Part 9 - Righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees; divorce, oaths
Sermon on the Mount
The Christian Character
Matthew 5:3 - 7:27
(Cf. Luke 6:20-49)
This is Part 9 in a 14-part series of studies I call “The Christian Character” as described by Jesus to a crowd of people on a Galilean hillside as he delivered what is more familiarly known as the “Sermon on the Mount.”
The 14 parts are as follows:
Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Beatitudes – the poor in spirit
Part 3 - Beatitudes – those who mourn
Part 4 - Beatitudes – the meek, and those who hunger and thirst
Part 5 - Beatitudes – the merciful and the pure in heart
Part 6 - Beatitudes – peacemakers
Part 7 - Beatitudes – the persecuted and insulted
Part 8 - Salt of the earth and light of the world
Part 9 - Righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees; divorce, oaths
Part 10 - Eye for eye, loving neighbor and hating enemy, being perfect
Part 11 - Three things to do, not to be seen by men and a model prayer
Part 12 - Laying up treasures, eye is the lamp of the body, serving two masters
Part 13 - Do not judge, do not give what is holy to dogs and pigs
Part 14 - Ask, seek, and knock; the narrow gate; false prophets; building on the rock
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Review
This will be a rather lengthy review as we covered a lot last week. We began to see that after the beatitudes, which form the core teaching in the sermon (and in fact all of Jesus’ teaching), the rest of Jesus’ sermon shows how the person acts who possesses the characteristics he described in the beatitudes. In the beatitudes Jesus spoke about what we are inside. Next he moves from speaking about the Christian’s heart and character, and recognizes that those who are so blessed have a relationship to society and the world. Stated another way, the rest of the sermon illustrates the outworking of the beatitudes in a world that is not blessed by possessing the qualities. The rest of the sermon, and all of Jesus’ teaching and actions amplify and explain how the person blessed by the beatitudes thinks and functions.
Jesus illustrated that by describing those listening to him – and by imputation, all in later generations who would exhibit the Christian character – as the salt of the earth, and the light of the world.
As used figuratively, the seasoning and preserving qualities of salt and light are the attributes described in the beatitudes. The only savory seasoning we may apply in our walk of life is that which resembles Christ. The only light we have to give is the light we have received. Like the moon, we shed only a reflected light. By reflecting the sun’s light, the moon becomes to some degree like the sun. Though the moon provides light to a lesser degree than the sun, the attributes of light are the same. But the moon has no light to give except what bounces from it. To the extent we become like Christ, we are capable of reflecting his light. Paul wrote to the saints at Philippi, “for me to live is Christ.”
Continuing our review of last week:
Matt 5:17-18 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”
What a curious statement from Jesus! Why does he say this - having no apparent connection to the beatitudes, salt, and light - at this point in the sermon?
What was “the law and the prophets?” And why did Jesus say he did not come to do the very thing he clearly did? Did Jesus, as he says here, NOT abolish the Law?
I shared my belief the Jesus spoke here of the entirety of God-breathed commandments up to that point in time. Everything God directed, Jesus was obligated to fulfill. That would include the Law given at Mount Sinai. He didn’t come to abolish it, but to fulfill it. Nor did he come to abolish the prophets, but to fulfill their prophecies about himself.
Why then does Jesus bring that up at this point? Does it have anything to do with the beatitudes, or salt and light about which he had just been teaching?
Jesus is about to launch into some teaching, which runs to the end of Matthew 5, that looks to some like he is setting himself in opposition to the Law. That, I believe, is why he brings it up at this point in the sermon - so that those who hear him seem to set the law aside would bear in mind that his teaching was not at variance with the prevailing law of his day, but a superior way of fulfilling it.
How did Jesus fulfill the law and the prophets, rather than destroying them?
1. He met the law’s real requirements. While sometimes appearing to violate it, he violated only the prevailing, customary, and settled idea of what the law was.
2. He “fulfilled the prophets” by fulfilling their prophesies, as he said in Luke 24:44-48 (which we will not take the time to re-read today.)
v18 “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”
What does “until everything is accomplished” mean? (the smallest letter, or the least stroke of a pen).
We considered possible meanings:
1. It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one jot or tittle of the law to pass before all is fulfilled. Luke put it this way: “It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.”
2. In judgment, the law will reveal the sins of those who lived under it.
Rom 2:12-13 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
We saw last week that Jesus offered some illumination:
Matt 5:19 “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Bear in mind that these words were spoken in the present tense. As Jesus spoke these words, the law of Moses was still in effect. It was the arrangement God gave the Jewish nation for meeting his requirements. As Jesus did not set aside the law of Moses within his lifetime on earth, neither did he allow his followers to do so, or to teach others to set it aside. Until heaven and earth pass away, it continues to exist and in the last day will judge those who lived under its rule.
Consider this: What Jesus taught in this sermon - about life, conduct, and values; and how people were to conduct themselves in relation to others - was entirely compatible with the law of Moses. The law defined sin, which was in relation to the first and second commandments, with those two commandments borne out in every other commandment in the law. The attributes and articles of the tabernacle, and later the temple, the sacrifices, and the functions of some of the people in the Jewish system etc., were types (which were prophetic) of what was given perfectly once and for all by Christ. The sacrifice of animals’ blood was for a periodic remembrance of sin--the blood of Jesus was to blot sin out from remembrance. The tabernacle and temple and things of the law were symbols of what Christ would make real.
Jesus’ statement can be interpreted this way: I did not come to destroy the law NOW.
Jesus’ teaching was not directed against the law. It was directed to the heart of man.
But while the law was in force, he obeyed it according the its true application, not the false derivations men had accumulated over the years.
End of review
Part 9 - Righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees; divorce, oaths
Today I hope to complete Matthew chapter 5 with the exception of the last verse.
We begin with Matthew 5:19-20 in the ESV:
Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Law—the word understood by every Jew--remained in full force when Jesus spoke these words.
The word “for” in verse 20 is in the text in the original language. The word “for” can be either a preposition or a conjunction. In this context it is a conjunction meaning “because.” We need to pay careful attention to the conjunctions in the bible. The conjunctions show us how the parts of the text tie together. It assigns the reason to what has just before been said (i.e., the reason it is true that “whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.”) The reason: the righteousness of those who heard his sermon had to exceed the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees, otherwise they would not enter the kingdom.
Who were the scribes and Pharisees?
• The scribes were workers who made copies of the scriptures by hand.
(Only handwritten scripture existed.)
• The Pharisees were a sect of the Jews, like the Pharisees, Saducees, Zealots and Essenes The name Pharisee means “the separated one.”
What did Jesus mean by saying “EXCEED” the righteousness of the Pharisees?
Did Jesus lay down a harsher law with even more exacting strictures than the Law of Moses?
Is that what he Hebrew writer meant in Hebrews 10:28-29
ESV Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
Why did Jesus make this generalization about the scribes and Pharisees? Things that characterized scribes and Pharisees were:
• Generally, their religion was on the outside.
• It consisted of exactness in external obedience (or the appearance of it).
• It lay in the idea of acquiring righteousness by keeping not only the law itself but virtually every conceivable ramification of the law, which led them to a distorted view of the law of Moses.
• In that approach, they thought righteousness resided in precise external obedience to minutiae.
Their hearts were not involved in their religious practices. One could avoid commiting murder, yet have a heart reeking with loathing that would motivate and prepare a person to commit murder. But hidden inside them was:
• Pride
• Self-righteousness
• Hypocrisy
• Blindness to their own errors
Jesus said they make the outside of the cup and of the platter clean, but leave the filth inside. Like whitewashed tombs that appear beautiful, they are within full of dead men's bones. They make self-centered prayers (e.g., the Pharisee whose prayer was full of self-praise).
Therefore the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was, generally speaking, not in the spirit and design of the law, but in the letter (without regard to the spirit).
Jesus’ meaning is this:
Let your religion be in substance--not in form, pretense and self-congratulation.
Jesus didn’t leave this teaching unexplained. He launches a series of illustrations of the relationship of his teaching to the law. In the remainder of chapter 5 he cites 6 things that they had all heard for a long time.
Alongside each of the things they had heard, he lays his own doctrine.
In no point do his doctrines countermand or make light of what is the law of Moses.
In fact, everything he teaches is in support of keeping the Law.
Read Matthew 5:21-48
What overall observations can we make about this reading?
Discuss if time permits
Some but not all of “what they had heard” was the Law, but some was not.
Some of what they had heard was a grossly contaminated interpretation of the law.
I’ll explain what I mean as we go along.
MURDER
In verse 21 he says, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'”
Write MURDER on white board.
Jesus didn’t need to inform them that murder is forbidden. They knew that!
He didn’t need to reiterate it so that the commandment not to murder would be incorporated in “the law of Christ.” He’s teaching something else.
The warnings are to one who is:
• Angry without a cause - NASB omits the phrase, with the marginal notation, “Some manuscripts insert here: without cause.”
The danger is judgment.
• Says to brother “raca” - Definition of raca: “empty or worthless one.”
The danger is the council. (You know what the Sanhedrin was.)
• Says “you fool” - danger is hell fire.
We know what someone means who calls another person a fool
Instead of being angry, or calling a person names, Jesus presents a very difference scenario.
Narrate or read Matt 5:23-26: If you are offering your gift at the altar and remember that someone has something against you, leave your gift, go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift.
Jesus revealed the urgency of mending broken relationships with your brother. It is so weighty a matter that you are to leave your sacrifice at the altar and let it wait, while you go to your brother for reconciliation. It is not that the sacrifice you intend to make is unimportant--but there is a difference between what is important and what is urgent.
Where did this thought stream begin? With murder!
Jesus takes us to a quest for reconciliation.
Write ---? RECONCILIATION on the white board beside MURDER.
The relevant beatitude is
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
ADULTERY
Next Jesus cited the seventh of the ten commandments Matthew 5:27 ESV "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'
Write ADULTERY
They didn’t need to be informed that the Law prohibited adultery. They knew that! So Jesus talked instead about adultery in the heart. Adultery of the heart resides in the lust, not in the action only. So let us consider the effect of lust in the heart.
Is adultery of the heart temptation, or is it sin? (Is it a sin to be tempted?)
Jesus did not say that temptation, if resisted, is equal to the sin avoided.
Temptation itself is not sin. Jesus himself was tempted in the wilderness of Judea and in every point that we are! Temptation cannot be avoided. Temptation to sin is much of what life is about – and has been since God created Adam.
1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Someone may ask: “What is the way of escape?”
Except to say “Don’t sin,” I can’t answer for every person’s temptations. But I know this: Where there is temptation, there is an escape with it. It’s not hidden. It will be as plain as the temptation itself.
When we are under temptation, if we are honest, we can see the way of escape it.
How much difficulty did Joseph have when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him? None.
The question is, “Do we want to escape the temptation – or succumb to it?”
The thoughts of the heart are points on the path to an action. The place to deal with it is in the heart.
Write -?ESCAPE” on the white board beside ADULTERY
A relevant beatitude:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (the 6th beatitude).
THE CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE
Write CERTIFICATE
We are not going to spiral into the “what ifs,” whys and wherefores, and who sinned first of marriage and divorce.
Jesus didn’t either.
He uses divorce as it was routinely practiced at that time, as one of several examples in a thought stream.
We need to see and understand the stream of thought Jesus is presenting, not get bogged down in the examples.
Those out on the mountain had heard, “Let him give her a certificate of divorce.”
Begin discussion with v31 only. Who said, “...let him give her a certificate of divorce?”
Some of them on the mountain might have answered, “Moses said that.”
No! Moses did not say it!
Deut 24:1-4 “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.”
The meaning of this passage is fairly easy to understand. If a man divorces his wife and she marries another, he may never take her again as his wife.
Through the years, men found what they wanted in this passage—a way to end a marriage.
So they said a certificate was required.
The words of Moses can’t be forced to mean that.
Jesus didn’t address the certificate.
It had no bearing on what he was going to say.
Instead of saying a certificate is what is required to end a marriage, he simply states one exception to the rule of the permanency of marriage: unchastity.
Since Jesus was not attempting to comprehensively address all the twists and turns of the institution of marriage in these 2 verses (the first of which was a mere statement of the error they had heard about a certificate) we won’t either, more than to see how this fits along with the other illustrations he gives of his teaching which--he says--does not abolish the Law.
Write 1 EXCEPTION.
BREAKING OATHS
Re-read this one:
Matt 5:33-37 Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Write BREAKING OATH
What is it to swear, or make an oath?
It’s not about profanity.
An oath is the same as taking a vow.
Why do people take oaths?
• To make a commitment binding
• To make their words or promises more credible.
The thing they had heard from old was the 9th of the ten commandments,
Do not swear falsely.
The people on the mountain were also familiar with Deut 23:21
When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you.
What Jesus said was, “Don’t swear at all.”
Say yes or no and mean it.
The essence of his teaching is that it is unnecessary to swear in order to make our word binding.
Write INTEGRITY
Is this an absolute prohibition against taking any oath?
I don’t think so. But follow your conscience.
Integrity is derived from the English word “integer,” which I said means one (1).
Correction is in order. It doesn’t mean a value of 1. It means whole or undivided.
1 is an integer, 1.5 is not. 5 is an integer, 5.5 is not.
The idea is that with regard to any oaths or vows we might take, we are a whole person – not a collection of fractional parts.
As I have pointed out before, Jesus obviously didn’t go into this so the people would know not to murder, commit adultery, how to document a divorce properly, or not break an oath.
They already knew what had been said for centuries, although they had willingly distorted what Moses said about a divorce certificate.
Jesus is illustrating the beatitudes, as he does throughout the sermon.
