Matthew’s gospel is often described as having the most ethical focus of all the gospels. The Sermon on the Mount is the discourse in which the teaching of Jesus is spoken to the masses. It is therefore no surprise that this is the place in which many scholars argue that the ethics and theology of Matthew’s Gospel reach their climax. There are some, however, who claim that the Sermon on the Mount does not correlate to the remainder of the gospel as it clearly shows a different theology and outlook to the gospel as a whole. Before we can look at how the gospel relates to the complete outlook of Matthew’s ethics and theology, it is necessary to look at the arguments which claim that the theology of this passage is different and if possible dismiss these claims as convincingly as possible.
Betz took the interesting position that the Sermon on the Mount discourse in Matthew’s gospel is taken from a source which was transmitted intact, and integrated by the author into his composition of his gospel. ... However, the community from which the Sermon on the Mount source came stood nearer to the historical Jesus than other historical groups. ... This evidence is quite convincing as these verses can easily be interpreted as Matthew attempting to justify the strained relations between Judaism and Christianity and to comfort his readership in the face of the persecution that they were opposing during the time he was writing his gospel.
Furthermore, Betz argued that the different theologies of the Sermon on the Mount and the remainder of the gospel was another indication that the two traditions were composed in different Sitz im Leben. In fact he went as far as to say that the Sermon was ‘a kind of systematic theology’ and likened it to the Greco-Roman rhetorical tradition of the works of Epicurus. However, if we indulge in a short comparison of Epircurus’ Kyriai Doxai it is clear to see that Betz’s argument is objectionable: the Kyriai Doxai contains all of Epicurus’ philosophy and has little literary structure whereas the Sermon on the Mount only contains the ethical teaching of Jesus and within it the sayings have been grouped according to form and structure. Thus, to ascribe the Sermon on the Mount as ‘a kind of systematic theology’ is to misinterpret its place within the gospel and its function.
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