What impression of Jesus’ outlook on life do you form from the themes of the Sermon on the Mount? Analyse with close textual references.
What impression of Jesus’ outlook on life do
you form from the themes of the Sermon on the Mount? Analyse with close textual
references.
The Sermon on the Mount is
the first of Jesus’ five long speeches in the Gospel of
Matthew. It is a three-chapter summary of Jesus’ moral instruction. One of its
chief subjects is the Law of Moses (Matt 5:17-48). The speech is controversial
because it seems to assert, contrary to Paul and most later Christian
tradition, that followers of Jesus should still observe the entirety of the
Law, which would seemingly include circumcision and dietary regulations (Matt 5:17-20). At the same time, it also
appears to dispense with several parts of the Law (Matt
5:31-48). Does the passage contradict itself? Or is it consistent
with the perspective of Matthew’s gospel as a whole?
Does the Sermon on the Mount teach that
Christians should still observe the Law of Moses?
The six paragraphs addressing the law concern anger (Matt 5:21-26), lust (Matt 5:27-30), divorce (Matt 5:31-32), oaths (Matt 5:33-37), revenge (Matt 5:38-42), and love (Matt 5:43-48). Many biblical scholars label
these paragraphs “antitheses,” because in their view Jesus and Moses are at
odds with each other. The Law of Moses permits divorce (Deut 24:1-4), oaths (Lev 19:12; Num
30:2-3; Deut 23:22),
and retaliation (Exod 21:24-25; Lev 24:20; Deut
19:21). Jesus, with his repeated “but I say to you,” prohibits all
of them.
Yet there are problems with supposing that Jesus contradicts the Law of
Moses. Matt 5:17-20 says
explicitly that Jesus has not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. To the
contrary, people should obey and teach them. One could scarcely be any clearer.
It looks very much as though Matt 5:17-20 is
located precisely where it is in order to prevent readers from imagining that
Jesus, in the paragraphs that follow, intends to undo the teachings of Moses.
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