Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: Mandating a Better Righteousness (Biblia.com)

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The Sermon on the Mount is the best-known and most frequently studied repository of Jesus’ teachings. Amid the considerable erudition expended on the Sermon, however, Jack R. Lundbom argues that scholars have deflected or disregarded the main thrust of the sermon, which he characterizes as a mandate to holy living and a “greater righteousness.” Through careful attention to the structure of...

Perhaps the preeminent verse supporting unattainability is 5:48, where Jesus says that we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. This is a more difficult verse, but the problem has largely to do with the English word perfect. The bar is raised here no higher than in the Old Testament, where Israelite people were told to be holy as the Lord their God was holy (Lev. 19:2; cf. Deut. 14:2, 21). 1 Peter 2:9 says that the church is a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own

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