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Announcement: I Have Changed My Understanding of “New Law”

Peter Ditzel

January 2019: I recently revisited some articles I wrote several years ago and made some necessary changes to my understanding of the “new law” of the New Covenant. These center on what Jesus was doing when He gave His “But I say unto you” statements in Matthew 5. Or, to put it another way, these changes concern whether Jesus was giving Christians a new law to obey.  

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The Sermon on the Mount


The Sea of Galilee from the Mount of Beatitudes, the location where Jesus may have given the Sermon on the Mount
This view of the Sea of Galilee (also called Lake Tiberias) is from the mountain on which many scholars believe Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. Photo: Olevy, CC BY-SA

[This article was revised in January 2019: Further information.] [Edits for clarity, structure, and adding a picture were made in 2024]

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is the subject of many volumes. It has been called the epitome of Jesus’ ethical teaching, His manifesto, and the key of the whole Bible. To understand the Sermon on the Mount and its relevance for you, you need to know who was Jesus’ intended audience. You also need to know whether Jesus was correcting the misunderstandings of the scribes and Pharisees, whether He was fulfilling the role of the new Lawgiver by giving a new law, or whether He had an entirely different aim. In this relatively brief article, I want to show you that Jesus revealed His purpose early on in the sermon and that it was foundational for the rest of His ministry.

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