Sermon on the Mount

Question 1

Explain the Sermon on the Mount

Answer 1

• summary of Jesus’ teachings/ethics he embodied as a person
• God is the ethical model and Jesus is the teacher
• form of DCT
• SoM contains the virtues which characterises a disciple’s life
• “whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven”

Question 2

List the virtues of the Sermon on the Mount

Answer 2

1. Humility
2. Integrity
3. Mercy
4. Reconciling Spirit
5. Honesty
6. Love
7. Sexual purity
8. Contentment

Question 3

Humility

Answer 3

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God”

Question 4

Integrity

Answer 4

“when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets”

Question 5

Mercy

Answer 5

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”

Question 6

Reconciling Spirit

Answer 6

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God”

Question 7

Love

Answer 7

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”

Question 8

Sexual Purity

Answer 8

“anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”

Question 9

Contentment

Answer 9

“Do not worry about tomorrow…Each day has enough trouble on its own”

Question 10

Strengths of the Sermon on the Mount

Answer 10

• Augustine: it is the “perfect rule or pattern of Christian life”
• Monastic orders: “counsel of perfection” designed not for the populace but for the chosen few
  CP: elitist?
• Tolstoy: if literally obeyed it would destroy all existing evils and usher in a Utopian kingdom
  CP: too optimistic/unrealistic
• Dibelius: moral imperatives were an absolute ethic of the inbreaking kingdom

Question 11

Weaknesses of the Sermon on the Mount

Answer 11

• Luther claimed that people have failed to distinguish between kingdom of God (spiritual) and kingdom of the world (secular), we live in both => it is ok to fulfil laws in your society that contradict SoM as your body lives in secular world and your soul lives in spiritual world
• Weiss + Schweitzer: SoM should only be seen as interim ethics for early Christians who believed that the eschaton was imminent
• Kittel: SoM is purposefully over exaggerated to drive people to a sense of failure => facing them to repentance and belief

Question 12

Calvin’s interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount

Answer 12

• Christians have an eschatological outlook

- Jesus may be talking about virtues to be applied in the coming kingdom of God => thinking eschatologically