Presenting Jesus, the Son of Israel Volume IV

Description

Jesus’ teaching recorded in chapters 5 through 7 of Matthew, known as “The Sermon on the Mount,” is paralleled in chapter 6 of Luke where it states Jesus taught a multitude “on the plain.” Regardless of whether Jesus taught from a mountain (which is not clear in Matthew’s text) or from a plain (which Luke does make clear), Jesus’ teaching in these chapters contains some of the most quoted and beloved words in the New Testament.

In Volume IV of Presenting Jesus: the Son of Israel, author Rivi Litvin proposes an alternate title for this selection of Jesus’ teaching: “Jesus’ Exposition on the Torah.”

The subjects Jesus teaches are distinctly Jewish and are discussed in the Torah, other parts of the Tanach, or in the Mishnah (Oral Torah). These teachings frequently appear in rabbinic literature and are considered essential to Jewish religious practice and piety.

The “Sermon on the Mount” represents Jesus’ interpretation of the righteousness demanded by the Torah. Jesus did not present a new law. As far as Jesus was concerned, there was only one law—God Almighty’s law, the Torah.

He told them: “Not even one jot or tittle would vanish until all of it would be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:17-18)

Jesus said that He came to fulfill the Law. “Fulfillment” in the Bible does not mean “finished, done away with, or no longer needed.” Rather, it means “to fill to the full!”

When related to the Torah, fulfillment means “bringing it to its highest level,” and that is what Jesus said he came to do.

In providing these teachings, Jesus also fulfilled Isaiah 2:3, which states: “And he will teach us of his ways.”