Purpose:
This post is the second of a four-part series examining how the Gospel of Matthew presents the kingdom of heaven—from its announcement to its reckoning. It is written to encourage careful reading of the text rather than debate over theological systems.
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Kingdom Messaging in Matthew
In broad terms, the Sermon on the Mount presents a coherent and integrated vision of kingdom life. From the outset of His public ministry, Jesus consistently proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven had drawn near.¹ By the time He ascends the mountainside to address the gathered crowds, He has already begun calling disciples and announcing this kingdom throughout Galilee. In Matthew 5–7, Jesus articulates both the nature of that kingdom and the character of those who belong to it. The sermon is best read not as a collection of disconnected ethical sayings, but as a unified presentation of life under God’s reign.²
The Kingdom as Ethical Formation: Matthew 5:1–12 — The Beatitudes
The opening section of the Sermon on the Mount—commonly referred to as the Beatitudes—must be interpreted within this kingdom framework. Matthew’s narrative flow makes this clear. Immediately prior to recording Jesus’ teaching, Matthew summarizes His Galilean ministry:
“Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people” (Matt 4:23).
This summary functions as a thematic introduction. When Jesus begins teaching in Matthew 5, He is not changing subjects; He is expounding the meaning of the kingdom He has already been proclaiming.³
Jesus speaks explicitly of the kingdom of heaven, describing both the identity of those who belong to it and the blessings associated with that belonging. A key grammatical feature deserves attention: the Beatitudes are expressed primarily in the present tense. Jesus says, “Blessed are…” and “theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” not “blessed will be.”⁴
This tense indicates that Jesus is addressing people in their present circumstances rather than merely offering distant future promises. He speaks to those who are already experiencing poverty of spirit, mourning, exclusion, and persecution—conditions many of His hearers were enduring or would soon face. The kingdom, therefore, is portrayed not as a remote future reality but as an active and present reign.⁵
For this reason, the kingdom Jesus announces cannot be reduced to a purely future hope. Rather, He proclaims the inbreaking of God’s reign—a kingdom inaugurated through His own presence and ministry and continuing wherever His authority is acknowledged.⁶ These words address the first citizens of the kingdom, yet they also speak to all who, throughout history, live under His kingship.
Several features of this opening section further reinforce its kingdom character:
1. The Deliberate Echo of Sinai
Matthew intentionally presents Jesus ascending a mountain and teaching authoritatively, evoking Moses at Sinai. Within Second Temple Jewish expectations, mountains functioned as locations of divine revelation and covenant instruction. By placing Jesus in this posture, Matthew portrays Him not merely as a teacher within Israel, but as the authoritative interpreter—and fulfiller—of the Law under God’s reign.⁷
2. The “Already / Not Yet” Tension
While the kingdom is present, Matthew also preserves a future dimension. Several Beatitudes include future-oriented promises (“they shall be comforted,” “they shall inherit the earth”), indicating fulfillment that is both inaugurated and awaited. The kingdom has arrived in Jesus’ ministry, yet its full realization remains future.⁸
3. Corporate as well as Individual Identity
The Beatitudes are frequently read individualistically, yet within a first-century Jewish context they function primarily as descriptions of a people. Jewish covenant identity was fundamentally corporate, and obedience was understood communally. Jesus is therefore forming a kingdom community whose shared life reflects the values of God’s reign.⁹
4. The Subversive Nature of the Beatitudes
Jesus’ blessings invert conventional expectations of power and status. The poor, meek, persecuted, and merciful—not the powerful, wealthy, or religiously secure—are declared blessed. In doing so, Jesus confronts existing social and religious hierarchies and redefines honour around covenant faithfulness rather than dominance.¹⁰
5. The Cost of Discipleship
The Beatitudes are not merely descriptive; they are formative. They call hearers into a way of life aligned with the King—a life that may involve suffering precisely because the kingdom is already present in a world that resists God’s reign.¹¹
Kingdom Witness in the World: Matthew 5:13–16 — Salt and Light
In verses 13–16, Jesus introduces the metaphors of salt and light. These images must be read as a direct continuation of the Beatitudes. Jesus is not shifting topics; He is describing the vocation of those who belong to the kingdom He has just described.¹²
The repeated phrase “you are” is significant. Addressed to the disciples collectively, it also applies to each individual member. Kingdom identity is therefore both corporate and personal. Together, through faithful participation, kingdom citizens function as salt and light in the world.
These metaphors indicate that the kingdom advances not through withdrawal or isolation, but through visible and faithful presence. While salvation is not earned through works, Jesus explicitly links good works to the public visibility of God’s reign. Such works do not earn entrance into the kingdom; they bear witness to it, directing glory to the Father.¹³
Salt losing its effectiveness signals loss of covenant distinctiveness.
Light presupposes darkness, making visible witness necessary.
Hidden discipleship is rejected in favor of embodied allegiance.
Good works are instrumental, not transactional.
Salt and light echo Israel’s vocation to bless the nations (Isa 42:6; 49:6), now re-centered around Jesus.¹⁴
Why Matthew’s Jewish Context Matters: Matthew 5:17–20 — The Law and the Prophets
At this point in the sermon, Jesus addresses a concern His audience may already be forming: whether His teaching represents a departure from Israel’s Scriptures. Given the radical nature of His message, suspicion of undermining the Law and the Prophets would be understandable. Jesus addresses this directly.¹⁵
“The Law and the Prophets” functions as a standard Jewish designation for the entirety of Israel’s Scriptures. To “abolish” the Law meant to invalidate it through false interpretation. To “fulfill” (plēroō) meant to bring something to its intended goal—establishing its true meaning and purpose.¹⁶
Jesus’ statement that the Law remains “until all is accomplished” affirms both its seriousness and its trajectory. The Law’s authority is tied to its role in God’s redemptive plan, moving history toward completion rather than remaining static.¹⁷
This passage functions as a hinge in the sermon, closing the introduction and opening the confrontation between Jesus’ kingdom vision and prevailing religious assumptions.¹⁸
From Instruction to Accountability: Matthew 5:21–48 — The Antitheses
The so-called antitheses (“You have heard… but I say to you”) are not contradictions of the Law but authoritative interpretations that reveal its true depth. Jesus intensifies rather than relaxes the Law, moving from external acts to internal motivations.¹⁹
Hyperbolic imagery—such as removing an eye or hand—is a well-established Jewish rhetorical device intended to emphasize seriousness, not literal application.²⁰ The focus throughout is allegiance of the heart rather than technical compliance.
Jesus exposes the theological impossibility of achieving righteousness through rule-keeping alone. This impossibility is not meant to produce despair, but humility and dependence on God’s transforming work.²¹
The Kingdom Moves Toward Reckoning: Matthew 6–7 — Practiced Righteousness and Final Accountability
In Matthew 6, Jesus turns from defining righteousness to addressing its practice. The apparent tension between visible good works (5:16) and practicing righteousness “in secret” is resolved once motive is recognized as the issue. Kingdom righteousness seeks the Father’s approval, not public recognition.²²
Matthew 6 (Verses 1-4:)
Jesus, speaking of His followers as being salt and the light of the world, had just told them, “Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16). Now we seem to hear Him saying the opposite–He is saying their good works must somehow be hidden. However, this is not a contradiction; Jesus is addressing motive.
Jesus has turned from what righteousness is to how it is practised. His repeated warning is against performing acts of righteousness so as “to be seen by others.” The issue is not the actions themselves—giving, praying, fasting—but the motivation and audience.
The kingdom contrast is clear. They (we) must understand that earthly righteousness seeks recognition; Kingdom righteousness seeks communion with the Father.
Jesus’ instruction to give, pray, and fast “in secret” does not prohibit public worship or community prayer. Rather, it confronts performance based religion—righteousness used as a means of social leverage or spiritual status. It is at this point in the sermon that Jesus gives us what has come to be called, “The Lord’s Prayer.” (Verses 9-13):
“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father, who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your
kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On
earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our
daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have
forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.’
**(side
note: Note: some late manuscripts include, “for yours is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”)
The Lord’s Prayer sits at this point in this section of the sermon and functions as a kingdom prayer, not merely a private devotion. It begins with God’s reign (“Your kingdom come”) and ends with daily dependence, forgiveness, and deliverance. The prayer assumes a present kingdom reality being lived under, not merely awaited. Teaching on wealth, loyalty, and anxiety addresses misplaced trust rather than emotional states.²³
Fasting Matthew 6:16-21:
In the final sections of chapter 6, Jesus is addressing such topics as earthly/worldly concerns such as treasure or wealth, loyalty, and trust.
Here, I believe the reference to “heaven” is meant to be seen as, “the kingdom of heaven.” This would be consistent with the rest of the message and follows naturally with what has just been said in the Lord’s Prayer. Obviously, we cannot somehow keep our money in something like, “The first National Bank of Heaven.” Rather, I think we are being told to make our investments in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 6:22-34:
Jesus then addresses competing allegiances. Things like treasure or wealth, vision (“the eye”), and masters are all metaphors pointing to orientation of the heart.
“You cannot serve God and Wealth” is not a condemnation of wealth itself but a statement about exclusive loyalty. Mammon or wealth represents trust in economic security rather than in God’s reign.
The commands not to worry are often misread as emotional prescriptions. Instead, Jesus is addressing misplaced trust. Anxiety reveals allegiance. Kingdom citizens are invited to trust the Father’s provision because they already belong to His reign.
“Seek first the kingdom” is not a technique for success but a reordering of priorities under God’s rule. This whole portion of chapter 6 is about kingdom life—about believers being citizens of the kingdom under Christ the king.
Matthew 7 (Verses 1-6): Matthew 7 presses toward decision and accountability.
“Do not judge” is one of the most frequently misused sayings in Scripture. Jesus is not forbidding moral discernment; He is condemning hypocritical judgment—judging others by standards one refuses to apply to oneself.
The metaphor of logs and specks again uses deliberate exaggeration. The point is not that discernment is wrong, but that humility must precede it.
Jesus balances this with warnings about “dogs” and “pigs,” indicating that discernment is still required. Kingdom wisdom knows to whom to speak, when to speak and when to refrain.
Matthew 7:7-12:
The invitation to ask, seek, and knock reinforces dependence on the Father. Kingdom life is not sustained by self-effort but by continual reliance on God’s generosity.
The final section of chapter 7 and the sermon now presses toward decision and accountability.
The narrow and wide gates emphasize direction, not difficulty. “Gate” and “Way” are about orientation and trajectory. The narrow and wide ways contrast not difficulty but direction, echoing Israel’s long-standing “two ways” tradition of life and death.²⁴ However, when read within the Sermon’s overall argument, the emphasis falls less on how hard the path feels and more on where each path is going and what kind of allegiance each represents.
Jesus does not describe two people standing still and choosing between a hard lifestyle and an easy lifestyle, but rather two paths already being travelled, each with a destination.
In biblical imagery, a way (Greek: hodos) regularly means a manner of life, not a set of tasks. Likewise, a gate marks entry into a path, not the level of effort required to walk it. The contrast, then, is between a way that aligns with the kingdom and leads to life, and a way that aligns with the default values of the world and leads to destruction. This is why the emphasis is fundamentally directional.
By the time Jesus reaches this part in the sermon, (Matthew 7:13–14), He has already described what the narrow way is. It is humility instead of self-assertion (Beatitudes); reconciliation instead of contempt; faithfulness instead of exploitation; and truthfulness instead of image management. The “narrow way” is also, enemy love instead of retaliation; trust in the Father instead of anxiety; and obedience instead of mere verbal profession. None of these are presented primarily as “difficult techniques.” They are expressions of allegiance to the King.
The “narrowness” is not about complexity or effort, but about exclusivity of loyalty. One cannot serve God and Mammon. One cannot pursue the kingdom while clinging to self-rule.
False prophets are identified by their fruit, not their claims. Today, when the church is awash with many claiming to be prophets, this passage must always be kept in mind—discernment, based on the fruit must be practised.
Next, it is important to take note of the idea that verbal confession (“Lord, Lord”) is insufficient without obedience. Obedience to the king is necessary and it is not simply, “salvation by works.”
The house built on rock and sand illustrates response, not knowledge. The closing warning is sobering: hearing Jesus’ words without acting on them leads to collapse. Kingdom citizenship is not theoretical—it reshapes life. The Sermon ends not with comfort but with authority. Jesus speaks not as a commentator on Torah but as the one whose words determine ultimate stability.25
Further Commentary and Study Outline regarding the Sermon on the Mount
In broad terms, the Sermon on the Mount displays several coherent and interrelated themes. From the outset of His public ministry, Jesus consistently announces that the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. By the time He ascends the mountainside to address the gathered crowds, He has already begun calling disciples and proclaiming this kingdom throughout Galilee. In Matthew 5–7, Jesus now articulates the nature of that kingdom and the character of those who belong to it. The sermon unfolds as a unified presentation of kingdom life rather than a collection of disconnected ethical sayings.26
I. Kingdom Identity (5:1–16):
The Beatitudes: defining who belongs to the kingdom
Salt and Light: explaining why kingdom citizens exist in the world
II. Kingdom Righteousness Defined (5:17–48)
The Law is fulfilled, not abolished
Righteousness surpasses external compliance
Heart allegiance is revealed through relationships and intent
III. Kingdom Devotion Oriented Toward God (6:1–18)
Giving, prayer, and fasting practiced without public performance
God, not people, is the true audience of devotion
IV. Kingdom Allegiance Clarified (6:19–34)
Treasure as a revelation of trust
Loyalty to God contrasted with anxiety-driven self-reliance
V. Kingdom Wisdom Practiced (7:1–12)
Humility as the prerequisite for discernment
Dependence on God expressed through prayer
VI. Kingdom Decision Required (7:13–27)
Images of paths, fruit, and foundations
Obedience as evidence of genuine allegiance
Why Matthew’s Jewish Context Matters
In undertaking this study, it is also necessary to ask how Jesus’ message would have been heard by a first-century Jewish audience. In particular, how would His teaching compare with the literature of Second Temple Judaism, which reflects the theological assumptions and religious concerns of the period?27
Much of Jesus’ instruction would have sounded familiar. Second Temple Judaism strongly emphasized obedience to Torah, the importance of alms-giving, prayer, fasting, and—at least in some strands—a concern for inward intention alongside outward practice.28 In these respects, Jesus does not reject Jewish piety but addresses it from within its own categories.
At the same time, His teaching would have been deeply unsettling, for it diverges in several significant ways:
Authority. Jesus does not ground His teaching in appeals to earlier rabbis (“Rabbi X says…”), but instead speaks with direct authority: “But I say to you.” This manner of instruction implicitly locates interpretive authority in His own person.29
Interiorization of the Law. While certain Jewish texts acknowledge intention, Jesus consistently presents the heart as the decisive arena of obedience, where anger, lust, and duplicity are judged alongside outward actions.30
Enemy Love. Some Second Temple writings—most notably the Qumran community—explicitly command hatred of enemies (e.g., Community Rule 1QS I.9–11). Jesus’ command to love one’s enemies represents a sharp and deliberate contrast.31
God as Father. Although the language of God’s fatherhood appears in Jewish prayer, Jesus’ repeated emphasis on intimate, filial trust gives this theme an unprecedented centrality.32
Kingdom Accessibility. Jesus locates participation in the kingdom not in sectarian identity, scholarly mastery of Torah, or ideological purity, but in personal allegiance to Himself. The decisive question is not group membership, but obedience to His words.33
Taken
together, these elements explain why the Sermon on the Mount would
have been perceived as both recognizably Jewish and profoundly
disruptive. Jesus affirms Israel’s Scriptures and moral vision
while simultaneously re-centering them around His own authority and
the nearness of God’s reign.
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Endnotes:
N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 201–209.
R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 156–158.
Dale C. Allison Jr., Matthew: A Shorter Commentary (London: T&T Clark, 2004), 74–76.
Jonathan T. Pennington, Heaven and Earth in the Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 146–150.
France, Matthew, 161–163.
Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, 248–252.
Allison, Matthew: A Shorter Commentary, 77–79.
Pennington, Heaven and Earth, 153–156.
John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016), 269–272.
Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, 290–296.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Touchstone, 1995), 98–103.
France, Matthew, 172–174.
Allison, Matthew: A Shorter Commentary, 83–85.
Pennington, Heaven and Earth, 158–160.
France, Matthew, 182–184.
Allison, Matthew: A Shorter Commentary, 91–93.
Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, 333–336.
France, Matthew, 187–189.
Allison, Matthew: A Shorter Commentary, 98–110.
Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 185–187.
Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, 284–287.
France, Matthew, 227–230.
Pennington, Heaven and Earth, 175–180.
Deut 30:15–20; cf. Allison, Matthew: A Shorter Commentary, 130–133.
France, Matthew, 290–292.
R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 160–163.
N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 259–268.
E. P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE–66 CE (London: SCM Press, 1992), 201–224.
Dale C. Allison Jr., Matthew: A Shorter Commentary (London: T&T Clark, 2004), 86–90.
Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 44–48.
Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 3–5.
Joachim Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus (London: SCM Press, 1967), 11–24.
France, Matthew, 280–285.
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