The Sermon on the Mount: Restoring the Old Covenant, Preparing for the New Covenant

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

Too many Christians believe that we are supposed to live by everything that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

And yet, if we look closely at what Jesus says during His earthly ministry, then consider the revelations that Jesus gave to Paul in his epistles, we recognize that a change has taken place!

Consider this passage in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount:

"But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:15)

Wow! We have to forgive, or God won't forgive us? How demanding!

And that's the point. Jesus was bringing the Law, the Old Covenant, back to its pristine wholeness again.

Remember what Jesus said about the Pharisees and their "brand" of righteousness:

"For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20)

But under grace, under the New Covenant, we are not trying to earn righteousness. In fact, because of Jesus, we have become THE righteousness of God in Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Jesus restored the DEMANDS, the CLAIMS of the law, and Jesus would fulfill all those demands and claims.

In fact, He declared as much in the same Sermon on the Mount!

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." (Matthew 5:17)

What about the issue of forgiving others and being forgiven? Well, under grace, in the New Covenant, we forgive BECAUSE we have been so forgiven!

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32)

You see? We forgive BECAUSE "God the Father for Christ's sake has forgiven" us!

There is no contradiction. There has been a CHANGE!

What has changed? The covenants!

The Old Covenant was cut between God and Israel at Mt. Sinai, and it was cut with blood, for all covenants come into being through the shedding of blood and the death which ensues:

"17For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 18Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood." (Hebrews 9:17-18)

Consider what Jesus declared when He instituted communion in the Upper Room on the night of His betrayal:

"Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." (Luke 22:20)

That blood was shed at the Cross, and at the Cross, Jesus declared "It is Finished!" (John 19:30) because He fulfilled the Old Covenant and enacted the New Covenant!

So, there you have it. The Sermon on the Mount restores the pristine, unassailable, unachievable standards of the Old Covenant, and therefore, since we believe in Jesus and are no longer under law but under grace (Romans 6:14), we need to make sure that we understand what Jesus is saying, where, when, and to whom Jesus is saying things in the four Gospel accounts.