Matthew 5:17-48 - Homiletics

The second part of the sermon: the mount of the Beatitudes and Mount Sinai: the new Law and the old.

I. CHRIST THE FULFILLER OF THE LAW .

1 . He came not to destroy. They must not misunderstand the purpose of his teaching. The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; both speak of Christ. The commandments are as binding now upon the Christian conscience as when they were first delivered amid the thunders of Mount Sinai. "We establish the Law," says the apostle of faith ( Romans 3:31 ). "No Christian man is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral." The law of ceremonies and rites, indeed, is no longer binding ( Ephesians 2:15 ; Colossians 2:16 , etc.); but even those rites and ceremonies, though no longer in force, are full of deep meaning, and convey holy teaching to the Christian, for they speak, one and all, of Christ and his righteousness.

2 . He came to fulfil. He fulfilled the righteousness of the Law. He exhibited it perfectly in his own most holy life. He fulfilled the types, the ritual teaching, the predictions of the prophets in his incarnation, in all the circumstances of his earthly life, his precious death and burial, his glorious resurrection and ascension. He fulfilled the doctrine of the Law, bringing out as he did the deep spiritual meaning of its teaching. "Christ is the End of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

3 . The Old Testament in its spiritual meaning is of eternal obligation. All must be fulfilled, even the minutest detail. Both Testaments come from the same God. The Christian, while he loves the New Testament with all his heart, must not depreciate the Old. The whole Word of God is holy and just and good. The teacher who is taught of God will declare to his flock the whole counsel of God. He who wilfully shuts his eyes to any part, though it may seem to him small and insignificant, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Yet he shall enter therein if he has been faithful according to his light; for he has taught the truth, though he has not had grace and wisdom to discern its mere delicate features.

II. RELATIONS BETWEEN THE NEW LAW AND THE OLD .

1 . The Spirit and the letter ; Christ and the Pharisees. Christians who neglect part of the Law of God shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but mere formalists shall not even enter therein. The righteousness of the Pharisees was outward, mechanical; the righteousness of Christianity is inward and spiritual. It includes obedience in things outward. These are the "least commandments" which a Christian may not dare to neglect or despise. But it is far wider in its range, far deeper in its power; its influence extends over the whole of human life in all its details and circumstances. It reaches deep into the heart, into its desires, motives, thoughts. Our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. They were students of the letter. They knew the Scriptures; their knowledge was most exact and minute; but it was outward only, knowledge of the letter. That knowledge is not to be despised; it is necessary, it is most interesting; but it is not enough. We must seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God to understand the spiritual meaning of his Word, to enter into it, to work it into our own heart and life. Again, the Pharisees "say and do not;" we must do. They did certain things, but they did them mechanically; we must work in faith and love. They thought to merit heaven by their works; we must recognize our utter unworthiness, and trust only in the merits of Christ. They sought the praise of men; we must seek only the praise which cometh from God.

2 . The first instance. "Thou shalt not kill."

(a) "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." We must not bring malice and hatred into the temple of the Lord; we cannot worship aright while we cherish wrath in our heart. For he is love, and the unloving cannot serve him acceptably. He will not accept the offerings of those who live in strife. Malice and envy rob the gift of all its value. Forgiveness of injuries, sorrow for our own offences, the humble petition for pardon from any whom we may have offended, is a sacrifice well pleasing unto God. Without this the costliest gift is but a mockery, worthless and unprofitable. Then "first be reconciled to thy brother, then come and offer thy gift." St. Chrysostom well remarks, "Let even my service be interrupted (the Lord says in his condescension) that love may abide, since reconciliation to thy brother is an acceptable sacrifice."

(b) We are all on our way to the judgment; we must appear before the Judge. Therefore we must seek forgiveness from those whom we have offended, and we must forgive those who have offended us while we are on our way during the journey of life. We pray, "Forgive, as we forgive." Lex orandi lex credendi. He doth not forgive the unforgiving, the unloving. For such there remaineth the prison. And can the uttermost farthing of the great debt be ever paid? Alas] we cannot pay the smallest fraction of it. By grace we are saved, and God's grace rests not upon the unloving; to such there is no promise of forgiveness.

3 . The second instance. "Thou shalt not commit adultery." The traditional interpretation confined the commandment to the evil deed; the Lord extends it to the sinful thought. The unlawful desire, consented to and kept before the mind, is equally guilty with the unclean act. Our bodies are the members of Christ; to defile them is an outrage on the most holy Saviour. We are the temples of God the Holy Ghost; to bring unclean thoughts into that most sacred presence is a fearful sin, an awful sacrilege. Then strike at the beginnings of sin, the thought, the look; strike, and spare not. Such watchfulness may imply very strict and painful self-denial. Better to deny ourselves now than to be cast out at the last; better to pluck out the right eye, to cutoff the right hand, than to be condemned at the last. "Blessed are the pure in heart."

4 . The third instance. Divorce. The popular school, that of Hillel, allowed divorce "for every cause" ( Matthew 19:3 ); the Lord allows it only "for the cause of fornication." What God hath joined together let not man put asunder.

5 . The fourth instance. The law of oaths. The Jews, it seems, thought lightly of oaths which did not contain the sacred Name of God; they used such oaths constantly and heedlessly. Our Lord classes all oaths together, for all ultimately imply an appeal to God, and, like St. James ( James 5:12 ), forbids them all. But we must not " so expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another," and passages like Hebrews 6:13-17 and Hebrews 7:21 , where God is represented as swearing by himself; or Matthew 26:63 , Matthew 26:64 , where our Lord answers the adjuration of Caiaphas; or Revelation 10:6 , where a mighty angel swears by him that liveth for ever and ever; or Romans 1:9 ; 1 Corinthians 15:31 ; 2 Corinthians 1:23 ; Galatians 1:20 ; and Philippians 1:8 , in which St. Paul uses forms of solemn asseveration, prove that our Lord's prohibition applies only to rash, idle oaths, such as were common among the Jews ("Let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay"), not to those solemn occasions when an oath is required by the magistrate or by the law.

6 . The fifth instance. The law of retaliation. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." The words of the Law of Moses relate to punishments inflicted by a court of justice; the Jews probably understood them as permitting private revenge. Holy Scripture does not forbid the infliction of judicial punishment (comp. Romans 13:4 ). It forbids the revengeful temper, and it forbids private revenge altogether. Our Lord says, "Resist not evil." To insist upon the literal meaning of these words would be to apply the method of the Pharisees to the interpretation of the New Testament; a literal obedience under all circumstances would destroy the very framework of society, and let loose all that is evil in human nature. But the Lord is laying down general principles. Cases will often arise in which the application of those principles must be modified by other rules of Holy Scripture. A literal obedience is possible much more frequently and to a much wider extent than our selfish hearts are willing to admit. But a literal obedience is not always possible; it would not be always right; it would 'sometimes do harm rather than good. The Lord himself, the gentlest and the meekest, expostulated with those who struck him wrongfully ( John 18:23 ). Neither when he bids us, "Give to him that asketh thee," are his words to be taken literally, as commanding indiscriminate almsgiving. He himself gave not to the people who sought him at Capernaum, because they had eaten of the loaves and were filled ( John 6:26 , John 6:27 ); St. Paul would not have us give to the idle ( 2 Thessalonians 3:10 ). We must understand our Lord's words as interpreted by his own example and by other parts of Holy Scripture. We must forgive injuries, we must resist not evil, we must give freely; but in all these things we must be guided by the wisdom which is from above. "Blessed are the merciful."

7 . The sixth instance. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,'' was the commandment of the Law. The Pharisees had added a false and wicked gloss, "Thou shalt hate thine enemy" (comp. Exodus 23:4 , Exodus 23:5 ; Proverbs 24:17 ; Proverbs 25:21 ). The Lord bids us, "Love your enemies." It is easy to love those who love us; such love is mere natural affection. Grace teaches a deeper, a more difficult lesson. The nearer we draw to God, the more we shall learn to imitate his all-embracing love. The Lord is loving unto every man. Rain and sunshine preach charity and love to all. We must learn of him. If any curse, we must bless; we must pray for those who use us despitefully. So shall we be the children of our heavenly Father, like him in our poor measure, complete in the range of our love, dear to him, loving and beloved. The commandment is difficult, but the blessing is very great. He who gave the commandment, who pronounced the blessing, can teach us to obey.

LESSONS .

1 . Search the Scriptures, all of them; not only the New Testament, but also the Old.

2 . Be not content with the external knowledge of the Bible; seek that inner knowledge which only the Holy Ghost can teach.

3 . Be gentle and loving, be reverent in word, hallow God's holy Name, hate all ungodly modes of speech.

4 . Forgive as you hope for forgiveness; revenge belongeth unto God.