Luke locates the place where Jesus delivered His Sermon on the Mount as a level place (6:17). Matthew states that Christ "went up into the mountain: and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him: 2 and he opened his mouth and taught them ..." (Matt. 5:1,2). Both records are correct. Jesus went up into the mountain and prayed all night, as we have already learned from Mark. The next day He came down from the top of the mountain to a level place which seems to have been on the side of the mountain, and there delivered His message. There is, therefore, no contradiction between the two accounts. One gives information supplemental to the other. In Matthew 4:25 we are told that "... there followed him great multitudes from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judaea and from beyond the Jordan." Luke's account informs us that "...he came down with them, and stood on a level place, and a great multitude of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judaea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon ..." were in the audience.

On some of the places from which the multitudes came both of these accounts are in agreement. One gives information, however, that the other does not; therefore those names that are peculiar to Matthew are his contribution to our knowledge concerning the multitudes; whereas those places that are mentioned only by Luke constitute his special contribution to our knowledge regarding the great crowd that was attending Jesus on this occasion. Both accounts inform us that Jesus engaged in a healing ministry prior to His delivering the message termed "the Sermon on the Mount."

When we make a harmony of the Gospels, we see that the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7, comes between the first and the second tours of Galilee. In a manner analogous to this when we study Luke we see that the sermon delivered on the "level place" comes at the same time--between the first and the second tours of Galilee. Thus chronologically they are both located between the two tours, and they can be identified as parallel records of the same message, if there is corroborative evidence pointing in that direction. Thus the time as indicated in both records will fit into the theory of the two accounts being records of one and the same message.

Some people, however, have difficulty in identifying the two records as the account of one sermon. They call attention to the fact that the message found in Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7, contains 111 verses, whereas the sermon recorded by Luke has only 30 verses. Matthew, therefore, has 81 verses more than Luke.

When we note the beginning and the end of each of these messages we see identity in both instances. Matthew starts his message with the seven Beatitudes, which are immediately followed by a special Beatitude's being pronounced upon those who are persecuted (Matt. 5:10), which is followed by another blessing pronounced upon the disciples themselves, when they are reproached for Christ's sake. This is followed by an exhortation to rejoice under such circumstances.

Luke begins his message by recounting four Beatitudes that Jesus addressed to His disciples. (Luke 6:20-22). These are followed by an exhortation for the Apostles, whenever they are persecuted, to rejoice in the fact that they are counted worthy to suffer for His sake.

By noting these two introductions, we can easily see how that Matthew could give the fuller account with reference to the seven general Beatitudes, which Luke does not mention. The latter, however, gives us the four special Beatitudes that Jesus pronounced upon His disciples that might be persecuted for His sake. The agreement between the two accounts is so very striking that we must conclude that the probabilities are that the two separate records are both narrations of the same occasion and message. The fact that Matthew's account is fuller than that of Luke does not militate against the position that the two accounts are of the one message.

Matthew closes his account by giving our Lord's parable concerning the two builders: one who built his house upon a rock which stood during the storms that came upon it; the second, who built his house upon the sands, which fell when the storms and the rains descended upon it. These two builders illustrate the two classes of hearers: one who hears and heeds and in so doing builds upon the rock; the other, who hears but does not heed, and is therefore compared to the man who built his house upon the sand. The conclusion of the sermon as recorded by Luke is to the same effect: there are the two builders and the houses which they erect. One stands amid the storms and disasters of life, whereas the other dashes to the ground under the power and might of the storm.

Just preceding the closing parables of these sermons, Jesus warned that not everyone who says to Him in that day, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But only those who do the will of God shall enter into it. (See Matt. 7:21-23.) Luke's account of the parallel thought is found in 6:46.

The same thread of thought runs through the body of both messages. The difference between them is this: Matthew is very full and complete, whereas Luke's account is a brief abridgment of Matthew's account.

Thus to the impartial student who is looking for facts and truth it becomes very apparent that the two accounts are the record of one message written for different groups, each of which had a peculiar slant upon things spiritual.

As is well known, Matthew wrote his record of the Gospel for the Jews, who believed in the Old Testament Scriptures, and who were looking forward to the coming of Messiah. He alone of the four Gospel writers lays especial emphasis upon prophecy and points out that Jesus of Nazareth was the fulfillment of various predictions found here and there throughout the prophets.

An examination of Matthew's record brings the conviction to one that this message was our Lord's "Manifesto" in which He set forth in a clear and concise manner the general principles and teachings for which He stood. In democratic countries candidates for various offices make speeches in which they tell the people the things for which they stand and the policies that they intend to adopt, if elected. Jesus was not electioneering and seeking for the approval of the masses. On the contrary, when He saw such crowds following Him, He wanted them to know the things for which He stood. In other words, He was telling them the price of true discipleship.

Since the Jewish element was predominant in the audience, He naturally would speak in terms that they could understand. There were in Palestine in the days of our Lord three religious parties and one semi-religious group. The religious groups were: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. The Pharisees were the strictest sect and the most punctilious in the observance of rites and ceremonies, with emphasis upon the religious side of life. The Sadducees were a worldly, rationalistic group of people. The Essenes were the extremely fanatical type, that had withdrawn from society and were living a kind of communal, monastic life. The semi-religious party consisted of the Herodians, who were religiously Jews, but who politically were in favor of the Roman domination of the Jewish nation. Of the four groups the Pharisees were in the ascendancy, at least numerically; whereas the Sadducees, though much fewer in number, were the rich, aristocratic crowd whose money talked very loudly. Since the great masses of the people looked up to the Pharisees, together with the scribes, Jesus held before His audience the religious teachings of the Pharisees.

He therefore let them know that He, who, being God had entered the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth and hence was the God-man, had not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them, to carry out the very letter of the law of Moses and the predictions of the prophets, to bring them to their full and complete meaning. Hence He wanted them, His audience, to know the difference between the true and the false, the genuine and the counterfeit. He therefore quoted what they had heard on various points and in regard to different laws and glosses that had been added to the laws. Then He showed the real, true interpretation of the Word of God as it was given by the Lord.

Throughout Matthew's account Christ spoke as one having authority. He did this by calling attention to what God had said and now what He Himself was saying. In doing this, He was not setting aside what God had said, but was bringing in the fullest manner possible the real intent and the spirit of the legislation.

Is the Sermon on the Mount as given by Matthew for the disciples of Christ today? My answer is a very positive affirmation. Jesus spoke to His disciples and told them the things for which He stood and matters that relate to them. If we are disciples of the Lord, this sermon is for us. It is for the disciples who live in the present age and who are taught to pray: "Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth..." (Matt. 6:9,10). We are in the spiritual phase of the kingdom now, but are to pray for the coming of the glorious millennial kingdom, when the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

The fact that Jesus, on different occasions, made certain statements and treated of different things that He incorporated in this message does not militate against His having said all of these things on this occasion, as Matthew states. Every preacher repeats himself very frequently. So did our Lord. The message of the Sermon on the Mount is for us who are true disciples of the Lord Jesus. Blessed will be every disciple who follows His instructions.

The Sermon on the Mount is a message of grace and truth and is not legalistic in any sense of the term. We are not under law, but we are under grace, declared the Apostle Paul in Romans, chapter 6.

As has been stated, Luke's account, though very much briefer than Matthew's record, is obviously an abridgment of the full message that Matthew recorded. It begins with the Lord's pronouncing blessings upon the disciples who take Him seriously, and follow Him not only in the letter, but in the spirit. They are enjoined to rejoice and leap for joy because they have a great reward in heaven for the services that they render here on the earth. Following this exhortation, in Luke 6:24-26, Jesus pronounces four woes upon certain ones for different things.

He urges His disciples to love their enemies and to bless those that curse them and pray for them that despitefully use them. In verse 31 He gives us the golden rule. In urging the disciples to love their enemies and one another, He at the same time warns them against judging without adequate evidence. Luke adds some of the utterances that Matthew does not give, but we know that they were characteristic of Jesus because He spoke them on other occasions. While people are not to judge others without sufficient evidence, they can be "fruit inspectors" because they are to judge the tree by its fruits, "...for out of the abundance of the heart his [one's] mouth speaketh" (6:45).

Thus this account of Luke's is parallel with that of Matthew. In view of all the facts, we come to the conclusion that both accounts are different versions of the one message contained in the Sermon on the Mount.

Attention Readers: For those interested in a detailed study of Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount, which would be very helpful in connection with the study in Luke, we recommend Dr. Cooper's exposition of Mathew Chapter 5, 6, 7.