The Sermon on the Mount (translated from Augustine's title ) is a discourse delivered by Jesus of Nazareth found in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew. that summarizes his moral teachings. It is the first of five discourses in the Gospel and has been one of the most widely quoted sections of the Gospels.. pages xi–xiv.
Background and setting
The Sermon on the Mount is placed relatively early in Matthew's portrayal of Jesus's ministry—following, in chapter 3, his baptism by John and, in chapter 4, his sojourn and temptation in the desert, his call of four disciples, and his early preaching in Galilee.
The Sermon is the first of the five discourses in the Gospel of Matthew, the others being the discourse on discipleship (10), the discourse of parables (13), the discourse on the community of faith (18), and the discourse on future events (24–25).The Gospel of Matthew by Craig S. Keener 2009 pp. 37–38. Also, like all the other "discourses", this one has Matthew's concluding statement (7:28–29) that distinguishes it from the material that follows. For similar statements at the end of the other discourses, see 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1.
Traditionally, the Mount of Beatitudes has been commemorated by Christians as the physical site at which the sermon took place.Oxford Archaeological Guide: The Holy Land. 4th edition, 2008. p 279. Other locations, such as Mount Arbel and the Horns of Hattin, have also been suggested as possibilities.
This sermon is one of the most widely quoted sections of the canonical gospels, including some of the best-known sayings attributed to Jesus, such as the Beatitudes and the commonly recited version of the Lord's Prayer. It also contains what many consider to be the central tenets of Christian discipleship.
The setting for the sermon is given in Matthew 5:1–2. There, Jesus is said to see the crowds, to go up the mountain accompanied by his disciples, to sit down, and to begin his speech.Although the speeches in Matthew 5–7 and in Luke 6 both begin with beatitudes and end with the parable of the two builders, the settings are interestingly different but involve the same components. Whereas Matthew has Jesus go up the mountain with his disciples, sit, and deliver his speech to the crowds, Luke (6:17) describes him coming down from the mountain with his disciples, standing on a level place, and speaking to the crowds. He comes down from the mountain in Matthew 8:1. In several theological and biblical traditions, the Sermon on the Mount is regarded as the New Testament counterpart to the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, which, according to tradition, was revealed by God in the presence of the entire Israelite people. Both events occur on a mountain, emphasizing their significance as moments of direct encounter between God and his people. Frederic Godet described the location of Jesus' teaching as "the mount where Jesus speaks is as the Sinai of the new covenant."Frederic Godet, Introduction to the New Testament: The Collection of the Four Gospels and the Gospel of St. Matthew (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1899), p. 131. Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) writes that because Matthew presents Jesus as "the new Moses" throughout his Gospel, he is seated here in teaching authority on "the cathedra of the mountain", and that the sermon is "the new Torah brought by Jesus". Both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament use the history of Israelites to frame the ways in which God revealed his will to humanity, particularly through the prophets.
Components
Although the issues of Matthew's compositional plan for the Sermon on the Mount remain unresolved among scholars, its structural components are clear.What are they saying about Matthew's Sermon on the mount?, Warren Carter 1994 pp. 35–47.
Matthew 5:3–12 includes the Beatitudes. These describe the character of the people of the Kingdom of Heaven, expressed as "blessings". The Greek word most versions of the Gospel render as "blessed" can also be translated "happy" (Matthew 5:3–12 in Young's Literal Translation for an example). In Matthew, there are eight (or nine) blessings, while in Luke there are four, followed by four woes."Beatitudes." Frank Leslie Cross, Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 Nolland notes that such extended lists of beatitudes are uncommon early Jewish literature, where they usually occur singly or in pairs, and that the eight third-person blessings of are framed as a unit by the repetition of the clause "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" in verses 3 and 10. He also notes that the Beatitudes function as an expanded restatement of Jesus's initial proclamation that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" ().
The Beatitudes' language echoes the Old Testament: good news to the "poor in spirit" and "those who mourn" alludes to (), a passage Matthew also cites at . "The meek… shall inherit the earth" alludes to . In the sermon these hopes of reversal are attached to the coming of the kingdom of heaven. Together, the Beatitudes present a new set of ideals that focus on love and humility rather than force and mastery, and echo the highest ideals of Jesus's teachings on spirituality and compassion.
In Christian teachings, the Works of Mercy, which have corporal and spiritual components, have resonated with the theme of the Beatitude for mercy. Jesus the Peacemaker, Carol Frances Jegen 1986 pages 68–71. These teachings emphasize that these acts of mercy provide both temporal and spiritual benefits.The Synoptics: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Ján Majerník, Joseph Ponessa, Laurie Watson Manhardt 2005 , pages 63–68
Matthew 5:13–16 presents the metaphors of salt and light. This completes the profile of God's people presented in the Beatitudes and acts as the introduction to the next section.
There are two parts in this section, using the terms "salt of the earth" and Light of the World to refer to the disciples implying their value. Elsewhere, in John 8:12, Jesus applies 'Light of the World' to himself.
The longest section of the Sermon is Matthew 5:17–48, traditionally referred to as "the Antitheses" or "Matthew's Antitheses". In the section, Jesus fulfils and reinterprets the Old Covenant and in particular its Ten Commandments, contrasting with what "you have heard" from others.See David Flusser, "The Torah in the Sermon on the Mount" (WholeStones.org) and idem, "'It Is Said to the Elders': On the Interpretation of the So-called Antitheses in the Sermon on the Mount" (JerusalemPerspective.com). Nolland treats the immediately preceding unit, , as the introduction to the antitheses: it supplies "an optic for understanding the antitheses to come", pre-empting the impression that the antitheses which follow contradict the Mosaic Law. On this reading, the claim that Jesus came "not to abolish but to fulfil" supports his teaching aims "to enable God's people to live out the Law more effectively", and the demand of calls for an abundant righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. In the first antithesis (), the prohibition of murder is extended to anger and contemptuous speech ("Raca"), through an escalating series that runs from the local court to the council to "the Gehenna of fire". The qualification "without a cause", familiar from the King James Version, is an early scribal addition that softens the saying and is omitted in modern critical texts. He also advises to turning the other cheek, and to love one's enemies, in contrast to taking an eye for an eye. According to most interpretations of Matthew 5:17, 18, 19, and 20, and most Christian views of the Old Covenant, these new interpretations of the Law and Prophets are not opposed to the Old Testament, which was the position of Marcion, but form Jesus's new teachings which bring about salvation, and hence must be adhered to, as emphasized in Matthew 7:24–27 towards the end of the sermon.
In Matthew 6, Jesus condemns doing what would normally be "good works" simply for recognition and not from the heart, such as those of alms (6:1–4), prayer (6:5–15), and fasting (6:16–18). The discourse goes on to condemn the superficiality of materialism and calls the disciples not to worry about material needs or fret about the future, but to "seek" God's kingdom first. Within the discourse on ostentation, Matthew presents an example of correct prayer. Luke places this in a different context. The Lord's Prayer (6:9–13) contains parallels to 1 Chronicles 29:10–18.Clontz, T.E. & J., The Comprehensive New Testament with complete textual variant mapping and references for the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Josephus, Nag Hammadi Library, Pseudepigrapha, Apocrypha, Plato, Egyptian Book of the Dead, Talmud, Old Testament, Patristic Writings, Dhammapada, Tacitus, Epic of Gilgamesh, Cornerstone, 2008, p. 451, Stevenson (2004), p. 198.
The first part of Matthew 7 (Matthew 7:1–6) deals with judging. Jesus condemns those who judge others without first sorting out their own affairs on the matter: "Judge not, that ye be not judged."
The Golden Rule of ("whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them") concludes the main body of the sermon that began at . the rule's closing words, "for this is the Law and the Prophets", echo the language of that opening verse and reinforce its claim. He also notes the rabbinic parallel attributed to Hillel, who according to the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 31a) summarised the Torah for a Gentile in a negative form of the rule. Craig Blomberg calls the Golden Rule the heart of Jesus' ethic and notes its proactive statement (as opposed to the more common negative form), thereby taking moral initiative to do good to others.
In verses , Jesus sermon closes with three contrastive illustrations that pose the same choice to the audience, of how to react to what they heard: the narrow or the wide gate, the good or the bad tree by which true and false prophets are known by their fruits, and the wise versus foolish builders. Matthew then reports that the crowds "were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes" ().
Teachings and theology
The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount have been a key element of Christian ethics, and for centuries the sermon has acted as a fundamental recipe for the conduct of the followers of Jesus.The sources of Christian ethics by Servais Pinckaers 1995 page 134 Various religious and moral thinkers (e.g. Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi) have admired its message, and its teachings were a major component of the nonviolent 1954-1968 American civil rights movement and one of the main sources of Christian pacifism.For Tolstoy, see My Religion, 1885. cf. My Religion on Wikisource.
In the 5th century, Saint Augustine began his book Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount by stating:
The last verse of chapter 5 of Matthew (Matthew 5:48) is a focal point of the Sermon that summarizes its teachings by advising the disciples to seek (). The Greek word is used to refer to perfection, completeness, or wholeness, and also implies an end, purpose, or destination. Nolland relates to its translation in the Septuagint of the Hebrew ("whole", "unblemished"). On this reading, the verse calls for wholehearted, undivided commitment to the will of God as expounded in the antitheses, and makes no claim that flawlessness is attainable.
The teachings of the sermon are often referred to as the "Ethics of the Kingdom": they place a high level of emphasis on "purity of the heart" and embody the basic standard of Christian righteousness.Christian ethics, issues and insights by Eṃ Stephan 2007 .
Theological structure