What are the basics of Jesus' teaching?

92 The Lord then, seeing that His teaching had attracted the crowd, gathers His disciples and proclaims the great essential principles which were to serve as moral foundations for His kingdom, and to characterise those who were to have part in it. The first sixteen verses of chapter 5 contain the enunciation of these principles, as well as the character and position of the true sons of the kingdom. What follows to the end of chapter 7 consists of warning against the wanderings of the heart of man, and puts the ancient sayings and precepts which had currency among the Jews in contrast with the morality required by the kingdom of the heavens. It was a question of having the heart pure and clear from hatred, and the spirit submissive in such a way that impatience should not rise up, and that its evil should not come to light in the heart itself; it was a question of the patience and the gentleness which is more bent on keeping the heavenly character than one's own goods - of the goodness ready to give and resembling the character of God Himself their Father who loves without being loved.

This discourse may be divided into the following parts*: — The character and the portion of those who should be in the kingdom (v. 1-12). — Their position in the world (v. 13-16). — The connection between the principles of the kingdom and the law (v. 17-48). — The spirit in which His disciples should perform good works (Matt. 6:1-18). — Separation from the spirit of the world and from its anxieties (v. 19-34). — The spirit of their relation with others (Matt. 7:1-6). — The confidence in God which became them (v. 7-12). — The energy that should characterise them, in order that they might enter into the kingdom; not however merely enter, many would seek to do that, but according to those principles which made it difficult for man, according to God the strait gate; and then, the means of discerning those who would seek to deceive them, as well as the watchfulness needed that they might not be deceived (v. 13-23). — Real and practical obedience to His sayings, the true wisdom of those that hear His words (v. 24-29).

The word “disciple” is therefore a very suitable expression of the relationship of the believer with the Lord in the Kingdom of God. A merely outward or forced submission as “subjects” is not enough. Acknowledgement of the Lord and willing subjection to His authority must be coupled with faith and devotion. Even though little can be seen here below on earth of the acknowledgement of the dominion of Christ over man — rather the contrary seems the case — perhaps very soon the Kingdom of God will be visible for everyone. In the “Sermon on the Mount” the Lord now points out the characteristics that should mark His disciples, His pupils, His apprentices. But He also shows what immediate blessing as well as future reward is connected with this.

may be taken up first, as bringing out an aspect of the kingdom which is constantly found in the Gospel of Matthew, and only there. "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" is the testimony of John the Baptist, and of the Lord Jesus when John's testimony closed; also the twelve, as sent out by Him, were to preach that the kingdom of heaven was at hand: and thus generally it is presented in Matthew 3 - 12. It is the kingdom of Old Testament prophecy, but is given a character by the name "kingdom of the heavens" (as it always is in the original) that it hardly possessed in Old Testament communications, though an expression in Daniel 4:26, "after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule," may have prepared the way for the use of it. It implies that the seat of the authority of the kingdom, when set up, is in the heavens; and thus the rejection of the King, and His sitting at God's right hand is indicated in the title, before that rejection comes out fully, as it does in Matthew 12 and what follows. Already there is the vein of rejection running through Matthew 5 - 7, commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. It brings out the principles that should characterize those who enter into the kingdom when established, and by implication the principles of the kingdom which the Lord was prepared to introduce. See the Beatitudes.

When we see how this magnificent kingdom was the goal of Israel's hopes, light is thrown upon that which was the burden of John the Baptist's testimony, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." That was the Baptist's gospel. Jesus took up and continued it after that John was delivered up. "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2; Matt. 4:12, 17). In passing, note the character of this gospel. A mighty kingdom had indeed been predicted for Israel, and now it was imminent. But it was not to be the mere advent of power to deliver the people from their Roman oppressors. The condition they were in was chastisement for their sins, and repentance was called for. Jehovah was not going to bring them into blessing as they were: that would have been unholy. It would have been the acceptance and sanction of their sins and their sinful state. This moral character of the kingdom was what made the preaching a stumbling-block to the Jews. They would have been glad indeed to have been delivered from the power of Rome, and set in their due place at the head of the nations. But to enter in through the strait gate of repentance they would not. So is it ever with the natural heart. Men today would hail a millennium of delights brought in simply by power. But repentance! — without which God, being holy, cannot meet them — this is foreign to their hearts and repugnant to their will. The sermon on the mount accordingly gives the character of the subjects of the kingdom. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:2). Both the twelve and the seventy were sent out with the same message: "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 10:7; Luke 10:9).

The Lord then, as rejected, refuses to be a judge; and, from the circumstance brought before Him, bids His own "beware of covetousness." Here He really speaks a parable concerning the rich man. Alas! what became of his soul? The remedy for the disease that afflicted him — covetousness — is being "rich toward God" (Luke 12:13-21). The great practical principles that are to mark His own are then unfolded. They are not to think of tomorrow, but to trust in God, "Your Father knows that ye have need of these things" is a lovely word indeed. If God's kingdom were sought, all else would be added. Precious instruction for our anxious hearts (Luke 12:22-31). Thus fear, covetousness, and care, three terrible foxes that spoil the grapes in God's vintage, are disposed of: the fear of man, by the fear of God — covetousness, by being rich toward God; and care, by the care of God. Thus does the blessed Lord set the heart free from earth, to enter into what is heavenly, and be occupied with Himself, while waiting for His return.

The Lord's answer astonished all who heard it. Evidently it was quite new to them, even to the Pharisees, who had never been able to silence the Sadducees like this. Hearing it, the Pharisees came together, and one of them put to the Lord his question about the law, raising a point that they had doubtless often discussed amongst themselves. He was thinking of the ten Commandments in Exodus 20, but the Lord turned him to Deuteronomy 6:5, and added Leviticus 19:18. The demand of the law is summed up in one word — love. First, love to God; second, love to one's neighbour. When Paul tells us, "Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:10), he is only stating in other words what Jesus said here (verse 40).

Once more the Pharisees appear. "But the Pharisees, having heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, were gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, demanded, tempting Him, and saying, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law, And He said to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy understanding. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments the whole law and the prophets hang" (verses 34-40). There were various disputations among the Jewish scribes, the lawyers, about the greatest commandment, but the Lord does not enter into these at all. Once more His answer manifests perfect wisdom and according to the record given in the Gospel of Mark the lawyer was greatly moved by this answer. The Lord told him, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God " (Mark 12:34). However, the questioner did not realize that He who stood before him in that hour was Jehovah Himself, the giver of the law.

But the Lord having done what the Pharisees, adversaries of the Sadducees, could not do, the curiosity of the Pharisees is excited, and they were gathered together (v. 34) One among them questions the Lord; but his demand 'has for result that Jesus lays the true foundation of the law and the prophets, and then establishes clearly the situation of things, the question of the moment, as God regarded it. Which, asks the lawyer, is the great commandment in the law? A question much debated among the Jews, for whom each commandment had a special value, the observance of each of them gaining, as in an examination, so many good marks from God. The Lord seizes the occasion, offered in the ways of God, to establish the fundamental principles of the divine law. To love God with all the heart, such is the first commandment. The second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. All in man hung on these two things. It is the summary of what man ought to be, the root and the measure of human righteousness. It is not in any way a revelation of divine love; it is not at all a question of grace, nor of an open way for the sinner to come to God; but it is the perfect rule of what a man should be, a divine compendium of the substance of the law, the law on which the prophets insisted in seeking to recall the people to its observance.

In verse 30 the first four of the ten commandments are embraced, for these speak of responsibility toward God, loving Him with all the heart, soul, mind and strength. Is this not a tremendous thing to be demanded of men? It is a standard of obedience of absolute perfection. Who can dare to assume that he does it? But the Lord goes on to insist that the second is like the first, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Who does this? Today's "permissive society" is flatly contradictory of this, for it says "live for yourself: forget your neighbor." Certainly only the Lord Jesus has ever obeyed this law.