Sermon Tone Analysis

The Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:3-7:27

INTRODUCTION

The early church introduced each of the four Gospels with the phrase “The Gospel According to…” This was followed by the name of the disciple who had been inspired by the Spirit of God to write of their perspective: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Matthew’s Gospel is one of the three synoptic Gospels (along with Mark and Luke), each looking at the life and death and resurrection of Jesus from a similar and yet unique perspective and each with a specific audience in mind.

Each Gospel is considered to be an example of narrative literature, as they relate actual events in history.

As the four Gospels are narrative in genre, they each provide a biographical account of Jesus Christ and His ministry on earth.

Careful study of the Gospels reveals harmony in their message, providing evidence of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Most biblical scholars claim that Matthew was writing to people of his own heritage, people of the nation of Israel.

Matthew begins his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, as one’s genealogy was very important to the people of Israel.

Matthew presents factual evidence of Jesus’ conception and birth, while including prophecies found in the Hebrew Scriptures that point to Jesus as the Messiah.

Matthew began his Gospel record within a specific point in history, while Herod was ruling as king in Israel.

The beginning of Matthew’s Gospel includes the response of those who knew of Christ’s identity, from Joseph and Mary, the visiting magi from the east, and John who was called to lead the way to Christ by preaching a baptism of repentance.

While the Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 5:3 - 7:27, the following exegesis will cover Matthew’s introduction (in Matthew 5:1, 2) as well as Matthew’s conclusion (in 7:28, 29).

An observation of the Sermon on the Mount can address the “5 Ws and an H” questions by looking at the context of the Sermon as follows:

Who was involved?

In Matthew 5:1 it says that Jesus saw that there were crowds of people and Jesus’ disciples who came to Him.

Matthew 4:25 says that great multitudes followed Jesus “from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.”

Matthew 4:18-22 tells us about the calling of four of Jesus’ followers, who were later called Jesus’ disciples.

Scripture tells us that Jesus’ audience often included members of Jewish sects.

Five to ten percent of the nation of Israel was affiliated with a religious sect.

These included the Essenes who had withdrawn to Qumran, and separating themselves from the temple in Jerusalem.

The Saduccees who were the overseers of the Jerusalem temple were of prominent lineage.

The Pharisees were the most respected of the Jewish sects, who were associated with the synagogue system, adhering to the Law and teaching strict obedience to it.

Between 90 to 95% of the Hebrew people were not aligned with any sect.1

What happened before Matthew 5-7 that led to this passage?

John the Baptist said to his audience, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” in Matthew 3:2 and then in Matthew 4:17 Matthew wrote that Jesus said “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven at hand.”

In Matthew 4:23 we learn that Jesus “was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.”

The expression “the kingdom of heaven” is found throughout Matthew’s Gospel and study of this phrase reveals very important teaching concerning Christ and His ministry.

The Sermon on the Mount provides as example of the nature of “progressive revelation” within Scripture.2

Through the eons of time God revealed Himself to His people, and with the coming of Christ, a new era opened with teaching that revealed God’s righteousness and His plan for humanity to be reconciled with Him so that they might enter into His beloved family and be a member of His kingdom.

Where did this take place?

Jesus’ early ministry was in Galilee, in the northern region of Israel according to Matthew 4:23 and then Matthew 5:1 records that Jesus taught on a mountain.

As to the location of the mountain, the early church fathers named a specific place at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, calling it the “Mount of Beatitudes” and from this hillside a person’s voice carries for a considerable distance, as demonstrated by modern day Israeli tour guides.

When did the Sermon on the Mount take place?

Matthew recorded these events: Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:13-17), was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11), began His ministry (Matthew 4:17), called his disciples Peter, Andrew, James, and John (Matthew 4:18-22), and then taught in the synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people, (Matthew 4:23).

Why was this recorded?

Matthew shared Jesus’ Sermon as an example of His proclamation.

Jesus’ Sermon provides an incredible example of His teaching through preaching.

Some of Jesus’ Sermon reflects the proverbial truths found in the Hebrew Proverbs.

“Each proverb holds a facet of truth much like the facets of a gem,” and the author of the proverb “rotates the gem giving additional pictures of truth.”3

It is significant that Matthew followed the Sermon with this statement, “The result was that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes,” Matthew 7:28, 29.

How were Jesus’ words recorded?

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Matthew wrote Jesus’ words.

In other portions of the Gospels, Jesus teaches about “similar” themes that appear in the Sermon on the Mount.

In Luke 6:20-49, Luke tells of Jesus’ teaching (on the plain) and yet thirty-four of the 107 verses in Matthew’s Gospel are not in Luke’s account.

“Forty-seven of Matthew’s verses have no parallel at all in Luke.”4

This exegesis will focus on Matthew’s text and not Luke’s.

Some biblical scholars believe that Jesus would not have presented His Sermon (as we read it) in one “sitting” because of the magnitude of His teaching.

Perhaps Matthew did expand on Jesus’ teaching with what he heard throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, so that what is presented in Matthew 5-7 is a compilation of His preaching

Matthew 5:1, 2

?1.  )Idw

de\ tou\$ o&xlou$ a)ne~/bh ei)$ to\ o&ro$, kai\ kaqi~/santo$ au)tou= prosh=lqan au)tw=| oi( maqhtai\ au)tou=: 2 ?kai\ a)noi~/ca$ to\ sto~/ma au)tou= e)di~/dasken au)tou\$ le~/gwn:

1 And when He saw the crowds He went up unto the mountain, and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2And opening His mouth He began to teach them saying,

Matthew 5 begins with Jesus seeing a crowd of people, going up to the mountain, and sitting down.

With His disciples coming to Him, Jesus began to teach.

Matthew’s reference to the crowds (o&xlou$) causes the reader to look back at the context of this passage where Matthew 4:23-25 tells of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee among people from Syria, Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

God revealed Himself to Moses, Joshua, the elders of Israel, and the nation of Israel from the mountain in Sinai, and biblical scholars have viewed Jesus’ ministry on the mountains of Israel and noted the significant truths that are revealed about God and His purpose and plan for humanity from these locations.5

Jesus manifested the presence of the kingdom of heaven from Israel’s mountains as He came to earth as God in the flesh.

Jesus’ identity and His ministry were manifested at a variety of mountains in Israel: His temptation, preaching, teaching, transfiguration, miracles, crucifixion, and ascension.

Matthew says that Jesus’ disciples came to Him and then Jesus began to teach.

Matthew’s reference to Jesus’ disciples follows 4:18-22 where we have an account of Jesus’ calling of Peter, Andrew, James, and John from among the fishermen of the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus told His disciples that He would make them “fishers of men” in Matthew 4:19.

Nolland says that Jesus’ Sermon “illustrates the ‘fishing’ to which Jesus has recently called some fishermen.”6

Later (in Matthew 10:1-4) Matthew presented a complete list of the names of the twelve disciples.

The use of the word disciple (maqhtai\) in the writings of the New Testament provides a connection for the people of Israel who understood that Jewish rabbis each had disciples who studied under them and would carry on their teaching and interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

The Greek culture also had disciples who studied under their philosophers to become learned teachers themselves.

What is unique is that Jesus called His disciples from among the people, not from among the rabbinic academies established in Israel to prepare men for service as a Jewish rabbi.

Jesus’ Sermon begins with what the early church called “The Beatitudes,” found in Matthew 5:3-12.

The word beatitude is taken from the Latin word beatitudo, generally translated as happiness.

The word beatitudo comes from the Latin word beatus which is translated as happy, blessed, wealthy, abundant, and splendid,7 although the Beatitudes provide “an incomplete description of a kingdom person.”8

The early church considered the Beatitudes to be exhortations (paraklesi$), words of encouragement from the Lord Jesus Himself.

The word paraklesi$ was used as an entreaty to come alongside of someone and call them to obedience.

The word was also used as a commendation for one’s behavior as well as to provide words to give someone courage concerning the present, in light of the future.

Jesus later taught His disciples in the Upper Room discourse that the Holy Spirit would become to them a source of guidance and help, reminding them of His teaching, and bringing conviction of righteousness and the coming judgment, (John 14:26, 16:8-11).

Matthew 5:3

3 ?Maka~/rioi oi( ptwxoi\ tw=| pneu~/mati, o%ti au)tw=n e)stin h( basilei~/a tw=n ou)ranw=n.

3 Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:3-10 is considered as a rhetorical device called an inclusio, and this entire portion is to be viewed together.

Each of the Beatitudes relates to the life of a kingdom person, although the Beatitudes provide an “incomplete description of a kingdom person” and evidence that one’s happiness is not the result of being poor in spirit.9

Each of the Beatitudes (in Matthew 5:3-11) are introduced with the Greek adjective (maka~/rioi) which is used as a predicate adjective, asserting a truth about a person without an actual verb of being, although that is implied with this use.

What did the word maka~/rioi mean to Jesus’ audience?

In the Greek culture the word maka~/rioi was first used in poetry and “refers to the blessedness of the gods.”10

The word eventually came to describe the “freedom of the rich from normal cares and worries,” and maka~/rioi was used on epitaphs with different themes, regarding “material goods, children, a marriage partner, bachelorhood, riches, a good understanding, fame, righteousness, the release of death, and mystic initiation.”11

When the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into the Septuagint (LXX) the adjective maka~/rioi was predominantly used as a predicate adjective as it is used in the Beatitudes, which the early church also called macarisms.

G. Bertram claims that in the LXX “blessedness is fullness of life, … and true blessedness is that of trust in God, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, even affliction, and final deliverance.”12

F. Hauck, says that the adjective maka~/rioi is used in the New Testament to show that God “effects a reversal of all human values.

True happiness is not for the rich and secure, but for the poor and oppressed who are rich only in pity, purity, and peace.”13

The maka~/rioi is followed by the causal clause introduced with o%ti and the promise that was made by Christ to His followers; the cause of happiness that is to follow is beyond the temporal here and now.

Each of the Beatitudes “introduces a fact which justifies the paradoxical declaration.”14

The first eight Beatitudes are given in the third person and then at 5:11 (and through 7:20) the Sermon is recorded in the second person.

Nolland connects this to Matthew’s record of Jesus calling His followers to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” in Matthew 4:17 and His preaching of the gospel according to Matthew 4:23.

The second adjective in Matthew 5:3 ptwxoi), is used as an attributive adjective, as the subject of the sentence.

Robertson says that the word ptwxoi “suggests spiritual destitution (from ptwsso to crouch, to cower).”15

Nolland offers multiple explanations of the word within Matthew 5:3, but contends that the “language of poverty is first and foremost the language of neediness”16 and then concludes that because ptwxoi is joined with tw=| pneu~/mati it refers to “the human attitude or state of mind.”17

Personal Comments

The Essene community at Qumran called themselves those who were poor.

These men who had separated themselves from the rest of Israel claimed the promises of God for their future as they felt that “they had learned the lesson of the exile and gloried in their powerless-ness apart from God.”18

As the kingdom of heaven was explained by Christ, He caused those in His audience to contemplate their understanding of the role of the One ushering in God’s kingdom.

Matthew used the phrase the kingdom of heaven out of reverence for Israel’s holy God, while Mark and Luke (writing to “Greek” audiences) used the phrase the kingdom of God.