Emphasizing the historical distance between the New Testament and our contemporary culture, The Sermon on the Mount offers helpful contextual insights for those seeking to discern how to live out the Bible in today's world. This sermon is the moral portrait of Jesus' own people—yet the contrast between his vision and our lives is so stark that many theologians have tried to soften the demands it makes on us until it's been skewed beyond recognition in the minds of many Christians. The goal of this special volume of The Story of God Bible Commentary series is to investigate the Sermon on the Mount in light of the way Jesus meant it to be heard, requiring us to ask difficult questions about ethics, discipleship, and salvation. The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding everyday readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is ideal for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and laypeople alike. Each volume employs three main, easy-to-use sections designed to help readers live out God's story: LISTEN to the Story: Includes complete NIV text with references to other texts at work in each passage, encouraging the reader to hear it within the Bible's grand story. EXPLAIN the Story: Explores and illuminates each text as embedded in its canonical and historical setting. LIVE the Story: Reflects on how each text can be lived today and includes contemporary stories and illustrations to aid preachers, teachers, and students. Edited by Scot McKnight and Tremper Longman III, and written by a number of top-notch theologians, The Story of God Bible Commentary series will bring relevant, balanced, and clear-minded theological insight to any biblical education or ministry.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. You cannot serve God and mammon. Judge not, that you be not judged. Though such sayings from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount are very familiar, many people -- including Christians! -- struggle to fully understand and follow them. For those who are brave enough to reconsider what Jesus really said, Addison Hodges Hart offers Taking Jesus at His Word.

This is the extended and annotated edition including * an extensive biographical annotation about the author and his life This edition includes the two books that St. Augustine wrote as explanations on the Sermon On The Mount which our Lord delivered and which are written down in Matthew 5-7.

Matthew 5-7, popularly known as the Sermon on the Mount, has been described as "the essence of Christianity" and inspired many commentaries. However, New Testament professor Charles Quarles believes a fair number of those volumes either present Christ's sermon as containing an impossible spiritual ethic or instead dilute its message so much that hardly any ethical challenge remains. Also concerning, a recent Gallup poll indicated only onethird of American adults recognize Jesus as the source of this teaching that has often inspired people who do not even embrace evangelical Christianity. Quarles' new analysis, part of the New American Commentary Studies in Bible & Theology series, aims to fill the gap between these extremes by dealing with the important questions of whether believers can live by the Sermon on the Mount today, and, if so, how. Looking at the Beatitudes, what it means to be salt and light, and the demand for superior righteousness, he writes to restore this crucial section of our Lord's teaching to its proper place in His church.

Talbert concludes that only when the text is read in three contexts--the whole of Matthew, the whole of the New Testament, and the entire biblical plot--can the Sermon on the Mount make a contribution to decision making.

How is the follower of Jesus to understand the words of the Old Testament? How are those words relevant to the New Covenant he is establishing? What might the words of the Lord’s Prayer have conveyed to his initial followers, and why is that historical information essential to the prayer two millennia later? In Sermon on the Mount, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine takes a detailed and colorful overview of Matthew 5-7, collectively known as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Through Dr. Levine’s engaging method of biblical interpretation, readers will come away with a solid understanding of the Sermon on the Mount in its historical and theological context. Chapters include: The Beatitudes The Extensions Practicing Piety Our Father Finding Your Treasure Living into the Kingdom Explore the major topics in the most popular sermon ever delivered and unpack how Jesus makes his points using a solid knowledge of Hebrew Scriptures and moral teachings. The Leader Guide includes session outline for each group meeting with Scripture, prayer, opening activity, discussion questions, activity, and ending call to action.

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A major new biography of Huldrych Zwingli—the warrior preacher who shaped the early Reformation Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531) was the most significant early reformer after Martin Luther. As the architect of the Reformation in Switzerland, he created the Reformed tradition later inherited by John Calvin. His movement ultimately became a global religion. A visionary of a new society, Zwingli was also a divisive and fiercely radical figure. Bruce Gordon presents a fresh interpretation of the early Reformation and the key role played by Zwingli. A charismatic preacher and politician, Zwingli transformed church and society in Zurich and inspired supporters throughout Europe. Yet, Gordon shows, he was seen as an agitator and heretic by many and his bellicose, unyielding efforts to realize his vision would prove his undoing. Unable to control the movement he had launched, Zwingli died on the battlefield fighting his Catholic opponents.