Study of the sermon on the mount.Matthew 5:19 Can you help with any relevant scriptures or comments ?

Question

Matthew 5:19....Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Re ....Anyone who breaks ,See James 2:20...You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? [d] Some early manuscripts dead

Re " kingdom of heaven" Luke 13:28...."There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.

Matt 11:11....I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Comment.

Shall break one of the least of these least commandments. The Pharisees taught that some commands were more important than others, and that it was a trivial matter to break the smallest commands. The papists still divide sin into mortal and venial. Christ shows that the spirit of obedience does not seek to make such distinction.

Is the comment above correct why/why not ?

How do the quoted scriptures tie in with Matthew 5:19 ?

Jesus is about warning teachers but does this not also throw some obligation for us students to question what we are taught seeing it mentions practices ?

Have i missed any important points ?

Can you add relevant scriptures or comments ?

Answer 1

all sin will kill us eventually. Repentance saves our butts.

We are under grace for keeping sundays and Christmas...It seems you have alot of verses already.

Answer 2

It is not applying written laws to life that the Sermon on the mount addresses. It shows us what we must be to be the Christ.

When we listen to God's voice instead of the voice of separation from God, the ego, we either hear or we don't hear...there are no degrees.

Answer 3

I love your questions & enjoy reading your answers .

Again i think you have got it right .

Don't stop.

Answer 4

First of all, Jesus was preaching to fellow Jews. In Jewish culture they believe that many of the laws, especially the Kosher laws, apply to them only and not to Gentiles (us) who wish to worship their god.

It is what some Christians call "being freed from the old laws" but it only requires a short bit of study to realize that as Christianity spread throughout the Gentiles, the church fathers had to make adjustments in theirs and Jesus' teachings for so many many non-Jews becoming involved.

Gentiles who follow the god of the Jews are actually responsible to the Noahide Laws which you will see are almost exactly what the church fathers taught. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noahide_law...

Second, Jesus was a Reformist (like the Puritans of 16th and 17th century). Though he taught from the school of Hillel the Elder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_the_... teaching peace and love, he also clearly had a fundamentalist view on the laws. It is no wonder he was so unpopular in such a time of lax morality (also like what happened to the Puritans).

Answer 5

Beware:  I have had questions deleted for asking about Matthew Chapter 5.  It seems that some people find those words offensive.

*edit*

I forgot to mention that the Christians would rather talk about why homosexuals won't make it to the kingdom of heaven than how Jesus said to live.

They don't answer questions about this because they don't like comparing their own lives to those verses.

*edit again*

The most comprehensive answer you got focused on the argument between the Pharisees instead of the whole point of Jesus' sermon.

Matthew Chapter Five is the foundation of Christian belief, yet only six answers.  If you had asked why homosexuals are going to h**l, there would have been multiple pages of answers.  It is pathetic.  It is as if the ministry of Christ doesn't exist to most christians.

1 Peter 4:8

And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Jesus insisted the same thing...  sin isn't the focus.  Love is.  When love is properly applied, it COVERS the sin...

Matt 5 isn't just a random rant by Jesus.  It is <as the rest of the New Test. confirms> the LAW.

Answer 6

First, place Matt. 5:19 into its proper context:

17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (NIV)

Here, there are three important points to consider:

1)  "the Law and the Prophets" refers to the Mosaic Law AND the utterances of the prophets who were commanded by God to speak.  Jesus made it clear that these prophesies are ALSO Law, just as the  Mosaic Law was (for example, see John 10:34, where Jesus refers to Psalm 82:6 as "Law.")

2)  Jesus was speaking to His fellow Jews at the time.  He was not speaking to Gentiles.

3)  Jesus states that it's still possible to be admitted into the Kingdom of God (i.e. "saved") if a person breaks one of the smallest commandments AND incorrectly teaches against that law, whether it's part of the Mosaic Law or Prophetic law.  (Think about it -- if a person isn't IN the Kingdom, how can s/he be called "least"?)  Therefore, Luke 13:28 is inapplicable, because Jesus was speaking of those who aren't in the Kingdom (i.e. the "unsaved").

Now, to your comments section.  

A)  The Pharisees didn't teach that it was "a trivial matter to break the smallest commands."  What they were guilty of (and still are, since today's Talmudic Judaism is the direct product of Pharisaism) was taking God's commandments and NEGATING them, thereby removing God's true message.  In essence, they were/are rejecting God's law, not disreguarding it.  Therefore, THEY were the ones to whom Jesus was referring, because they broke the Law (by negating it and changing it to something not meant by God) and by teaching others to do the same.  Matthew 15:1-9 is a PERFECT example of the Pharisees negating the true Law and teaching others to do likewise.

Sadly, the Pharisees' legacy is widely seen today among so-called "traditional" Jews (Talmudic Jews), who reject Jesus as Messiah because the Talmud and other "oral traditions" teach them that Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians don't know what we're talking about.  If the Talmud and other traditions hadn't replaced the plain reading of God's word, Jesus' Messiahship would be much more clear!

B)  You wrote "papists still divide sin into mortal and venial," which is true.  But again, Jesus was preaching to the JEWS.  While I see where you're going with this line of thought, I think it's an entirely different issue than what Jesus was preaching about here.  When a person understands the Law and prophesies about the Messiah, it's clear that Jesus fulfilled them.  But if the message of the Law and Prophets are clouded, a person cannot see what is plain, as He explains here:

John 5:45 "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"