
the judgment." "Love your enemies" was changed to "Pray for your enemies" in pOxy
1224 6:1a; Did. 1:3; Pol. Phil. 12:3. John 13:34-35 tells the disciples to "Love one
another". The exception for divorce in the case of porneia may be a Matthean addition; it
is not present in Luke 16:18, Mark 10:11, or 1 Cor 7:10–11; and in 1 Cor 7:12–16, Paul
gives his own exceptions to Jesus' teaching. Additions were made to the Lord's Prayer to
support other doctrines, and other prayers were developed as substitute. More common in
recent centuries is to paraphrase the Sermon and in so doing make it far less radical. A
search through the writings of almost every major Christian writer finds them at some
point to have made this modification.[citation needed][8]
3. One of the most common views is the Hyperbole View, which argues that portions of
what Jesus states in the Sermon are hyperbole, and that if one is to apply the teaching to
the real world, they need to be "toned down." Most interpreters agree that there is some
hyperbole in the sermon, with Matt 5:29 being the most prominent example, but there is
disagreement over exactly which sections should not be taken literally.
4. Closely related is the General Principles View that argues that Jesus was not giving
specific instructions, but general principles of how one should behave. The specific
instances cited in the Sermon are simply examples of these general principles.
5. The Double Standard View is the official position of the Roman Catholic Church. It
divides the teachings of the Sermon into general precepts and specific counsels.
Obedience to the general precepts is essential for salvation, but obedience to the counsels
is only necessary for perfection. The great mass of the population need only concern
themselves with the precepts; the counsels must be followed by only a pious few such as
the clergy and monks. This theory was initiated by St. Augustine and later fully
developed by St. Thomas Aquinas, though an early version of it is cited in Did. 6:2, "For
if you are able to bear the entire yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you are not
able to do this, do what you are able" (Roberts-Donaldson), and reflected in the Apostolic
Decree of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:19-21). Geoffrey Chaucer also did much to
popularize this view among speakers of English with his Canterbury Tales (Wife of Bath's
Prologue, v. 117-118)
 6. Martin Luther rejected the Roman Catholic approach and developed a different two-level
system McArthur refers to as the Two Realms View. Luther divided the world into the
religious and secular realms and argued that the Sermon only applied to the spiritual. In
the temporal world, obligations to family, employers, and country force believers to
compromise. Thus a judge should follow his secular obligations to sentence a criminal,
but inwardly, he should mourn for the fate of the criminal.
7. At the same time as the Protestant Reformation was underway, a new era of Biblical
criticism began leading to the Analogy of Scripture View. Close reading of the Bible
found that several of the most rigid precepts in the sermon were moderated by other parts
of the New Testament. For instance, while Jesus seems to forbid all oaths, Paul is shown
using them at least twice; thus the prohibition in the Sermon may seem to have some
exceptions; though in fairness to Paul, it should be pointed out that he was not present at
the Sermon on the Mount and may not have been aware of all of its teachings. See also
Pauline Christianity.
8. In the nineteenth century, several more interpretations developed. Wilhelm Herrmann
embraced the notion of Attitudes not Acts, which can be traced back to St. Augustine.
This view states that Jesus in the Sermon is not saying how a good Christian should
behave, only what his attitude is. The spirit lying behind the act is more important than
the act itself.
9. Albert Schweitzer popularized the Interim Ethic View. This view sees Jesus as being
convinced that the world was going to end in the very near future. As such, survival in the
world did not matter as in the end times material well-being would be irrelevant.
10. In the twentieth century another major German thinker, Martin Dibelius, presented
another view also based on eschatology. His Unconditional Divine Will View is that the
ethics behind the Sermon are absolute and unbending, but the current fallen state of the
world makes it impossible to live up to them. Humans are bound to attempt to live up to
them, but failure is inevitable. This will change when the Kingdom of Heaven is
proclaimed and all will be able to live in a Godly manner. A similar view is also described
in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, written in the late nineteenth century.
11. Closely linked to this is the Repentance View, which is that Jesus intended for the
precepts in his Sermon to be unattainable, and through our certain failure to live up to
them, we will learn to repent or that we will be driven to faith in the Gospel.
12. Another Eschatological View is that of modern dispensationalism. Dispensationalism,
first developed by the Plymouth Brethren, divides human history into a series of ages or
dispensations. Today we live in the period of grace where living up to the teachings of the
sermon is impossible, but in the future, the Millennium will see a period where it is
possible to live up to the teachings of the Sermon, and where following them will be a
prerequisite to salvation.
E. Earle Ellis (Professor of Theology at SWBTS) says that this sermon is an Eschatological
Invitation in which Jesus is inviting believers to live according to an ethic that will be standard in
the future kingdom of God[citation needed]. As Ellis says, we are to speak Jesus' words, think his
thoughts, and do his deeds. Since this will be the ethic of the future kingdom of God, believers
should go ahead and adjust their lives to this ethic in this age.
[edit] See also
 • Sermon on the Plain found in the Gospel of Luke
• Beatitudes
• The Kingdom of God is Within You
• Great Commission
• The Farewell Sermon
• Didache
• Hyperdispensationalism
• New Covenant

[edit] Notes
1. ^ See also Antithesis of the Law.
2. ^ a b c d "Sermon on the Mount." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
3. ^ a b Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.
4. ^ Ehrman 2004, p. 101
5. ^ "Beatitudes." Cross, F. L., ed. The ||| (417) 830-6780 ||| Oxford dictionary of the Christian
church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
6. ^ "Beatitudes." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York:
Oxford University Press. 2005
7. ^ "Beatitudes." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York:
Oxford University Press. 2005
8. ^ This claim is presumably from the book by McArthur cited for this entire section, however, a
page reference would be nice here, as would examples of this claim.

[edit] References
• Betz, Hans Dieter. Essays on the Sermon on the Mount. translations by Laurence
Welborn. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.
• Kissinger, Warren S. The Sermon on the Mount: A History of Interpretation and
Bibliography. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1975.
• Kodjak, Andrej. A Structural Analysis of the Sermon on the Mount. New York: M. de
Gruyter, 1986.
• Lapide, Pinchas. The Sermon on the Mount, Utopia or Program for Action? translated
from the German by Arlene Swidler. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1986.
• McArthur, Harvey King. Understanding the Sermon on the Mount. Westport: Greenwood
Press, 1978.
• Prabhavananda, Swami Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta 1991 ISBN 0-87481-
050-7
• Knight, Christopher The Hiram Key Century Books, Random House, 1996

[edit] External links

 Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sermon on the Mount

• Text of the sermon (NRSV)

• Text of the sermon (NAB)
• Text of the sermon (KJV)
• Text of the sermon (NIV)
• Augustine: On the Sermon on the Mount
• Catholic Catechism on The Moral Law
• Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing

Sermon on the Mount

Life of Jesus: Sermon on the Mount or on the Plain

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Preceded by New Testament Widow’s Son at Nain
Commissioning the Twelve Events Raised
Miracles of Jesus
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