All social and governmental entities require a document that communicates the fundamental principles around which they choose to govern themselves. The revolutionaries of the New World knew they needed a way to articulate their vision for their embryonic society, some purposes and parameters for how they and their descendants were to live together. Every commonwealth needs a constitution of one form or another. The Christian commonwealth is no exception.
Jesus explains more directly in this Sermon than in any other place in our New Testament the principles fundamental to our conduct before God and our potential contribution to the world. His Constitution is aimed way too high for humans living by purely human means. I’ll say again that the Sermon on the Mount can only be lived in the power of the Savior on the Mount. While the drafters of our U.S. Constitution could offer Americans no special power to practice the principles prescribed therein, the inwardly governed citizens of Jesus’ commonwealth are empowered to lean into its prescriptions for liberty and justice for all.
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This is an excerpt of the book on the Sermon on the Mount that I’m finishing for publication. Please share.
barney wiget 