Earlier this year, I presented on the core Christian message, and today, I’m continuing my series blogging this presentation. In my first post, I looked at the structure of the Bible and the historical Jesus. In my second post, I briefly summarized the core Christian worldview and the gospel. Today, I look at how the core Christian message, the gospel, is explained in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and, in later posts, I’ll continue on to the book of Romans.

The Sermon on the Mount

The Beatitudes on tablets of stone

The gospel of Matthew, chapters 5-7, gives an account of Jesus’ teaching to large crowds from a mountainside, in what’s known as the Sermon on the Mount. This account was recorded by Matthew, one of Jesus’ closest companions and one of the 12 apostles. Matthew was a former Roman tax collector and so would have been detested by the Jewish community at the time (see “The Chosen” series for more on this)– tax collectors were essentially tools of the oppressive Romans who made their living by squeezing as much money out of the populace as possible.

The book of Matthew is one of three “synoptic gospels”, or accounts summarizing the life and work of Jesus. Despite his background, Matthew wrote to a mostly Jewish audience, hoping to help his audience recognize that Jesus was the promised savior (also known as the Christ or the Messiah). To do this, he quotes extensively from the Old Testament to show how Jesus fulfills the promises concerning the coming Messiah.

The gospel of Matthew was recognized by the church as part of Scripture – God’s words to his people – from shortly after it was written relatively soon after the life of Christ.

The Sermon on the Mount marked a key event in Jesus’ ministry. It begins, “When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them…” This tells us quite a bit about his audience. Here, he was speaking to people who were already following him and interested in his teaching – people here called “his disciples”. Jesus wanted to help the large crowds following him to understand what it means to be his disciple.

The Sermon on the Mount explains the Christian life

The Sermon on the Mount (SoM) is extremely famous and is frequently misunderstood. The moral principles here seem to appeal to most people and are frequently cited as evidence of how Christian morality is similar to that of many other religions. As to myself, I was familiar with many of the moral teachings in this sermon long before I understood the Christian gospel message. The Beatitudes (a series of statements beginning with “Blessed are…”) in Matthew 5:3-12 are particularly famous.

Many think the Beatitudes, and the SoM in general, summarize the core of Christianity. However, it’s critical we remember the audience. Jesus, here, was speaking to his disciples, so people who already followed him and believed his teachings. So his intent was not to summarize the core of Christianity. Additionally, it’s crucial we understand the moral teachings here in view of the whole of the SoM. So, let’s look at a few key passages to help us understand the main point of his teaching on this occasion.

Your righteousness must be greater

Matthew 5:20 tells us, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Here, “enter the kingdom of heaven” is synonymous with “be saved”. As we saw previously, Christianity is concerned with how we can be saved from our sins, restored into right relationship with God, and given hope for our future. Here, Jesus is telling them that they must be righteous to be saved.

How righteous must they be? The Pharisees were Jewish leaders who prided themselves in rule-keeping. In addition to trying to adhere to the Old Testament laws, they added many other rules in order to ensure that they maintained external “righteousness”. From a rule-keeping point of view, they were the best of the best. But here, Jesus tells his disciples that to be saved, they must be more righteous than the Pharisees. In particular, as we will see, Jesus is concerned not just about outward righteousness, but inward, or “heart”, desires. He wants not just external righteousness or goodness, but righteousness even in desire and thoughts.

Desires condemn us, not just actions

In Matthew 5:21-23, Jesus says:

You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder,’… But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty… and whoever says ‘You fool’ shall be guilty enough to go into fiery hell.”

Here, he refers to the Ten Commandments, and in particular the commandment not to murder. Jesus clarifies the true meaning of the commandment, explaining that it is not just a command to avoid the outward action of murder, but a command to avoid even a murderous heart – one which will slander, insult, or desire to kill someone else. He explains that it’s not just the outward act of murder which is wrong, but even the motive. We may not have committed murder, but are we angry? Do we slander or insult? If so, we are guilty – “guilty enough to go into fiery hell.” I’m guilty. Are you?

It’s worth noting that this is not a new idea; to some extent, this focus on desires is present even in the Ten Commandments themselves. It would be easy to read the first nine as focusing only on actions, but the 10th is “You shall not covet…” and raises the question, “What do I desire? Is it right for me to desire that?” While wrong actions break God’s commandments, wrong desires do so as well.

We may not commit adultery, but what about our desires?

Matthew 5:27-28 raises a similar issue, with a similar sentence structure, again using the phrasing “You have heard that it was said… but I say…”, wherein Jesus clarifies the true meaning of the law his Jewish audience knew:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.””

Adultery, here, covers any kind of sex outside the marriage relationship for which it was designed. Like murder, adultery is forbidden by the Ten Commandments, and was punishable by death. Again, here, it is not just the act which Jesus says is wrong, but the desire. Lustful thoughts, and a desire for sex outside of marriage – or sex with someone other than one’s spouse – those are wrong, too, he says. And I’m certainly guilty; probably we all are.

Do we want revenge? Do we love our enemies?

Matthew 5:38-47 tells us not only not to be vindictive, but to love. I won’t quote the whole passage here, but it covers several key aspects:

  • 5:39, “…whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also…”: Here, a slap on the right cheek would be a backhanded slap, assuming your opponent is right-handed, which would be a terrible insult. So it’s not only a slap, but an insulting slap – and you’re supposed to turn and offer to let them hit you again.
  • 5:40, “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.” When someone takes something they don’t deserve from us, our natural response is to be vindictive; instead, here, we’re to respond by giving even more than they took??
  • 5:41, “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.” The hated Roman occupiers had a law that a passing soldier could require a civilian to carry his load for a mile, which would have caused great resentment. Here, they were to carry the load even farther than the law required.
  • 5:44, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” In a way, this is the kicker – who do you hate most, who is actively trying to hurt you? Who are your enemies? Well, pray for them, desire the best for them!

Who can do these? How can anyone do these? We’re to give up all vindictiveness and revenge, and instead love and genuinely seek the best even for our enemies? And we should desire the best for them, not just go through the outward motions? How is this possible?

In case that wasn’t hard enough, “be perfect”

In Matthew 5:48, Jesus says, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father” (God) is perfect.” Perfect? How could that possibly be?

This lays out God’s standard, the one we’ve already been approaching in the sections above. We’re not only to do right but to desire what is right, even in seemingly impossible situations like loving our enemies. The expected response is, “But I can’t do that! It’s too hard!” But just in case we haven’t already gotten to that realization, Jesus brings it home: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

This brings us face to face with the core question of Christianity: How can we be perfect? (How can our righteousness surpass “that of the scribes and Pharisees” and be true righteousness from the heart?) We can’t be perfect. We will certainly fail; we will and do sin, and we are sinful. And because we sin, we deserve God’s punishment.

We can’t be perfect, but Jesus himself was perfect. He alone lived up to God’s standards, and lived a perfect life to fulfill the Sermon on the Mount. He alone can give us righteousness which lives up to God’s standards – not righteousness which comes from our own actions, but a trade of his righteousness for our sins.

That’s not the whole story, though. Salvation begins to change even our desires. Those who trust in Christ are “born again”, and begin being changed from the inside out. So in one sense, the Sermon on the Mount holds up a standard we cannot meet and points us to Christ, who alone can live up to that standard. But in another sense, it shows us the life Christians will increasingly be able to live. As God works in us to change even our desires, we begin to live out the life of the Sermon on the Mount – not perfectly, but increasingly.

Now, back to the Beatitudes

The Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-11 are famous. These list a series of concise sayings beginning with “Blessed are the…”. This phrase can be read similarly to “Oh, the happiness of those who…”. These blessings are pronounced on those who:

  • Are “poor in spirit”: Those who are convinced of their sinfulness in God’s sight and see how much they need God
  • “Mourn” - those who grieve and sorrow over their sin
  • “Hunger and thirst for righteousness” - those who desire to want what God wants, those who want to be like Him, to be holy
  • Are “pure in heart” - those who are right even in their desires, not content with right actions

These all deal with our desires. How can we change our desires? The Bible makes clear that we can’t change our desires; only God, working in us, can do so. And that is what the Sermon on the Mount is all about. It lays out a moral standard which is impossible for us to meet on our own, one which can only be fulfilled by Jesus Christ. But at the same time, it points us to a moral standard that God does help Christians increasingly fulfill through the power of God working in us. Thus Jesus taught his disciples these standards – not as a way of salvation, but as a pattern their lives should increasingly resemble as they follow him.

Wrapping up

Thus, we’ve seen that the Sermon on the Mount does not provide a set of moral teachings Jesus gave the world to help us see how to live a good life and to understand how to be saved. Rather, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out God’s impossible standard – perfection – which he alone met, and at the same time he explains how his followers will increasingly resemble that standard as they mourn over their sin and desire to be more like God, hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

Further reading

JC Ryle’s exposition of the Sermon on the Mount is helpful here as additional reading, and in particular refer to the section on the Beatitudes – though it is all excellent.

Where next?

Next, we’ll take a look at Romans to get a more complete view of what the Bible says about salvation and how it works.