Matthew 5

Matthew 5 is the first part of the Sermon on the Mount, which spans chapters 5–7 of the Gospel of Matthew. At the end of Matthew 4, Jesus travels throughout Galilee teaching and healing, and great crowds follow him. This chapter continues with Jesus seeing the crowds, going up a mountain, and teaching.

Structure

• Verses 1–2 Jesus goes up the mountain and sits down. His disciples come to him, and the teaching begins.
• Verses 3–12 The Beatitudes, which pronounce eight blessings, are followed by words of comfort for those persecuted for Jesus' sake.
• Verses 13–16 Jesus tells the disciples that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
• Verses 17–20 Jesus declares that he came not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. He also says that the disciples' righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.
• Verses 21–48 Six teachings follow the pattern "Ye have heard that it was said… But I say unto you." Their subjects are anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and love of enemies, and the section ends with the command to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect.

Key Verses

• Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit" — the first Beatitude, which opens the entire Sermon on the Mount.
• Matthew 5:17 "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil" — the verse most often cited in discussions of Jesus' relationship to the Old Testament law.
• Matthew 5:44 "Love your enemies" — the foundational text for love of enemies.

People and Places

• Scribes and Pharisees: Jewish religious leaders devoted to teaching and observing the law. In verse 20 the disciples' righteousness is compared with theirs.
• Tax collectors and Gentiles: In verses 46–47 they serve as examples of people who love only their own.
• The mountain: The text does not name it. Its identification with a hillside by the Sea of Galilee comes from later tradition.
• In verse 22, "the council" refers to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. "Hell" translates Gehenna, a term derived from the Valley of Hinnom.

Interpretive Considerations

• The Anabaptist and Quaker traditions take verses 34 and 39 literally, treating them as grounds for refusing oaths and for nonviolence. Lutheran and Reformed traditions additionally emphasize that these demands expose human limitations and point people toward grace (see Law and Gospel). Some dispensationalist interpretations regard these teachings as the ethic of the coming kingdom.
• Verse 48 is the text John Wesley cited in teaching Christian perfection, and for this reason it carries particular significance in the Methodist and Holiness traditions.
• The exception in verse 32, "saving for the cause of fornication," is, together with Matthew 19:3–9, a central text in discussions of divorce and remarriage.
• The Beatitudes and the command to love one's enemies appear in similar form in the so-called Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6:20 and following.

In the Korean Church

• The Beatitudes are frequently used as a memorization passage in Sunday schools. The salt and light of verses 13–16 are often cited in sermons on the social responsibility of Christians.