Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount part one

In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Jesus directly taught His disciples, but He indirectly taught the multitude. In Matthew 5:19, Jesus informs us that one does not have to be perfect to get to heaven. Yet, in verse 48, He commands everyone to be perfect. This seeming contradiction can only be resolved by Jesus' teaching in verse 17. Jesus taught that only He could fulfill the law. and therefore, only He could be perfect. Jesus did for man that which man could not do for himself. Jesus lived on earth in perfect obedience to the law. Jesus has become man's perfection, and God accepts nothing less than perfection.

In Matthew 5:21-37, Jesus taught about the complete impossibility of any person to save himself from hell. Jesus' purpose in these teachings reflected His Father's purpose when He allowed Moses to write a whole set of intricate laws into His Word. The clear message in both cases was the impossibility of man to make himself perfect by keeping the law. Man's utter weakness prevents him from keeping the law. Yet, man must keep the law to be perfect, and God will only accept perfection. But in verses 17 and 48, Jesus taught that He would fulfill the law for man, and He would be man's perfection so that men could be accepted by God.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus clearly demonstrated His compassion for the weakness of man. John 8:11; Luke 22:61-62. But He also demonstrated His intense intolerance for the rebellion of man. Matthew 12:31-32. All through God's Word, He demonstrates His compassion for the weakness of man, but also His complete intolerance for the rebellion of man. In verse 20, Jesus clearly demonstrated this division in God's attitude toward man's sin when He taught that man's righteousness had to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees in order to get to heaven. The scribes and Pharisees lived in a state of rebellion toward God because they thought they could make themselves righteous by their attempted, strict obedience to the law. They had made their own efforts to obey the law their god instead of the righteous and merciful person of God Himself. Matthew 23:23. They refused to believe the instructions of God through Moses and Jesus that the weakness of man made his ability to obey the law impossible. God will only accept those who, like Abel, confess to God that they are hopeless and lost sinners, and who offer to God the right sacrifice. God requires humility, and He totally rejects excessive pride. Luke 18:9-14. Excessive pride allies itself with Satan, and God will never forgive Satan. Any refusal to humble oneself to God demonstrates a state of total rebellion against God, and a sin which God can never forgive.