Here is an excerpt from some research on the Sermon on the Mount. Positive feedback may be submitted through email and negative feedback may be submitted by shouting at your nearest wall.
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Having begun the Sermon on the Mount with a discourse on the subjects of the kingdom (Matt 5:3-16), Jesus begins a new section on defining righteousness which will be the body of the sermon extending from 5:17-7:12. God’s standard of righteousness needs to be explained to Israel as the Law has been reduced to a substandard mode of living:
Here lies the deeper reason why the Jews rejected the kingdom. They had reduced “righteousness” to mere ceremonialism, and the Old Testament idea of the kingdom to a mere affair of outward splendor and power. They were never rebuked for expecting a visible and powerful kingdom, but the words of the prophets should have prepared them to expect also that only the poor in spirit and the meek could share in it (e.g. Isa. 11. 4).[1]
Jesus begins, Μὴ νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets” (Matt 5:17a). The verb, καταλῦσαι (an infinitive form of καταλύω) is properly rendered “destroy,” but the etymology should be considered in two parts: κατά and λύω which is more literally “to loosen thoroughly.” In the adage בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹסְרִין וּבֵית הִלֵּל מַתִּירִין “The house of Shammai bound but the house of Hillel loosened,” the word, מַתִּירִין is in the Hifil form of נָתַר, “to sever, loosen.”[2] Marcus Jastrow compares נָתַר to the Hebrew נתק,[3] “to pull away, tear away, drew away; to cut off.”[4] When Jesus declares that He did not come καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας “to destroy the Law or the Prophets,” it seems that He is using the same language to describe Beit Hillel destroying, tearing away, or loosening the Law. The Pharisees destroyed the Law by elevating their traditions to excuse themselves from adherence (Matt 15:3-6) and likewise the Sadducees destroyed the Prophets by rejecting their authority. Jesus is not from the line of Pharisees and Sadducees who destroy, but rather He is the Messiah who has come πληρῶσαι “to fulfill.” This fulfillment is not only in part as the errantists of Sadducee Party would say, but rather “one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matt 5: 18b).
Having contrasted Himself to the religious leaders, He then gives a warning against erroneous teaching, “Whoever therefore breaks [λύσῃ lit. “loosens”] one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:19a). Once again, Jesus is speaking in terms of breaking the Law through loosening, but now He is even more directly speaking against the teachers who loosen the Law. Likewise, “whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:19b). The Jewish audience knows the Old Testament from a grammatical-historical perspective and therefore presupposes that the kingdom in question is a future reality. Jesus affirms this by using the future tense κληθήσεται “shall be called.” Here Christ is making an offer of greatness in the kingdom. Jesus’ emphasis on eternal rewards is a point with which the Pharisees would have been in firm agreement. In fact, “the tendency of Rabbinical teaching was to defer the actual reward, whatever it might be, to the future life.”[5] That future rewards are available is already clear, but how to obtain these rewards is a doctrine that needs clarification.
In order to be great or least, one must first “enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:20). For one to enter the kingdom, first one must be eligible to enter the kingdom as seen in the conversation with Nicodemus, and second, there must be a kingdom to enter. If Jesus’ earlier references to the loosening of the Law were not clear enough, He now calls out the Pharisees by name, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:19). Jesus follows His offer of kingdom greatness with λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι… “For I say to you, that…” The conjunction γὰρ here shows a continuation from the previous thought, which essentially attaches the offer of greatness to the offer of entrance. Greatness is dependent upon entrance and entrance is dependent upon having righteousness that “exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.” The audience is plural, so Jesus uses ὑμῶν ἡ δικαιοσύνη “your (plural) righteousness,” which grammatically could be used to either address the group as a whole or the individuals in the group. If taken a statement about the gospel call to individuals, then it is relevant that “the only righteousness that can surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees is the imputed righteousness of God by faith!”[6] For this to be an evangelistic message is consistent with postponement theology as both offers, that of eternal life and of kingdom establishment, are seen as distinct doctrines in the life of Christ. Since those present are already disciples, and since the gospel is nowhere else proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount, it is more likely that Jesus is speaking to Israel as a whole. In this case, “your righteousness” would be in reference to Israel’s repentance as a whole. The scribes and Pharisees lack repentance, so Israel’s righteousness must greatly exceed that of her own teachers.
In the following verses (Matt 5:21-48), Jesus interprets the Law in a way that challenges the Pharisaic loosening. His use of ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω “but I say” has often been misconstrued to put Jesus in conflict with Moses, but the “pronoun ‘I’ (ἐγὼ) is used not to mark a sharp differentiation between Jesus Christ and Moses, but between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees.”[7] Christ provides six illustrations, but that of marriage and divorce of vv. 31-32 is perhaps the most famous in light of rabbinic literature. The rabbis dispute:
Beit Shammai say, “No man shall divorce his wife, unless he found in her unchaste behaviour, as it is stated [Deuteronomy 24:1], ‘Because he found in her ‘ervat davar’ [unchaste behavior].’” Beit Hillel say, “Even if she spoiled his food, because it is said, ervat davar”. Rabbi Akivah says, “Even if he found another [woman] prettier than her, as it is stated [ibid.] ‘If it happen that she does not find favor in his eyes.’”[8]
Beit Shammai is correct when they recognize that “unchaste behavior” is the reason for divorce in Deut 24:1, but the context will show that this is not a proper text for determining acceptable grounds for divorce. The law which is being established here regards remarriage and is actually found in Deut 24:4, but this rule is so specific that it requires three verses to provide the instance of a married woman becoming divorced, remarried, and divorced again. So much sin is evident in her dysfunctional marriages that using her as an example of proper divorce is a stretch from the beginning. The Pharisees are worse in that they loosen the law to include bad cooking within the bounds of unchaste behavior worthy of divorce. Left unchecked, the loosening continued under Akivah to include the pursuit of lust. About lust, the Messiah says, “that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt 5:27) and about divorce, the Messiah says,
Furthermore it has been said, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.” But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. (Matt 5:31-32)
This saying is applicable today as marriage is an institution that includes Christians, but in the original context, Jesus is speaking to Jews in a time when the Sanhedrin was functional (Matt 5:22), sacrifices were offered (5:23), and adultery was a capital crime (5:29-30). Jesus was speaking in terms of defining repentance for the kingdom offer, not in terms of how to live the Christian life in the Church Age.
[1] C. I. Scofield, The Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1945), Matthew 5:2.
[2] Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Bavli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (London, Luzac: 1903), נָתַר. Available online at https://www.sefaria.org/Jastrow (accessed September 2, 2019).
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ernest Klein, Klein Dictionary (Jerusalem: Carta Jerusalem, 1987), נתק. Available online at https://www.sefaria.org/Klein_Dictionary (accessed September 2, 2019).
[5] R. Travers Herford, The Pharisees (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1924), 130.
[6] Steve Elkins, Keys to Kingdom Greatness: An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount (Coppell, TX: Allie Grace Publishers, 2014), 159.
[7] Stanley Toussaint, Behold the King: A Study of Matthew (Portland: Multnomah Press,1980), 101.
[8] D.A. De Sola and M.J. Raphall Eighteen, translators, Treatises from the Mishna (London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, 1843), Mishnah Gittin 9.10. Available online at https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Gittin (accessed September 3, 2019).