Understanding the Sermon on the Mount
A reading guide to Matthew 5–7: the Beatitudes, prayer, relationships, and the call to put Jesus’ teaching into practice.
Read Matthew 5–7 as a connected address
The Sermon on the Mount appears early in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ public ministry. The disciples draw near and the crowds also hear the teaching. Read the three chapters together at least once before studying individual sayings. Notice how the address begins with blessings and ends with a picture of people building on different foundations.
The Beatitudes describe people and circumstances that do not fit an ordinary ranking of worldly success: mourning, meekness, mercy, and peacemaking. They announce blessing in relation to God’s kingdom. They are not a checklist for earning comfort or a reason to celebrate another person’s suffering. Ask how these opening words shape the teaching that follows.
Look for the movement from outward acts to the heart
The discussions of anger, desire, promises, retaliation, and enemies examine more than visible compliance. Jesus draws attention to motives and relationships. Read the examples together and consider the kind of community they describe. The section about fulfilling the law and prophets is important context for understanding these instructions.
Matthew 6 turns to giving, prayer, and fasting. The repeated concern is performing devotion for an audience. The Lord’s Prayer offers a contrasting pattern, joining reverence for God with daily needs, forgiveness, and deliverance. Read it slowly and identify which requests concern shared life: the prayer repeatedly speaks of us and our.
Let the closing images guide application
The concluding chapter addresses judgment, asking, the treatment of others, and discernment. The warning about a plank and a speck calls for self-examination before correcting someone else. It should be read alongside the call to discern wisely, rather than used to forbid every moral judgment.
The final picture contrasts hearing and doing. For a study group, choose one practice to discuss concretely: reconciliation, private generosity, prayer, or treating others as you would be treated. Avoid making the sermon into a tool for controlling another person. Christian traditions differ on the application of some teachings, especially nonretaliation and oaths; careful study names those differences and returns to the actual wording and setting.
Read the passages
These links open the American Standard Version (ASV). Read the whole chapter and compare it with the discussion. You can choose another translation in the reader.