If the Good News is Old News, does it become Bad News?
Read: Lk 1:30-34; Is. 7:14; Luke 2:1-7, 10; Gal. 4:4 What if you received the same edition of a newspaper every day for a week? Or for a year? Or…
David Hall
The Gospel Ethic of Speech
Read Mt. 5:33-37 Christians, of all people, should be known as “eminent for fidelity” (Barclay) and that “whatever we say is firmer than an oath.” All of our language must…
On The Hermeneutics of Subscription
Interpretation is a difficult art, nearly as much so with a hermeneutic of history as with a hermeneutic of Scripture. Of course, the former both is governed by more certain…
Speech Perversion and Gospel Truth
Read Matthew 5:33-37 Notice also what is happening in this process in which the Scribes seek to negotiate the value of words with Jesus. They try to buttress their…
The Gospel and Our Speech
Read Matthew 5:33-37 At this stage in our study of the Sermon on the Mount, we are analyzing six illustrations of Jesus’ main principle asserted in Matthew 5:17-20. Remember…
Gospel Living and Divorce
Read Matt. 5:31-32 Jesus’ second example concerns sexual faithfulness within marriage. Before I analyze this let me give two asides about our contemporary situation. Recently, the divorce rate reached its…
Justifying Self and Sex
Matthew 5:27-32 These verses provide an exercise in learning how error functions. I want you to note four things about Jesus’ correction of the Scribes’ interpretation of the law.…
Looking for Loopholes in all the Wrong Places
Read Matthew 5:27-32 In our previous study, we examined Jesus’ first example of how the Pharisees had distorted the Law and how Jesus actually was in harmony with it. This…
An Internal Litmus
Read Matt. 5:21-22 A litmus test reveals the chemical makeup of something that is normally invisible. Jesus taught that the law of God actually reveals much about our inner life;…
The Internal Law About Anger
Matthew 5:21-26 Our Lord states his main principle in the prior verses (Mt. 5:21-22). Then in verses 23-26, he gives two examples in practical life of what he means.…
Jesus’ Law About Anger
Read Matthew 5:21-26 Often we will read in the newspaper or see on the TV news about a road-rage killing or some other situation in which anger gets out of…
Was Jesus a Law Hater? A Law Corrector?
Read Matt. 5:19-20 There are some who mistakenly think that Christ in this sermon expounds a new and improved moral code. I hope as we review the balance of Matthew…