Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for applying instructions for the judges of Israel to their personal behavior. They claim they can be proportionally vindictive in the name of seeking retribution and still

Since we rarely make oaths today, there doesn’t seem to be much to learn from Matthew 5:33-37. However, Jesus is speaking to a deeper issue than telling the truth or meaning what we say. He's dealin

Both Moses and Jesus recognize that we sinners are going to fail in our marriages and so they allowed divorce with some regulations. Moses did not mean divorce was a righteous option. Divorce results

The Pharisees consider themselves blameless before the law if they have refrained from physically committing adultery. But Jesus says righteousness requires more. It requires inward submission to th

The Pharisees believed they were righteous because no court could convict them of murder. But Jesus countered that if courts were in charge of judging righteousness, then responding to others with un

In the second section of this sermon Jesus warns that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. Unlike them, we must have a genuine commitment to the Scriptures and what they te

People marked by the being poor in spirit, mourning over sin, hungering for righteousness, pursuing peace and mercy, etc. will draw the hostility of the world, but they will be rewarded with eternal l

Like the merciful, those commit the costly act of refusing to answer injury for injury and seeking a peaceful reconciliation instead will find their inheritance as children of God in the kingdom of he

The pure in heart are not those who are morally perfect. Rather their hearts have been cleansed of rebellion and rejection of God. The pure in heart live like the gospel is true, though not perfectl

Only those will to commit the costly act of being merciful will receive mercy in the kingdom of God, because showing mercy is an implication of having saving faith.