Studies In the Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount stands among the most concentrated and demanding bodies of teaching Jesus Christ ever gave His disciples. Recorded in Matthew 5–7, it does not present Christianity as a collection of religious ceremonies, private sentiments, or abstract doctrines detached from daily conduct. Jesus addresses the character of those who follow Him, the righteousness Jehovah requires, the motives behind worship, the treatment of other people, the use of possessions, the handling of anxiety, the exercise of judgment, and the necessity of enduring obedience. His words reach beyond outward respectability and penetrate anger, contempt, lust, hypocrisy, greed, fear, divided loyalty, retaliation, and the desire for human approval. At the same time, He speaks of mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, truthfulness, generosity, prayer, trust in the Father, love for enemies, and courageous faithfulness under opposition. The Sermon therefore confronts the whole person—thoughts, motives, speech, relationships, worship, priorities, and conduct—rather than allowing religious profession to occupy one compartment of life. This book approaches Matthew 5–7 with that comprehensive purpose in view, following the movement of Jesus’ teaching from the character of the disciple to the final necessity of hearing His words and doing them.
Matthew prepares the reader for the Sermon by describing Jesus teaching throughout Galilee, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom, and healing sickness among the people, with large crowds coming to Him from an extensive region. Matthew 5 then changes the focus from the movement of the crowds to deliberate instruction, as Jesus goes up on the mountain, sits down, and His disciples come near to Him. His seated position reflects the customary posture of a teacher, while Matthew’s wording emphasizes that what follows is sustained and authoritative instruction rather than a disconnected collection of memorable sayings. The crowds remain within the wider setting, but the disciples stand at the center of the teaching because Jesus is defining what life under His authority requires. He does not begin with wealth, political strength, intellectual achievement, social recognition, or ceremonial distinction, but with spiritual need, mourning, meekness, hunger for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, and endurance under persecution. That beginning establishes a principle governing everything that follows: Christian conduct grows from Christian character, and Christian character is measured by Jehovah’s standards rather than by the standards of the surrounding world. The Sermon cannot therefore be reduced to admirable ethical sayings quoted apart from discipleship, because Jesus speaks to people who are expected to submit themselves to His authority. From its opening sentences, the Sermon demands not detached admiration but personal response.
The Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3–12 establish the moral foundation of that response by overturning ordinary human ideas about who should be considered fortunate. Jesus calls blessed those who recognize their spiritual need, those who mourn, the meek, those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those persecuted because of righteousness and loyalty to Him. None of these pronouncements promises freedom from the difficulties produced by human imperfection, Satan, demons, and a wicked world. Several Beatitudes explicitly assume grief, hostility, false accusation, and persecution, showing that divine approval cannot be measured by temporary comfort. The blessed person is blessed because of his standing before Jehovah and the certainty of God’s promises, not because present circumstances are always pleasant. Jesus consequently directs the disciple away from the world’s admiration of self-sufficiency and toward humble dependence upon God, moral seriousness, mercy, purity, and endurance. The meek are promised an inheritance of the earth, while those conscious of their spiritual need willingly submit themselves to the authority of the Kingdom of the heavens, showing that Kingdom language concerns Jehovah’s rule and the blessings flowing from it rather than an assumption that every righteous person receives the same heavenly assignment. The Beatitudes therefore provide the inner moral structure from which the remainder of the Sermon develops.
Jesus immediately moves from inward character to outward influence when He tells His disciples that they are “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” Salt must retain the quality that makes it useful, and light must remain visible if it is to illuminate anything, so both illustrations carry responsibility as well as privilege. Christian disciples cannot claim faithfulness while surrendering the moral distinction created by obedience to Jehovah’s Word. Nor can they withdraw so completely from ordinary human relationships that their faith has no visible effect upon anyone around them. Their honesty, reliability, sexual purity, kindness, speech, work habits, family responsibilities, willingness to forgive, and treatment of opponents should give observable form to what they profess to believe. Yet Jesus does not authorize religious performance designed to obtain applause, because the purpose of visible good works is that people give glory to the Father rather than glorify the disciple. The Christian therefore lives in contact with people who may not share his beliefs while refusing conformity to conduct Scripture condemns. Salt and light describe a discipleship that remains morally distinct without becoming arrogant, isolated, or theatrical.
That visible righteousness must also be understood in relation to the Scriptures Jehovah had already given, which is why Matthew 5:17–20 forms an essential interpretive foundation for the teachings that follow. Jesus explicitly denies that He came to destroy the Law or the Prophets and declares that He came to fulfill them. He honors the inspired Hebrew Scriptures as the authoritative revelation of God while bringing the Mosaic arrangement to the goal for which Jehovah intended it. Christ’s fulfillment includes His complete obedience, the accomplishment of what the Scriptures foretold concerning Him, and the completion of the Mosaic Law’s preparatory covenantal function. Christians therefore neither dismiss the Law as worthless nor place themselves back under every regulation given to ancient Israel, because the New Testament itself explains the change introduced through Christ and the new covenant. The Sabbath, circumcision, sacrifices, dietary requirements, festivals, and other features of Israel’s covenantal arrangement cannot simply be transferred unchanged into Christian obligation, while the Law continues to reveal Jehovah’s holiness, justice, truthfulness, moral standards, and abhorrence of sin. Jesus then demands righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees, not by multiplying external regulations but by reaching the heart from which conduct originates. The chapters that follow trace precisely what such surpassing righteousness looks like when divine standards govern motives as well as actions.
Jesus begins that demonstration with subjects people might prefer to confine to outward behavior, and He repeatedly exposes the attitudes that stand behind the visible act. The prohibition against murder cannot be treated as sufficient righteousness by someone who nourishes uncontrolled anger, contempt, humiliation, and hostility toward another person. The prohibition against adultery cannot be honored fully while a person deliberately cultivates sexually immoral desire within the heart. Marriage cannot be treated as disposable merely because legal procedures can be found to end it, because Jesus directs attention to faithfulness and the seriousness of the marriage bond. Truthfulness cannot be reserved for occasions when solemn oaths are spoken, because the disciple’s ordinary “yes” and “no” should be dependable. Judicial principles designed to regulate justice cannot be converted into permission for private revenge, retaliation, and vindictiveness. Love cannot be restricted to friends and agreeable neighbors while hatred is cultivated toward enemies, because Jesus commands His followers to love their enemies and pray for those persecuting them. By the end of Matthew 5, righteousness has been shown to include what a person wants, how he speaks, how he handles injury, how he views marriage, how he treats opponents, and whether his conduct reflects the generosity and moral character of his heavenly Father.
Matthew 6 turns particular attention toward righteousness practiced before the Father and exposes another danger: doing externally good things for internally corrupt reasons. Giving can become religious theater when generosity is arranged to secure admiration, prayer can become performance when words are directed more toward human observers than toward God, and fasting can become a display when a person carefully advertises his devotion. Jesus does not condemn giving, prayer, or fasting; He condemns the conversion of acts directed toward God into instruments for acquiring human praise. The model prayer consequently directs attention first to the Father, the sanctification of His name, the coming of His Kingdom, and the accomplishment of His will before turning to daily bread, forgiveness, and protection from the evil one. Prayer is not meaningless repetition, mystical technique, or an attempt to overwhelm God with many words, because the Father already knows what His servants need. The disciple approaches Him with reverence, dependence, confidence, and concern for purposes larger than personal comfort. Jesus also joins prayer for forgiveness with the responsibility to forgive others, refusing any Christianity in which a person continually seeks mercy from God while deliberately cultivating a merciless spirit toward fellow humans. Worship before the Father therefore exposes motive as surely as the ethical commands of Matthew 5 expose outward conduct.
The latter portion of Matthew 6 brings money, possessions, perception, allegiance, and everyday anxiety under the same authority. Jesus warns against storing up treasure as though earthly accumulation could provide permanent security, because possessions are vulnerable and the heart naturally follows what a person treats as treasure. His teaching concerning the sound eye and the corrupted eye continues the emphasis upon moral perception, showing that what governs a person’s outlook affects the whole direction of life. The declaration that no one can serve both God and wealth then removes the illusion that competing masters can receive equal loyalty. Money is a useful tool and material necessities are real, but neither wealth nor the pursuit of security may occupy the position belonging to Jehovah. Jesus therefore addresses anxiety concerning food, drink, and clothing by directing His disciples to the Father’s knowledge and care rather than by pretending that material needs do not exist. The command to “seek first the kingdom and His righteousness” provides the governing priority: obedience to God cannot be postponed until every earthly uncertainty has disappeared. Each day carries its own concerns, and the disciple is called to act responsibly without allowing tomorrow’s possibilities to dominate today’s faithfulness. Trust in the Father is thus neither inactivity nor carelessness, but confidence expressed through reordered priorities and continued obedience.
Matthew 7 turns increasingly toward discernment and decision, beginning with one of the most frequently misunderstood commands in the Sermon. “Do not judge” cannot mean that Christians are forbidden to make any moral evaluations, because only a few verses later Jesus requires His disciples to recognize what is holy, discern dangerous conduct, identify false prophets, and evaluate people by their fruits. The command condemns hypocritical and self-righteous judgment in which a person scrutinizes another’s speck while ignoring the log in his own eye. Self-examination must therefore precede correction, and correction must be governed by humility rather than contempt. Jesus then returns to prayerful dependence with the commands to ask, seek, and knock, grounding confidence in the goodness of the heavenly Father, who knows how to give good things to those asking Him. The Golden Rule carries that relationship with God directly into relationships with other humans by requiring disciples to take active responsibility for treating others as they themselves would rightly desire to be treated. This instruction requires more than avoiding obvious harm, because it calls for deliberate action shaped by empathy, fairness, truthfulness, mercy, and love. Discernment, prayer, and treatment of others therefore belong together within the mature righteousness Jesus has been developing from the opening Beatitudes onward.
The final movement of Matthew 7 removes every possibility of treating the Sermon as inspiring instruction that may be appreciated without decisive commitment. Jesus speaks of a narrow gate and a restricted way leading to life, while the broad way followed by many leads to destruction. He warns of false prophets who appear harmless but must be recognized by their fruits, establishing that religious appearance and persuasive claims cannot replace careful moral and doctrinal evaluation. He then gives one of His strongest warnings when He declares that not everyone saying “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of His Father. Religious language, impressive claims, and extraordinary works cannot substitute for genuine obedience to God. Jesus finally compares the person who hears His words and does them to a wise man building his house upon rock, while the person hearing without acting resembles a foolish builder whose house collapses. Both builders hear, both construct, and both encounter severe conditions, but only one has a foundation capable of standing. The distinction is not between the religious and the irreligious in a superficial sense, but between hearing joined with obedience and hearing severed from obedience.
The reaction of the crowds at the end of the Sermon explains why Matthew has preserved this teaching with such force: they were astounded at Jesus’ way of teaching because He taught as one having authority rather than as their scribes. Throughout Matthew 5–7, Jesus does not speak as a commentator nervously offering religious possibilities for consideration. He calls people blessed, defines righteousness, exposes hypocrisy, commands love for enemies, regulates worship, demands exclusive loyalty, identifies the way to life, warns of false teachers, distinguishes true profession from false profession, and places obedience to His own words at the foundation of a secure life. Such authority prevents the reader from reducing Him to an ethical adviser whose sayings may be selected according to preference. The Sermon confronts the modern reader just as directly as it confronted those who first heard it, because anger, sexual temptation, broken marriages, dishonest speech, retaliation, religious showmanship, materialism, anxiety, hypocrisy, false teaching, and empty profession remain painfully familiar. Changing technology, economic structures, forms of communication, and social customs do not change the underlying condition of the human heart. The twenty-first-century disciple still needs meekness, mercy, purity, truthfulness, forgiveness, disciplined desire, loyal worship, confidence in the Father, moral discernment, and obedient faith. For that reason, the Sermon remains not merely historically important but immediately practical.
This 21st-century treatment follows the Sermon in its Matthean order because the sequence itself contributes to its meaning. Matthew 5 begins with character, moves into influence, establishes the relationship of Jesus’ teaching to the inspired Scriptures, and then traces surpassing righteousness through concrete moral relationships. Matthew 6 turns toward the Father who sees what is hidden, exposing motives in acts of worship before addressing treasure, divided allegiance, anxiety, and Kingdom priority. Matthew 7 requires humble discernment, persistent dependence upon the Father, active love toward others, recognition of the way leading to life, vigilance toward false prophets, and obedience stronger than verbal profession. The chapters are therefore not isolated essays gathered around famous sayings but stages in a sustained examination of what it means to live under the authority of Christ. Each teaching must be interpreted according to its historical setting, grammar, immediate context, literary form, and relationship to the rest of Scripture rather than being detached and made to support ideas foreign to Jesus’ words. Memorable overstatement, such as removing an offending eye or hand, must be recognized as forceful teaching that demands decisive action against sin rather than as instruction for physical self-harm. Likewise, statements about judging, retaliation, prayer, possessions, and perfection must be allowed to carry the meaning established by their context instead of being reduced to slogans. Careful historical-grammatical interpretation enables the reader to feel the full force of the Sermon without either weakening Jesus’ demands or assigning meanings His words do not communicate.
Oswald Chambers repeatedly pressed Christians to recognize that the words of Jesus are not ornamental additions to Christian faith but demands upon the life of the disciple. That concern remains central to this updated treatment, even where the language, explanation, structure, and contemporary application have been extensively revised. The enduring strength of Studies in the Sermon on the Mount lies in refusing to let the reader remain safely outside the passage as an observer discussing what Jesus required of someone else. Every subject eventually becomes personal: What governs my anger, my eyes, my marriage, my speech, my response to injury, my attitude toward enemies, my giving, my prayers, my possessions, my anxieties, my judgments, and my obedience? The Sermon repeatedly strips away substitutes for righteousness, whether those substitutes are religious reputation, human approval, material security, impressive claims, or knowledge without action. Yet its demands are not presented as a program for earning eternal life independently of Christ, because the disciple remains dependent upon Jehovah’s mercy, Christ’s sacrifice, forgiveness, divine instruction, and continuing faithfulness throughout the Christian journey. The path Jesus describes requires repentance when one sins, correction when Scripture exposes wrong thinking, perseverance when obedience becomes costly, and continual conformity of the mind and conduct to the Spirit-inspired Word. The purpose of studying these chapters is therefore fulfilled only when the reader moves from understanding what Jesus said to arranging his life under what Jesus said.
About the Author
EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 220+ books. In addition, Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).
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