Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SERMON ON THE MOUNT/PLAIN

The first of Jesus’ discourses (Matt. 5:1–7:28), which summarizes his moral demand upon Israel. The account opens with a short narrative introduction (4:23–5:2) and closes with a short narrative conclusion (7:28–8:1). These two units share several words and phrases — “great crowds followed him,” “the mountain,” “going up/down,” and “teaching” — which mark the intervening material as a distinct literary unit.

The discourse proper is symmetrical. Eschatological blessings (Matt. 5:3-12) are at the beginning, eschatological warnings (7:13-27) at the end. In between are three major sections, each primarily a compilation of imperatives: Jesus and the Torah (5:17-48), Jesus on the cult (6:1-18), Jesus on social issues (6:19–7:12). Preceding these sections are the prefatory sayings on salt and light in 5:13-16. These move from the life of the blessed future (depicted in 5:3-12) to demands in the present and so signal the point at which the theme switches from gift to task.

Exegetical history offers various approaches to the Sermon. Some medieval exegetes, living in a world with two sorts of Christians, the so-called religious (priests, monks, nuns, ascetics) and the nonreligious, urged that some of the imperatives (e.g., the call not to store up treasure on earth) can only be kept by those with a special religious calling. Leo Tolstoy propounded a literal interpretation applicable to all: Christians should not take oaths, even though this would result in the abolition of courts, and they should love enemies and so not serve in any army or police force. Many Protestants have distinguished between the spiritual order and the civil order and contended that the Sermon applies only to the former. The Sermon, then, does not prescribe public policy but individual morality. The victim of a crime may, for instance, forgo personal revenge and yet support the state in exacting justice. Other Protestants have, in Pauline fashion, maintained that the Sermon cannot be lived: like the law of Moses its demands are too high. It rather teaches the need for grace. For when one seeks to obey Jesus one fails, but this only leads one to acknowledge personal inadequacy, which throws one back upon God’s grace. The Sermon is preparation for the gospel.

While judging the merit of these and other interpretations one should always keep in mind that the Sermon is not an adequate summation of anybody’s religion. It was never intended to stand by itself. It is rather part of a larger whole. Its demands are perverted when isolated from the grace and Christology which appear from Matthew in its entirety.

Indeed, the Sermon is itself a christological document. Isa. 61:1, 2, 7 speak of good news for the poor (cf. Matt. 5:3), of comforting those who mourn (cf. 5:4), and of inheriting the land (cf. 5:5). So Matthew’s beatitudes make an implicit claim: Jesus is the anointed one of Isa. 61. Beyond this, the qualities mentioned in the Beatitudes — such as meekness and mercy — are manifested throughout the ministry (cf. 9:27-31; 11:29; 20:29-34; 21:5). So the Sermon is partly a summary of its speaker’s deeds. Matt. 5–7 proclaims likeness to the God of Israel (5:48) through the virtues of Jesus Christ.

One must also always remember that Matthew’s Sermon must be associated with the kingdom of God. The Sermon does not speak to ordinary circumstances. It instead addresses itself to people overtaken by an overwhelming reality which can remake the individual and beget a new life. Furthermore, the Sermon sees all through the eyes of eternity. It does not so much look forward, from the present to the consummation, as from the consummation to the present. Matt. 5–7 presents the unadulterated will of God because it proclaims the will of God as it will be lived when the kingdom comes in its fullness. This is why the Sermon is so heedless of all earthly contingencies, why it always blasts shallow moralism.

The most difficult section of the Sermon is Matt. 5:21-48, the six so-called antitheses. But four proposals regarding it seem more probable than not. First, the antitheses do not set Jesus’ words over against Jewish interpretations of the Mosaic law; rather, there is contrast with the Bible itself: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times” refers to Sinai. Second, although Jesus’ words are contrasted with the Torah, the two are not, according to the Sermon itself, contradictory (cf. 5:17-20). Those who obey 5:21-48 will not break any Jewish law. Third, the section is not Jesus’ interpretation of the law. The declaration that remarriage is adultery, e.g., is a new teaching grounded not in exegesis but Jesus’ authority. Fourth, Jesus here illustrates through concrete examples what sort of attitude and behavior he requires and how his demands surpass those of the Torah without contradicting it.

Many have complained that the teaching of Matt. 5:21-48 is impractical. But the Sermon, which is so dramatic and pictorial, offers not a set of rules — the ruling on divorce is the exception — but rather seeks to instill a moral vision. The text, which implies that God demands a radical obedience which cannot be casuistically formulated, functions more like a story than a legal code. Its primary purpose is to instill principles and qualities through a vivid inspiration of the moral imagination. One comes away not with an incomplete set of statutes but an unjaded impression of a challenging moral ideal. That ideal may remain beyond grasp, but that is what enables it ever to beckon one forward.

Apart from the woes (Luke 6:24-26) and two short proverbs (vv. 39-40), all of the units in Luke’s Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20–7:1) have parallels in Matthew’s Sermon; and even the two proverbs appear elsewhere in Matthew (Matt. 10:24-25; 15:14). Indeed, all of the materials common to the two sermons, with the sole exception of the Golden Rule, are in the same order:

Luke 6:20a cf. Matt. 5:1-2
Luke 6:20b-23 cf. Matt. 5:3-12
Luke 6:24-26
Luke 6:27-36 cf. Matt. 5:38-48; 7:12
Luke 6:37-38 cf. Matt. 7:1
Luke 6:39 (cf. Matt. 15:14)
Luke 6:40 (cf. Matt. 10:24-25)
Luke 6:41-42 cf. Matt. 7:3-5
Luke 6:43-45 cf. Matt. 7:16-18
Luke 6:46 cf. Matt. 7:21
Luke 6:47-49 cf. Matt. 7:24-27
Luke 7:1 cf. Matt. 7:28–8:1

Matthew’s Sermon was composed by the author of the rest of the Gospel. Drawing upon Q, Mark, and his distinctive tradition (M), he forged the discourse in accordance with his own interests. But Luke 6:20-49 is usually regarded as a speech which Luke only lightly retouched: it brings us very close to Q.

Luke’s Sermon opens with four beatitudes (Luke 6:20-23). These are followed by a subsection on loving enemies and doing good (vv. 27-36). This subsection as a whole has the Golden Rule at its center (v. 31). On one side of it is a series of eight parallel imperatives (vv. 27-30) and on the other a series of three questions (vv. 32-34) and a conclusion (vv. 35-36). The opening imperatives are neatly arranged into two quatrains, with the first set using the 2nd person plural, the second set the 2nd person singular.

Luke 6:37-38 continues the theme of doing good to outsiders. It contains four related, parallel imperatives — do not judge, do not condemn, forgive, give. The first two are structural twins, as are the last two. But the long final member, like the long fourth beatitude, breaks the parallelism in order to add emphasis.

The subject of the discourse appears to shift with Luke 6:39-42, which contains the sayings about the blind leading the blind (v. 39), the disciple not being above the master (v. 40), and the splinter in the eye (vv. 41-42). The harshness of the address (“hypocrites,” v. 42) is new. New too is the ecclesiastical orientation, signaled by the use of “brother” (vv. 41, 42). Unlike vv. 27-38, in which the issue is how disciples should act toward their enemies, in vv. 39-42 the issue is how they should relate to one another. In other words, the first half of the Sermon on the Plain seems concerned with how disciples should behave toward outsiders whereas the second half has to do with communal relations.

Luke 6:43-45, which speaks about good trees and bad fruit and bad fruit and good trees, continues the call for community members to examine themselves. The focus on fraternal relations, in contrast to vv. 27-38, explains the tension between v. 35, where the “wicked” are clearly outside the community, and vv. 43-45, where the “wicked” are plainly inside. That is, Luke 6:43-45, like the sayings in vv. 39-42 and the parable of the two builders in vv. 46-49, draws the line not between insiders and outsiders but between disciples good and bad. In theological terms, Luke 6:39-49, which demands that one judge not others but oneself, addresses the reality of sin within the Christian community.

Bibliography. H. D. Betz, The Sermon on the Mount. Herm (Minneapolis, 1995); W. Carter, What Are They Saying about Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount? (New York, 1994); R. A. Guelich, The Sermon on the Mount (Waco, 1982).

Dale C. Allison, Jr.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SERMON ON THE MOUNT/PLAIN

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)