The Sermon on the Mount: The Most Misunderstood Sermon Ever Preached
The Sermon on the Mount is often called the greatest sermon ever preached. Many lift it up as Jesus’ model for Christian living, a list of moral goals to strive for. But when taught outside its context, it becomes the most crushing, destructive message you could ever hear.
Why? Because the Sermon on the Mount isn’t Jesus giving us new commands to try harder at. It’s Jesus raising the Law of Moses back to its true height: absolute perfection.
The Key to Unlocking the Sermon
The key to understanding the Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 5:17:
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”
Jesus makes His intent clear. He is not introducing a new way of life for believers—He is taking the Law of Moses and filling it up to its proper standard. Every jot and tittle (every tiny detail) of the Law would remain in force until He brought it to completion.
If you miss Matthew 5:17, you’ll misread the entire sermon. Instead of seeing Jesus as the ultimate Law teacher exposing the impossibility of self-righteousness, you’ll wrongly hear Him as giving His followers an impossible list of rules to obey.
The Law Raised to Perfection
Anger equals murder. Lust equals adultery. Calling someone a fool equals hellfire.
And then Jesus takes it further: “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away… If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away” (Matthew 5:29–30).
Is Jesus actually teaching self-mutilation as a pathway to holiness? Of course not. He’s showing the utter impossibility of achieving righteousness through the Law. If you’re relying on the Law, nothing short of losing body parts would keep you from sin.
This isn’t “helpful advice for holy living.” This is Moses on steroids—an impossible standard that no human effort could ever achieve.
Why Did Jesus Teach This Way?
Paul explains it: “Whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God” (Romans 3:19).
The Sermon on the Mount shuts us up. It drives us out of self-confidence and forces us to see our desperate need for a Savior. The Law was never meant to be our path to righteousness; it was meant to prove our guilt and point us to Christ.
Grace Fulfills What the Law Demanded
The good news is that Jesus didn’t just teach the Law—He fulfilled it. Romans 10:4 declares: “Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in Him are made right with God.”
That means the Sermon on the Mount is not your to-do list. It’s your stop-doing list. Stop trying to earn righteousness through the Law, because perfection has already been given to you in Christ.
Why It Matters
When preachers water down the Sermon on the Mount into “practical Christian living tips,” they unintentionally shrink grace. They make the Law look achievable, when Jesus meant for it to look impossible. And if the Law looks possible, Grace looks small. But when the Law looks impossible, Grace looks colossal.
The Takeaway
The Sermon on the Mount is not Jesus telling you how to live to be accepted by God. It’s Jesus showing you the true weight of the Law, so you’ll abandon self-righteousness and cling to Him.
Perfection is required. The Law proves you’ll never get there. Grace declares: “You already are.”
