_THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM._
("SERMON ON THE MOUNT.")
MATT. v., vi., vii.
It may seem almost heresy to object to the time-honoured title "Sermon
on the Mount;" yet, so small has the word "sermon" become, on account
of its application to those productions of which there is material for
a dozen in single sentences of this great discourse, that there is
danger of belittling it by the use of a title which suggests even the
remotest relationship to these ephemeral efforts. No mere sermon is
this, only distinguished from others of its class by its reach and
sweep and power: it stands alone as the grand charter of the
commonwealth of heaven; or, to keep the simple title the evangelist
himself suggests (iv. 23), it is "The Gospel (or good news) of the
Kingdom." To understand it aright we must keep this in mind, avoiding
the easy method of treating it as a mere series of lessons on
different subjects, and endeavouring to grasp the unity of thought and
purpose which binds its different parts into one grand whole.
It may help us to do this if we first ask ourselves what questions
would naturally arise in the minds of the more thoughtful of the
people, when they heard the announcement, "The kingdom of heaven is at
hand." It was evidently to such persons the Lord addressed Himself.
"Seeing the multitudes," we read "He went up into the mountain,"
perhaps for the purpose of selecting His audience. The idle and
indifferent would stay down on the plain; only those who were in some
measure stirred in spirit would follow Him as He climbed the steep
ascent from the shore of the lake to the plateau above; and in their
minds they would in all probability be revolving such questions as
these: (1) "What is this kingdom, what advantages does it offer, and
who are the people that belong to it?" (2) "What is required of those
that belong to it? what are its laws and obligations?" And if these
two questions were answered satisfactorily, a third would naturally
follow--(3) "How may those who desire to share its privileges and
assume its obligations become citizens of it?" These, accordingly, are
the three great questions dealt with in succession.
I. THE NATURE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE KINGDOM (vv. 2-16):
first in itself, and then in relation to the world.