Radical Amputation?

Genuine believers are often shamed into
unreasonable demands in the pretext
of pursuing holiness.

Much damage is done to the body of Christ by a heretical interpretation of Jesus’ sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter 5 can be turned into a lethal weapon by a preacher who has neither studied the Scriptures as a whole or known the grace of Jesus Christ. Unsuspecting believers who have  been victims of this kind of false preaching can easy fall in asceticism, the worst kind of works-based sanctification.

In order to analyze this problem, we will need to consider two questions- How does this happen and why.

1. Legalism is taught when this Sermon is interpreted at face-value. The sermon on the Mount is not intended to be a new set of rules that replace the Old Testament laws. Rather, Jesus Christ proved the strict religious leaders of his time that they were not doing a good job at keeping God’s Old Testament law! No matter how strict they were with the letter of the law, they were missing the spirit. For example, many of them were boasting in that they kept the commandment against adultery. However, Jesus points out that although they did not commit the physical act, they had very much lusted in their own hearts. This is how adultery always starts. If they were to obey that commandment as strictly as possible, they could start by plucking their eyes out. The problem was not that they were too strict in their law-keeping. The problem was that they were not strict enough!

2. Legalism is taught when the point of the Sermon is not understood. There are only two possible interpretations for this Sermon: Try harder, or Give up. If you are  self-righteous and want to try harder, Jesus says to you:  “The law says, ‘Don’t kill,’ and that includes hating a person in your heart as well.” However, if you’ve realized that you’ve broken God’s law and have given up on trying to measure up to it by your efforts, the sermon has done its job. To you Jesus now says, “Come to me, you who are burden and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” The conclusion to Jesus’ sermon on the Mount was his death on the cross for you. Believe in Jesus and rest.