The Sermon on the Mount is recorded twice in the New Testament, both in Matthew and in Luke. But the two are significantly different accounts. Have you ever wondered why?
This has always bothered me. These two accounts of the Sermon on the Mount have some major differences, too many to simply dismiss.
Matthew records the Sermon on the Mount in three different chapters, chapters 5-7. Luke records his account in a shorter version, in Luke 6. Of the two, most people are more familiar with the Matthew account. And when they get to Luke, the account is similar, yet not the same.
For example, Luke records the Beatitudes, as does Matthew, but Luke’s version is different, including a series of woes that Matthew does not record.
Luke also writes of Jesus’ statements concerning love for our enemies, about judging, and about the wise and foolish builders. But again, there are several key differences between the two gospels.
Why are these two accounts so different?
It is because these are two different sermons.
Wait. What?
A careful reading of the text gives some details that we often gloss over and miss. Look at Matthew 5:1:
When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
Jesus took his disciples up on the mountain and taught them. Now look at Luke 6:17:
Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people…
Jesus came down from the mountain and address a crowd combined of both disciples and the masses of people who were clamoring to hear him or be healed.
The simplest conclusion is often the right one, and here, we can see that Jesus gives two different sermons. Just like preachers today use similar elements of their teaching in different occurrences, Jesus very likely did the same thing. What he taught to the disciples in greater detail, he also shared with the crowds in a similar fashion. But a different audience would require the sermon to be presented at least a little bit differently.
And so, when skeptics argue that the Bible disagrees with itself in the Sermon on the Mount, the answer is simple: These accounts are of two different sermons. And a careful reading of the two passages bears this out.
This is often the case with the “discrepancies” that people find in the Bible. Most of the time, a careful reading of the text will present the solution.
That is why we must be careful students of the Word, reading and understanding it to the best of our abilities.
Question: What are some other passages that seem to contradict? Have you ever really studied these passages to see if the contradiction actually exists? You can leave a comment by clicking here.