马太福音第五章

Sermon on the Mount --- Discipleship ABC

Lord Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 5-7 is sometimes entitled as Sermon on the Mount. Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though it is the least understood, and arguably it is the least-obeyed. ☹ This is a heavenly declaration of the guidelines of the kingdom of God. The so-called Beatitudes are the different titles. From 5:12 to 7:23, the development of Jesus’ teachings follows the Beatitudes.

The beginners may be frustrated when they start to study Sermon on the Mount. A few Bible scholars have even asserted that the apostle Matthew took heed of some fragments of Jesus’ teachings, and he recorded them. Eventually it became Sermon on the Mount when the Gospel was popularized. This is, however, entirely baseless. Soon we will see that Sermon on the Mount is a heavenly Exhortation that is logical and well-prepared, and wisely arranged. It is the guideline for the people of God for their kingdom live.

One of the teaching techniques in Scripture is the generous uses of the negative examples. The various false prophets and gods, and even the infirmities and stumbling of the saints and the chosen people in the O.T., all of them serves as negative examples for us to learn vivid lessons. Rabi Jesus also employs such. We have to hold firm for such a fact that throughout the Gospels, out of many, the major negative example is but the Pharisees although the pagans are spotlighted occasionally. A careful survey to Sermon on the Mount, which is in Matt 5-7, reveals that the main theme of Jesus’ teaching is found in 6:8, “Do not be like them.” (can be translated according to the Greek original: “Absolutely thou shalt not blend thyself into them.”) This includes the Pharisees as the religious elites back then and the gentiles as well. Laying hold of this will help us gain better understanding to Sermon on the Mount. Note that the Lord merely refreshes an O.T. commandment: “You must not do as they do in Egypt…” (Lev 18:3)

The social background is that Jesus soon became famous after he started his ministry. “Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.” (4:25). He called a small group of people to be his disciples. According to 5:1 and Luke 6:20, Sermon on the Mount is exclusively for the disciples who are privileged to be the pupils of the Lord. What a honor we as the disciples of the Lord have! The teaching is also well populated and admired by many in the world, but they are not able to practice, for they are not disciples of Christ. Therefore, in his summary Lord Jesus challenges his disciples, saying, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (7:24-27) We as disciples of Christ should set our spiritual foundation on the rock, or we would be no different then the world, from which we were purchased and freed with the pressures blood of Lord Jesus.

Matthew Chapter 5

The Beatitudes (Matt 5:3-12)

*3: Rich or poor, regardless, blessed are those who find that they are poor in spirit. Living in the sinful world and nothing, whatsoever, can satisfy their needy souls, God promises them with the kingdom of heaven. The sense for spiritual poverty is given by God, so that men can long for the richness, the presence of the eternal God, that the world cannot offer. The Greek original uses gnomic present tense to describe the promised blessing, indicating that the promise will never change to the least bit. Being poor in spirit leads to the first step to enter the kingdom of God.

*4: The natural fruit of being poor in spirit is a mournful heart. The world has failed to bring true value to the lives and because of this they mourn. God promises to these people: “for they will be comforted.” Waiting for them is the richness none measurable in Jesus Christ.

*5: When people come to Jesus, their lives change. They used to conform with the world, amazingly now they demonstrate meekness in their new lives. In fact, in his other teaching Jesus charges his disciples to learn from him. “for I am gentle and humble in heart” (11:29). Both “meek” in 5:5 and “gentle” in 11:29 are the different translations from the same Greek word prau<j in its lexical form. Jesus abides within us and our lives reflect his presence. Note that being meek does not imply that we are powerless and forced to be like that. Rather, the meekness, or gentleness, of Christ is that he processes the Godly almighty power, but he chose to be the most humble and constrained. God promises that these people “will inherit the earth”. The promise was made to the descendants of Abraham, concerning that the believers of Jesus Christ will inherent the blessings from heaven.

*6: The children of God are characterized in “hunger and thirst for righteousness”. The focal point of God’s righteousness is Jesus Christ alone. Therefore, by the knowledge of the Son of God, we “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:13) To be hunger and thirst for righteousness is the hallmark of those who were reborn into the kingdom of God, and they will be filled.

*7 Christ is merciful to the sinful people, and he encourages his disciples to be merciful. We have the responsibility to tell the world about the salvation of Christ. To be merciful is not an easy path, awaiting are the many difficulties and challenges especially for the missionaries, but the Lord, who promised to be with them, will “show mercy” to them. Through this we enjoy the presence in trails.

*8 The promise to the pure in heart is “they will see God”. We seek to understand this promise through Psalm 24:3-4, “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.” A mature spiritual character. God’s people have no problem to be nice and friendly, yet they uphold their loyalty to God only. Among the many Joseph the son of Jacob and Daniel the prophet are two outstanding examples.

*9 The sons of God are peacemakers. This does not mean that they choose to avert and avoid conflicts as do the advocates of pacifism. Rather, the peacemakers of God are the ones who courageously stand to call sinners to reconcile to God by confessing their sins and turn to Christ the Savior. Yes, these people are called the sons of God.

*10-12 When we are willing to carry out the Great Commission to lead the many lost souls to Christ, it is certain that the world will strike back with persecutions. Out of the odd, the promise here is identical to that of the first in the Beatitudes. We might lose everything on earth for being the testimony to Jesus our Lord, but the kingdom of God is our reward forever. A special note to these three verses is that a transaction in persons occurs from the third person “they” to the more intimate second person “you”, affirming now is the close relationship “you and I” between the disciples and Lord Jesus, and this relationship persists thereafter, until the closing of Sermon on the Mount. Furthermore, Jesus compares his disciples with the O.T. prophets. N.T. disciples=O.T. prophets. What a glorious thought!

The Great Expectation (Matt 5:13-16)

The noble status the Lord gives to his disciples: “You always are the salt of the earth… You always are the light of the world…” (according to the Greek text). Salt adds flavor and is an antiseptic agent, one can imagine how tasteless and corrupt this world would be if without the existence of the Church. Light, on the other hand, drives out darkness, Being the true light, Lord Jesus also expects his disciples to be the light: “that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” What good deed is the Lord talking about? All are highlighted in the Beatitudes (3-12) prior to this section. Only those whose lives shine with the Beatitudes can be the salt and light if the world and to glorify the heavenly Father. This is the purpose that we are called and edified. Although, on the other hand, the religious elites put on the law as their outer cover, they failed to shine the light with their hypocritical lives.

Christ and the Law, the N.T. and the O.T.

Even today, some Christians are still wondering about the value of the O.T. in the N.T. era. Is the Mosaic law still valid after the coming of Christ? I’ve seen that only the N.T. Bible was provided in a Christian denomination, and their publication maintained that they no longer paid attention to the O.T. since, according to their notation, the N.T. had replaced the O.T.

The disciples of Christ are from the Jewish society. Generations, especially after returning from their captivity they are trained to be taught about the law by the synagogues and the rabbis. This kind of teachings are stiff, stereotype, and lifeless. Now, what the disciples are hearing is “a new teaching--and with authority” (Mark 1:27), it is very possible that the disciples may think: this Rabbi’s teaching is so fresh and energetic, should we do away with the law? “Do not think”. Lord Jesus declares!

5:17-20 is one long sentence in the Greek original. The main verb happens to be “Do not think”. Christ upholds the eternal value of the O.T. by saying: “not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished”. Now Christ starts to introduce the Pharisees as the negative example of His sermon. Only the one who sits in Moses' seat (23:2) has the evil power of abolishing the commandments. Lord Jesus himself is the Rabbi who practices and teaches these commands. He will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now the Pharisees are brought on stage under the true light, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” They have been thought of as the most “righteous” among the society. But now, Lord Jesus urges his disciples: surpass them!

The Restoration of Truth (Matt 5:21-48)

In the following teachings the Lord posts six cases in which the law was erroneously taught. For these, the Lord first mentions: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago ... You have heard that it was said ...”, and the corrective teaching starts with “But I tell you that…” Who did say to the people long ago, who cares, only that there is one thing certain, it was not God. The Pharisees was formed two hundred some years before Christ as a small devoted group. They emphasized in strict observation of the law, and eventually evolved into a rigid religious clan. From the mouths of the Rabbis the law was skillfully tempered and distorted. The people of Israel exposed themselves to the false teaching for a long time until Jesus starts his ministry on earth. The Pharisees wrongly interpreted and taught the law. Therefore, it is natural for the disciples of Christ to surpass the false righteousness of the Pharisees.

*Murder (21-26) --- “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” Carefully examine the statement we conclude that this a distortion from the O.T. commandment. “Thou shalt not murder” is one of the ten commandments, but no one can find the next half “anyone who murders will be subject to judgment” from Scripture. This set up a back door to escape the judgement. Logically, anyone who does not commit actual murder will be free from the law. Jesus corrects this, saying, don’t think that you can escape if you don’t physically kill. “anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” He further demands us to reconcile with brothers in order to truly escape judgement.

*Adultery (27-30) --- “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’” This is really one of the ten commandments. The tenth commandment “You shall not covet…” serves as a second defense line to forbid all hidden evils in the sinful human heart. With the omission of this the rabbis suggested to overlook the evil entice and simply say: it is fine if you do not put adultery into physical action. Clearly, we see that Lord Jesus restores the defense line originated from the tenth commandment. “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” This is the highest moral standard.

*Divorce (31-32) --- At the time it is a popular, or “cool”, thing for the Jewish men to divorce their wives and remarry, only if they wish to. Not only this is a moral decay, but also generates serious social problems. The major cause of divorce is the unsound teachings from the liberal rabbis. They allow random decision for divorce. “Don’t forget to give the woman a divorce certificate. That’s it.” This motivates the many Jewish men to divorce.

Divorce, as a complicated issue, cannot be evaluated from the legalism point of view. Effort and patience are required for the different individual cases. This is beyond the scope of discussion here. In studying 31-32, it is my duty to remind that:

• ·        One is urged to pay close attention to the conjunction word “furthermore” (NKJ) or “also” (ESV). Although a number of English translations omits it, the conjunction does appear in the Greek original as VErre,qh de. o[ti, “furthermore it has been said that…”. With such a literary structure, the following clause “anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce” can be considered as an adverbial clause modifying “said” in the first half of the sentence. Itself is not a main sentence. It can then be safely concluded that the teaching about divorce here is an extension of the topic Adultery discussed in its immediate context. If this observation stands, the motivation of divorce in discussed in verses 31-32 is from the adulterous sin pinpointed in 28, “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery.” This leads to the giving of divorce certificates for men to divorce and remarry. The teaching in 31-32, likewise, is to deal with adultery and divorce because of that. It should not be viewed as a generic regulation for all divorce cases in my opinion.
• · A translated quotation from the former dean of Taiwan Theological Seminary, a highly respected theologian Rev. Kang: “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  It is wrong to use the Bible as a law book to find a reason and decide whether it should divorce or not.”

By the way, we see many subtitles added to the passages of the Bible. They provide convenience for us to study. However, they are not from the original text. whatever their advantages they offer, it is advised that we pay more close attention to the context then the subtitles. As an example, in verse 27-32, if we overlook the subtitle added in between but identify that there is a conjunction “furthermore” between vv.30-31, the information is more fluent. Soon we will see that there is at least one more teaching in Sermon on the Mount in which the subtitle should be ignored in order to gain a more complete understanding.

*Oaths (33-37) --- Can we Christians take oath? If we only focus on 33-37, the take away is “no”. There are more than 200 verses in Scripture containing making oaths, most of them are the records of the saints, such as Abram, Jacob, Joseph, Boaz, David… all the way to the mighty angel in Rev. 10:1, making oath. Furthermore, even God Almighty makes oath. Seems OK after all these?

We should understand that whatever is said to the people long ago is absent from Scripture. Again, the rabbis have been playing word game, and the trick was caught here by Lord Jesus. We do find instructions regarding oath in the O.T. God allows man to make oath, but he forbids false oath (Lev. 19:12). In Num 30:2, God tells that “When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.” Now sinners created a “loophole” from the word of God: what if my oath is not made to the LORD? It would not be counted as my sin even if I break my word. With such false assumption there came loads of false oaths by heaven, earth, Jerusalem, the heads, so long as the oaths were not made by the name of the LORD. Addressing such popular trickery within the Jewish society Jesus demands: halt! “Do not swear at all.” “Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No, No'” for truth telling’s sake.

So can Christians make oath? The answer is that it really doesn’t matter if you are telling truthfully.

*An eye for an eye (38-42) About Sermon on the Mount, this is perhaps the most familiar to the world, and the world takes this as a slogan for vendetta. This time the rabbis quoted it correctly. An eye for an eye is from Exod. 21:24, Lev. 24:20, and Deu. 19:20. We assert that God to give this commandment for lex talionis, i.e. proportional punishment. This principle serves two distinct purposes: a) to prevent criminals from escaping punishment; and b) to prevent out weighted revenge from the victim. It’s spirit does not really mean to gauge an eye or to pull a tooth. For a proper application to this principle God Himself did provide two practical scenarios as guidelines. "If a man hits a manservant or maidservant in the eye and destroys it, he must let the servant go free to compensate for the eye. And if he knocks out the tooth of a manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free to compensate for the tooth." (Exod. 21:26-27) The rabbis failed to present the whole picture of the commandment.

Probably one of the most bewildered is the following: “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” Does this mean that if we face church shooting, the congregation should all stand up and say “go ahead” to the gunman?

Lord Jesus is good at using parables as vehicles to convey his teaching. Here the point he is making is “do not resist an evil person.” The illustration is that if someone strikes you on the right cheek as an insult, turn to him the other also. Let him insult however he wishes. To offer the cloak also if someone takes you tunic and to walk an addition mile indicates material loss. The Lord teaches us: let it be. Indeed, his disciples will face insult from the world and material loss if they choose to stand firm for the Savior. Such life is blessed (5:3-12). Our reward is in heaven.

*Love for enemies (43-48) --- The popular teaching “love your neighbor and hate your enemy” is another hoax from the rabbis. For the first half can be found in the O.T.  but not the second half. Arguably, “love your enemies” is a higher ground elevated from the previous teaching “do not resist an evil person”, and the love is expressed through “pray for those who persecute you”. They are the enemies of God, but they are the objects to whom Christians shine the light and show their good deeds, hoping that they can see the light and glorify the heavenly father together with Christians. It is God who let these enemies exist. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Perhaps one day these enemies will be converted and become our brothers in Christ because our sacrificial love.

Summary --- Matthew 5 leads the citizens of the kingdom of God into the entrance of heaven. Step by step they learn what the Master wants them to be and to do. This chapter prepares a path for chapters 6 and 7.