Ulrich Luz on The Basic Message of the Sermon on the Mount

According to Ulrich Luz, the Sermon on the Mount is the most basic of the five discourses.[1] He offers the following as a few of its main declarations of the “Gospel of the Kingdom.”[2]

1. The goal of the Sermon on the Mount is Christian praxis
2. The gospel of the deed is an expression of grace
3. The Sermon on the Mount combines the central love command with other exemplary demands of Jesus
4. The Sermon on the mount is an ethic for disciples
5. Through the preaching of the disciples the Sermon on the Mount is valid for the whole world
6. The Sermon on the Mount offers instruction in fulfilling the law and prophets
7. The Sermon on the Mount states the requirements for entry into the kingdom of heaven

[1] Ulrich Luz, Matthew 1–7, ed. Helmut Koester, trans. James E. Crouch, Hermeneia (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007), 391.

[2] Luz, Matthew 1–7, 391–94.