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Sermon on the Mount

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Religious texts

   Distinguish from Sermon on the Mound.
   The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch. Christians believe that
   Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (see Hebrews 8:6). His famous
   Sermon on the Mount representing Mount Zion is considered by many
   Christian scholars to be the antitype of the proclamation of the Old
   Covenant by Moses from Mount Sinai.
   The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch. Christians believe that
   Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (see Hebrews 8:6). His famous
   Sermon on the Mount representing Mount Zion is considered by many
   Christian scholars to be the antitype of the proclamation of the Old
   Covenant by Moses from Mount Sinai.

               Major events in Jesus's life in the Gospels
     * Nativity
     * Baptism
     * Temptation
     * Commission of Disciples and Apostles
     * Sermon on the Mount
     * Miracles
     * Entering Jerusalem
     * Temple incident
     * Great Commandment
     * Anointing
     * Last Supper
     * Promise of the Paraclete
     * Arrest
     * Before the High Priest
     * Before Pilate
     * Death & Resurrection
     * Harrowing
     * Appearances
     * Great Commission
     * Ascension
     * Second Coming Prophecy
     __________________________________________________________________


   Part of the series on
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   The Sermon on the Mount was, according to the Gospel of Matthew 5-7, a
   particular sermon given by Jesus of Nazareth (estimated around AD 30)
   on a mountainside to his disciples and a large crowd.

   The best-known portions of the 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" 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. 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 and Gandhi.

Origin

   The source of the Sermon 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 believe
   in the two source hypothesis that much of this text likely came from Q,
   and 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 Matthew and Luke used.

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 mountain 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.
   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 Catholic chapel called the
   Church of the Beatitudes, see also .

   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 backs away from this view.

Comparisons with the Sermon on the Plain

   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. 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.

   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 main 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.

Structure of the sermon

   The sermon comprises the following components:
     * Introductory narrative (Matthew 5:1-2) - a large crowd assembles
       due to Jesus healing the sick, so he climbs a mountain and speaks;
     * The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), which describe the character of
       the people of the kingdom;
     * The metaphors of Salt and Light (Matthew 5:13-16), which forms a
       conclusion to the picture of God's people drawn in the beatitudes,
       as well as an introduction to the following section;
     * The Expounding of the Law (Matthew 5:17-48), a fulfillment and
       reinterpretation of Mosaic Law and in particular the Ten
       Commandments, contrasting with what "you have heard" from others,
       also known as the Antitheses;
     * The Discourse on ostentation (Matthew 6), condemning 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;
          + Within the discourse is the Lord's Prayer, which Matthew
            presents as an example of correct prayer, but Luke places in a
            different context;
     * The Discourse on judgementalism (Matthew 7:1-6), condemning those
       who judge others before first judging themselves;
     * The Discourse on holiness (Matthew 7:7-29), which forms the summary
       conclusion of the sermon, warning against False prophets, and
       giving emphasis to the difficulty of doing what is right.

Interpretation

   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.
    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 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 Hermann 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.

   The author Christopher Knight asserts in his book Hiram Key, that the
   'Sermon on the Mount' did not happen. He theorizes that Matthew's
   ability to create a story of teachings had run dry, and that he simply
   'stuck all kinds of passages together as though they were spoken one
   after another to a crowd on a mountain top.' Knight believes that 'the
   teachings were drafted into this one 'occasion' to avoid interrupting
   the flow of the overall story.' The Hiram Key was a joint adventure
   between Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas.

   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. 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.

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