1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (KJV) But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.


God the Father has made Christ unto Christians all that the Sermon on the Mount is. The life I now live I live by the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption and faith of Christ.


The sermon on the mount was to confirm that Jesus was the King of the Kingdom that was at hand.


When we get to the House that Jesus is preparing for us, the bar for the Sermon on the Mount will become a very low bar, we will be learning through all eternity how high that bar will go, and still we will never attain the top of the bar otherwise I would have to be God.


Christ is my life not my King although He is King of Kings, yet I would much rather be the Kings brother and servant by birth than just a person under His Kingship.

I am all that Christ is to the Father by my second birth, Born Again with Christ in me: Phillip

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Phillip

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Sreeram

Galatians 5:1-6 (KJV) Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.


What liberty? The liberty that Christ has set us free in our salvation. This liberty is not license, but freedom.

John 8:36 (KJV) If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

The Law can no longer holds us in bondage, and the Sermon on the mount We take by faith which worketh by Love that Christ has made us thus forth its perfection in us.

Colossians 1:28-29 (KJV) Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

So what is our labour? Is it not striving according according To His perfect works, Which overwhelmingly worketh in us Mightily to do even greater works than He did and these works are by His mighty resurrection power that is birthed in us by the Father; born again Which gives us the right to be called sons of God by His Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption by His own Faith that we obtained by that Faith unto our salvation.

Ephesians 2:5-10 (KJV) Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

These are the good works ordained by God that we should walk in, These are works created by God in Christ Jesus that we might be His workmanship.

In Christ: Phillip

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Phillip

OP say,

"To me Sermon on the Mount, is an effort by Jesus to raise the standard set by 10 commandments and prophets. He is raising the bar to a new height..."

Not so!

The scope and drift of this sermon is to teach His disciples, with all that believe in Him, to lead a godly, an holy and a blessed life.

Although this be evident in the text, yet the popish teachers have depraved this end and scope; saying that Christ herein propoundeth a new law, far more perfect than the law of Moses; and also delivereth new divine counsel to His disciples, which was not given in the law or in the prophets.

But they err and are deceived; for Christ’s intent is to clear the true meaning of Moses and the prophets, which was corrupted by the false gloss of the Jewish teachers; and not to add any new law or counsel thereunto, as afterwards will plainly appear (5:17; 7:12).

Again, there cannot be given unto man a more perfect rule than Moses’ law, the sum and scope whereof is to love God with all the heart, with all the soul and with all the strength (Matt. 22:37). William Perkins

The rule which Christ came to establish exactly agreed with the scriptures of the Old Testament, here called the law and the prophets. The prophets were commentators upon the law, and both together made up that rule of faith and practice which Christ found upon the throne in the Jewish church, and here he keeps it on the throne. He protests against the thought of cancelling and weakening the Old Testament; Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets. "Let not the pious Jews, who have an affection for the law and the prophets, fear that I come to destroy them.’’ Let them be not prejudiced against Christ and his doctrine, from a jealousy that this kingdom he came to set up, would derogate from the honour of the scriptures, which they had embraced as coming from God, and of which they had experienced the power and purity; no, let them be satisfied that Christ has no ill design upon the law and the prophets. "Let not the profane Jews, who have a disaffection to the law and the prophets, and are weary of that yoke, hope that I am come to destroy them.’’ Let not carnal libertines imagine that the Messiah is come to discharge them from the obligation of divine precepts and yet to secure to them divine promises, to make the happy and yet to give them leave to live as they list. Christ commands nothing new which was forbidden either by the law of nature or the moral law, nor forbids any thing which those laws had enjoined; it is a great mistake to think he does, and he here takes care to rectify the mistake; I am not come to destroy. The Saviour of souls is the destroyer of nothing but the works of the devil, of nothing that comes from God, much less of those excellent dictates which we have from Moses and the prophets. No, he came to fulfil them. That is, to obey the commands of the law, for he was made under the law, Gal. 4:4 . He in all respects yielded obedience to the law, honoured his parents, sanctified the sabbath, prayed, gave alms, and did that which never any one else did, obeyed perfectly, and never broke the law in any thing. Matthew Henry

[2Co 3:9 NKJV] 9 For if the ministry of condemnation [had] glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

Paul names the Law given to Moses as the "ministry of condemnation".

Paul defines how the "ministry of condemnation" accomplishes what God has willed.

[Rom 7:7-12 NKJV] 7 What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."

8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all [manner of evil] desire. For apart from the law sin [was] dead.

9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

10 And the commandment, which [was] to [bring] life, I found to [bring] death.

11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed [me]. 12 Therefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

The Law given to Moses condemns man as he learns what sin is.

The Sermon on the Mount is something entirely different...

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Jeff Marshalek

"The Sermon on the Mount is something entirely different..."

Not so!

The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. Psalm 19:7-11

The Law of the LORD is Perfect. Because it is a mirror reflection of God Himself. His character is flawless. This is why Christ Jesus kept the law perfectly. He being the Image of the invisible God. He being the Word made flesh.

Of course it shows us our sin! When we measure ourselves against God and His character we see just how flawed we are, and how far short we fall.

But our aim is to be as Jesus, Who always did those things which were pleasing to His Father. He kept the Law perfectly.

Certainly, none would advocate that we sin (break the law), that grace may abound.

But we know that, if we do sin, we have an Advocate with the Father. He is Faithful and Just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, when we confess our sins.

Praise, honor, and glory be to Him! Amen.

I just want to revisit what "law" is. Law is an external demand made upon someone that they must accomplish. The law is given for sinners, not the righteous:

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 1 Tim. 1:9, 10

The law can and will reveal sin but can do nothing to help someone keep the law. It is powerless to help in that regard. As new covenant believers we have the Holy Spirit indwelling our spirit and it is the nature and character of the HS to express Himself through the life of the believer (who is yielded) this fruit of the Spirit which fulfills all the of law and even exceeds it. So the external standard of conduct which the law had placed on us has been replaced in us by this dynamic walk in the Spirit which is superior to the law. Does the spirit have to be told to not kill or lie or steal. No. It is the nature of the spirit to walk in perfect love. Nothing I have said is antinomian. The spirit supplies in us what the law demanding of us could never accomplish.

Like Travis mentioned, the difference could be seen as subtle and nuanced but it makes all the difference in the world. The law demands and the spirit supplies. However, I know it might be tempting to say that God gives us the Holy Spirit so that we can keep the law but such a statement is misguided. The Spirit living and expressing Himself through us is far better than simple law keeping.

-Daniel

There are lot of good views here on Sermon on the Mount. The question I have asked is, what is Sermon on the Mount means to you. But most answers include how to keep sermon on the Mount or whether to really keep it or not. I am not interested in it. I believe that none of the new covenant commandments are to be considered as Law. But commandments that we will desire to keep because we love Jesus who purchased us by his blood. God then works inside us and we workout what God is working inside us, both to desire and empower.

Our theology should never be derived from our personal experience. Theology should be from scripture. But our theology should be supported by personal experience. When we allow personal experience to dictate our understanding of God's word then we end up with all possible wrong theologies.

When Jesus commanded us to teach to observe all that he taught, we should take him by the word instead of applying our personal experience and say that 'His commandments cannot be kept'! This is heresy.

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Sreeram

We must first see the events up to this point first. We see the whole world as trapped by the tree of good and evil. No escape by their own means. We have all heard bits of truth and error in our life so the tree we're trapped in is composed of mixture. We get comfortable in this bad tree clinging to a doctrine we've heard. We don't know we need to be set free.

Ask anyone about their salvation and most are content. We have to be set free. Jesus came and laid the ax to the tree. Mercy occurs when he sets you free from that tree. The warning is not to go back to that former way.

Jesus chooses his disciples. They come set at his feet and he begins to wash away (or chop away) the garbage from the past. Like "You have heard.. from the old tree;
but I say unto you. "you are the salt of the earth", yes now you are. And what Jesus teaches is in contrast to the life they were living when they were content with the bad tree. We need to sit at the feet of Jesus. Ask for truth and truth alone. Most of our libraries are filled with books from men with only theories about Jesus. The book stores are full of them. Run from them, don't go back to the mixture.

If you look at Jesus on the day of his death, he said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". He spoke in truth because almost everyone around was deceived by Satan and still trapped in the bad tree. We must see others as not set free. You will know when they have been freed from that tree, it's systems and reach.
Our strength comes from being set free.. When you've been set free you've been set free indeed.

Jesus lessons to his disciples wash away the old tree. Since the world is overgrown with this bad tree, the narrow path can hardly be found.

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James R Barnes

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Sreeram