A. INTRODUCTION
1. Our Summer Series for 1996 is part of the most carefully-studied and widely-known record of the teachings of Jesus Christ, Matthew 5 - 7, popularly (and, I think, unfortunately) known as "The S __ __ __ __ __ on the M __ __ __ __." Much of what this passage contains of Christ's teaching appears nowhere else in the gospels, but a shorter parallel is contained in Luke 6:17-49, "The Sermon on the Plain," so-called because of the notably different description of that setting.
2. MATTHEW 4:23 - 5:1 [ NKJV ]
And Jesus went walking by the Sea of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.
And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them....
a. This passage presents a "snapshot" of the first year of Christ's earthly ministry, which included:
(1) t __ __ __ __ __ __ __ in the synagogues;
(2) p __ __ __ __ __ __ __ the g __ __ __ __ __ of the k __ __ __ __ __ __; and
(3) miraculous h __ __ __ __ __ __ of all sorts of diseases.
b. As a result, Jesus became rather famous throughout the region. Soon He was drawing "great m __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __" from far and wide.
c. It should be noted in 5:1 -- the beginning of the "Sermon on the Mount" -- that Jesus was
not addressing the multitudes. He was teaching His d __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __.
d. And this was not preaching. The passage indicates that He sat d __ __ __ before beginning His discourse. There were two modes of rabbinical teaching. Informal, almost casual teaching was communicated while walking alongside one's pupils. But when the teacher sat down ( Latin: ex cathedra, literally "from the chair"), seriously significant information was about to be delivered.
3. Matthew 5:2-12
a. This first section of the "Sermon on the Mount" is, of course, known widely as "The B __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __."
b. Bible scholars have for centuries debated:
(1) Christ's intended p __ __ __ __ __ __ for His teaching here;
(2) How literally they should be I __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __; and
(3) whether they apply fully to the p __ __ __ __ __ __ or some f __ __ __ __ __ period.
4. Matthew 5:13-16
a. Some refer to this section as "The S __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __," because Jesus in these verses presents His two designations or symbols of the true disciple:
(1) s __ __ __ and
(2) l __ __ __ __.
B. TEXT: Matthew 5:17-20
1. "Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill." ( v.17 )
a. There were four different ways in which a Jew of Jesus' day might understand "the Law."
(1) It could mean the Decalogue ( the 10 c __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ ).
(2) It could mean the Pentateuch ( "the five scrolls" ), which consists of the first five books of the Bible.
(3) When using the phrase "the Law and the Prophets," as Christ does in this passage, they usually meant the entire bulk of the Hebrew Scripture, the Old Testament.
(4) They could also understand that phrase to include the Oral or S __ __ __ __ __ Law.
"In the Old Testament itself we find very few rules and regulations; what we do find are great, broad principles which a man must himself take and interpret under God's guidance, and apply to the individual situations in life. In the Ten Commandments we find no rules and regulations at all; they are each one of them great principles out of which a man must find his own rules for life. To the later Jews these great principles did not seem enough. They held that the Law was divine, and that in it God had said his last word, and that therefore everything must be in it. If a thing was not in the Law explicitly it must be there implicitly. They therefore argued that out of the Law it must be possible to deduce a rule and a regulation for every possible situation in life. So there arose a race of men called the Scribes who made it the business of their live to reduce great principles of the Law to literally thousands upon thousands of rules and regulations." - William Barclay: The Gospel of Matthew
- So men called S __ __ __ __ __ who interpreted the Law for everybody, working out rules and regulations for every conceivable life situation. At the time of Christ most Scribal interpretation had been handed down from generation to generation in the form of Oral Law. By the third century A.D. their findings were codified into a bulky summary called the Mishnah, which is divided into 63 subjects contained in over 800 pages in the English edition. Later Jewish scholars began writing their own interpretations of the Mishnah. Their commentaries are called the Talmud, which exists in 12 large volumes.
- Men called the P __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ ( "Separated Ones" ) were ones called to separate themselves from all the ordinary activities of life in order to consciously "keep" all these rules and regulations. They were considered the "H __ __ __ M __ __" in their day.
- When Jesus was accused of breaking the Law, it was the P __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ who accused him and the O __ __ __ Law which they accused Him of breaking
ref: Matthew 12:1-8; 9-13; 22-32
Matthew 22:34-40
Matthew 23:1-36
Luke 7:36-50
Luke 20:1-8
Romans 10:4
b. Many of those who were intrigued by the early popularity of Jesus mistrusted Him for one of two reasons.
(1) Some were fearful that He did not have sufficient reverence for the authority of the Law and Prophets.
(2) Some were fearful (and others hopeful) that He might become a religious revolutionary.
c. Three ways in which Christ f __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ the Law and Prophets:
(1) He o __ __ __ __ __ the Law perfectly, the only person to have ever done so.
(2) He was the very embodiment of the Word of God, the "L __ __ __ __ __ W __ __ __."
(3) His sacrificial work on the cross both paid the p __ __ __ __ __ __ for breaking the law and transformed the ceremonial laws, removing their barriers and giving them new meaning, most of which issue forth in the sacraments.
d. When Jesus declares Himself to be the fulfillment of the revelation of God, He introduces a basic element of the science of hermeneutics, the study of (biblical) interpretation.
(1) Two of the great legacies of the Reformation remain:
- the translation of Scripture into the common vernacular; and
- the principle of private interpretation. Until that time the Church interpreted the Word of God for the "laity," and thus their interpretations were seen as having the same level of authority and infallibility as the Bible itself. Church leaders were convinced that interpretation by common people might well lead them into heresy ( a legitimate fear, and one that has been realized many times over since the Reformation ). But the Reformers insisted that neither Christ's promise that the Holy Spirit would lead His disciples into all t __ __ __ __ nor the Spiritual gift of t __ __ __ __ __ __ __ were limited in any way to "clergy," and that all Christians who combined the sincere study of God's Word with instruction from Spiritually-gifted teachers could and should "grow in grace and knowledge on their own.
(2) Four excellent hermeneutic rules:
- The analogy of faith, , or "interpreting Scripture with Scripture" by not insisting on an interpretation of a verse or passage which places it in direct conflict with what another part of Scripture clearly states;
- literal interpretation, or reading Scripture in full recognition of the literary devices of metaphor, figures of speech, and so on.
- grammatical context, which is where an understanding of the original languages comes into play;
[ An example here would be Christ's declaration in Acts 1:8 to His disciples that "you will be my witnesses." In the English rendering we could understand this to be either a prophecy or a command. But the grammatical construction of the Greek text makes it perfectly clear that Jesus was issuing a direct command. ]
- historical context, matters of who wrote the book, to whom it was written, its setting, its time and place in history, etc.
[ For example, it is important to know that the Gospel of Matthew, unlike the other three, was written primarily for a Jewish audience. His intent was to show to the Jews why Jesus was, in fact, the promised Messiah, and much of his text is punctuated with references to obscure prophecies and elements of Jewish history with which readers who do not understand Old Testament literature and messianic prophecies may not always comprehend.
This is how we should approach everything Christ is recorded as having said in Matthew 5:17 - 6:24, our text passage for the Summer of '96 Sermon Series. He was not addressing the multitudes in a "sermon," but was seated, teaching central truths to his disciples who were gathered around Him. These "Kingdom Attitudes and Actions" were not being dispensed by Jesus as rules for life in general, but as the Laws of the Kingdom of God, in which all believers dwell even while living in whatever secular "kingdom" they might inhabit. ]
(3) "Every passage of the Bible has one and only one meaning, but it may have many implications and applications. Sometimes uncovering the meaning is not easy. There- fore, we need to be open to the studies of peers, pastoral insights and scholarly research. Otherwise, we fall into sheer subjectivism." - R.C. Sproul: "Private Interpretation," in Tabletalk magazine
2. "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." ( v.18 )
a. The NKJV "assuredly, I say to you" is the updated rendering of the KJV "Verily, I say unto you." This phrase carried great significance, since it prepared the listener that something of great importance was about to be communicated on the authority of the teacher. Jesus wowed His audiences in no small part because He taught "as one having authority." Most teachers in the synagogue would never admit to personal insight in anything they taught. They were careful only to read from the Law or the Scribal writings, attributing all authority to others and not themselves.
b. The "j __ __" is the English name for the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, the yod, which looks most like an English apostrophe.
c. The "tittle" is the English word for the smallest, shortest stroke required of the pen to make any part of a Hebrew letter. The best possible understanding for us might be the "dotting" of the letter "I" in the simple case.
d. "[The last past of v.18] means the entire divine purpose prophesied in Scripture must take place; not one jot or tittle will fail of its fulfillment." - D.A. Carson: "Matthew," in Volume 8, The Expositor's Bible Commentary
3. "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, he will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." ( v.19 )
a. The English rendering "breaks" here is translated more accurately in the NASB as "annuls." By noting this we do not mean to say that Jesus was not concerned that commandments were being "broken," but that His concern was for both the "l __ __ __ __ __" and the "s __ __ __ __ __" of the law. This will become increasingly clear in weeks 2 - 6 of our study, when Jesus "re-teaches" a correct understanding of five specific Mosaic laws.
b. The Scribes and Pharisees had succeeded over time in blurring the lines between the intent of certain aspects of the Law of God and their own interpretations of them. People who do so intentionally -- and, in particular, those who go on to teach other to follow them in their "tweaking" of the original intent of the law -- are clearly outside of God's will, and will be dealt with by Him accordingly.
(1) The Pharisees were charged by Jesus with falling all over themselves in keeping the "letter" of certain laws while crushing their "spirit" at the same time. The harshest language our Lord uses in the gospels is never directed at sinners, or unjust civil authorities, but at the "religious establishment" whose responsibilities and influence far exceeded that of secular rulers or unbelievers. ( See Matthew 23:13-33. )
(2) This is certainly a problem for believers today. Most of us aren't really sure where the law "ends" and the gospel of Christ "begins," so we have churches and denominations at both ends of the spectrum, from "l __ __ __ __ __ __ __" (strict rules of behaviour as "proof" of one's salvation) to "a __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __" (freedom from any and all standards of behaviour as the ultimate "work" of grace). Satan works in two terrible ways in the church to take full advantage of our dilemma.
- First, he works to pervert the c __ __ __ __ __ of the law, sometimes causing us to go so far as to say that evil things are good and good things evil. Two examples which come to mind are the issues of corporal punishment of children and capital punishment for certain crimes. Many Christians believe that the Bible forbids them, but it most certainly does not. In fact, it teaches exactly the opposite. Satan is able to sew seeds of confusion by masquerading as "an angel of l __ __ __ __." (See 2 Corinthians 11:14).
- Second, Satan works to pervert the d __ __ __ __ __ __ __ of the law by setting up a false tension in our minds between the law and the Gospel. It is my personal contention that many (yet, perhaps, not all) of our denominational differences represent the fruit of his labor in this regard.
c. Some have asked about the difference between the "Kingdom of God" and the "Kingdom of Heaven." I am confident that the terms are interchangeable. The latter term only appears in the gospel of Matthew which, as we said, was written (probably in Aramaic) specifically for a Jewish readership. A Devout Jew would neither speak nor write the name of God, and Matthew's terminology may be nothing more than a nod to that tradition.
4. "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will be no means enter the kingdom of heaven." ( v.20 )
a. Jesus is stating in this entire passage that His teaching, toward which the entire Old Testament points, must be obeyed. And His teaching -- that true righteousness cannot come from the Law -- is decidedly not more lenient than the Law, since it demands perfection.
b. "The Pharisees and teachers of the law were among the most punctilious in the land. Jesus' criticism is not that they were not good, but that they were not good enough. While their multiplicity of regulations could engender a 'good' society, it domesticated the law and lost the radical demand for absolute holiness demanded by the Scriptures." - D.A.Carson, Op. cit.
C. APPLICATION
1. What Jesus demands, and what He will highlight in the passages we will study this summer, is the righteousness to which the law actually points. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, Messiah will call out a people who will be seen as "oaks of righteousness...for the display of God's splendor" (Isaiah 61:3) and whose righteousness will outstrip the "old" righteousness in both spirit and letter.
2. Christians are justified by f __ __ __ __ alone, so the pursuit of God's righteousness in our daily lives does not serve the purpose of gaining His favour. Righteous living is demanded by our Lord, however, as proof of the salvation we have been given by God.
- Such proof must not be required of our Christian friends and contemporaries; that would constitute "judgment" on their part.
- Yet such proof is necessary as a t __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ to the watching world around us. It can and will lead to opportunities for evangelism.
- And such proof is necessary evidence to one's self about his/her new life in Christ. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating," the old adage goes, and "the proof of faith is a life lived by faith coram Deo, 'before the face of God'."
3. The biblical "yardstick" of righteous behaviour includes, but it most certainly not limited to, our actions. First and foremost is the measure of the m __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ for the believer's behaviour and the a __ __ __ __ __ __ __ of his/her heart.
ref: 1 Samuel 15:22
Psalm 51:16-19
Isaiah 1:11-17
Jeremiah 7:22-23
Micah 6:6-8
Hebrews 10:4-10
4. According to James 1:22-25, the Law of God is like a m __ __ __ __ __; it reflects things.
a. Certainly it reflects the r __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ of God, which should drive us to our knees before His holiness.
b. By contrast the law reflects our own sinfulness. We might prefer to use other mirrors -- distorted or "darkened" ones -- which show us in a more flattering light, but God has given us His law for that purpose. It we "look into" it faithfully, it will never fail to drive us back to C __ __ __ __ __, our Saviour.
c. The net effect of these two truths will cause us to be authentically h __ __ __ __ __ and to desire in our hearts to do that which p __ __ __ __ __ __ God.
(1) "Covenant people live lives of holiness that distinguish them so greatly from the wicked that they cannot reside in the den of iniquity any longer." - Laura England: "Lawless No More," in Tabletalk magazine.
(2) Deuteronomy 7:9
Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.
5. For many of us a first step in cognitively and purposefully pursuing righteous behaviour must begin with the development of a genuine l __ __ __ for the law of God. A study of Psalm 119 is where we might start to develop this love. It has 22 sections, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section has eight verses, the first word of each beginning with the letter which heads that section. And every passage in the entire 176 verse (!) chapter celebrates the law of God.
Can you imagine a local church where every member really loves the law of God?
