THERE’S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: The Sermon on the Mount

Prolific has been the ink spilt that seeks to compare the ministries of Moses and Christ. As always, there are two positions that lie on opposite poles that do injustice to the Biblical texts. The first is that Moses is the Old Covenant task master who was the mouthpiece of God to pound Israel into obedience through law and thus he has no relevance in today’s church. In today’s milder New Covenant atmosphere this Moses has no place at the table whatsoever. ‘Moses, you are excused from the table you can go upstairs and play with the children.’ On the other hand there is a sentiment that says Moses continues to be a major voice in the New Covenant and we are to heed him because his voice carries great authority. ‘Moses, come and sit at our New Covenant table and please run the meeting.‘ The purpose of this study is to show that that the truth lies somewhere between these two paradigms. Moses is neither disparaged in the New Covenant, nor is he raised to the level of equal authority with his successor. The Apostle John can hardly get through his introduction before he makes a startling comparison, “For the law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Why does John feel it necessary to compare the two great leaders at the outset of his gospel? The answer is evident; in the coming of Jesus a radical shift has taken place regarding the the law of Moses. So in order to demonstrate where the Bible places Moses in the scheme of redemptive history we will turn to the Sermon on the Mount found in Mathew chapters 5-7 which is the most extensive and revealing comparison between the covenants of Moses and Jesus Christ. But in order to see this the reader must understand what is going on in Matthew’s story. One of the subtle purposes of Matthew is to trace the life of Jesus as it parallels the history of Israel. In other words, Jesus’ life is to be seen as the life of the one, true Jew who lived the way God desired the nation to live. He is the consummate Jew and Matthew wants us to know that. Every other Jew in the Old Covenant failed miserably. He didn’t. How do we know this? In Matthew chapter 3 Jesus is baptized by John. There are many layers of what is going on in Jesus’ baptism. But if you compare His baptism to the history of Israel you see at once a correlation. The identification of God’s people with the Old Covenant came as Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea. Anticipating this redemption from Egypt the Lord tells Moses, “Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the labors of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments. Then I will take you as My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the labors of the Egyptians’” Exodus 6:6-7. The two events of passing through the waters and God’s becoming Israel’s God covenantally are here connected. In like fashion, Jesus becomes identified as the head of a New Covenant, the new Moses if you will, by passing through the waters of baptism and hearing the confirming voice of the Father, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” As Israel passes through the waters the first thing God does is drive the nation into the desert in order to learn that their faithfulness to the covenant will be proven by dependence on Yahweh. Israel must wait on God’s bread and God’s water - God’s presence - in order to survive. But they fail miserably. In like manner the true Israelite, Jesus, is driven into the wilderness immediately after His passage through the waters. But being the faithful Son He does not fail. Jesus stands firm and trusts in His Father for the true bread from heaven. In the life of Israel what happens next? They arrive at ‘the Mount’ and there, God, through their representative head, Moses, gives the Jews the covenant laws on stone that are sealed in sacrificial blood. The Jews agree to their terms, “All these things we will do.” Moses has become the spokesman of God’s will for the people. And Jesus? He exits the wilderness and immediately goes up to ‘the Mount’ (Matt 5:1) and like Moses begins to outline legal requirements that will govern this New Covenant, or Kingdom of Heaven, over which He is the New Prophet. A careful reading of this giving of the law in Matthew chapters 5-7 will demonstrate that Jesus neither uncritically accepts all of the Mosaic laws nor does He scrap them wholesale. But the fact that He authoritatively supports, amends or changes these laws shows that we now have the new Lawgiver of a New Covenant who replaces the old Lawgiver of the fading Old Covenant. A new Sheriff has come into town. Failure to see what is going on in this sermon had caused some serious misinterpretations over the centuries. So let me say it again. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is here stating unequivocally that He is that Prophet who was predicted in Deuteronomy 18:15-22. In that text Moses clearly defers to that future prophet stating that when He comes the people of God must listen to Him and Him alone. The fact that a new prophet is needed implies that there will be a new covenantal arrangement with the future people of God that requires new laws. When Jesus ascends that mount He is putting on the mantel of that new prophet and so inaugurates a New Covenant otherwise known as the Kingdom of Heaven. The Sermon on the Mount is, therefore, a general outline of the laws which will govern the people of God under the final prophet of God.

For many Christians it is hard to adjust to this new Lawgiver. When a new sheriff arrives in town there is a tendency to naturally defer to the old familiar one. Perhaps the reason for this is that the name of the old sheriff, Moses, is held in the highest esteem in the community. And indeed, Moses was a great man uniquely used of God. His leadership kept Israel from going completely apostate and the laws that He gave to the people kept them relatively sane and separate from the surrounding nations. Moses is truly a great, great man. But often this esteem translates into an universal acceptance of all that Moses said. If one looks at the New Testament, however, one sees that Moses, though a great man who issued forth a great law, has become second fiddle to a new Lawgiver whose name is Jesus. The legal code of Moses was perfectly suitable for the nation Israel in that dispensation. As Galatians 3:19-25 will argue, the primary function of the entire Mosaic Covenant was to sanctify (separate) the nation from the surrounding heathens so that their stewardship of the messianic line would remain in tact. But as the new prophet comes along, the people of God will no longer be a nation protecting a messianic line, but a universal people who will bear the image of the Messiah in their Spirit-filled lives. This new nation will be called the Kingdom of Heaven, an earthly reflection of what goes on in the eternal state. For this new kingdom a new Lawgiver is needed, one who will issue a new legal code to govern the new nation. So when we come to the Sermon on the Mount, we are in no wise disparaging the ministry of Moses. Jesus Himself does not disparage Moses. In fact in giving this new law code Jesus always acknowledges the connection between his laws and those of the ancient leader. Jesus affirms the Mosaic covenant as useful, but then proceeds to deepen or alter the Sinaitic commands. For example, Jesus affirms the ten commandments given on stone and yet he deepens most of them, and in the case of the Sabbath, actually eliminates its literal obligations. When reading the Sermon on the Mount most of us feel this tension. What is the relationship between Moses and Jesus? Knowing that Jesus is here outlining a new law code as the new Lawgiver while not ignoring the previous code, ought to help the reader understand the Sermon on the Mount. The old is gone but not completely. The new has come and rests on the old but does not mimic it. The old is not bad and the new is good. Jesus merely brings a change in administrations.

The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes. Jesus begins in typical priestly fashion by defining the character of those who will be blessed in the Kingdom of Heaven. Similarly, directly after giving of the Ten Commandments, God, through Moses blesses the people. “You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you” (Exodus 20:24). But the blessings given by Moses are very much different from those given by Christ. In the Old Law Code the blessings came from obedience to the law and were largely physical and temporal in nature. Blessing often had to do with land, progeny, and longevity. But when the New Lawgiver comes, He blesses those who have been made anew internally, those who exhibit a God-like character. The contrast here is stunning. Obeying Moses means prosperity in this life while the New Lawgiver gives no guarantee of earthly prosperity. Rather He commends New Covenant believers for reflecting the image of God which brings them persecution (Matthew 5:11-12). Following the Beatitudes, Jesus illustrates this radical change in two pictures (vss 13-16). In the New Covenant those who are blessed will be as lights that shine truth all around and as salt that retards the corruption of the age.

Now comes the section in verses 17-48 where Jesus describes how these new laws relate to the Mosaic laws. He begins this section by assuring the Jewish listeners that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Already we see that Jesus is trying to calm the nerves of the audience by stating that He is not a revolutionary who will radically change the entire Mosaic Law. He is the New Prophet who will build upon what God said through Moses. Jesus quickly condemns anyone who might say that the law of Moses was wrong or irrelevant. Such an attitude would render that soul guilty and under God’s judgment. Yet, even though He defends Moses, Jesus will not reinforce the Old Covenant laws in every respect. Moses’ law was for a specific people in a specific context. The Mosaic legal code was appropriate for a certain period in redemptive history but was destined to fade away as history progressed, much like training wheels on a five year old’s bike. A new age necessitates a New Prophet which necessitates a new law. Jesus therefore will affirm, amend, or alter the Mosaic Law according to the requirements of this new kingdom age. Of course the people would be afraid of what this new Prophet might do so Jesus allays their fears by asserting that He did not come to abolish the Law of Moses but to fulfill it (πληρόω). Jesus had no intention of doing away with the Mosaic code. His intention was to ‘fill it out,’ to demonstrate that to which the entire Mosaic law code pointed. In other words He will say that the Mosaic law anticipates the New Covenant law but in a way that deepens the Mosaic law in ways that it could never be deepened as a national law code. Jesus, the new prophet, is now governing a spiritual kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, and thus His laws go far deeper than anyone under Moses could have possibly imagined. Jesus demonstrates this subtle shift by saying that the best examples of obedience to Moses, the Scribes and Pharisees, would fall infinitely short of New Covenant obedience (5:20). In effect what Jesus was saying was that conformity to this new law was absolutely beyond human achievement.

Jesus goes on to give six examples of how this new law, though connected to the old law, actually altered or deepened the Mosaic law. We find these examples in verses 21-48. The first of these examples has to do with the command not to murder. This was a plain and simple command, that is until Jesus got ahold of it. Jesus quotes the command and deepens it by saying that anger of any kind is tantamount to murder and that not seeking reconciliation with an offended brother is worthy of hell. The crowd that was looking for a gentle exhortation would now be squirming in their seats. “Who can possibly keep this law?” they would muse to themselves. The second law under scrutiny is similar. Adultery in the Mosaic code was forbidden. Now the new Prophet says that lust for a woman makes a man equally guilty. Once again Jesus is driving the crowd to utter despair. The third comparison is even more unnerving. In the Mosaic code in chapter 24 of Deuteronomy, Moses allowed for divorce if a certificate was issued by the husband to the wife. That was actually in the code. But Jesus will now proceed to turn this command on its head. Divorce, he will say, except in the case of sexual unfaithfulness, is forbidden. To further unsettle the crowd he asserts that to divorce for any other reason causes the divorcing parties to commit adultery in their next relationships. Can you hear the buzz that moved through the crowd on that fateful day? Just think of what Jesus was saying. He was taking what was already a very strict Mosaic code and actually changing and making it far deeper and more difficult to obey. When Jesus tries to explain this law to His disciples in Matthew 19, they are so befuddled by its stringency that they will say, “It is better not to marry” (Matt 19:10). Divorce was allowed under Moses because of the hardness of the heart. But now, in this new Covenant, where the Spirit dwells in a man, Jesus negates Moses’ exception and prohibits divorce. This is a quite an amazing change that demonstrates clearly the greater authority of the one who is greater than Moses. The fourth comparison, “You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn,” is a command taken from Leviticus 19:12. The issue here is not to emphasize that one should keep a vow, but that that all speech should be absolutely true at face value. Jesus summed up his argument with the terse statement, “Let your yes be yes and your no, no.” This seems like an obvious reinforcement of Moses but what Jesus is going after is how the Jews interpreted that law and lessened its string. In other words Jesus is going after Jewish tradition. The Jewish leaders had long ago discovered a way to skirt telling the truth by concocting a detailed scheme of vow making. That is, the level of truthfulness for a given vow depended upon what item the person vowed. This system is condemned by Jesus later on in Matthew 23:16-22 which gives us a further explanation. For example If one vowed on the Temple it was not to be taken seriously but if one made a vow on the gold of the temple it must be kept. The same system contrasted vows invoking the altar verses vows invoking the sacrifice on the altar. Certain vows had to be kept, others not. This devious system allowed the Jewish leaders to make promises knowing full well they would not keep them. That is, they could lie without a pang of conscience, similar to what children do when they promise something with their fingers crossed behind their back. How quickly we learn ways to justify lying. But the new Law Giver saw through all this and would have none of it. He boldly declared that it does not matter if you vow or not. What matters is whenever you speak it must be exactly as stated or else it is sin. Here Jesus is not so much changing the Law of Moses but demolishing the Jewish interpretation. Again He is showing that He is the new Lawgiver in town and what He says must be obeyed. But the question is again raised, “Who could keep such a deep and comprehensive law?” The people would again squirm in their seats; perfect honesty is required by God for one to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the fifth comparison (vss 38-42) Jesus will address the issue of wrongs committed against a person. Jesus quotes a verse from Exodus 21, a chapter devoted to how justice is to be effected in the Jewish nation (Ex 21:24). In order to keep order in the close knit Jewish community, justice became a very important thing. One of the aspects of this justice was the penalties meted out for violence against another person. The Mosaic law demanded retribution by the injured party against the perpetrator. If a man knocked out his neighbor’s eye, then his eye must be knocked out in compensation. If a man is guilty of kidnapping he must be put to death. But when the New Covenant Lawgiver comes He revamps the system of justice that ought to prevail in the Kingdom of Heaven. Instead of a system based on tit for tat, He advances a system of gracious non-resistance and unmerited blessing. If you are hit on your right cheek give your attacker your left. If a person is asked to go one mile, willingly go two. If a man asks you for money, give him what you have. Many bad interpretations of what Jesus is saying have emerged over the years. Jesus is not saying kingdom dwellers should willingly and in every case allow himself to be used and abused. Nor is He advocating pacifism in all conflicts. Rather, as the new Lawgiver, Jesus is saying that a kingdom resident is not compelled to seek justice in any given situation but rather can choose to be gracious. To do this is the reflect the character of God who is gracious to His enemies. Once again the New Covenant Lawgiver is changing all the rules. Under Moses, a person in Israel could and should seek justice for wrongs done to him. But under Jesus, citizens of the kingdom should be gracious and giving to all who cross their paths. Once again the point of this new legal paradigm is not only to encourage the crowd to achieve this lofty lifestyle, but to show them that this was a demand far beyond anything their selfish flesh could accomplish. Yes, the new Lawgiver has come and He has not lessened the burden of the Mosaic Laws but deepened them and made them impossible to obey. His tactic is to drive lowly sinners away from themselves and toward the perfect Messiah who alone can give them a righteousness they cannot themselves achieve.

The sixth and final comparison (vss 43-48) is more a summary statement than anything else. Jesus would continually say that the great commandment of His New Covenant people was love, love to God and secondarily to others (see Mt 22:36-40). What Jesus is doing in this final comparison is making a subtle shift from the old Mosaic code that looks at love as being the lofty rule between Jews to an overarching command for all people at all time. We know that Moses had commanded the Jews to not hate their neighbor (Leviticus 19:17) but rather to love them as they love themselves (Leviticus 19:18). But the word ‘neighbor’ was always interpreted to mean a ‘Jew.’ This is the shocking point of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The Mosaic Law tacitly allowed Jews to neglect the needs of heathens and to pass them by in their distress. We have the same lesson taught in Jonah’s treatment of the Ninevites and how even a prophet of God felt justified in wishing ill upon an idolatrous city. But here comes Jesus and He teaches that in the New Covenant love becomes the law of all laws. Since God is gracious and merciful to all men, so too must those who dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven love all men indiscriminately. This ‘Law of Love,’ then, becomes the overriding law under the greater prophet of God. And this includes loving one’s enemies. This comparison drove the final nail in the coffin of any listener who might think he could keep this new law system. What man, what woman, can possibly for even a short period love anyone perfectly? The command is infinitely unattainable. To love this way would be to achieve perfection. Thus Jesus summarizes the impossibility of keeping these laws by saying, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” He dangles before the eyes of sinners the impossible. Shall the crowd walk away in despair?

Having given the New Covenant Law, the Lawgiver will now embark on a journey whereby He, and He alone will fulfill the Sermon on the Mount. He alone will become the ‘blessed’ citizen of the Kingdom. He will never lust or murder or lie or hate. The very law He lays down that for others is impossible, He Himself will keep. Make no mistake about it. The Sermon on the Mount was meant for men to keep. But the truth is that none born of Adam can keep it. But one man must keep it and will keep it. And on a Roman Cross that man, the Lawgiver Himself, will offer up a perfect ‘Sermon on the Mount’ life to a God who demands perfection. The Father will acknowledge that obedience and so the Law that no one else could keep will be fulfilled. That is the gospel. The New Moses has come and unlike Moses He will keep all the requirements of a holy God. When He walks away from that mountain, He does not shake His finger at the bewildered people knowing they will disobey all He has taught. Rather, in an act of stunning grace He will soon take off the black judge’s robe and put on the garb of a sacrificial Lamb. And there He will offer up His life for a people who had no hope. He will suffer the curse of the Law He gave and in doing that multitudes shall be blessed. Are we as New Covenant believers to keep the Sermon on the Mount? Yes… but no. Yes, in that it forever remains the standard that God has set for humankind, the standard by which all will be judged. But for all who have trusted in the Lawgiver, the answer is no. For those who have trusted in Him have already kept the law by trusting in the One who kept it perfectly. So believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be a law keeper. This is the great commandment of the age. Amen.