Louisville Process Theology Network

The Fourteen Triads of the Sermon on the Mount

Aug 19, 2009

We first mentioned Systematic Theology in our post dated July 11, 2007.There we noted that Systematic Theology sounds something like Process Theology; however, it is distinctly different.

Basically, the objective of Systematic Theology is to derive principles and methods from religious teachings and articles of faith, which can be applied to current issues and practical problems.

It seems to us that Glen H. Stassen and David P. Gushee?’s book entitled, ?“Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context?”, offers a practical application of Systematic Theology that folks of various persuasions would find inspiring and useful. The authors are Southern Baptist professors of theology. Excerpts from the third chapter:


The Fourteen Triads of the Sermon on the Mount

?“ Guther Bornkamm's seminal essay, "Der Aufbau der Bergpredigt," [2] rightly pointed out that the Sermon on the Mount is carefully constructed and symmetrically ordered. Where we do not see the order, he argued, it is likely that it is we who are not seeing it; the orderly Matthew likely has an order there.

So we should look again, more carefully. To look again, more carefully, is what I should like to do?…


Triadic Structure Within Each Pericope (Passage) of Matthew 5:21-7:12

Proposals for understanding the structure of the Sermon on the Mount have focused on how to group the pericopes (passages) more than on the structure within each pericope. They see a high degree of careful craftsmanship and striking symmetry in the way the pericopes are grouped.

My thesis is that the same is true within each periscope (passage). Each pericope in the central section, 5:21-7:12, has a carefully crafted triadic structure, consistent across the pericopes, with one intriguing partial exception, and this unites them all as members of one family.

The main section of the Sermon, from 5:21 through 7:12, is composed of fourteen triads. The first part of each triad is traditional righteousness. The second part is the diagnosis of a vicious cycle and its consequence. The third part is a transforming initiative that points the way of deliverance?…

The internal triadic structure of each unit has been missed largely because scholars have been thinking of a dyadic structure--antitheses. Thus, typically, commentators arrange most of the units in 5:21-48 as ?“antithesis proper?” and then ?“illustrations.?” This implies the basic meaning is in the antithesis proper, composed of a traditional teaching and Jesus?’ authoritative antithesis?…

Several difficulties result:

* A dyadic structure--antitheses--would be atypical for the Gospel of Matthew, which has about 75 triads, and very few dyads. [4]

* Not seeing the triadic structure makes it difficult to see the symmetric structure in 6:19-7:12 that one would expect, since 5:21-48 and 6:1-18 are so thoroughly symmetrical.

* Not seeing the triadic structure has caused hopeless bafflement about the context and meaning of 7:6--the mysterious verse-without-context about dogs and pigs and holy things.

* Placing the emphasis on the prohibition of anger, lust, etc. leads to an interpretation of Jesus?’ good news as high ideals, hard teachings, impossible demands, so Christians praise Jesus for his high idealism while actually following some other ethic, a condition most accurately called hypocrisy, which Jesus did not favor?…

Dale Allison begins his commentary on the Sermon by pointing out that the belief, first expressed in Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho (10:2), that it is so high an ideal that no one can keep its commands 'is precisely the great problem of the Sermon and its ?‘ultra piety.?’... The words may please, but who can live them?

Is it realistic to ask people to love their enemies?... How can good people stand by while evil people do what they will?... Should one stay married to an abusive husband just because he is not known to have committed adultery?

Can Jesus really have been so obtuse as to imagine that he could banish the sexual impulse with an imperative?'?…

I propose that seeing the triadic structure helps us see the way of deliverance in the teachings, their basis in grace, their participation in the good news of the breakthrough of the reign of God. As is usual in triads, the emphasis is on the third part, not the second part.

None of the third parts is a prohibition, and they are not hard teachings or ?“high ideals.?” They are all transforming initiatives. They point the way of deliverance from the vicious cycles identified in the second part of each triad.

Seeing the triadic structure transforms our reading of the Sermon on the Mount so that it teaches the grace-based transforming initiatives that deliver us from our bondage to vicious cycles?…


The Three Parts of this Triadic Structure

The Traditional Righteousness is presented as coming from Jewish tradition. It occurs first in a triad?…

The Vicious Cycle plus judgment is presented as Jesus?’ teaching. It diagnoses a self-destructive practice and says it leads to judgment for our sins?…

The Transforming Initiative is also presented as Jesus?’ teaching. It calls for a practice of deliverance from the vicious cycle, and to participation in the reign of God?…

We have now seen a consistent pattern from 5:21-7:12. Some of these items are repeated in the Sermon on the Plain, or in other locations.


THE FOURTEEN TRIADS OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

Traditional Righteousness;
Vicious Cycle;
Transforming Initiative.


You shall not kill;
Being angry;
Go, be reconciled.

You shall not commit adultery;
Looking with lust;
Remove the cause of temptation.

Whoever divorces shall give certificate;
Divorce without certificate involves you in adultery;
Be reconciled.

You shall not swear falsely;
Swearing by anything involves you in a false claim;
Let your yes be yes, and your no be no.

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth;
Violent resistance by evil means;
Turn the other cheek, give your tunic and cloak, go the second mile, give to the beggar and borrower.

Love your neighbor and hate your enemies;
If you love those who love you, what more is that than the Gentile does?
Love enemies, pray for your persecutors, be all inclusive as your Father in heaven.

When you give alms;
Blowing a trumpet like a hypocrite;
But give in secret and your Father will reward you.

When you pray;
Making a show like a hypocrite;
But pray in secret and your Father will reward you.

When you pray;
Babbling like Gentiles, thinking wordiness will be heard;
Therefore, pray like this: Our Father?…

When you fast;
Appearing gloomy to others like a hypocrite;
But dress with joy and your Father will reward you.

Do not pile up treasurers on the earth;
Where moth and dust destroy and thieves enter and steal;
But pile up treasures in heaven.

No one can serve two masters;
Serving God and wealth, worrying about food and clothes;
But seek first God?’s reign and God?’s justice and righteousness.

Do not judge lest you be judged;
By the measure with which you judge, you will be judged;
First, take the log out of your own eye.

Do not give holy things to dogs, nor pearls to pigs;
They will trample them and tear you to pieces;
Give your trust to prayer to your Father in heaven.


These triads show that Jesus?’ teachings move us into transforming initiatives that participate in the reign of God or the presence of the gracious God who acts in Jesus to be reconciled with enemies, who is present to us in secret, who is faithful and trustworthy, and who brings deliverance from the vicious cycles that cause the violations of the traditional righteousness?…

Throughout we have seen that the triadic structure shifts the emphasis in the meaning of the Sermon to the third member of the triads. The third parts are all transforming initiatives and not hard prohibitions.

They are positive ways of deliverance, as fits the good news of the reign of God announced in the beatitudes, the Lord?’s Prayer, and throughout the Sermon, rather than negative prohibitions and ?‘impossible ideals?’ or ?‘hard teachings.?’

This supports the trend toward emphasizing the creative, surprising, transforming initiatives that can be seen in Betz, Garland, Grundmann, Hagner, Jordan, Keener, Lapide, Luz, and Wink among others, rather than a hermeneutic that emphasizes only renunciation.

It points the way to an ethic of participation--participating in God?’s deliverance. Throughout, the third parts are doable, and by no means impossible or impractical.?”