The following quote about the Sermon on the Mount is from Alfred Edersheim’s book “The Life & Times of Jesus the Messiah”.

“Its great subject is neither righteousness, nor yet the New Law (if such designation be proper in regard to what in no real sense is a law), but that which was innermost and uppermost in the mind of Christ - the Kingdom of God. Notably, the Sermon on the Mount contains not any detailed or systematic doctrinal, nor any ritual teaching, nor yet does it prescribe the form of any outward observances. This marks, at least negatively, a difference in principle from all other teaching. Christ came to found a Kingdom, not a School; to institute a fellowship, not to propound a system. To the first disciples all doctrinal teaching sprang out of fellowship with Him. They saw Him, and therefore believed; they believed, therefore learned the truths connected with Him, and springing out of Him. So to speak, the seed of truth which fell on their hearts was carried thither from the flower of His person and life …. It is Christ, then, as the King, who is here, flinging open the gates of His Kingdom. ” (Alfred Edersheim, The Life & Times of Jesus the Messiah (Grand Rapids: Eerdman; 1967) Vol. I, pp. 52.)

Tags | The Kingdom of God, The Law of Christ, The Sermon on the Mount