Bedrock Beliefs Being Questioned ~ The Sermon on the Mount

Two of the gospel writers in the New Testament record a sermon Jesus gave early in His ministry.  Luke’s account contains far less information than Matthew’s account.  Given the discrepancies, “scholars” searching for the “historical Jesus” have tended to discount both accounts, saying that the sayings were bits and pieces of things cobbled together long after Jesus’ death and were not delivered as a single sermon as the Bible reports them.  Since Matthew’s account contains far more information than Luke’s, Matthew must have made most of it up, according to them.  This reduces the Sermon on the Mount to a pithy bunch of sayings like Proverbs and not a coherent whole with a unifying purpose.  This view is untenable to committed Christians.
 

Which version of the sermon is most accurate?  The Bible accounts alone cannot answer this question.  Fortunately, when Jesus visited the Nephites after His resurrection, He organized His church and taught His gospel as he had in Judæa. This included the teachings covered by the Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon at the Temple (so called because it was delivered at the Nephite temple in Bountiful) is much closer to Matthew’s version than it is to Luke’s.  If the Book of Mormon is true - and I testify that it is - then Matthew did not make up the sermon out of whole cloth but did, in fact, record what Jesus actually said.  Because it is presented as a single sermon in 3 Nephi, it is a testimony to Matthew's accuracy and not a collection of disjointed sayings.

 

Some critics (including many Christians) argue that Joseph Smith just copied the sermon straight out of Matthew with just a few changes.  Such critics may be interested in the following story: a few years ago, the Dean of the Harvard School of Divinity (obviously not a Latter-day Saint) was invited by BYU to study the two sermons - Matthew and 3 Nephi - and compare and contrast them.  Some of his findings were dramatic.

He noted that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was teaching in the style of the rabbis of His day.  He was taking the Law of Moses and bringing it into a more contemporary setting.  In the Sermon at the Temple, He was teaching as a God.  This was a huge difference and was consistent throughout the sermon.  For example, the 3 Nephi account frequently includes the words “come unto me.”  Jesus replaces the temple altar as the center of worship with Himself.  He also references His own completed mission and perfection which He could not have done in the Galilee during His lifetime.

Here are three of the key examples this man pointed out: 

1. Sermon on the Mount blesses the poor in spirit/Sermon at the Temple blesses the poor in spirit who come unto Jesus.
2. Sermon at the Temple replaces the altar with Jesus Christ Himself
3. Sermon at the Temple admonishes people to become perfect as both Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are perfect, not just the Father.  This is not an error on the part of Matthew or Nephi.  It is a statement of doctrinal truth that Jesus, the Sinless One, didn't call Himself perfect until he had completed the Atonement, died for our sins, and resurrected on the third day.  At that time He could call Himself perfect in the Hebrew connotation of the word perfect which means finished or completed.

Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Sermon at the Temple 3 Nephi 12

Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, if ye shall come unto me, or shall desire to come unto me and remember that thy brother has ought against thee – go thy way unto thy brother, and first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I will receive you.

Therefore, I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.

We will talk more about these Sermons (in particular the Beatitudes) on tomorrow's Couch.

 

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

Pictures;

Sermon on the Mount by Harry Anderson from multiple web sources

Sermon at the Temple from www.lds.org