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Manuscript, Archives,
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EMORY UNIVERSITY
OUTLINE
OF THE
Teaching of Jesus
Or the Fundamentals of Christian Doctrine
BY
R. R. Wright, Jr., A.B., B.D.
Third Edition
Copyright, 1917
Printed by
THE A. M. E. BOOK CONCERN
631 Pine Street
Philadelphia
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PREFACE
The purpose of this little book is to bring to¬
gether from the Gospels the words of Jesus' upon
the vital points of religion; to interpret them in
the light of their times, and to show their bearing
and application to the life of today. It is hoped
that such a volume may be of service to that very
large class of young ministers who have not en¬
joyed theological training, but who yet have a work
in the Master's vineyard, and also to the even
larger number of busy laymen, who seek a place
in the Kingdom of God, by giving to them a concise
statement of the fundamentals of Christianity, as
taught by Jesus Christ.
The book may be used as a guide for study by
the inductive method. I have gathered together
the texts bearing on the subjects treated, and have
grouped them so as to make the task of study easy.
It is very confusing to use verses of Scripture
promiscuously and outside of their contexts. No
correct interpretation of the teaching of Jesus can
be made in the light of any one saying, or action
without comparison with others. Indeed only in
the light of all the sayings and actions preserved
to us can the best valid interpretation of Jesus be
made. For example, concerning prayer, Jesus says,
"Ask, and it shall be given you," which upon the
face of it might be taken to mean that if a man
asks for anything, even that which he does not
need, or might do him and others harm, he will
receive it; or if he prays for rain simply to exhibit
his vain claim to power with God, the prayer will
be answered. And yet, this text alone yields this
conclusion. But read further and this conclusion
is manifest by these words: "If ye abide in me
and my words abide in you, ye may ask what ye
will, and it shall be done unto you." Here it is
clear that one must abide in Christ, and Christ in
him, before he is entitled even to ask what he
wishes.
The student is expected to read each reference
in this book with careful regard to the context,
and to come to his own conclusions as to the
teaching. As a further aid to intelligent reflection,
I have prepared a number of questions whose an¬
swers are found in the references. After the
student has carefully thought over the material, he
is asked to compare his conclusions with those
which I present in the body of this book. The sub¬
ject pursued in this this way will give one a firm
and independent hold upon the fundamental teach¬
ing of Christ.
Those who do not care to use the book as a text
may omit the reference work and go directly to
the discussions. I do not, however, claim to have
presented a full system of the teaching of Jesus,
but only a bare outline. This, I trust, may be re¬
ceived with the spirit with which it is given.
R. R. W. Jr.
Wilberforce, Ohio, March 31, 1902.
CONTENTS
Chapter Pag«
I. SOURCES 7
II. THE METHOD OF JESUS 10
III. GOD: Fatherhood, How God May Be Known.
Memory Texts 14
IV. MAN: Soul, Body, Spirit, Flesh, Heart.
Memory Texts 25
V. THE WORLD: Memory Texts 34
VI. CONCERNING HIMSELF: Son of David, The
Christ, Son of Man, Son of God, His
Mission to Mankind, His Death, His
Second Coming. Memory Texts 39
VII. THE KINGDOM OF GOD: Members of the
Kingdom of God, Eternal Life. Memory
Text 53
VIII. REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS: For¬
giveness. Memory Text 67
IX. FAITH: Memory Text 72
X. RIGHTEOUSNESS: Memory Text 78
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
XI. PRAYER: Memory Text 84
XII. SIN: Memory Text 92
XIII. HYPOCRISY: 98
XIV. TRIALS OF CHRIST'S FOLLOWERS: Per¬
secution, Temptation, Sacrifice 101
XV. MISCELLANEOUS: Humility, Forgiving One
Another, Governments, Wealth, Swearing,
Amusements 106
APPENDIX: Questions, Classified References 114
TEACHING OF JESUS
CHAPTER I—SOURCES
Jesus Christ is the basis of Christianity, and
his life and words must be the foundation of
any true Christian theology. They are the court
of final appeal for the Christian. They are the
kernel of all that is Christian, the source from
which historical Christianity has developed.
The words of Jesus are the center of the Bible,
which is merely an interpretation of his life and
teaching. For Biblical material may be looked at
as simply preparatory to Christ, as seen in the Old
Testament writings; and as interpretative of him,
as in the case of the New Testament writings. But
Jesus and his life are the soul, and final goal of all.
In the study of Jesus, next to his words, are
those of the Apostles.
The material for the teaching of Jesus is found
in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John. We have to carefully distinguish in them
between what Jesus spoke and what the Evangelist
wrote. For example, John 3:10-17, is not all the
speech of Jesus. He answers Nicodemus, and at
the beginning of verse 16 the Evangelist adds his
comment: "God so loved the world that he sent
his only begotten son ... that the world through
8 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
him might be saved." (See paragraphing in Re¬
vised Version.)
But in these Gospels we have only a small frag¬
ment of the life and teaching of Jesus. All the
material may be read in a few hours even though
it covers a period of thirty-three years. This from
one point of view is unfortunate, for there are
many things connected with Christian life and
thought wrhich we should like to know; but we
have no word upon them. We should like to have
something more definite on the subject of Tem¬
perance, Amusements, Marriage, Divorce, etc., and
other equally as weighty subjects, which Jesus but
lightly touches in the words that have come down
to us. Jesus must surely have spoken on these
subjects in his life time. For the Gospel of John
says (20:30), "And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are
not written in this book," and (21:25), "And there
are many things which Jesus did, the which, if
they should be written every one, I suppose that
even the world itself could not contain the books
that should be written."
Yet we have means of knowing Jesus' thought
upon about almost every subject. For though
Jesus said nothing directly on gambling or slavery,
we know pretty nearly what he would have said.
Jesus did not give many specific directions so much as
he did general principles from which specific deduc¬
tions can be made. For had he given specific direc-
THE TEACHING OF JESUS
9
tions only, they could not have been suited to all
people and all times; for people and conditions
change with time. What is outwardly right mean
changes.
Jesus being thoroughly rational, spoke consist¬
ently with himself, and with some central prin¬
ciple. By this principle every saying must be
measured and from it all life and thought must be
judged. As a point of departure, we have chosen
as the central principle of Jesus, the subject of his
first preaching—"The Kingdom of God." And all
life and doctrine must be regulated by this con¬
cept. Growing out of this idea, Kingdom of God,
His doctrine, as summed up in "Have faith in God"
(Mark 11:22). For ethics, the summary is "All
things whatsover ye would that men should do
to you, do ye even so to them" (Mark 7:12).
10 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
CHAPTER II—THE METHOD OF JESUS
Most great teachers have their individual meth¬
ods, as Socrates, Pestalozzi, Froebel, etc. So had
Jesus. His method was peculiar to himself, simple,
yet forceful; calm, yet lasting; limited, yet ever
expanding in its reach and influence. He taught
with authority—the whole of which was condition¬
ed and the consciousness of his mission, in con¬
trast with the Pharisees and Scribes. He began
by a preparation of thirty years of life among his
people, with a careful study of them and their-insti¬
tutions.
When the time came for him to show forth him¬
self, first he conquered the "Enemy of all Righte¬
ousness" upon the Mount of Temptation, making
himself strong with God, and thus an example and
inspiration to all who follow after him. He en¬
tered upon his work, gathering around him, one
by one, a band of men who were susceptible to
his teaching, and who should eventually know him
and his mission. He lived with them, shared their
lot, and they shared his. To them, his teaching was
especially directed, and through them to the world.
The fundamental pedagogical principle of pro¬
ceeding from the known to the unknown, is at the
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 11
bottom of his teaching. Jesus took the things of
nature among which the people lived, and with
which they were familiar,—the grass, birds, sheep,
sea, men, children, etc., and around these wove
some of his greatest lessons. (He used the words
which they were accustomed to use.) He employ¬
ed current religious conceptions as the vessels in
which to convey his own religious teaching and
by broadening the contention of these he taught
new ideas. For example, "Kingdom of God,"
"Righteousness" and "Prayer," were all Jewish
conceptions which Jesus took, and by his own skill
filled full of meaning by giving them new content.
These words were given their new content and
meaning chiefly by means of parables, which one
has well defined as "earthly stories with heavenly
meanings." These parables are especially beautiful
for the simple fact that each one has definite pur¬
pose, and was told to carry some particular truth
to the heart of his hearers. They are not a jug¬
glery of words. They are not the hiding of a
myriad number of theological doctrines beneath an
obscure illustration, so as to give future commen¬
tators the exercise of making the discoveries—a
sort of mental gymnastics in which certain alle¬
gorizing teachers indulge. The parables are more
simple than the truths they teach—even this in
many cases was not perceived. They were not
given for their own beauty. Even those parables
which were not understood were simpler thtn the
12 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
truths they taught. Hence the interpretation of
a parable is the finding of its central teaching and
making the obvious applications, leaving out all
hidden or strained applications and doctrines.
Jesus was an abundant illustrator by other means
than parables. For example, his teachings con¬
cerning God's love to His children is argued a
fortiori: "If ye, being evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children," how much more God? The
full argument may be thus represented: "You
all acknowledge the power of God over you, that
you are his children. You say he is infinitely
good, while you yourselves are, by your own con¬
fession, evil; yet you know how to do good to your
children. Do you expect less of God? No, but
more. Now you will not give a stone to your
son if he ask for bread, nor a serpent if he ask for
fish, but if it is possible, you will give what your
son asks. Then how much more is God disposed
to give you the Holy Ghost when you ask him?"
Or again; God cares for the sparrows, shall He
not care for you—you are more than sparrows?
Jesus had a very unique plan of clarifying one's
thoughts by questions and at the same time turn¬
ing the conversation toward his own idea. When
the rich young ruler wanted eternal life, he asked
him what were the commandments. Even the
parable of the Good Samaritan is not so much a
direct answer as it is a question with its answer
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 13
implied. And so the young lawyer, in this case,
answers his own question. In this method, Jesus
did not continually fill up, but he also drew out,
and caused those with whom he talked, to think.
Another important element in his teaching was
the miracle. These were chiefly to show forth his
authority, to draw the people to him in order al¬
ways that he might point them to the Kingdom of
God. He never performed a miracle for curiosity.
Finally, we must not leave out his life as the
most forceful part of his method of teaching. Un¬
like many other teachers, who taught one thing
and lived another, Jesus lived as he taught. In
fact, his words were simply the feeble expression
of a life so beautiful and consistent as to be be¬
yond adequate understanding by carnal minds. His
life is the ripe fruit of Christianity. Hence when one
is in doubt as to the meaning of his words, let him
go to his actions for interpretation of his words.
They leave no man in doubt. For he was perfect.
14 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
CHAPTER III—GOD
Jesus was not a philosopher in the sense that
he attempted to establish a system of doctrine.
He was a religious teacher adapting his thought
to the needs of his hearers in order to bring forth
practical and lasting results in human life. He
therefore does not try to prove the existence of
God; for this every Jew believed. Nor does He
discourse particularly upon the nature and general
attributes of God. He takes these for granted, and
it is only from hints that we can form an idea of
his teaching to them. As to nature, God is a spirit
(John 4:20), and a spirit hath not flesh and bones
(Luke 24:39), God is one (Matthew 23 :9; John8:41;
Mark 12, 29, 32). He is only God, the true God (John
17:3). There is no room for polytheism. As to His
attributes, God is perfect (Matthew 5:48). He is
merciful (Luke 6:36), just (Matthew 10:15; 20:13;
23:14; Luke 12:47; 13:27; John 7:8). He is al¬
mighty (Mark 10:27; 14:36; Matthew 28:27). He
is good (Matthew 17:6; Mark 10:18; Matthew 6:
11). God knows all (Luke 16:15; Matthew 6:8;
12:25; Mark 13:32; John 3:24). He is invisible
(cf John 1:18; 3:24; 5:37). He is love (Luke 11 ;42;
THE TEACHING OF JESUS IS
John 15:9; cf John 3:16, 17). He is holy (Luke
11:2; Matthew 6:9; John 17:11,25).
In a sense, however, the Jews accepted all these
truths. So Jesus had no trouble on this score.
But, while the Jews thought of God as perfect,
holy, all-powerful, etc., they also thought of Him
as transcendently so; that is, as entirely apart from
the world. They considered themselves and the
world so sinful that a God such as they conceived
of, would not come into personal contact with them
and that He communicated with this world only by
means of angels. Even His name, "Jehovah (in
the Hebrew, Yehowah) was too holy to be pro¬
nounced anywhere except in the temple. When
the name of God was meant such names as "Yah-
weh," "Adonai," "Elohim," were given. The Jew
had but little hope of becoming like his God.
Fatherhood and God.—Jesus came to show that
God was not so far above the world; but that He
was in it, and that men might know Him person¬
ally, if they only wished to do so. And to teach
this, he took the term "Father," as expressing the
most intimate, personal relationship. But even this
name the Jews had used with reference to God's
relation. They used it, however, in its most simple
and obvious meaning as implied in being the creator.
See Hosea—that Gott hat Israel auserwahlt. Men
owed allegiance to God because He created them. But
Fatherhood with Jesus rests almost wholly upon a
16 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
different basis. It has the basis of creatorship,
but also a more vital relationship—spiritual and
moral likeness.
The thought of Fatherhood has in Jesus' teach¬
ing three phases. First, he clearly teaches that
God, in a sense, is the Father of all men. This rests
merely upon the basis of creatorship. God is call¬
ed "the Father" (Matthew 11:27; Mark 13:32) and
as evidence the implication of which is that He is
the Father of all. He acts as a Father to the un¬
thankful (Luke 6:35) as well as the thankful;
causes the rain to fall upon the unjust as well as
upon the just, and makes His sun to rise on the
evil as well as on the good (Matthew 5:45). Jesus
often speaks of Him as "our Father," "thy Father/'
"your Father," even when he addresses those an¬
tagonistic or indifferent to the Kingdom of God
(cf Matthew 5:45; 6:1,4,6,18,32; Luke 12:32;
Mark 11:25; Matthew 6:3; Luke 11:13). The para¬
ble of the prodigal son seems also to show that
men are always God's children though they may
wander from Him. They do not, however, enjoy
the blessings due to their filial connection, because
they have wandered away. They are, therefore,
for all vital purposes, lost from their Father (cf
Luke 15:32); they are blind; they are as dead.
They are children only upon the ground of crea¬
torship, the weakest of all grounds and of God's
love to them which is always present. They derive
no moral benefit from this relation. They enjoy
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 17
no privileges because they are blind to them (John
9:39-41).
Real Fatherhood as realized by man does not
consist in mere physical relationship. Nor is it
physical likeness. A person may be physically the
son of another; but if all ties of affection are lost
he is as though he were not a son. Affection is
all. There may be two children who are in the
same family—one a son by nature, the other by
adoption. Suppose the son by nature grows up
out of all sympathy with the parents. He follows
paths directly opposite to those wished for by the
parents. He is a continual sorrow to them. But
the adopted son grows up in sympathy with the
family. He honors its name, sacrifices for it and,
instead of bringing to it sorrow, he brings to it
honor. This one is the joy of his parents, yet he
is not their son by nature. Which one, however,
is accounted more the son, or is deserving more of
the fatherly love ? The second, we agree. His
relationship is that of spirit with spirit.
So it is, secondly, with our relationship to God—
a higher quality—the spiritual takes precedence
over the mere relationship of creator. This is the
vital point in the preaching of Jesus. Those who try
to become like God in spirit are true sons, and
only those. Hence one may be a son in the first
sense, because created by God, and not a son in
the second sense, because not in accord with God.
18 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
He is then lost (Luke 15:36), and he needs to re¬
pent and return to God, his Father.
Fatherhood with God is unchangeable, but so
far as man is concerned it exists for him only as
he is able to realize it. God, then, is a Father to
those who will be His sons. Just as in the above
instance, the father would have been a father to
that one who was his son by birth if he had been
given the chance, so it is with God. So with the
prodigal son; while there was a physical connec¬
tion the young man could not be a real son until
he had put his heart in harmony with his father's
will. He himself realized this, and knowing that
he had lowered the idea of son, he wished only to
be a servant (Luke 15:19,21). But the father was
ready to receive him the moment he returned and
resolved to become a real son. So then he who does
the will of God is His son, because he can appre¬
ciate the fatherly character of God (John 8:34-44).
Those who hear the word and obey it, have realized
the Fatherhood of God. God is ever present to
exercise the fatherly character; but men are un¬
able to appreciate it and, for them, it is just as
though it did not exist. A man may be a million¬
aire's son; but if he wanders from home and cuts
himself off from all communication, he does not
enjoy the blessings his father might bestow. It is
only he who keeps in communication with the fa¬
ther, who realizes his fatherhood. All men have
power to realize this Fatherhood, if they believe
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 19
Jesus Christ (John's comment: John 1:12; Matthew
5:9; Matthew 5:44,45).
But there is Fatherhood of God realized in a still
more perfect sense—as Jesus realized it. God is
his Father in a peculiar sense because more than
all men, he appreciates His Fatherly character, and
in this sense he can say, "my Father" (Mark 1:11;
9:11; Matthew 1:27). So perfect is his agreement
with the fatherly character of God, that he has no
hesitation in saying that he abides in the Father
and is "one" with Him (John 15:10; 10:30; John 17:
11, 21, 22). And thus he would have mankind abide
in him.
But, after all, the term, "Father," is a mere
figure of speech. The idea God is so full that words
were unable to express it all. (In Jesus' time
"father" had more meaning and respect than the
word "mother." It is Christianity which has made
motherhood so sacred.) It expressed the tenderest
relation which his hearers could understand, and
yet this word does not give the fullest idea of God's
character. This is seen in the very fact that the
principal idea conveyed is not creative or physical
fatherhood. In the New Testament, for "children
of God," the Greek words used are "huios tou theou"
which means literally, "sons of God." In Matthew
5:9, we read literally: "Blessed are the peace¬
makers, for they shall be called the sons of God."
The translators of both the Authorized Version and
the Revised Version knew that this included fe-
20 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
males as well as males, and translated it, "they
shall be called the children of God." But we must
not be misled into believing this to mean that chil¬
dren are such by nature only. Had this been the case the
Greek would have been "takna tou theou," wrhich
means "children (by birth) of God." But this
phrase does not occur in the mouth of Jesus.
Hence we conclude again that the relation is ethical
and religious rather than physical and creaturely.
The Fatherhood of God is valid for men who can
appreciate it. The more Godlike they grow the more
they share the Fatherhood. All are God's because
He created all and extended His fatherly love to all,
even to those who seem not to appreciate it. . But
all may become more His sons (Matthew 8:11; 9:
13), as they come more and more in harmony with
His will. As the prodigal son, all may return to the
appreciation of the blessings of Fatherhood. To
those, who do not ackowledge Him, He is not a
Father so far as they are concerned (Mark 4:25).
"He that hath not, from him shall be taken even
that which he hath." To those who do acknowl¬
edge Him, He has given sight so that they behold
the beauty of His fatherly character, and become
like Him (Matthew 5:48). "He that hath, to him
shall be given" (Mark 4:25).
To them He offers forgiveness; He hears their
prayers (Matthew 6:4, 6, 8, 7:11; He cares for
their earthly welfare (Matthew 6:31-34; 10:29*
Luke 12:24). He gives His Spirit to speak through
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 21
them (Matthew 10:19-20); and they are finally to
have the full enjoyment of the Kingdom (Luke 12:
32; Matthew 25:31).
How God May Be Known—God as Father may be
known in two ways. Jesus says that we may know
God by studying the best that is in man. Raise the
best that is in man to perfection and we see the
character of God: "If you being evil know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more
shall your Father which is in heaven give good
things to them that ask Him" (Matthew 7:11) "IE
a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father,
will he give him a stone ? Or if he shall ask an egg,
will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then being evil
know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more shall your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him" (Luke 11:11-13).
The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-35,
shows how an earthly father rejoices over the re¬
turn of a wayward son. How much more does God
rejoice over the return of lost men to his love? If
earthly man is good, God is infintely better.
This is the way the world had been left to know
God—all except the Jews. And every nation read
into its god the qualities it possessed. Thus na¬
tions became the creators of their own gods. Nor
were theirs always the best creations; for instead
of taking their best qualities and giving them, and
them alone, to their gods, they often gave their
22 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
worst qualities. Hence Zeus, god of the Greeks,
Jupiter of the Romans, Ashtarte goddess of the
Phoenicians, and others are chiefly known to us
for their sensuality and tyranny. The nations,
when left to themselves, generally chose many
gods; some, as many as there were peculiar char¬
acteristics of the nation, so prone was man to wan¬
der from right. Instead of raising the best in man
to the highest, they often carried the worst to the
lowest depth. Only to the best philosophers did it
seem necessary to have a god who had the best
that was in man. Thus Plato made his god good,
all-wise and righteous. But even Plato did not
reach the conception of Father, or even an approxi¬
mate to the Jewish conception of morality.
But there is a second way to know God without
which the Fatherly character is a mere caricature.
This is through His son Jesus. Jesus says, "No
man knoweth the Father save the son, and he to
whomsoever the son will reveal him" (Matthew
11:27); "All things are delivered to me from my
Father, . . . and no man knoweth . . . .
who the Father is but the son, and he to whom the
son will reveal him" (Luke 10:22). Answering the
Pharisees who objected to his teaching and asked
about his Father, Jesus said "Ye neither know me
nor my Father; if ye had known me ye should have
known my Father also" (John 14:7; 8:55). "I and
my Father are one" (John 10:30). "The Father is
in me and I in him" (John 10:38). It is thus seen
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 23
that Jesus meant to say that he was the completest
revelation of God; that the Avorks he did were done
by God's power; he was God in the flesh and among
men (cf John 3:35, 36; 5:23-43; 6:44; 14:6; 15:9;
16:25). To know him was to know God; to abide
in his love was to abide in God's love (John 14:20,
21; cf 15:6-10). It is thus that he can call himself
an example (John 13:15). It is for this reason that
he died—that men might see the love of God (John
15:13). Considering himself as the true revelation
of God, he can well claim to be superior to
any interpretation of the Jewish scriptures;
and when the Jews reply to him, "Moses Said,"
his answer, "But I say," is for this reason
valid (Matthew 5:22, 28, 34, 39, 44; 19:7).
It is thus that the great importance of scrip¬
ture is found in bearing witness to him (John
5:39) ; and for this reason every one of his follow¬
ers must study the scriptures. He is the way, the
truth, and the life (John 14:6). He is the door of
entrance to the Kingdom (John 10:9), and no man
cometh unto the Father but by him (John 14:6).
To try to come any other way is to play the part of
the robber (John 10:1).
And the life of Jesus bore out his words—that he
was the revelation of God. He was perfect in holi¬
ness, love and purity.
The chief activity of God to the Jews was as
judge—one who had imposed a law upon men, and
24 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
who delighted in punishing the wicked. But with
Jesus, God's chief activity is love—one who ever
seeks to save and love the world. But he does not
neglect to say that God is a punisher of those who
will not accept the gracious gift of His Fatherhood
(Matthew 25:14-45).
Memory Texts—"Have faith in God" (Mark
11:22). "One is your Father which is in heaven"
(Matthew 23:9). "Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" (Mark
12:30).
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 25
CHAPTER IV—MAN
Jesus did not begin with a scientific de¬
scription of man's origin. He was not a scientist.
The burden of his teaching about man was that he
was lost and must repent and turn to God. But
from his use of certain terms we may formulate
an idea as to man's nature, for religious purposes.
Soul—In the parable of the foolish rich man
(Luke 12:18-22) the saying, "Thou fool, this night
thy soul is required of thee," shows that the soul
is separate from the body. Furthermore it is that
portion which cannot be harmed by man (Matthew
10:20). Only God has dominion over the soul:
"Be not afraid of them which kill the body, but
are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him
which is able to destroy both soul and body."
Here soul is over against body. The soul is not
only the eternal part but the most important part
of man. "What shall a man give in exchange for
his soul?" "What shall it profit a man if he gain
the whole world and lose his own soul?" (Mark
8:36f.) All sacrifices are to be made for the soul.
It is better to lose hands, feet, eyes, or any physi¬
cal parts, if these keep man from serving God,
than to lose the soul.
26
THE TEACHING OF JESUS
The soul is the life principle. It animates the
body here, and lives hereafter. It is therefore the
life. And when Jesus says he lays down his soul
for his friends, it is translated "his life" (John
15:13; cf John 10:11, 15, 17). The love of the soul
hereafter is regarded as more blessed tha.n here,
and when Jesus says, "he that would save his life
shall lose it," he means, he that would selfishly
enjoy his life here, shall lose it hereafter (Matthew
3:4; 10:39; Luke 9:24; John 12:25).
Body—Over against the soul is the body (Mat¬
thew 10:20), the ordinary bulky part of man's
being—the visible man. These two elements, ac¬
cording to Jesus, make up the whole of man's
nature. He is a creature of soul (i. e., the prin¬
ciple of life, the immortal part), and body (i. e.,
the mortal, earthly part).
Spirit—But what then is the spirit? The word
for spirit is sometimes used as the equivalent to
ghost (Luke 24:39). It is best understood by its
use in contrast with the word "flesh." "A spirit
hath not flesh and bones" (Luke 24:39). The spirit
of man is the principle of his moral life. It is the
soul in its moral aspect (Luke 1:80; 4:1, 14). As
a part of man's nature, it is the unseen part (Mat¬
thew 22:43; 26:41). As the moral attitude of the
soul, the spirit guides man; and when Jesus savs
to his disciples, James and John, that they know
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 27
not what spirit they are of (Luke 9:55), he so
intimates. The term spirit is often used to mean
the same as the term soul (Luke 23:46; cf Luke
12:28; Matthew 11:29). A distinction, however,
may be made in that the soul by itself is devoid of
moral feeling. It is simply the life principle, while
the spirit is the soul with the moral quality. They
are not two entities, however, and can be separated
only in thought.
Flesh—In contrast with the spirit is the flesh,
which is the physical part of man's being. And
this is sometimes used by Jesus with a moral mean¬
ing, being that part of man's nature least suscept¬
ible to moral influences. Hence he speaks of the
spirit being willing while the flesh is weak (Mark
14:38; Matthew 26:41). This contrast is more
fully brought out in his saying to Nicodemus, "That
which is flesh is flesh, that which is spirit is spirit
(John 3:6). Flesh and spirit are opposites. But
by subordinating the flesh to the spirit, Jesus
does not thereby say that the flesh is in iself bad
(John 6:52, 53). However, nothing physical should
stand in the way of the fullest work of the spirit
(Matthew 18:8; Mark 9:43; Matthew 5:29, 30).
It is with Paul that the idea of the flesh as sinful,
and thus something to be kept under, is developed.
This is an interpretation of Jesus, but not his direct
teaching.
28 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
Heart—The heart (kardia) is the seat of num¬
erous evil passions. From within, out of the heart
of men evil thoughts proceed (Matthew 15:19;
Mark 7:21); the seat of lust (Matthew 5:28); the
seat of doubt (Mark 11:23). It is also the source
of good (Matthew 18:35). It is the seat of emo¬
tions, of pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow (John
14:1, 27; 16:6, 22). It is the place where moral
reasoning takes place (Mark 2:8), whether good
or evil. It is then the innermost part of man's nature,
hid away from the world, in which he forms his decisions
as to actions and their purposes. These decisions no
one knows but the man himself. Hence here he
is most natural. Therefore, according to the state
of his heart, he is good or bad (Matthewr 18:35;
Mark 7:19). Man cannot know the heart of his
fellow man save as it is shown by his actions;
but God can know it directly. And according to
to its state God shall judge men (Luke 16:15). If
their actions do not correspond with the state of
their hearts, these actions shall not be counted to
them for good (Matthew 15:8; Mark 7:6), when
the secrets of men's hearts shall be open to view
and men shall be known as they really are.
The heart then is more than the physical organ
called by that name. It is that side of man's nature
from which spring determinations to moral action.
It is man's volitional faculty, out of which come
all of his hopes, purposes, ambitions and longings.
It is the fountain head of all. If it be right, then
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 29
all is right; if it be wrong, then all is wrong. Hence
Jesus says, The pure in heart shall see God (Mat¬
thew 5:8) for these are those whose every pur¬
pose and act has at the bottom of it purity. It
is this with which Jesus is chiefly concerned.
To recapitulate, Jesus does not take man as a
physiological or psychological subject merely; but
as a moral subject. He uses most generally five
terms to denote the two chief aspects of man's
nature. The soul, chiefly in contrast with the
body, represents most nearly the immortal part of
man's begin in contrast with the mortal part,
These parts are the natural divisions. In more of
a moral sense he uses the terms spirit and flesh,
to denote the higher and lower moral influences
upon man. It is interesting to know that "flesh"
is never used in contrast with "soulnor "body"
with "spirit." The "heart" is an aspect of the soul
and an index of the spirit. In fact, the usage of
Jesus sometimes does not permit of any distinction
between heart and spirit (Mark 2:8), as it does
not in some cases between soul and spirit. But
in general the heart is spoken of as determining
each special action of the man while the spirit is
the disposition or general principle upon which the
whole moral and religious life is based. It controls
the action of the heart and is in turn modified by
the heart in its continual choosings. Hence a man
can not have a good spirit and a bad heart, nor
a bad spirit and a good heart. Thus we say man's
30 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
soul is to be saved; for it is the immortal part.
But it is saved by his having his heart right, and
possessing a good spirit—the spirit of God the
Holy Spirit.
This makes the difference between man and the
beast. Man's soul has the quality of taking on a
good or bad spirit, hence a moral quality, and
ability to approach the likeness of God (Matthew
5:48), or to go to the other extreme. Beasts have
not this moral quality; they therefore cannot be
saved or lost. Man can. Hence man's worth. He
is more than sheep (Matthew 12:12); more than
any institution (Mark 2:22) or any other thing
in the world (Matthew 16:26).
It may be added, however, that the two terms
which represent the material part of man's nature
—body and flesh—mean about the same thing, and
are often used in the New Testament interchange¬
ably. The other three terms,—soul, spirit and
heart—which have to do with man's non-material
nature, are often used interchangeably as perform¬
ing the same functions. Thus Jesus commends his
spirit into God's hands (Luke 23:46); but he says
those that come to him shall find rest for their
souls (Matthew 11:46). He perceives in his spirit
(Mark 2:8), while the Pharisees reason in their
hearts (Luke 5:22). His soul is troubled at one
time (John 12:27), at another time the trouble is
in his spirit (John 13:21; 11:33), and again he says
to his disciples, "Let not your hearts be troubled"
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 31
(John 14:1, 27). Other instances of such usage
might be given. These words—soul, spirit and
heart—arc all used of one side of man's nature so
far as substance is concerned, but of three different
aspects, which are most clearly distinguished by
the adjectives physical, spiritual and moral. There
is a difference in each of which Jesus does not take
special cognizance, which again shows that he is
not dealing with man after the manner of the scien¬
tist, but as the moral and religious teacher of man.
Jesus accepts the Old Testament theology con¬
cerning man, that he is lost. He illustrates this
condition by the parables of the lost coin, the lost
sheep, the lost son (Luke 15). Man is unable to
save himself by his own power, yet because he
is by birth a son of God, he still has some claim
to the Kingdom, and the capacity to become really
God's son. In other words, man can be saved.
Hence Jesus came, to use his own words, "to seek
and save that which is lost" (Luke 19:10; cf Mat¬
thew 18:11). He was the Great Physician who
came to heal those who were sick (Matthew 9:12).
To this end he labored, and for this purpose he
died, and among his last words to his disciples
were those in which he charged them to continue
the work he had begun, in order that lost man
might be saved.
The sad thing about man's lost condition is that
man himself is so slow to realize it. Man is blind
(Matthew 23:16, 17, 19, 24, 26). He is self-con-
32 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
ceited; wise in his own eyes, and he does not
realize that he is ignorant of God's grace (Matthew
11:25). He is self-righteous (Luke 8:11; Matthew
9:13). He thinks he is whole and needs no phy¬
sician (Luke 5:31; Mark 2:17), when he does need
one. As Paul says, the carnal mind (i. e. man, by
nature) is enmity against God.
An illustration of man's condition is found in
Judas. Jesus says, "Those that thou gavest me,.
I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son
of perdition" (John 17:12). This "son of perdition"
was Judas. He was lost and yet did not realize
it. So with the Pharisees. So with the lost son
in the parable of the Prodigal Son, who never
realized his condition until he had reached the
depth of degradation. Then he "came to himself'*
and knew that he was lost.
Man does not live by bread alone (Matthew 4:
4), as the sheep, or the ox does. While he needs
bread for the physical part of his being, for the
spiritual part he needs something else. Carrying
out this figure, Jesus says, "I am the bread of
life" (John 6:48). "This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof
and not die. I am the living bread, which came
down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread
he shall live for ever." This was preached after
the five thousand had been fed, to remind those
who had eaten, that they needed to nourish the
spiritual as well as the physical. In fact, he says
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 33
that the spiritual food is far more necessary than
the merely physical: "Labor not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall
give unto you" (John 6:27). "He that cometh to
me shall never hunger" (John 6:35). Having in
mind the same necessity for spiritual nourishment,
Jesus slightly changes the figure when speaking
with the woman of Samaria. The conversation
started over a request for a drink of water from
Jacob's well (John 4:5-36). Jesus said to her: "If
thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that
saith unto thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst
have asked of him, and he would have given thee
living water . . Whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the
water that I shall give him shall be in him a well
of water springing up into everlasting life."
By this Jesus clearly teaches that it is impossible
for a man to really live unless he cultivates his
powers of spirit and heart. It is to this that men
are most blind. Because they cannot see the spirit,
because they do not handle their hearts, they ne¬
glect this great duty while they hasten to procure
the meat that perisheth. "Lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven."
Memory Texts—"Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). "What shall
a man give in exchange for his soul ?" (Mark 8:37)
34 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
CHAPTER V—THE WORLD
The word "world," in the religious teaching of
the Jews and Jesus, did not signify merely that
phenomenon which we know as earth or universe.
It rather had beside an ethical and social meaning
—the people in the world. The Greeks used chiefly
two words "aion" and "kosmos," one meaning "age,"
or "dispensation," the other meaning "arrange¬
ment," or "order." These two ideas are conveyed
in our English word "world" as it relates to Jesus'
teaching. It is the order of things in a given dis¬
pensation, or age.
The Jews divided the world into two great orders
or ages. The first was called the "present age,"
in the Hebrew, "olam ha,Z2e" and the second, "the
age to come," "olam habba." The two were distin¬
guished from one another by the dominant ideal
and purpose of each. The "present age" was a
wicked one; in it the Jews were oppressed. The
hosts of Satan seemed victorious over the cause of
right. In the other, "the age to come," would be
the domination of righteousness; the Kingdom of
David would be restored and Israel would rule
over the world in pomp and power as the vice
regent of Jehovah of Hosts. The Messiah would
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 35
come and Israel would not be oppressed; but every¬
thing would be joy and prosperity for that nation.
Whereas in the "present age" the Assyrian, Baby¬
lonian, Persian, Greek, Egyptian, Syrian and other
nations had been the rulers of the Jews; in the
"age to come" these nations would be subject to
the Jews. As a starting point Jesus took this con¬
ception. But he did not consider the Jews the sole
conservers of righteousness. The present age is
wicked (John 7:7) because it does not know God,
and is selfish. Sin dominates it. But the age to
come will be that social and ethical order in which
God will rule, and righteousness will be the chief
aim, and love the governing principle of men.
"This world" is thus opposed to "the world to
come" or the "Kingdom of God." This world,
therefore, being dominated by sin, cannot receive
the Spirit of truth or even know this Spirit (John
14:17). For the world hates Christ and hates his
disciples (John 15:18). It is evil.
Jesus therefore bids his disciples to come out of
the world and be not of it (John 15:16); for he
was not of the world (John 8:23), and no one can
be who is his disciple (John 15:19). But in respect
to "not of this world" Jesus thinks differently from
the Jews who thought of the "age to come" as
the future. Jesus says that one may even live in
it though surrounded by the things of this world.
To get out of the world does not mean to die.
Being "of the world" is doing the evil things
36 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
which are the custom of the wicked. Being not
of the world is abstaining from those things.
Jesus, in John 17:14-17, speaks concerning His dis¬
ciples thus: "I have given them thy word; and
the world hath hated them, because they are not
of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from evil. They are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them
through thy truth, thy word is truth."
So it is possible for one to live in the present
age and not be a part of it. The one who is not a
part of it is living in the age to come—the Kingdom
of God; for over him righteousness rules. He is
in another world so far as his religious, ethical
and social aims and ideals are concerned.
The ideals of this world are sinful, giddy, selfish,
lustful; against right and God. One cannot serve
this world and serve God, (Matt. 6:24 ; Lukel6:13).
He who would serve God must give up lust; give
up the fleeting pleasures of the moment; give up
all selfish desires. He must live pure before God.
He must be an example to the sinful. Jesus says
he is a "light" to "the world", (Matt. 5:14), be¬
cause the world is in darkness, (John 1:1-10). It
thus becomes apparent how utterly impossible it is
to serve two masters so directly opposed—one
holding up light, the other sitting in darkness, the
one for self, the other for God and humanity.
From Christ the Christian gets his idea of his
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 37
true position in the world. Christ says, "I am the
light of the world" (John 8:12); and again he
says, "As long as I am in the world I am the light"
(John 9:5; 12:46), so that men may not stumble
(John 11:9,. 10). As it is with Christ so it is with
his followers. They must lead the world to the
light. They are those who point lost men to God.
Jesus says as the Father sent him, so he sent
his disciples out into the world, (John 17:18)—not
to become a part of the world, but that the world
might believe on him, (John 17:21). He knew
the ten ptations that wuld befall those whom he
sent out, and he prayed that the Father might
sanctify them, and keep them from all evil, that
they might be of one accord with him and with
themselves, (John 17:15, 17, 21). In order that
they might not descend to the level of the world,
he taught them to pray to be preserved from evil,
and led not into temptation. His final commission
was, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gos¬
pel to every creature," (Mark 16:15); and their
going was not to be an easy task; for the world
would give no sympathy; but the followers of
Jesus go forth as lambs among wolves, (Mark 10:
16; Luke 10:3).
The wickedness of the world shall not stand
always. It will have its day and then the "prince
of the world" will be cast out, (John 12:31). The
world will be judged, (John 16:11). This will be
at the end of the world, (Matt. 13:39,40), when
38
THE TEACHING OF JESUS
the righteous shall be separated from the wicked
as sheep from the goats, or to use the stronger
figure, as wheat from tares, in which tares are
gathered up and burned with fire. In Matthew 23
and 24, Jesus tells of the miseries which shall be at
the end of the world upon those who are of the
world. The world shall be utterly consumed.
But for the righteous there shall be no end, but
this is the beginning of real bliss (Matt. 25:34,46);
for they are away from the troubles of the world.
Memory Texts.—"If the world hate you, ye
know that it hated me before it hated you." (John
15:18.) "I have chosen you out of the world."
(John 15:19.) "Ye are the light of the world."
(Matt. 5:16.)
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 39
CHAPTER VI—CONCERNING HIMSELF
If there is anything of which Jesus is especially
conscious, it is that he is sent of God and the Son
of God. And yet he never says anything concern¬
ing his miraculous birth, or his childhood. Jesus is
not so much concerned with his own person as he
is with bringing men to the knowledge of God as
revealed to him, (John 10:37, 38). From early
youth (Luke 2:49), he realized that he had a spe¬
cial mission from God, and no doubt he earnestly
prepared for it during the thirty years of his life
before baptism (Luke 2:52). Jesus was such a
character, however, that he seldom called attention
to his own person as having a peculiar rela¬
tion with God. Those who heard him speak
and saw his life, often suspected that such a
relation existed, even those who did not believe
on him. And from the mere human point of view,
the highest testimony to him as the Son of God,
is that the assertion comes oftener from other
lips than from his. Jesus only lived and men seem¬
ed everywhere ready to rightly interpret his life,
even though they did not give him the homage they
knew he merited.
There are many terms used as titles by which
40
THE TEACHING OF JESUS
Jesus was known; principally, Son of David, Son
of God, Son of man, Christ.
Son of David.—The Jews, according to their ex¬
pectation of the Kingdom, believed that the Mes¬
sianic King was to be of the lineage of David (Mat¬
thew 22:42). And when Jesus appeared he was
called by many the "Son of David." The term is
used in the Gospels fourteen times—nine times in
Matthew, twice in Mark, twice in Luke and once
in John, but it is never used by Jesus himself. The
Evangelist, Matthew, uses the term at the begin¬
ning of the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:11),
the two blind men use the term (Matthew 9:27;
Mark 10:47, 48; Luke 18:38, 39), the crowd after
he had healed the one possessed with a devil cried,
"Is not this the Son of David?" (Matthew 12:23).
The Canaanitish woman called him Son of David
(Matthew 15:22). So did the two blind men sitting
by the wayside (Matthew 20:30, 31), the multitude
at the triumphal entry (Matthew 21:9), and the
children in the temple (Matthew 21:15). But while
Jesus does not deny that he is the Son of David;
while he answers the calls made upon the "Son of
David;" he yet leaves an expression which gives
assurance that he thought his office and mission
rested upon far more valid grounds than his mere
physical descent from David. To the Pharisees he
said: "If Christ be the son of David, how then doth
David in spirit call him Lord, saying the Lord, saith
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 41
unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make
thine enemies thy footstool? I? David, then, call
him Lord, how is he his son?" (Matthew 22:43;
cf Mark 12:35; John 20:41 ; Ps. 110:1). This, while
not a denial, shows that he was not particularly
anxious to be known as the Son of David. Perhaps
the chief reason for this attitude is found sin his de¬
sire to avoid unnecessary notoriety among an over
zealous people, who looked upon the Son of David
as the Messiah who should usher in a new order of
things for the Jews.
The Christ.—The idea conveyed in the word
Christ is "Anointed of God," "Messiah." The idea
Messiah was peculiar to the Jews, etc. There must
be borne in mind the Jewish expectation of a Mes¬
siah to deliver them from oppression, and to estab¬
lish upon earth a Kingdom for the supremacy of
the Jews. The fact also that Jesus did not come
to establish such a Kingdom (see Kingdom of
God), and that he did not wish to be mistaken for
the kind of Messiah the Jews were looking for, he
was gradually to lead them into a higher conception
of the Messiah. At least he was to lead the few
whom he had chosen, and these would lead others.
The term Christ is the Greek for the Hebrew
Messiah, both of which have the idea, anointed by
God. This explains why he did not use this term
which had to the Jew a very definite meaning, but
a meaning very different from Jesus' own. Jesus
42 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
did believe himself to be the Messiah or Christ, but
in a different sense.
This may account for the fact that there are very
few instances of Jesus applying to himself the term
Messiah or Christ. He would have been misunder¬
stood (Matthew 16:20). Like "Son of David" this
term was used by his hearers rather than by himself.
At Caesarea Phillippi, just before Transfiguration,
Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Liv¬
ing God," to which Jesus replied, "Flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which
is in heaven" (Matthew 16:16, 17). But then he
commanded his disciples not to tell any one that he
was the Christ (Matthew 16:20; Mark 8:30). On
another occasion Peter made the same confession:
"We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Living God" (John 6:69). When the
woman of Samaria said she knew when the Mes¬
siah, which is called Christ, should come that he
would tell all things, Jesus answered and said to
her, "I that speak unto thee, am he" (John 4:25,
26). When before the High Priest he was asked
the question: "Art thou the Christ, the Son of the
Blessed?" Jesus answered, "I am" (Mark 14:61-62
cf Matthew 26:63). And when Martha was told
that if she believed in him she sould never die, she
answered, "Yea, Lord, I believe that thou are the
Christ, the Son of God" (John 11:26, 27). In all
these cases the suggestion came from some one
else than Jesus ; but in none of them did he deny the
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 43
fact. But Jesus is yet more definite than this. In
speaking of eternal life, he says, "And this is
life eternal, that they may know thee, the only
true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent"
(John 17:3).
That he was currently believed either to be the
Christ, or to make such claim, the references made
to him bv others amply prove (cf Matthew 26:68).
John thought so (Matthew 26:62), Pilate (Matthew
27:22, 24) and the High Priest thought so; the
multitude thought so (Luke 23:35, 39). He had no
need to make the claim. Others made it for him.
He only assented (cf John 1:41; 4:29; Mark 15:32;
Luke 4:41; Matthew 23:8; Luke 9:20; John 4:42
7:26, 41).
It is thus seen that Jesus' conception of his mis¬
sion was very different from that which the Jews
popularly supposed to be the mission of the Christ.
Son of Man—The term which Jesus uses most
is "Son of Man," which occurs about eighty times
in the Gospel, and principally in Matthew. The
consensus of opinion among Bible students is that
the term is used by Jesus to represent himself in
capacity of the "Representative of Humanity." He
becomes the ideal of humanity and the friend of
man. In this, he gives new force to the idea of the
Messianic office, which is that he exists for human¬
ity (Luke 19:10). As Son of Man, he is now the
friend of man (John 15:13, 14). He is to be in the
44 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
days to come, the judge of man (Matthew 25 :31-33).
This term, Son of Man, though used in Daniel
(7:13), and in the apocryphal Book of Enoch seems
not to have had a very popularly recognized Mes¬
sianic meaning among the Jews. Though Jesus
used it frequently, he did not permit any to be mis¬
led by attaching to it and to him all of the Mes¬
sianic hopes of the Jews..
Son of God.—There are few passages in which
Jesus directly claims to be the Son of God. Others
may call him such, and while he does not deny, he
does not always affirm. John bore record that he
was the Son of God (John 1:34). So did Nathaniel
(John 1:49). The writer of the Gospel of John
calls him Son of God (3:18; 20:31), the centurion
who beheld his crucifixion gave his testimony (Mat¬
thew 27:54; Mark 15:39); and even Satan him¬
self suspected it. That Jesus had said he was the
Son of God is witnessed by the chief priests and
others who stood around the cross at the crucifix¬
ion : "He trusted in God; let him deliver him now,
if he will save him; for he said, I am the Son of
God" (Matthew 27:43; cf Matthew 27:40; 4:3). To
the blind man, he said: "Dost thou believe on the
Son of God?" He answered and said, who is he,
Lord, that I might believe? And Jesus said unto
him, "Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that
talketh with thee" (John 9:35-37). Discussing with
the Jews on Solomon's porch, he said, "Say ye of
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 45
him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into
the world, thou blasphemest because I said I am the
Son of God?" In many other passages he makes
indirect reference to himself as Son of God (John
5:25; 11:4; 10th chapter). His continual use of the
term "my Father," in speaking to, and concerning
God, is ample proof that he regarded himself as
the Son of God (Matthew 7:21; 10:32; 12:50; 11:27;
15:13; 16:17; 18:10; Luke 2:49; 16:27; John 8:49;
20:17).
His perfect accord with God (John 17:11; 22:23;
15:9), his many times expressed sense of being
sent from God and of returning to God (John 5 :37;
8:16; 12:49; 14:24; 16:16; 20:17), and his teaching
that God is known in no "true way except through
him (John 14:6), leave no doubt as to the fact that
he was the Son of God. Add to this the testimony
of the voice from heaven at the time of his bap¬
tism (Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22), and
the testimony of the voice at the transfiguration
(Matthew 17:5), and the evidence is complete—
from man, from Jesus, from God Himself—that
Jesus is the Son of God.
His Mission.—Each of the titles which were giv¬
en to Jesus expressed some phase of his mission as
interpreted by those who heard him. He did not
deny that he was the Son of God, but he preferred
to call himself "Son of Man" because this term more
nearly expressed his conception of his mission,
46 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
which was to preach the Kingdom of God, and the
salvation of man in that Kingdom. The Son of
Man came to seek and to save that which is lost
(Luke 19:10) is his summary of his mission. Like
the shepherd who left his flock in order to find the
sheep which had strayed from the fold, Jesus left
His Father's home to find men who had strayed from
righteousness and from God. This was the mission
of the true Messiah as prophesied by Isaiah (61:1-
3). And that this prophecy indicated his mission,
Jesus was thoroughly conscious. In the syna¬
gogue at Nazareth, his home, he read it; "The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath an¬
ointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, he hath
sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach de¬
liverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord
(Luke 4:18, 19)." Thus he found his mission in
ministering to all the wants of men at any time
and any place, provided this ministry furthered the
cause of righteousness. His example bore out his
words, for he did give sight to the blind (Matthew
9:27-31; Mark 3:22-26); preached to the poor
Mark 12:37; Matthew 11:5; Luke 6:20); healed
the broken hearted (Luke 7:11-15; John 11:33-35);
preached deliverance to those held captive by sin
(Matthew 11:28-30) ; and to all he preached the
acceptable year of the Lord (Mark 1:14, 15).
Jesus found his mission to all men and among
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 47
all forms of life. He was to show that all of life
had a religious value, that every act was considered
by God (Mark 4:22). No more would one portion
of life be called religious, and another called sec¬
ular. But all was to be joined together in one full
and real life. To use his words, "I am come that
they might have life and that they might have it
more abundantly" (John 10:10). And the abun¬
dant life consists in having all the affairs of life
directed toward one great purpose—the glory of
God. It was for this reason, that the Pharisees
did not thus conceive of life, that Jesus rebuked
them so often. They made long prayers and this
was a part of their religious life. On the other
hand, they oppressed widows with high rents, but
this was a part of their secular life. They did not
seem to realize the inconsistency, as many do not
in our own day. Jesus would have them see that
there was in such a life a great contradiction, and
that they must bring all life into one great har¬
mony—with the will of God.
He came to win men to this Kingdom by loving
them. This in itself was an untried method; and,
to say the least, Jesus was original. Former meth¬
ods had been to gain men by force, or by appealing
to their selfishness. His was simply Love. He
wanted to get hold of men's hearts, not their
purses; to get them to change their lives from self¬
ishness and sin to love to God. He came to warn
men against the great enemy of their lives—sin
48 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
(John 15:22), to rid the world of sin, and enthrone
in its stead righteousness. To repeat his words,
"The Son of man is come to seek and to save that
which is lost."
His Death—He was to die for the world. This
was the only way he could show man the love of
God, and how love was the supreme law of the
Kingdom, and thus bring man to the knowledge of
God. "Greater love hath no man than this that a
man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
It seems that he realized very early in his ministry
that he must die; for after he had driven the
money-changers and other traders out of the tem¬
ple on his first visit to Jerusalem he said, "Destroy
this temple and in three days I will raise it again"
(John 2:13-17). He here spoke of the temple of
his body. He did not tell his disciples, however,
of the necessity of his death until the latter part
of his ministry when they were able to more fully
understand it. Before his last journey to Jeru¬
salem, one of the preparations was to fully inform
his disciples concerning his death: "Behold, we go
up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be be¬
trayed unto the chief priests and the scribes, and
they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver
him to the Gentiles to mock, and scourge, and to
crucify him; and the third day he shall rise again"
(Matthew 20:18, 19; cf Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:
31-33). Hitherto he had spoken in enigma (John
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 49
6:34, 70, 71; Luke 12:50; Matthew 20:22; Mark
10:38) ; now he speaks plainly. He, however, re¬
garded his death as voluntary. Its necessity is
not that which comes from without, but which
comes from within. He knew, and God knew, that
this was the only way he could accomplish his
work. He says, "No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it up again" (John
10:18). This was the will of God, and because he
did God's will he says, "Therefore doth my Father
love me, because I lay down my life" (John 10:17).
The purpose of his death was stated by his en¬
emies, though not understood by them. Caiphas,
the high priest, said to those who plotted with him
against Jesus, "It is expedient for us that one man
should die for the people" (John 11:50; 18:14. This
he said because he feared that the follow¬
ing of Jesus would grow so large as to alarm the
Romans, and lead them to believe that a rebellion
was started. Thus punishment would be brought
upon the whole nation. He would, therefore, have
Jesus killed and save the nation. This was at least
his pretext. This salvation was to be from political
harm. Jesus did die to save, but not from political
harm; but from the harm and punishment of sin.
"The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep"
(John 10:11). Jesus came to give his life a ransom
for many (Mark 10:45; Matthew 20:28). His
death then was to carry out the aim of his life—
50 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
the redemption of man from the power of sin and
giving to him that harmony of life which is to be
found in the Kingdom of God. He came, and he
died that the world through him might be saved.
"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit" (John 12:24).
His Second Coming—One of the offices of the
"Son of Man" is to judge the world (Matthew
19:28). Jesus says that he gave up his life that
he might take it up again (John 10:12). He told
his disciples that he would leave them only for a
short time, and during this time he would pre¬
pare a place of blissful abode for them (John 14:1-
3). He then would come again, not in humility,
and poverty, but in glory (Luke 21:27). He would
come to judge the world (Luke 22:30). He would
come to condemn the wicked and to reward the
just (Matthew 25:46). In that day all men shall
be judged according to the state of their hearts.
All their good deeds, and their evil deeds, whether
done openly or secretly, shall be made known
(Mark 4:22; Luke 8:17). All the nations of the
earth will come to this judgment, and the Son of
Man shall separate the righteous from the un¬
righteous as a shepherd separates his sheep from
the goats (Matthew 25:32, 33). On one side shall
be the righteous, on the other the unrighteous. To
the righteous he shall say, "Come, ye blessed of
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 51
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:
34). To the unrighteous he shall say, "Depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared
for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41).
"And these shall go into everlasting punishment,
but the righteous into life eternal."
The question naturally arose among Jesus' dis¬
ciples, as it does to those who read his words to¬
day, "When shall these things be?" "What is the
sign?" Jesus, however, did not answer directly.
He rather gave a warning against those who may
try to mislead, "If any man say unto you, Lo,
here is Christ; or there; believe it not" (Matthew
24:23). It is certain that he will come, but no
one knows the time; not even the angels in heaven
(Matthew 24:36). His teaching concerning this
is: "Watch therefore." The necessity of this he
proceeds to illustrate; for the Lord may come at
any time, and woe will be to that one who is un¬
prepared for his coming. The parable of the ten
virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) is familiar to all. The
bridegroom came when he was not expected. Five
of the young women had prepared for a delay and
were ready to meet him. The other five had not
prepared, and were shut out of the wedding feast.
He teaches that preparation for this must begin
now, and be forever kept up. It is foolish to put
it off. He gives an example of a servant who said
that his master delayed his coming, and proceeded
52
THE TEACHING OF JESUS
therefore, to beat his fellow servants and to dis¬
arrange things generally. Before he could get
things rearranged the master came and found his
servant drunk, and the house in disorder. This
servant was immediately dismissed (Matthew 24:
44-51). Jesus illustrates the necessity for prepar¬
edness and the danger of delay from a very nota¬
ble example in Jewish history (Matthew 24:36-39).
In the days of Noah, the people had been warned
against their wickedness and told that God would
punish them. They would not repent, nor prepare.
They disregarded all the words of the prophets.
And \\ hen they thought not, the flood came and
caught them in their sins, and carried them away.
"Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour
as ye think not, the Son of man cometh" (Matthew
24:44). "And what I say unto you, I say unto all,
watch" (Mark 13:37).
Memory Text?—"As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world" (John 9:5). "I have
given you an example" (John 13:15). "I am the
Way, the Truth, and ibe Life; no man cometh unto
the Father, but by mi" John 14:6).
THE TEACHING OF JESUS
53
CHAPTER VII—THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Opposed to "this present age" or the world, is
the Kingdom of God. The Israelitish nation was
the chosen people of God from the time of Abra¬
ham, Isaac and Jacob. Different from any other
nation they had suffered in wars, persecutions, and
captivity, as a preparation for the kingdom pre¬
pared for them from the foundation of the world.
But through all their trials and tribulations they
never got entirely away from the idea that Jehovah
their God, was the greatest of all Gods, and would
finally conquer the world for them. This was the
common belief of every orthodox Jew, and this
hope, in one form or another, was as old as the
nation itself. Its first manifestation was a hope
for a better future for the world, that all the na¬
tions would be judged by Jehovah or his Anointed
Son the Messiah. Then Israel would be set above
the rest of the nations. As the prophets began
to rise, this hope took another turn,—that the
righteous individuals only should partake in this
future glorious kingdom of Israel. The wicked
would be excluded. At a later time, the wicked,
it was thought, should not only be excluded, but
would be consigned to torment—a kingdom of
54 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
misery. But with the rise of scribism this later
hope began to decline—so rapidly that it had be¬
come nearly extinct in the century just preceding
Jesus. The exalted notion of a Kingdom of God
based upon righteousness had given away to one
based upon Jewish birth. The people looked for
a deliverer to usher in "the age to come" by blood¬
shed, overthrowing the oppressors of Israel, and
changing the whole order of things by setting
Israel in the place of her oppressors, the rulers
of the earth. As a prerequisite for membership
in this kingdom no particular moral righteousness
was needed. Being a Jewish citizen entitled one
to membership in the coming kingdom.
The people were ready to proclaim as Messiah
any man who seemed to accomplish this overthrow
(John 1:20, 25; Luke 23:35). And it happened
that many took advantage of this state of mind,
proclaiming themselves Messiahs, as in the case
of Judas, and Theudas (Acts 5:36, 37). The ex¬
pectation was chiefly political. When Jesus came
many followed him gladly (Mark 12:37). He could
have easily been made a king because the miracles
which he wrought increased his prestige. But
when he did not attempt to take the temporal king¬
dom as others had done, they were disappointed.
Yet the masses never turned against him, though
they turned away from him. This was so because
Jesus idea of the Kingdom of God was radically
different from the view of his day. The center of
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 55
his teaching was this conception "Kingdom of
God." His first preaching was upon this subject:
"the Kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15;
Matthew 4:17).
The term kingdom was old as has been seen.
Jesus took this term as was his custom to employ
current terms. It implied a King, and subjects.
Who were they? God and men. The Kingdom
was, however, not political in the ordinary sense.
Though it sought the Jews as its members, it did
not seek to supplant the Romans to whom the
Jews were then in subjection. In the beginning
of his ministry Jesus declared unto Satan that he
did not care for the political power of the world
(Matthew 4:8-10), and frequently he stated that
his kingdom was not of this world (cf John 18:36).
That he did not wish any political allegiance which
belonged to the regularly organized government,
his famous "Render unto Caesar, the things that
are Caesar's" clearly shows (Matthew 22:21).
When arrested, Pilate, though morally weak, and
fearing the people, did have the courage to say
"I find no fault in this man" (Luke 23:4; John
18:38; 19:46). Herod could do nothing with him.
All of this shows that his kingdom was not to be
one of the kingdoms of the world as was expected.
Many other sayings bear this out. He says it is
hard for the rich to enter his kingdom (Mark 10:
23). Not so with the kingdoms of this world (see
56 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
also John 3:3; Luke 18:17; 12:31). The rich have
place and power in them.
But like political kingdoms, this which Jesus
preached could be "entered" (Matthew 19:23, 24;
Mark 9:47; 10:25). Men were to "seek" it (Mat¬
thew 6:33; Luke 12:31). It could be seen or known
(Luke 9:27). Men were members of it. This
seems to point to it as having some social content.
This is borne out by the many comparisons of the
Kingdom. He speaks of the least member (Luke
7:28; Matthew 5:19; 11:11), also the greatest
(Matthew 5:19; 18:4) ; of the Kingdom being of a
class of persons (Matthew 5:3) ; "poor in spirit"
(Matthew 19:14). The Kingdom as Jesus preach¬
ed it seems then to be a religious and social order
of which men become members. God is the ruler
(Matthew 25:34). It may exist along side of the
political Kingdom; but it is not of "the world"
(Matthew 13:38).
Luke says, however (Luke 17:12), "The King¬
dom of God is within you." This is translated in
the margin of the Revised Version, "The Kingdom
of God is in the midst of you." Both so far as
grammar is concerned may be right. The latter
is to be preferred because Jesus was speaking to
the Pharisees within zvhom were sentiments directly
opposed to the Kingdom (Matthew 5:20). But
the Kingdom was among them. For Jesus began
by preaching that the Kingdom was at hand (Mark
1:15). He implied that John, his forerunner, was
THE TEACHING OF JESUS
57
not a member of the Kingdom, but that his dis¬
ciples were members (Matthew 11:11; Luke 7:28).
He said that the Kingdom must start small; and
as a mustard seed begins small and finally become
the largest of trees, so will the Kingdom become
great in the world (Matthew 13:31, 32; Mark 4:
30-32; Luke 13:18, 19). It is almost hidden, so
small is it, in this sinful world, but as the leaven
penetrates the whole loaf of bread and gives it its
character, so will the Kingdom penetrate the world
and give to it a better character (Matthew 13:33;
Luke 13:20, 21).
And yet, in a sense, the Kingdom is within man.
For man must appropriate its principles, before
he can become a member. The L'nited States gov¬
ernment requires a foreigner to live in the country
long enough to learn the language, become satis¬
fied with the government, imbibe some of the ideals
of the country, before he can be made a citizen or
member of the nation. In other words, America
must live in him before he can become a real
American. So with the Kingdom of God. One
must have in his heart the love of God and his
law; then he is a member of the Kingdom.
The foregoing, systematized, seems to yield this,
that the kingdom is the order zvhich Jesus came to set up
here on earth, not political, but moral and spiritual, the
members of which are in reality seeking the perfect life
of love. When man comes "out of the world," he
enters this order which is the Kingdom of God.
58 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
He does not have to wait till judgment day, or the
resurrection, or any future time. The Kingdom
is at hand for any who will come and make God
their King and Father. Thus a community is es¬
tablished now which under God's rule grows more
perfect in soul a^id spirit.
All may become members of this Kingdom, for
there are no insurmountable barriers. The Jews
made their Kingdom for Jews only, but Jesus broke
down the old legal barriers. He spoke with the
Samaritan woman and offered her living water
(John 4:13ff). He healed the daughter of the
Syrophonecian woman (Matthew 7:24ff) and told
his disciples that he had other sheep not of their
flock; that they all should be one fold. Jesus did,
however, show deference to the history and hopes
of the Jews in himself working almost exclusively
among them, and in his first commission to his
disciples to go only to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel (Matthew 9:5). At his ascension, how¬
ever, he gave the wide commission to his disciples
to go into the whole world and preach the Kingdom
(Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8). All men who believe the
gospel of forgiveness and love, are members of
the Kingdom, no matter of what race, color, clime
or standing in the world. They as subjects, are
not to be as ordinary subjects, but sons of a com¬
mon father who is their King (Matthew 5:45).
Being such, they are to each other brothers (Mat^
thew 12:50).
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 59
Jesus deposited the Kingdom of God in this sin¬
ful world just as a woman hides leaven in a lump
of bread stuff. It was to grow, all who acknowl¬
edge God as their King and Father are its members.
Its law is love. Its commandment is the golden
rule (Matthew 7:12). Its example is Christ. It is
a real Kingdom. It, like the leaven, is steadily
spreading its influence. It has conquered the hearts
of men, raised women from man's slave to man's
helper, given shelter and comfort to the sick, free¬
dom to the slave, compassion to the prisoner, and
changed the whole nature of man from intense
selfishness to an increasing altruism. The King¬
dom of God, the Church of God invisible is the light
of the world. The great and glorious time will
be when the Kingdom of God has so spread itself
among men that it will be supreme. Then when
the Saviour shall return, the righteous shall enjoy
the bliss of his presence, only a foretaste of which
may be had now while the kingdom is in the midst
of this world of sin and misery.
The consummation of the kingdom means the
end of "the world," the complete banishment of
Satan and sin. It is at this time when men shall
enjoy the fullest presence of the Father to whom
Jesus went (John 17:13), and from whom he came
(John 3:13). Hence while Jesus taught that the
kingdom of God was to begin on earth amid the
sin and persecution of the world, he also taught
very definitely that its greatest triumph would be
60 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
in the last days, when his true followers would be
with him in Paradise (cf Luke 23:43). For in his
Father's house are many mansions (John 14.2).
Here he has prepared a place. Here the righteous
shall enjoy the blessings prepared for them from
the foundation of the world. (See concerning
Himself—Second Coming.) But even now, "The
Kingdom of God is among you."
Memory Texts—"The Kingdom of Heaven is at
hand; repent ye and believe the Gospel" (Mark
1:15). "Seek ye the Kingdom of God" (Luke 12:
31).
Members of the Kingdom of God—We have
seen that the Kingdom of God, as conceived
by Jesus, is the society in which God is ruler. It
does not mean such a community as that of the
Israelites before the time of the kings, even though
then these people claimed God as their ruler (I.
Samuel 12:12). God was only nominally their
King, because they were often disobedient to Him,
forsaking Him to follow other gods. In the new
Kingdom of God, which Jesus preached, God is
the real King, and is followed by men with their
hearts.
To become a member of this Kingdom is the
greatest thing in the world. It is like a treasure
hidden in a field, which when one finds it, so full
of joy is he that he is willing to give up everything
THE TEACHING OF JESUS
61
in order that he might possess the treasure (Mat¬
thew 13:44). It is more valuable than even the
most valuable physical organs. Rather than lose
it, one should be willing to sacrifice not only his
belongings but his physical members if they stand
in his way. He must not let his eyeSj his hands,
or anything, be of more importance to him than
the Kingdom of God (Luke 6:20; Mark 9:43; Mat¬
thew 5:29).
The chief aim of life then is to become a mem¬
ber of His Kingdom. And when Jesus speaks of
being saved, of having life, or eternal life, he means
essentially the same thing as when he speaks of
entering the Kingdom of God. For to be saved,
is to be in possession of that character which is
Godlike; to have eternal life is to have that kind
of life which shall characterize those who live in
the age of the Messiah; and all this is to be a
member of the Kingdom of God.
Eternal Life (Matthew 19:16; 25:46; Mark 10:
17, 30; Luke 10:25; 18:18; John 3:15; 4:36; 5:39;
6:54,68; 10:28; 12 :25 ; 17:2, 3), is rather a quality of
life than a quantity of it. The word meaning eternal
is from a Greek word meaning age. (See World.)
The age spoken of is that in which the Kingdom of
God is supreme. Then to have eternal life is to
live in that age when the Kingdom of God is
supreme, that is, to be a member of the Kingdom of
God. This life, or membership in the Kingdom, is so
62 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
glorious that it is thought of as unlimited; and so
it is. Hence we say for eternal life, "everlasting"
life. But the everlasting part of it is only the
secondary part. The primary part is that it is a
kind of life,—life like Christ's. That is life fit for
members ©f God's Kingdom. Hence we may re¬
ceive eternal life by taking on Jesus, loving God
and our neighbors (Luke 10:25-28). The chief joy
of the Christian is not so much that he shall have
everlasting life, as it is that he shall have life
like that of Christ and God,—eternal life. The
condemned will also have life everlasting. But
life eternal is to know God and Jesus Christ whom
He sent.
Those who are members of the Kingdom of God
are those who are saved. But what is it to be
saved? Let Jesus answer: "Whosoever would save
his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25;
cf Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33).
In the answer to the young ruler (Matthew 19:
16-22), Jesus said, "If thou wilt enter into life,
sharp distinctions, is the thought so much the full-
keep the commandments." To this the young man
replied that he had kept them all his life, "Go sell
that thou hast and give to the poor." This the
young man did not do, although for it Jesus prom-
used that he would have treasures in heaven. The
riches of this young man stood in his way; for
we are told "he had great possessions." On an-
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 63
other occasion Jesus answered the same question
as to salvation or eternal life (Luke 10:25-35). This
time a man well-versed m the Jewish law asked
him to test his knowledge of the Jewish law. The
final answer of Jesus was different from that given
to the young Jewish ruler, though it had-its start¬
ing-point substantially the same: "What are the
commandments?" He answered, "Love the Lord
thy God . . . and thy neighbor as thyself." Then
Jesus said to him, "This do, and thou shalt live."
But he, wishing to show how superior he was in
the knowledge of the law, asked Jesus, "And who
is my neighbor?" This brought forth the beauti¬
ful parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35)
which ended with "Go thou and do likewise."
Commencing this final answer with the first
question of the lawyer, we see that the eternal life
is gained by one's putting himself in a position to
be treated as a neighbor to all men, and to treat
all men as neighbors. Comparing this answer with
the answer to the young ruler (Matthew 19:16,
Mark 10:17), it is seen that Jesus in both cases
attacked the prejudices of his questioners. One
held his riches above everything else. He wished
the Kingdom, but was not willing to devote his
riches to it. In other words, he wished to make
the Kingdom secondary to his earthly riches. The
other was a Pharisee of high social position, a doc¬
tor of the law. He prided himself in his learning
and his social superiority. He desired the Kingdom
64 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
(though he perhaps did not believe Jesus could
give it) so as to have it minister to his own pur¬
poses. He was looked upon as a great man. He
wished to be held in still higher esteem by be¬
coming a member of the Kingdom. This, Jesus
says, is impossible. For the nature of the King¬
dom is such that it must be the supreme thing in
a man's life. Wealth must be subordinated to it,
so must social position, learning and all. No man
can enter it who holds it as secondary, or wishes it
to minister to him. This is confirmed by the above
mentioned parables of Jesus concerning the pearl
(Matthew 13:45-47) and the hidden treasure for
whose possession the man sold all that he had;
and still further in the extreme sacrifices above re¬
ferred to of eye, hand, feet, etc., if they hinder
one's entrance into the Kingdom (Matthew 5:29).
It is here that we get the principle for interpret¬
ing the many passages concerning the loss of life
in order to save it (Matthew 10:39, 16:25, Mark
8:35). That is if men subordinate all the physical
and material life to the Kingdom of God they en¬
ter its rest even though this subordination goes
as far as the losing of physical life or material
possessions. But if they keep all the things of
this world at the expense of the Kingdom of God
they lose the Kingdom. The whole question rests
upon whether or not priority of attention is given
to the Kingdom of God and its interests.
The Jews looked for membership in the Kingdom
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 65
of God because of their works of righteousness.
The law had been given to Moses and had been
enlarged by the thousands of interpretations by
the Scribes. To keep these was to be rewarded
by God with eternal life. The Kingdom came as
a mere reward of outward conduct. This was the
impression of the young ruler and of the lawyer
who questioned Jesus. This was also the belief
of Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night to in¬
quire of the Kingdom. But Jesus, while not deny¬
ing the validity of works, positively affirmed that
the method of the Jews was wrong. It is not
an outward affair, but inward, "Verily, verily, I
say unto you," Jesus said (John 3:3-15), "except
a man be born anew he cannot see the Kingdom
of God." This new birth which Jesus says is the
absolute prerequisite for seeing the Kingdom of
heaven is the birth of the spirit. This birth of
the spirit is different from that of the flesh. It is
higher. God, he says, is spirit (John 4:24). Hence
to be born of spirit is to be born of the same
nature God; to be born of God. It is not a second
fleshly birth, but is just as mysterious and just as
real. It is just as great a change. Men whose
tendencies are to sin need to be born that their
tendencies will be to righteousness. Men who love
evil must be so turned around that they love and
follow only good. Men who live for self must live
for God. The effecting of this change is being
born again.
66 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
The invitation is to all men. "Him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). "The
son of man came to seek and to save that which
is lost." "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32). "Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). And
with many such invitations Jesus gives perfect as¬
surance that all men are called to membership in
the Kingdom of God.
He likens himself, who is the organizer and
center of the Kingdom on earth, to the bread of
life of which men eat and hunger no more (John
6:35), to the water of life which when men have
drunk, they themselves become springs of living
water (John 4:14). His yoke is easy, his burden
light (Matthew 11:30). He is the lover of men
(John 15:13), their friend (John 15:14), the shep¬
herd of the sheep (John 10:14). The Kingdom of
God is to all and the greatest gift for all. But
to enter it man must be born again. And he prom¬
ises to those whose life in the Kingdom on earth
has been faithful a more glorious inheritance in
after life.
Memory Text—"Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the
Kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 67
CHAPTER VIII—REPENTANCE AND
FORGIVENESS
But the new birth, while it is the way of entrance
into the Kingdom, is at the same time a complete
turning away from sin. One of its elements is
repentance.
In the use of Jesus, the words repentance, faith,
love, obedience, entering the Kingdom of God, have
but little difference. And yet each of these terms
is much fuller than we have usually made them.
For the very reason that Jesus did not draw any
er. Repentance means all that faith means, with
the difference that the emphasis is upon a different
element. The same is true of love and faith. Jesus
recognizes no philosophical steps in conversation;
to him it is all one act.. For purpose of thought
and logical treatment, however, we have separated
Repentance and Faith.
In the beginning of his ministry Jesus preaches:
"Repent ye" (Mark 1:15). The words generally
used are the verb metanoico and the noun metanoia,
words signifying a mental change which carries
with it a moral change. John preached repentance
that men might avoid punishment (Matthew 3:1,
2, 7). Jesus preached that men might enter the
68 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
Kingdom (Matthew 4:17); but should they not
accept his preaching and repent, he pronounces
upon them the severest judgment of God (Matthew
11:20; 12:41; Luke 13:3; 10:13).
Repentance is the prerequisite for entering the
Kingdom. All sinners are lost and nee<l to repent.
That they might do so, was the purpose of Jesus'
coming (Matthew 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32).
The righteous do not need repentance; for repent¬
ance is only of sin.
What, then, is repentance? The idea was one
peculiar to the Tews. The Greeks did not have
it. Repentance among them simply meant regret.
It even had so light a religious meaning as, "to
take a second thought," or "to reconsider." The
Greeks had no idea of sin. A man repented not
because he had sinned, but because he had to suf¬
fer the evil consequences of some deed. Repent¬
ance did not come to a man who did a wicked deed
until he was caught. Then it took the form of
sorrow, not, however, for the deed, but for its
consequences upon himself.
The thought of Jesus is not this. It is that re¬
pentance is a sorrow for sin itself, and regardless
of its present consequences, a determination to
turn away from sin and to order one's life in op¬
position to it. It is that moral sorrow which does
not waste itself in the act, but issues in choosing
a future course of action which shuns evil and
turns to good. It is a change of moral purpose
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 69
for good which govern a man's life. Until one
has made such a change he has not repented. When
he has done this, if he believes that God has for¬
given him, and will accept God as revealed through
Christ, as the chief aim of his life, he is then con¬
verted. Such a change of life as Zaccheus ex¬
perienced (Luke 19:1-9) is true repentance. One
becomes so sorry for his sins that he desires to
get the farthest possible distance from them. If
there is connected with him any sinful pleasures,
or property gained by sinful methods, these must
be given up. Zaccheus said if he had taken any¬
thing from any one by false accusation, he restored
fourfold (Luke 19:8). This is why Jesus said to
him, "This day is salvation come to this house."
The spirit of Zaccheus in his repentance must be
the spirit of all who truly repent. They turn from
all sin and cast themselves in the way of the
Lord.
Forgiveness—Repentance and forgiveness are
two sides of the same thing, repentance being the
action as seen from the point of view of man; and
forgiveness as it is from the point of view of God.
When man does his part, that is, when he repents,
God does his part—forgives. God always forgives
the repentant sinner. It is as impossible for a sinner
to repent and not be forgiven by God, as it is for
a man to be a son of God and God not be his
Father. Jesus said to his disciples that as often
70 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
as a brother repents, forgive him (Luke 19:3, 4),
God could do no less, but more. He not only for¬
gives, but rejoices to forgive (Luke 15:7, 10). The
requisite for forgiveness is repentance. In another
teaching Jesus adds that men to expect forgiveness,
must forgive their fellows (Matthew 18:35; Mark
11:25, 26; Luke 11:4). He says even though one
should be at the altar in the act of service, and
should there remember that his brother h^d some¬
thing against him, he should leave the altar, and
find his brother and become reconciled. In other
words, no soul which harbors malice is in a posi¬
tion to accept God's forgiveness.
Forgiveness is always open to man if he will
only accept it. God has never closed himself against
man. The trouble is that man will not accept this
forgiveness which God offers (Matthew 11:20-24).
Forgiveness restores man to the favor of God. It
gives him a clear conscience and the consciousness
that God is on his side. It is God's seal of faith
in him that henceforward his life will be ordered
according to the will of God. But if sin has en¬
tailed physical misfortune, forgiveness does not
alter this. This is shown in the case of the para¬
lytic (Mark 2:9). After his sins were forgiven
he still lay sick upon his bed. He was healed of
his physical infirmity only by a second act. This
is true also in the case of reputation. If a man's
sins have caused him to have a bad reputation,
forgiveness does not restore his good name. This
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 71
good name is restored only with God who takes
the man on faith, because He knows his heart. And
men only give him the benefit of the doubt, hoping
that the grace he receives with his forgiveness
will aid him to so order his life that he may be
able to gain that place among his brethren that he
should hold. Thus a knowledge of God's forgive¬
ness should lead the follower of Christ into a holy
life.
Memory Texts—"Take heed to yourselves ; If thy
brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if
he repent, forgive him" (Luke 17:3). "Forgive us
our debts as we forgive our debtors" (Matthew
6:12).
72 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
CHAPTER IX—FAITH
That all men have capacity to believe, Jesus as¬
sumed in his very first ministry; for besides preach¬
ing repentance he also preached, "believe the gos¬
pel" (Mark 1:15). His command to Jairus was
"only believe" (Mark 5:36), thus indicating that
belief or faith is dependent upon man's will.
The words used to express Jesus' idea of faith
are in the Greek, the noun pistis and the verb
pistcuo. Most prominent in the early ministry of
Jesis is pistis, used in connection with healings
which were expected from Jesus. Thus the blind
men have faith, and Jesus healed them (Matthew
9:29; Mark 10:52). To the woman with the issue
of blood Jesus said, "Thy faith hath made thee
whole" (Luke 8:48; Matthew 9:22). That faith
has a healing power seems to be implied from
Jesus' language in many places where such phrases
are used as "according to thy faith be it unto you"
to the two blind men (Matthew 9:29) ; "Thy faith
hath made thee whole," to the one returning leper
of the ten that were cleansed (Luke 17:19), etc.
Yet there are other passages where the healing
power was exhibited, but where no mention is
made of the faith of the one receiving the healing,
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 73
but of some one else. Such passages are those con¬
cerning' the faith of the centurion whose servant
Jesus healed, and whose faith Jesus said was great¬
er than any found in Israel (Luke 7:9; Matthew
8:10) ; also the instance of the man sick of the
palsy (Mark 2:5; Luke 5:20). Other cases of
of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman, and
Jairus' daughter (Matthew 15:28 and Mark 5:36).
These show that the healings did not necessarily
follow faith. Nor in the cases in which they did fol¬
low was faith necessarily the cause, though it may
have been an element which greatly influenced
Jesus (Matthew 9:2, 29; Luke 8:48, 7:50). Else¬
where Jesus speaks of the power of faith as if it
could remove mountains (Matthew 17:20; 21:21;
Mark 11:23), which is clearly figurative.
It is evident in some of these passages that faith
is used by Jesus to mean the accepting of a thing
as true (Luke 24:25; John 3:12, 10:38, 11:15; 17:
21), i. e. mere credence. It is equally evident that
the word as he uses it has an ethical value. Faith
is one of the weightier matters of life (Matthew
23:22) with Jesus. From a simple matter of be¬
lieving he could cure, faith becomes something
directed to a higher power—to God (Mark 11:22;
John 5:24), when no physical cure is wanted or
needed. This is what Jesus means when he speaks
of faith in John 3:36.
But is faith the mere assent to the fact that God
exists, or is it to the fact that God sent Jesus? As
74 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
to the first, Jesus did not trouble himself; for every
Jew believed in the existence of God. Upon the
second, he laid great stress. His constant prayer
was that man might believe that the Father had
sent him (John 17:8). That he was the Messiah
He did announce; and He wanted men to assent to
his claims (John 4:20; 14:1). And yet this was
only secondary. He wished himself to be believed
in order that he might do God's work (John 17:4;
10:37, 38). His claims to Messiahship were simply
that he might act as the door through which men
might enter to God; or as the shepherd that he
might lead the sheep into the fold (John 10:7ff).
God is the ultimate end of faith. And faith in
Him amounted to entire trust in Him. It is such
confidence as would lead one not only to accept
his claims, but to forsake all (Matthew 19:27-30)
and put his whole life and destiny in his charge.
Jesus commands his followers to take up the cross
and follow him daily (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34,
10:21). This is the way one shows his faith; that
he believes the highest life for him can be reached
by following Jesus always. One cannot claim to
have true faith unless he has this feeling. Jesus
says, "He that loveth father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And
he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after
me, is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:37-38.)
This being the case Jesus rebukes those who say
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 75
they have faith and do not thus lean upon God
(Matthew 6:30; Luke 12:28).
As is the faith of a child in its parent, so must be
the faith of those who are true to God. Hence
the members of the Kingdom must become as little
children (Matthew 18:3; Luke 18:16, 17). That
is, their faith must not be selfish; but must be
entire, and yield the whole life to God, and for his
glory. Thus it is seen that faith has a moral ele¬
ment because it is connected with God. It is belief
in Jesus as revealing God and establishing his King¬
dom upon earth. Every one who has faith by that
act becomes a member of the Kingdom. For if
he trusts in God in a childlike manner, he must
be to all intents and purposes God's child; and his
life ought then be regulated by what he believes
to be God's will. Then his object is to advance the
interests of God's Kingdom. Hence Jesus exhorts
his disciples to surrender all to God and look to
his Kingdom (Matthew 6:25; Luke 12:22). For
if he clothes the grass; if he cares for the birds;
if he numbers the hairs of men's heads; there cer¬
tainly ought to be no need for them to be over¬
anxious about anything worldly, because God will
care for His own.
Faith is not only belief, but it is that belief which
takes for granted as having come to pass the things
to which it is attached, even though these things
have not come to pass. It therefore involves the
acting as though these things were, even though
76 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
they are not before one's eyes. Faith in Jesus then
is the taking" for granted all that he claimed, and
acting upon these claims as though each were
perfectly and visibly verified. For example, Jesus
claimed that righteousness should eventually con¬
quer evil; Jesus says that the pure in heart should
see God; that man should not live by bread alone,
but by the word of God also. Jesus claimed that
he is the example for mankind; that the only way
to enjoy life in this sinful world is to lose it; that
being is better than seeming, and doing than talk¬
ing. Jesus claims that his yoke is easy and his
burden light; that those who come to him will
find rest upon their souls. These are only a few
illustrations of his claims. Now, faith not only
accepts these as good theories, but as facts which
the believer works out in his life. Just as a man
who has faith in the United States government
takes its note for gold and uses it as though it
were gold, so the Christian must take Jesus' words
and follow them out as though the proof for every
assertion were at hand.
Continued exercise of faith brings reality. A
continued use of one's faith in the United States
by using the government's notes has a tendency
to make the notes money, so that by the habit men
never think they are simply the representatives of
the standard money. It is in this way that a con¬
tinued exercise of one's faith in the claims of
Christ brings these claims so real before men that
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 77
they see them all fulfilled. By believing, we be¬
come. This is what the writer of Hebrews meant
when he said that faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (He¬
brews 11:1).
Memory Text—"According to your faith be it
unto you" (Matthew 9:29).
78 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
CHAPTER X—RIGHTEOUSNESS
The ideal character of members of the Kingdom
of God is righteousness. Jesus came to teach men
what this righteousness is and what the method is
of attaining it. As the fullest expression of right¬
eous character, Jesus points his disciples to God
Himself: "Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven
is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). Nothing short of this
should be the aim of the Christian. Jesus himself
was perfect, and he said that he was an example
for his followers. He was the perfect revelation of
God (Luke 10:22; Matthew 11:27), and by his life
we know what is meant by perfection.
True to his mission, Jesus did not waste any
time discussing the question whether or not man
can become perfect in this life. He simply uttered
the injunction for men to follow, not to discuss.
Nor, as we shall see later, is Jesus' idea of per¬
fection, that sickly impression which has deluded
many: that one may be perfect by virtue of a cer¬
tain nervous excitement, or misdirected, though
firm, belief that he is perfect, regardless of his real
moral state. In other words Jesus did not teach
that kind of righteousness which consisted chiefly
in the ability to talk fluently, and pray eloquently
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 79
in public; to shout from the housetops its own
superiority; and to see nothing good outside of
itself.
This conception of righteousness, or one closely-
akin to it, prevailed during Jesus' day, and was
most aggressively condemned by him. The idea
common among the Jews was that righteousness
consisted chiefly in the doing of outward acts.
Moses had given the law. Salvation was offered
to the righteous, that is, those who kept the law.
The Jews took this to mean that they would be
saved if they kept all the statutes in the Book of
Moses. Their criterion was to do the things com¬
manded and refrain from that which was prohibit¬
ed. If it was the Sabbath and the Jew wanted to
work, he had to take down his big commentary on
the fourth commandment to see if it was wrong
to do a certain kind of work. For instance, there
were, according to the rabbis' interpretations of
the fourth commandment, thirty nine classes of
things which could not be done on the Sabbath
day. Now, a righteous man was one who refrained
from doing these things because they were writ¬
ten. The other side of the question pertained to
ceremonies. These were certain times to pray, to
give alms, certain feasts to be kept, etc. These
were all prescribed. And the man who kept them
all was called righteous. It followed that by re¬
ferring to the books of the prohibitions and com¬
mands, one could easily compare his actions with
80 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
his fellow's and tell whether he was better or
worse. It is also clear that it was easier for the
rich and well educated to keep more of the laws
(some were especially for the educated classes, the
Pharisees) : to give more alms, to spare more time
for prayers, and thus have cause to boast of their
superiority over others. And so they did.
This was the common idea of righteousness when
Jesus came into the world. Men were righteous
because they kept strictly to so many laws. It is
just as a boy who has a certain number of prayers
for Lent, one for each day. He learns them all
and says them in the first week, and then boastfully
tells his parents how good he is; for he has not
only said all the prayers, but in one-sixth of the
required time. Jesus said this is wrong. Righte¬
ousness is not mere conformity to external law,
though this is a step in the education of a people.
For according to this standard Jesus himself could
have been unrighteous. The commandment said:
Do not work on the Sabbath. Jesus broke the
external part of it—the letter—and healed a man
on the Sabbath. To the Jews he had broken the
law (Mark 3:1-7). And yet he said he came not
to destroy the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).
What was his conception of righteousness? How
did he fulfill it? His claim was that the Pharisees
were hypocrites, and that even the most pious
Jews had only judged of righteousness superficially.
This, however, was in their case as in the case of
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 81
most people a preparation for the true grounds of
righteousness which Jesus came to teach.
First, he would teach that no precepts are an
end in themselves. Men are not to worship the
precepts but must look beyond them to their giver,
who is God. He is the source of all law, and when
men seem to forget this they lessen very materially
the value of keeping the law. The laws that are
given are only a feeble expression of God's will.
It is the duty of man to see the relation of these
laws and thus try to find the true will of God, and
to act, not so much from the fact that such a thing
is commanded or prohibited, but because he knows
God and appreciates his will. In other words, be¬
hind his action must be a Personality, not a mere
code.
In the second place, the righteous character of
the man is not advanced by the mere act of doing.
In this case man must not look at the act as the
end, as in the other he should not look at the law
as the ultimate source. The value of the act rests
in the condition of the heart that prompted it.
Hence Jesus commands his disciples to keep pure
hearts. Only out of a pure heart can a righteous
act come, as only from a good tree can good fruit
come (Matthew 7:17, 12:35). According to Jesus
a man may give a million dollars to establish a
school, and the school may be of great benefit to
many students; yet if the giver gives from a self¬
ish motive rather than from a pure heart, he has
82 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
not done a righteous act. Nor does righteousness
consist in quantity of deeds. The poor widow
cast into the treasury more than all of the givers,
not because she gave more money, but because she
gave from a pure heart (Luke 21:3; Mark 12:43).
In Luke 18:10-14 the reason the Pharisee's prayer
was not accepted was because it was not prompted
by real love—sincerity of heart. The publican may
have been the more sinful man, and may have
uttered his prayer in less even and sustained tones.
Yes he was accepted; for his prayer came from a
sincere heart.
With Jesus, then, not the form of the act nor
the quantity of acts will have value; only that
which prompted the act, the state of the heart.
In the last day many shall say, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name
cast out devils? but the Lord shall declare unto
them that he never knew them (Matthew 7:22-23).
Why? Because their acts did not come from a
sincere heart (Matthew 15:8). Righteousness is
not outward show, but inward purity. It is not
mere feeling, but a definite moral character.
It sees God as the source of all authority, and
as the ideal of all goodness; and each action of
man the index of a heart approaching this ideal.
It is this which Jesus commends to his followers.
It is this character that he possessed. This righte-
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 83
ousness can only come by abiding in Christ and
having his words abide in you.
Memory Text—"Except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Phari¬
sees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom
of Heaven" (Matthew 5:20).
84 THE TEACHING O F JESUS
CHAPTER XI—PRAYER
Prayer is the means of communication which
the members of the Kingdom have with God. We
get Jesus' idea of prayer from what he said and
from what he did. Fortunately for us the question,
how to pray, was put to him, and we have several
pictures of him in prayer.
First, however, let us get an idea of the common
practice of prayer. The Jews, or rather the Phari¬
sees, who were leaders, were known for their
long and loud and regular prayers (Matthew 6:7).
Prayer was a part of the ceremonial law, and was
therefore diligently kept by all who Avould attain
unto righteousness. But Jesus had already point¬
ed out the fallacy in the Pharisaic idea of righte¬
ousness, and had told his disciples and others, that
except their righteousness exceeded the righteous¬
ness of the Phraisees they could not enter the
Kingdom (Matthew 5:20). The Pharisees' righte¬
ousness was external; so their prayers were not
from their hearts. It was for this reason that
their prayers were offensive to Jesus.
For prayer was not mere externalism: "Take
heed that ye do not your righteousness before
men to be seen of them . . . When thou doest
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 85
alms, sound not a trumpet . . . and when ye prav,
be not like the hypocrites; for they love to stand
and pray in the synagogues, and in the corners of
the streets, that they may be seen of men . . . But
when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber
and pray to thy father which is in secret" (Mat¬
thew 6:1-6). In praying "do not use vain repeti¬
tions as the heathen do; for they think that they
shall be heard for their much speaking" (Matthew
6:7). Prayer, then, is not words; is not dependent
upon time or place. It is not the instrument of
the proud, nor of hypocrites.
What, then, is prayer? In Mark 11:24, Jesus
says, "All things whatever you ask for, believe
that ye have received them and ye shall have
them (cf John 15:6, Mark 9:23-29). This gives
one of the positive constituents of prayer—faith,
the instrument of the rich and poor, the learned
and the unlearned, the old and the young—all who
can believe. The centurion prayed (Matthew 8:
5-10; Luke 7:10), the blind beggar prayed (Mark
10:47), the nobleman prayed (John 4:47), the Gen¬
tile woman (Matthew 15:22-28), and the Jewish
woman (John 11:21-27). Prayer is simply the ex¬
pression of a faithful soul, asking and believing
that it will have what it seeks.
How should one pray? Jesus prescribes no
form Indeed no sincere soul needs any particular
form But his disciples did ask him to teach them
to pray. In answer to this request he gave the
86 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
model prayer recorded in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke
11:2-4. According to this prayer he teaches men
to pray by ascribing praise to God whom they
acknowledge as their Father. In this prayer are
included things to be prayed for, vis.: the hallow¬
ing of God's name; the coming of God's Kingdom;
the doing of God's will on earth and in this life
as it is done in heaven; the giving of bread for
daily sustenance of the body; to be kept from
temptation; to be delivered from evil; to be for¬
given, offering as a reason for this, their willing¬
ness to forgive others. And the prayer ends with
the ascribing of power and glory to God for all
ages. Even a very superficial study of this prayer
leads to the conclusion that it must be the prayer
of that one who is striving always to get in closer
accord with God, who groans as it were after the
perfection of the Kingdom of God. Elsewhere
Jesus says pray that laborers be sent to the har¬
vest (Matthew 9:38), that the Holy Spirit come
(Luke 11:13). He says pray for those who de-
spitefully use you (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:28).
These passages bear out our first impression that
the one who prays must have his heart in accord
with God's will, and must be trying to order his
life so as to help bring to pass that which he prays
for. Otherwise he is not praying, but uttering
mere words as the heathen do.
With this conclusion we come to the sayings in
Matthew 7:7, "Ask and it shall be given" (cf Luke
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 87
11.9, 10), and in Matthew 12:19, "If two of you
shall agree on earth as touching anything that
they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my
Father which is in heaven." These cannot, in the
light of the above, be construed to be an encourage¬
ment on Jesus' part to men to ask anything they
will. For if prayer has at its bottom faith, no man
can pray for anything which is not consistent writh
faith. Hence, elsewhere Jesus says, "All things
whatsover ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye
shall receive" (Matthew 21:22) ; and "What things
soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye
receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:
24). "The things that ye desire" has, however, this
proviso attached to it, that they be in accordance
with God's will. In John 15:7 Jesus says clearly
"If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye
may ask what ye will and it shall be done unto
you." The thought may be more clearly explained
by Jesus' example. In the garden he prayed three
times. His first prayer was, according to Matthew,
"O Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."
The second prayer was "O my Father, if this cup
may not pass from me except I drink it, thy will be
done." The third was about the same as the sec¬
ond. We see in these prayers the vanishing of
Jesus' own will from his prayer. Even the first was
that God's will be done, yet we see in it a desire to
have his personal will: "if it be possible," and God's
88 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
will comes in in the "nevertheless." But in the sec¬
ond prayer there is less of Jesus' will, and a full
surrender to God's will; "Thy will be done." In a
word, Jesus' will was swallowed up in God's will.
So must the will of every Christian, when he prays,
be swallowed up in God's will.
Upon this kind of prayer Jesus bases the assur¬
ance of answer. He says if earthly fathers know
how to give good gifts to their children, how much
more does God, the perfect Father, know how to
give good things to His children who ask Him
(Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 11:9-13). He says even
before men pray the Father knows what things
they have need of, and He will care for them; and
much more, since He cares for the birds of the air
and the grass of the earth. But prayer should al¬
ways be for the will of God to be fulfilled. Wendt,
the German writer, says: "God's fatherly love
which had such supreme significance for Jesus, was
itself the cause of this limitation in answer to
prayer. Jesus indeed does not assure his disciples
that all their wishes shall be granted; but presup¬
posing the general bent of their aspirations to be
toward the Kingdom of God, he seeks to express
as clearly as possible that the greatness of the re¬
quest and the difficulty of their obtaining the things
sought are no barriers whatever to the Omnipotent
God who has established His Kingdom of Grace
upon the earth for the very purpose of bestowing
upon His children upon earth all that they truly
need."
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 89
It was this consciousness in Jesus that God is
able and willing to give, that led him to pray so
often.
Jesus teaches to pray at "every season" (Luke
21:36). In his parable concerning the landlord who
went into a far country and left his servants to
keep steadily working, watching and praying (Mark
13:33), in the parable of the unjust judge (Luke
18: 1-8), and the man who wished the three loaves
of bread (Luke 11:5), Jesus teaches that prayer
must be earnest and persistent,—not that we can
make God change His purpose, or can impress upon
Him more deeply our desires, but for our own bene¬
fit. Our faith must continually find expression. It
may not always be audible in public or at any
stated time, but it will be.
In the various references we have to Jesus' pray¬
ing we frequently find that he went apart from the
multitude into a mountain to pray (Matthew 14:
23; Mark 6:46), that he went away into a secret
place (Mark 1:35; Matthew 26:36-44; Mark 14:
32; see also Luke 3 : 21; 5:16, 6:12; 9:18; 11:1;
22:39-46; John 11:41; 12:27, 17:1). He carried
out in his own life what he taught by precept in the
Sermon on the Mount: "When thou prayest, enter
into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret." He realized
that prayer meant full confession, the most unre¬
served outpouring from one's soul, a kind of "heart-
to-heart talk" with God. It is just as in daily life
90 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
when men wish to speak with their friends, to tell
them of an ardent love, or to seek advice upon seri¬
ous matters, or to make confession of misdeeds, or
to make a personal entreaty for favors, or any
other of the serious and weighty affairs of life,
they take their friends apart and pour out their
whole hearts,—in sorrow, or in joy, or a mixture of
both, as the occasion may demand. If this is the
case with human relations, how much more should
it be in our relations with God? And then how
natural and reasonable is Jesus' teaching! The
prayers of the righteous avail much, because the
righteous see God face to face, and have a personal
talk with him.
While secret prayer is the greatest source of the
Christian's strength, and is most insisted upon by
Jesus, there is nothing in his teaching against pub¬
lic worship, if this worship is true. On the con-
tray we know it was Jesus' custom to attend pub¬
lic worship regularly (Luke 4: 16): We have many
references to his going into the synagogues on the
Sabbath (Matthew 9:35, 12:9, 13:54; Mark 1:21;
Luke 4:44, 6:6, 13:10; John 6:59). Luke 4:16
says it was his custom to go into the synagogue to
worship; in John 18:20 he himself says he taught
in the synagogue and temple very frequently.
When he came to a town he sought out the house
of public worship (Mark 1:21, 39). He attended
the passovers at Jerusalem, though very far from
his home in Galilee (John 2:13). In this public
THE TEACHING OF JESUS
91
worship Jesus no doubt got great inspiration, for
here he did many of his greatest works. With him,
however, there was in fact but one kind of worship,
whether it be in secret or in public; that is the wor¬
ship of God in spirit and in truth (John 4: 24). The
true worshipper will not neglect his secret prayer
or his public worship. Both build him up and draw
him nearer to God.
Memory Text—"Watch ye therefore, and pray
always" Luke 21: 36.
92 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
CHAPTER XII—SIN
As intimated in the preceding paragraphs, we
will now find that Jesus' conception of sin was
not the popular conception among the Jews of his
day. These people regarded any kind of work upon
the Sabbath day as a sin, and because Jesus worked
the healing of an afflicted man on this day they ac¬
cused him of sin (Mark 3: 1-6; Luke 6:6-11). The
eating with publicans and sinners (Mark 2: 16) ;
the eating of certain meats (Mark 7: 19); eating
with unwashen hands (Mark 7:1-5), and all "de¬
filements" were sins because they had been pro¬
hibited in the law. In other words the transgres¬
sion of the law and the traditions (Matthew 15: 2-
6) constituted for the Jew sin. Committing mur¬
der, adultery, robbery, bearing false witness and
swearing by God were sinful acts. The standard
for the Jew was his law and its interpretation by
the scribes, and the only way he determined
whether or not he had committed sin was by ref-
ference to these (Matthew 22:36). This in the
conscientious may have led to the strictest kind of
morality; but in the careless, to a vicious hypoc¬
risy. In neither case would it lead to the loftiest
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 93
religious and social life, because the standard and
impulse were outside of the man.
As Jesus did not regard washings as righteous in
themselves, he did not regard refraining from
washings, or other ceremonies, the eating of meats,
etc., as sinful (Mark 7:18-22). In other words,
Jesus' idea of sin was directly opposed to the
Pharisaic idea of the Jews.
But he does say that murder, adultery, etc., are
sins (Matthew 5:21-48). He names a great num¬
ber of things which are sinful: Mark 7:22, "forni¬
cations, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings,
wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, rail¬
ing, pride, foolishness." But at the same time he
said that the defiling of a man comes from within;
and that these things are sinful because they can
only come from a sinful heart.
Hence as in the case of righteousness, Jesus
bases his judgment as to sin upon the state of the
heart. He says not only he who commits the act;
but he who wishes to do so is a sinner (Matthew
5:22). And the act becomes simply that by which
men may know concerning the sinful heart which
originated it. But God needs no act to indicate the
intent of the heart. He knows the heart and
knows all of its sins. This was a complete revolu¬
tion of popular thinking—the unseen factor of an
act rather than the part which is seen, determining
whether or not it is sinful: "Ye have heard that it
was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill;
94 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the
judgment. But I say unto you, That whosoever is
angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say
to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the coun¬
cil" (Matthew 5:21-22). Again (Matthew 5:27-
28), "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old
time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say
unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to
lust after her hath committed adultery with her al¬
ready in his heart." It was by this standard that
those who accused the adulterous woman stood
condemned themselves, when Jesus said to them in
their mock righteousness, "He that is without sin
among you let him first cast a stone" (John 8:7).
These upholders of the law (John 8: 3, 9), who ap¬
peared outwardly righteous themselves, knew that
they were sinners and went out of the presence of
Jesus one by one.
Then, from the point of view of the Kingdom of
God, sin, as the evil condition of man's heart, must
put man out of proper relation with God and his
fellow-members of the Kingdom. A man sins when
his selfish interests occupy the largest part of his
life to the exclusion of the interests of the King¬
dom of God. One's having such interests at heart
will show it outwardly in the manner indicated in
Mark 7:22 and in various other ways (Matthew
12:35). A bad tree cannot bear good fruit (Mat¬
thew 7: 16-19) : "Either make the tree good and
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 95
its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt and its
fruit corrupt. How can ye being' evil speak good
things? for out of the abundance of the heart the
m°uth speaketh. 1 he good man out of his good
treasure bringeth forth good things; and the evil
man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil
things."
There may be recognized in Jesus' thought the
distinction between what are commonly called
sins of commission and sins of omission; not that
there is any difference in sin; but that it manifests
itself in these two ways. Sins of commission are
those which the heart puts itself in harmony with.
The outward act may never be committed; but
when the man's heart plans the evil deed and he
has committed himself to its execution, he is a sin¬
ner by commission. This is true unless he repents,
even though all his plans may fail. This is illus¬
trated in that Judas is called the son of perdition
(John 17: 12), and also a devil (John 6: 70, 71), be¬
fore he had openly betrayed the Lord. Sins of
omission are when active righteousness is not the
state of the heart. In other words, when love is
absent. Then the man may not be vicious; but he
is blind; he is heartless. He is therefor sinful.
Such were the sins of those whom Jesus described
in Matthew 25:41-46. They had kept the pagan
command: "Do not do to others what you would
not have them do to you." They had not kept the
96 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
Christian command. And when the King says to
them: "Depart from me, ye cursed," they express
surprise that they should be sentenced. They ask
an explanation, and the King answers: "Inasmuch
as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not
unto me." And we are told these whose greatest
sins were not commission, but omission, shall go
into the eternal punishment prepared for the devil
and his angels. Sins of omission: the absence of
God's love from the heart. Sins of commission:
the presence of evil designs in the heart. The two-
however, seldom exist apart. The punishment for
either in great (Matthew 25:46; Mark 9:42-47).
Jesus, however, does not recognize physical hurt
as a necessary consequence, or punishment, of sin.
His teaching is clear that the punishment is in the
future. It was, however, currently thought during
Jesus' time that misfortune was the result of sin.
Believing this, his disciples asked him concerning
blind Bartimeus, "Who did sin, this man or his par¬
ents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered,
Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents"
(John 9:2, 3). Even the natural consequences of
sin when they do follow in the form of misfortune
and misery, are not always punishments of sin. If
so, it would seem when Jesus forgave sins, which
implies that no punishment will be given, the
misery should stop; but it does not. (See this
clearly illustrated in the case of the man borne of
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 97
four: Mark 2: 12; Matthew 9:2-8). Jesus teaches
that every sinner will suffer hereafter, regardless
of what he suffers here.
Memory Text—"Whosoever committeth sin is
the servant of sin" (John 8:34).
98
THE TEACHING OF JESUS
CHAPTER XIII—HYPOCRISY
One form of sin which receives especially severe
condemnation from Jesus is hypocrisy. Since
righteousness is of the heart and not in the out¬
ward action, it stands to reason that man may
often be mistaken in what he calls righteous¬
ness in others. For man judges from appearances
and only God can judge the heart (Luke 16: 15). It
therefore follows that man may often be deceived,
and also can, by his outward action, play the part
of a deceiver. A hypocrite is one who makes pre¬
tensions to righteousness and yet does not possess
it; one who because his outward actions seem right
to men allows himself to be called righteous when
he makes no effort to get his heart right.
There is a gain in this for men. They knowr that
most people trust and respect the righteous. So
they do all they can to appear thus, though they
know that they arc not. This class of people exists
today and existed when Jesus was on the earth. He
knew them; though they could deceive others they
could not deceive him. They were the class who
were continually looking at and pointing out the
faults of others, when they themselves had greater
faults (Matthew 7:3-5). They even went to the
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 99
trouble to put a miscroscope upon others in order
to magnify their smallest faults while thev did. not
seem to notice their own great faults. To these
Jesus says, "Why beholdest thou the mote (a small
particle, as dust) that is in thy brother's eye, but
considerest not the beam (large timber) which is
in thine own eye?" Though he is worse than his
brother, the hypocrite tries to conceal his own
badness by even going to his brother with accu¬
sations, either condemning him, or hypocritically
asking him to do better. "How wilt thou say to
thy brother, Let me cast out the mote out of thine
eye; and lo the beam is in thine own eye ? Thou
hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own
eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the
mote out of thy brother's eye."
These are they which call upon the Lord's name
simply for show. "Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name,
and in thy name cast out devils, and by thy name
do many mighty works ? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye
that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:22-23). They
honor God with their lips; they make glowing
speeches, but they do not mean a word they say.
They are simply deceivers, for their hearts are far
from God (Mark 7:6). They bind heavy burdens
upon others, but they not only do not hear them
themselves, but do not think of doing so (Matthew
23 • 4) They pretend to build up God, but in their
100 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
hearts they do not. They make long prayers in
order to be called pious by their fellows, and this is
mere pretense (Mark 12:38-40). In public they
sit in the front seats in church (Mark 12:39).
They wear long faces and walk with affected dig¬
nity ; they love salutations. But they do not do
these things for the glory of God. They do them
simply to be seen of men (Matthew 23:5). They
love human applause more than God's honor (John
5: 44). In order to please men and gain favor they
even pervert and misinterpret God's word, and in
its place put their own inventions (Mark 7:6-13).
Such as these Jesus aptly likens to "whited sepul¬
chres which outwardly appear beautiful, but in¬
wardly are full of dead men's bones, and all un-
cleanness" (Matthew 23:27). They "outwardly
appear righteous unto men, but inwardly are full
of hypocrisy and iniquity" (verse 28). As a proof
of this, these same supposedly pious men devour
widows' houses (Matthew 23: 14); they dishonor
the house of God (Matthew 23: 16). They are ex¬
tortionate and intemperate.
Such persons Jesus does not find words sufficient
to characterize. They are serpents, offspring of
vipers (Matthew 23:33). Their punishment shall
be that they shall be taken at their proper worth at
the last day. Jesus will say to them, "Depart, ye
that work iniquity, I never knew you."
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 101
CHAPTER XIV—TRIALS OF CHRIST'S
FOLLOWERS
Persecution—From a worldly point of view Jesus
offered but little inducement to his followers. He
told them to turn their backs on all that was
worldly that they should come out of the world
and t i stand against it. For this world would
hate ti.. . , and persecute them (Luke 21: 12; Mat¬
thew 10:23; 23:34), and even kill them (Matthew
24:9). He reminded them that evil men had always'
persecuted those who were bold to stand for good
(Matthew 5:12), even though later generations
would applaud the deeds of these martyrs (Mat¬
thew 23:29, 30). He was himself persecuted even
unto death. But he says to his disciples, "Blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness'
sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mat¬
thew 5: 10). Making the word more direct he says
in the next verse, "Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your
reward in heaven." By being persecuted the Chris¬
tian knows that he is touching the conscience of
the world, and awakening it to a sense of its own
102 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
sinful conditions. He knows he is not of the
world. "If ye were of the world, the world would
love its own; but because ye are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you" (John 15: 19).
This means that the Christian should give no
quarter to evil, or think any trial too hard to bear
for his Lord. Of course this presupposes that the
follower is sincere. If he is not, he will fall away.
As the seed sown in the stony places springs up
quickly and is scorched and withers away because
it has no deep root, so will it be with many follow¬
ers. They will hear the word of God preached, and,
led away by the glories promised by the kingdom,
they will receive it with joy; but if they have no
deep root in the faith, when persecutions come they
will fall away from their professions (Matthew 13:
20, 21).
One of the most striking facts in history is that
of the joyful bearing of persecutions by genuine
Christians. Peter and John and other followers in
the early days stood before councils for the cause
of their religion, and though beaten and threatened
with death, left the presence of their persecutors
"rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suf¬
fer shame for his name" (Acts 5:41). What thev
did, thousands after them have done, and are doing.
The blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the
Church. God's truth can never be conquered.
Wherever it goes it conquers even though its
heralds may die.
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 103
Temptation Another of the trials from which
the Christian is never absent is temptation. Jesus
himself could not escape the temptation of Satan
while upon earth. It is temptation which makes the
Christian strong. It is temptation which brings out
his best qualities, which attaches him more closely
to his God, and thus makes him a better example
to his fellow-men. It is a great triumph in the
Christian's life to overcome temptation. But over¬
coming temptations is not the greatest thing in
Christian life, but only that preparation from which
greater things may be accomplished. In the case
of Jesus, his temptation in the wilderness was only
a preparation for his great work. He had routed
the enemy for a season. The next thing was to
enter upon his work.
But temptations are not to be courted—not to be
hunted for. It is a presumption upon God that he
will keep the man or woman who seeks temptation.
When Satan told Jesus to cast himself down from
the pinnacle of the temple and thus show that he
was the Son of God by having God send angels to
keep him from falling, the Saviour replied, "Thou
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matthew 4:7;
Luke 4: 12). Thus if the Christian goes into places
of sin, when he can avoid doing so, he is tempting
God. God does not wish men to seek temptation.
He has said He would protect them in the time of
temptation. The Psalms are full of these promises.
But it is not ^or man to temP* God. Jesus' action
104 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
here is stronger than any words. Even though
Satan presumed to quote Scripture, Jesus knew
that he had misinterpreted the Scripture, for God
never meant His servants—not even His Son—to do
a thing against His will, expecting His help. It is
Satan who persuades men to seek temptation that
he might entrap them. Jesus does not.
Jesus rather says flee as far away as possible
from temptation. He taught his disciples to pray,
"And lead us not into temptation" (Matthew 6: 13;
Luke 11:4). On another occasion he said, "Watch
and pray, lest ye enter into temptation" (Mark 14:
38; Matthew 26: 41; Luke 22: 40, 46). Jesus knew
by his own experience that there were temptations
on every side, and in every form, and at all times,
for his followers. There are temptations to evil
deeds; if not to evil deeds, then to evil words; if
not to evil words, then to evil thoughts. No man
needs to hunt for sin. Sin is hunting him, and the
moment he undertakes seeking temptation he is
become the ally of Satan.
But all must be tempted, and all are. How shall
one meet temptation? In Mark 14:38 Jesus says,
"Watch." He would have men discover Satan and
his plans so as either to get out of the way, or to
arm themselves against attack. Those who are not
vigilant will fall into temptation and be overcome.
Again, he says, "Pray that ye enter not into temp¬
tation." As has been said, prayer is the Christian's
communion with God, through which comes his
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 105
strength. If he has the strength he can meet the
temptation. He had upon his lips a "thus it is writ¬
ten for every temptation, and thus he overcame
Satan. Watch always, pray earnestly, and study
the Word carefully, and one is prepared for temp¬
tation.
Temptations which come to men are not, how¬
ever, sins. Only yielding is sin. Being tempted
and overcoming by Christ's method makes a man
strong. Thus he who is most tempted, if he watches
carefully, prays unceasingly, and reads God's word
reflectively, will become a strong Christian. There
is, however, this exception, temptations sought are
sins, because they are tempting God.
Sacrifice—In a word the thought of Jesus is that
every thing must be secondary to one's interests in
the Kingdom. Money, lands, position, father and
mother, and every thing one has must be laid at the
feet of Jesus (Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:29, 30).
Even life itself must not be held for itself, but for
the purposes of the Kingdom. To the worldly mind
this is sacrifice; but to the Christian it should be
the highest of joy.
106 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
CHAPTER XV—MISCELLANEOUS
Humility—Jesus taught humility, and a disposi¬
tion to serve, even in the humblest manner. When
his disciples inquired about greatness, he took a
little child and set it in the midst of them, and said,
he that is least among you shall be great (Luke 9:
46-48; Mark 9:34-36). Again he said, "Ye know
that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion
over them, and they that are great exercise author¬
ity over them. But it shall not be so among you;
but whosoever among you would be great, let him
be your minister; and whosoever would be chief
among you, let him be your servant, even as the
Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give his life a ransom for many"
(Matthew 20:25-28). This thought of humility our
Saviour beautifully illustrated in his own life. After
the supper, he arose from the table and washed his
disciples' feet himself, and said, "If then, your Lord
and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought
to wash one another's feet. For I have given you
an example that ye also should do as I have done
to you * * * * for a servant is not greater
than his lord" (John 13:4-17). This teaches that
ane must be so disposed that if the glory of God's
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 107
Kingdom demanded it, he would gladly do any serv¬
ice, even to the washing of the feet of his fellows.
This was a beautiful exaltation of humility by
Jesus, and a most perfect example of the Chris¬
tian's duty. It is not to strive after place and
power. The princes of this world do that. Not to
store up the wealth of this world only; not to help
only those from whom help may be expected in re¬
turn. No, sinners do those things. But the Chris¬
tian must always be ready for the humblest service
in the Master's Kingdom—always looking to help
others.
Forgiving One Another—Love is the law which
should regulate the relations of members to one
another.
Where there are misunderstandings, love would
demand that the members of the Kingdom should
seek to have this misunderstanding cleared up. He
thus vividly pictures one instance, "Even if thou
art offering thy gift at the altar, and there remem-
berest that thy brother hath aught against thee,
leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy
way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then
come and offer thy gift" (Matthew 5:23-24). He
says that the members of the Kingdom ought to be
those who strive for the peace, for the peacemakers
shall be the sons of God (Matthew 5:7). "Agree
with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the
wa with him" (Matthew 5:25). To this end the
108 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
members of the Kingdom must be forgiving. They
must not hold anything against any one. In fact,
forgiving others is one of the conditions upon
which we may expect forgiveness (Matthew 6:14,
15). Jesus teaches his disciples to pray thus, "And
forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debt¬
ors." The duty of forgiving others before we can
seek forgiveness is often impressed by Jesus upon
his disciples (Matthew 18:35, 6:14, 15; Luke 11:
4; Mark 11:25, 26). For he believed that no nar¬
row and unforgiving man could present himself to
God. For God takes only those who can love, and
love knows no malice. Its heart is clean.
Not only must one forgive, but he must always
be in an attitude to forgive. When Peter asked the
Lord how many times he should forgive his brother
he thought that he was liberal in suggesting seven
times. But Jesus said no, not only seven times but
even seventy times seven, which means not simply
490 times, but an indefinite number of times; in
other words as long as the brother seeks forgive¬
ness (Matthew 18:21). For by the parable of the
unmerciful servant he illustrates how God will deal
with a man whom he has forgiven much if he will
not frogive his brother (Mtthew 18:23-35).
Political Governments—What does Jesus say as
to man's political duties? Jesus was no politician;
his Kingdom was not of this world. He did not
come to lay down rules for the state. But on one
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 109
occasion certain Pharisees and Herodians came to
ask him this question (Mark 12:13-17), "Master,
is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or
not ? These did not ask him in good faith and
Jesus knew it; but he answered them, "Render
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to
God the things that are God's." The Christian
should be a full citizen; he should pay his taxes; he
should be public spirited. He should give the gov¬
ernment its due. He should not, however, do any¬
thing at the expense of the Kingdom of God; but
every duty not contrary to the Kingdom should be
done. For no one can be a good member of God's
Kingdom unless he is a good citizen. For the state
is one means through which the Christian has a
force, for good upon the world. To this end it is
the duty of the Christian by his ballot and other¬
wise to try to mould public opinion for good, to look
to the bringing of the state into management by
men of godly character. In other words the Chris¬
tians ought to strive to make the state the true
representative of the Kingdom of God upon the
earth.
Wealth—The ownership of wealth is not con¬
trary to the spirit of Christ's teachings. But Jesus
puts no stress upon the accumulation of wealth.
The desire for earthly goods is so firmly fixed with¬
in man that it needs no urging for satisfaction. In
fact it needs to be checked lest the man forget that
110 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
wealth is not the prime object of life. So Jesus
warns us not to lay up treasures upon earth where
they may be stolen, or may rust or may decay
(Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:33-34). Rather lay
them up in heaven where they will last forever, and
always minister to our needs.
Men have a great temptation to make money
their god, to live only that they might accumulate.
Their thoughts are very apt to be always upon
money. It is for this reason that Jesus says it is
hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God
(Mark 10:23; Luke 18:24). This he modifies by
way of explanation when he says, "How hard is it
for them that trust in riches to enter the Kingdom
of God" (Mark 10:24)? For man "cannot serve
God and mammon" at the same time (Luke 16: 13).
The serving of mammon does not always consist
in having millions. It consists in giving one's heart
to money-getting without due regard for one's
Christian duties. It means the sacrifice of prin¬
ciple for money—any amount, whether it be great
or small. The washerwoman who cares more for
her wages than for the honesty of her work and
the service of her God, is serving mammon just as
much as the millionaires who crush out their fellow-
men or water their stock in order simply to in¬
crease their incomes. The wage earner who causes
his wife and children to suffer unnecessarily in
order to gratify his selfish love for money, is just
as much at fault as the factory owner who causes
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 111
his employees to suffer that his profits may be
larger. Jesus' idea of wealth is not that it is some¬
thing to be hoarded as the foolish rich man did
(Luke 12. 16-21). It is rather that which is en¬
trusted to man for the service of God and his fel¬
lows (Matthew 25:14). And men must give ac¬
count to him for the way they keep this trust
(Matthew 25: 14-30). He has said that the naked
are to be clothed, the hungry fed, the sick visited,
etc. (Matthew 25:31-46). And those who have
must share with those who have not. We are
brethren he says (Matthew 25:46). We should
love. All that we have must be at the service of
God. That is what the earthly disciples understood
(Acts 4:34-37). It was this conception that Jesus
wanted to bring the young ruler to (Luke 18:22 f).
Because he failed to have this idea of wealth, Dives
suffered (Luke 16: 19-31). Wealth is to be conse¬
crated to God. Then it is good. Otherwise it is
not. Jesus is not hostile to its possession. The
fact that he told his disciples to go without money
does not imply it any more than the fact that he
said go without bread, scrip and two coats, is im¬
plication against these things. This command
rather was to show them that they should look
after the spiritual and that God would care for
them (cf Luke 12:31-33) by having the people
support them (Mark 6:10). The rule of Jesus if
he should utter one in regard to wealth, would be,
"Thou art thy brother's keeper," "Whatsoever thou
112 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
wouldst that he do to thee, do thou to him." By-
worshipping wealth, whether it be money, or lands,
or houses, or tools, or dresses, or any other thing,
we lose Christ; for in this case he who would strive
to hold on to the material things of life at the ex¬
pense of the spiritual, shall surely lose both (Mark
8:36). But none shall sacrifice wealth and all to God
who shall not find a reward many fold (Mark 10:
29, 30).
Swearing.—Should the Christian swear? Jesus
says (Matthew 5:34-36), "Swear not at all; * * *
But let your speech be, yea, yea; nay, nay; and
whatsoever is more than these is of the evil one."
This does not necessarily refer to taking an oath of
office or for testimony in court, for Jesus did the
latter himself (Mark 14:61). It rather refers to
that habit then common among men, and now com¬
mon among men, of using oaths for emphasis. A
man makes a statement to another and to make it
strong he swears. Jesus says, Do not swear at all.
Rather speak the truth at all times regardless of an
oath. The Christian needs no one to impress upon
him the necessity of speaking the truth. He is al¬
ways ready to do that regardless of who is present,
or what the circumstances are. The Christian
should not need an oath to impress his truth. He
should not trust in any. And even when one be¬
comes necessary by law his regard for truth should
be so high that he does not feel the burden of the
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 113
°ath at all. For the Christian is always before God.
Every word he says God hears; the oath does not
bring him any nearer to God. For God counts
truth to his credit always and falsehood against
him always, whether it be under oath or not. Let
the Christian avoid profanity of every kind and
especially unnecessary swearing.
Amusements—In a word the subject of amuse¬
ments may be treated. In the time of Jesus very
few of the amusements which are popular today
existed. Hence he did not speak upon them. He
did, however, lay down general principles which
would cover any actions of Christians. Any amuse¬
ments are legitimate which advance the Kingdom
of God by making men spiritually, mentally, mor¬
ally or physically better. The Christian is the light
of the world and may engage in any amusements
in which he may carry his light. He is told to
watch and pray so as to be ready when his Lord
comes. Whatever amusements he might not be
ashamed to have his Master find him in, he may en¬
gage in. All others, whether termed "respectable"
or not, are not for the Christian. In general it
would be, to say the least, expedient to keep from
doubtful amusements. It is the duty never to com¬
promise the cause of Christ.
114 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
QUESTIONS
Sources.—Where do we find the material for this
study ?
What discrimination must be made?
What is the court of final appeal for Christian
conduct and doctrine?
What is the relation of the Old Testament to the
teaching' of Jesus? The New Testament?
Have all of the sayings of Jesus come down to
us?
How much of his life have we?
What does John say about a full biography of
Jesus?
Is it proper to suppose that Jesus had some
central principle or conception about which all his
teaching hangs ? Why ?
What is this principle or conception?
What is the method of this study?
How do you justify such a method? ■'
Why is it erroneous to take texts from the Bible
promiscuously, and without regard to the context?
Illustrate.
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 115
The Method of Jesus.—Describe the method of
Jesus as to his preparation for his work: his plan
for the spread of his work among men ; his selec¬
tion of words: his illustration of truths.
What is a parable?
What is the relation of his life to his teaching?
God.—Did Jesus try to prove the existence of
God?
What was his chief assumption?
What does he say about God's nature ?
What are the chief attributes of God?
What was the popular Jewish conception of God
in Jesus' time?
How did Jesus differ from this?
Why did the Jews not mention God's name?
What were some of the substitutes they used?
Upon what basis does Fatherhood of God rest
with Jesus? With the Jews?
What are the three phases of Fatherhood?
In what sense is God the universal Father?
What is the greatest proof of Jesus' divine Son-
ship ?
What are some of the blessings and privileges
of God's children?
In what two ways may God be known ?
How did the Greeks and other heathen seek
to know God?
What did they lack ?
Can one know God and not do His will?
116 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
Is there a difference between knowing God and
knowing about God?
Man.—Does Jesus give a scientific treatise upon
man ?
What is his interest in man?
Give his meaning of the terms "Soul," "Body,"
"Spirit," "Flesh," and "Heart," as used by Jesus.
Is the spirit good of itself? Is the flesh bad?
What does Jesus mean by saying man is lost?
What makes man greater than beast?
The World.—What was the Jewish idea of "the
world" ?
What did Jesus mean by "not of this world"?
Distinguish clearly between "this age" and "the
age to come."
Does Jesus use the term "world" in a physical
sense, or chiefly moral sense?
Can one be in the world and not of it?
What are some of the characteristics of "this
world"?
What are some of the characteristics of "the
world to come"? Repeat passages.
What is the relation of the Christian to the
world ?
What is meant by "light of the world"?
What is the end of the world?
Himself.—What is Jesus' testimony concerning
his conception, his birth, and early childhood?
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 117
Does Jesus make it his chief business to declare
the nature of his person?
What are the titles chiefly applied to him?
What was the meaning of "Son of David"?
Did Jesus use this term as referring to himself?
What does he say about the term?
By whom is he called the "Christ?"
What is his attitude toward this title?
What is His attitude toward the title "Son of
God"?
From what sources have we the testimony that
he is the Son of God?
What are the passages in which he is called Son
of God?
Why did he not wish to accept the titles of Jew¬
ish expectation?
What was his mission as predicted in the Old
Testament?
Point out instances of fulfillment of this mission.
How did he regard his death?
What was its purpose?
What is his teaching upon the second coming?
Kingdom of God.—What was the Jewish expec¬
tation as to the Kingdom of God?
What was Jesus' idea as opposed to the Jews?
Is the Kingdom of God political?
Has it a ruler? Who?
Has it subjects? Who?
jn what sense can man enter the Kingdom?
118 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
In what sense is it within man?
What are the prerequisites for entering the
Kingdom ?
Is the Kingdom for all?
When was it established?
What is said of its consummation?
What is eternal life?
Explain two elements in eternal life—of time
and character.
What is the difference between Jesus' conception
of God as King and the Jews' conception?
Explain the terms "saved," "member of Kingdom
of God," "having eternal life," as they relate to each
other.
Who need eternal life, or to be saved?
What parables are used to illustrate the value of
salvation ?
How should hindrances to salvation be regarded?
What is the connection between the answers
given to the same question in Matthew 19:16-22,
and Luke 10:25-35?
What connection have these with Mark 8:35?
Compare the above passages with John 3:1-13.
Repentance and Forgiveness.—When did Jesus
begin to preach repentance?
What is the etymological meaning of the word
"repentance"?
Who need repentance?
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 119
VVhat is the difference between the Greek idea
and Jesus' idea?
Why is only ^Jesus' idea valid for morals and re¬
ligion ?
What is forgiveness?
What are its two elements?
What is its relation to repentance?
What are the requirements of forgiveness?
Does forgiveness restore physical or material
loss ?
Who forgives? Who may be forgiven? How
often ?
Suppose one claims to be a Christian, could he
contemplate sin with a view to having God forgive
him after he had sinned?
Faith.—What is faith?
Does it require complete surrender to God?
How is it manifested toward Christ?
Why is a child the emblem of Christian faith?
What life flows from faith?
Why is faith fundamental to Christianity?
Love.—What is the greatest commandment?
What is love to God?
What is love to one's neighbor ?
How is this exemplified in Jesus' life?
How does the law of love regulate all the action
of the Christian?
jjow does this differ from the old dispensation?
120 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
Compare Exodus 20:1-17 with John 15: 12,17.
Which is fuller of meaning?
Prayer.—What was the Pharisees' idea of
prayer?
Does prayer consist in words or forms?
What is the essential element of prayer?
What is the regulating principle of prayer?
What should one pray for?
On what principle can one expect an answer to
his prayer?
Does God know our need?
Why then pray?
Did Jesus pray? Where did he generally go to
pray ?
Compare the three prayers of Jesus in Geth-
semane.
Is not he an example for his followers?
What is the model prayer?
Does God hear the prayer of a sinner?
How often should one pray?
How can life be made a prayer?
Righteousness.—What is the standard of judging
righteousness ?
What is the ideal of righteousness?
Does Jesus destroy the Mosaic law?
What has the outward act to do with the right¬
eousness of a deed?
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 121
Ought Christians then be neglectful of outward
acts ?
What is the reward of righteousness?
What were some of the things which the
Jews regarded as sins?
What was their standard?
What was Jesus' standard?
Why should the state of the heart be made the
determining point?
What is the reward of sin?
What is a hypocrite?
To what does Jesus liken him?
What is his punishment?
Why is Jesus especially severe toward hypo¬
crites ?
Government and Wealth.—What does Jesus teach
by his submission to government ?
On what grounds should the Christian pay taxes?
Does this obligate the Christian to endorse the
evil that is in government?
What is the danger in riches?
What is meant by serving God and Mammon?
What is the Christian conception of wealth?
What then is the basis for charity ?
What is true charity?
MisceM**1®0118,—On what basis does Jesus speak
against swearing?
122 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
What is the sole motive which the Christian has.
for testifying nothing but the truth?
What is Jesus' teaching concerning temptation?
Should his followers seek temptations?
In what sense do temptations help to strengthen
the true followers of Christ?
What is his teaching concerning persecutions?
What is his teaching concerning self-denial?
What principle ought to regulate the Christian's
amusement?
What should be his attitude toward doubtful
amusements?
What is the principle of growth for the Chris¬
tian?
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 123
CLASSIFIED REFERENCES
(For Private Study)
Read these references carefully and form some idea
of the subject treated before reading my text. Next
read the questions on pages 114-122 corresponding to each
topic and see if you can answer each question before
reading my text. Then read text and see how nearly
correct your answers are. This is a very good way to
fix the topics in your mind. Go slowly, taking only one
or two at a lesson.—The Author.
CONCERNING GOD: Nature—John 4:20; Luke 24:39;
Mark 12:29, 32; Matthew 23:9; John 8:41, 17:3.
Attributes—Matthew 5:48; Luke 6:36; Mark 10:27; 14:36;
Matthew 22:29; 17:6; Mark 10:18; Matthew 6:8; Mark
13:32; Luke 16:15; 11:42; John 15:9 (cf John 3:16, 17);
Matthew 6:9; John 17:11, 25; Luke 11:2.
Fatherhood—(cf Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:6; Jeremiah 3:19;
31:9, 20; Isaiah 1:2; Hosea 11:1; Deuteronomy 8:5;
1:31; Psalms 103:13; Malachi 1:6.) (1) Luke 6:35; Mat¬
thew 5:45; 6:1, 4, 6, 18, 31, 32; Luke 12:32; Matthew
11:27- 6:31; Luke 11:13, 15th chapter; Mark 13:32;
Matthew 18:14; John 9:36-41. (2) John 8:34-44, 8:47;
Matthew 6:32; 7:11; 10:29, 30; 12:32; 5:44-45; 18:14;
7th chaoter; Matthew 5:9. (3) Mark 1:11; 9:11; Mat-
8 11' 9;12> 13' 5:48; John 17:11, 21, 22; Matthew
6 4 6 8; 7:11; 6:31-34; 10:19, 20; 25:31; Luke 12:24, 32;
John 15:10.
124 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
Knowledge of God—Matthew 7:11; 5:21-44; Luke 11:11-
13; 15:11-35; 10:22; John 10:30, 28; 3:35-36; 5:23-43;
6:44; 14:6-21; 15:9; 16:25; 15:4-16; 13:15; 15:13; Matthew
5:22, 28, 34, 39, 44; Matthew 19:7-9; John 10:9, 1; Mark
11:22.
MAN: Soul and Body—Luke 12:18-22; Matthew 10:20, 39;
Mark 8:36; John 15:13; 10:11, 15, 17; 12:35; Luke 9:24;
Matthew 3:4; 10:20.
Spirit and Flesh—Luke 23:46; 1:80; 4:1, 14; 24:39; Mat¬
thew 22:43; 26:41; Matthew 12:28, 43, 45; Luke 9:55;
Matthew 12:28; 10:20; Mark 14:38; Matthew 26:41;
John 3:6; Matthew 4:1; 5:3; 12:28; Mark 2:8; 8:12;
John 13:21; 6:52, 53; Matthew 18:8; Mark 9:43; Mat¬
thew 5 :29, 30.
Heart—Matthew 6:21; 5:28; 9:4; 12:34, 35; 15:19; Mark
2:8; 7:19; 11:23; John 14:27; 14:1; 16:6, 22; Luke 21:39;
Matthew 18:35; Luke 6:45; 5:8; 15:8; Mark 7:6; (Com¬
pare Mark 8:12; 2:8; Luke 5:22; 9:47; Matthew 26:28;
Mark 14:34; John 13:21; 16:6; 11:32; Luke 23:46; Mat¬
thew 11:46.)
Value of Man—Matthew 12:12; 6:24-34; 16:26; 11:29;
Mark 2:22; Luke 16:15; John 12:27; 14:1; 16:27.
Man's Lost Condition—Luke 15th chapter; Luke 19:10;
Matthew 18:11; Mark 9:12; Matthew 23:16, 17, 19, 24,
26; 11:25; Luke 18:11; Matthew 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke
5:31.
Man's Need—Matthew 4:4; John 6:48; 6:5-65; 4:10-15.
THE WORLD: Evil—John 7:7; 8:23; 15:19; 17:14-18;
14:17; Matthew 12:32; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; 12:30;
John 12:47; (cf John 3:16, 17, 19,) Matthew 13:22; Mark
4:19; Luke 16:8; Matthew 18:7; John 7:7; 8:23; 12:25,
27; 12:31; John 16:11; 14:17; 19:22; 16:20.
the teaching of jesus 125
Christ and His Followers' Relation to the World—Mat-
YTT6:24; Luke 16:13; John 6:33; 8:12; 12:46>9:5 (cf
11:9; John 12:47; (cf 3:16, 17); 14:30, 31; John 8:23;
9:5; 16:33; 14:17, 19, 22; Matthew 5:14; 15:18-20; 17:6,
7; John 17:11-16.
End of the World—Matthew 13:39, 40; 13:47-49; chapters
23, 24, 2o; 28:20; John 12:31; 16:11; Matthew 25:34, 46.
HIMSELF: "Son of David"—Matthew 22:42; 1:11; 9:27;
Mark 9:27; 10:47, 48; Luke 18:38, 39; Matthew 12:23;
15:22; 20:30, 31; 21:9, 15; 22:43; Mark 12:35; John 20:41.
"Christ"—Matthew 16:20; 16:17; John 6:69; Mark 14:61,
62; Matthew 26:63; John 11:26, 27; 17:3; Luke 22:67;
Mark 8:27-30.
"Son of Man"—(cf Daniel 7:13); Luke 19:10; Matthew
25:31-33; John 15:13, 14; Matthew 8:20; 9:6; 10:23;
11:19; 12:8, 40; 13:41, 24:27, 30, 37, 44.
"Son of God"—John 10:36-38; Luke 2:49, 52; John 1:34,
49; Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:9; Matthew 27:43; John
9:35-37; 5:25; 11:4; Chapter 10; Matthew 7:2; 10:32;
12:50; Luke 2:49; 16:27; John 8:49; 20:17; Matthew 11:
27; 15:13; 16:17; 18:10; John 17:11, 22, 23; 14:6; Mat¬
thew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:32; Matthew 7:5.
His Mission—Luke 9:10; 4:18, 19; (cf Isaiah 61:1-3); Mat¬
thew 9:27-31; Mark 8:22-26; Matthew 11:5; Luke 6:20;
7:11-15; John 11:33-35; Matthew 11:28-30; Mark 1:14,
15; 4:22; John 10:10; 15:22.
His Death—John 15:13; 2:13-17; Matthew 20:18, 19; Mark
10:32-34; Luke 18:31-33; John 6:54; Luke 12:50; Mat¬
thew 20:22; Mark 10:38; John 10:17, 18; 11:50; 18:14;
Mark 10:45; Matthew 20:28.
Second Coming—John 10:17; 14:1-3; Luke 21:27; 22:30;
Matthew 25:46; Mark 4:22; Luke 8:17; Matthew 25:32,
34 * chapters 23, 24, 25.
126 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
KINGDOM OF GOD—Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17; (3:1);
6:10; 10:7; 19:23, 24; 5:19; 11:11; 18:1, 4; 18:14; 5:3;
Mark 9:47; 10:25; Luke 12:31; 9:2; 7:21, 28; Matthew
13:38; 25:34; 8:12; Luke 13:41, 42; Matthew 4:8-10; John
18:36; Matthew 22:21; John 3:3; 4:31; Luke 18:17;
12:31; John 4:13ff; Mark 7:24; 13:26; Matthew 9:5;
12:50; Luke 21:31; 17:21; 7:28; 10:24; Matthew 13:17;
Mark 13:26; 14:62.
Membership of the Kingdom of God—Matthew 16:25;
Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33; 9:56; 19:10; John 12:47;
Mark 2:17; John 6:37; 12:32; 4:14.
Value—Matthew 13 :44-47; Luke 6:20; Mark 9:43; Mat¬
thew 5:29.
How to Become a Member: (salvation)—Matthew 9:16-
22; Luke 10:25-35; Mark 10:17; John 3:1-13; Mark 13:
13; John 3:36; 6 : 37, 40, 47; 12:32; Matthew 11:28-30;
Luke 7:36-50; 18:42; 8:12; Matthew 20:1-16; Mark 16:
16; Matthew 10:22, 39; John 8:31; Matthew 16:25; Mark
8:35; 1:15.
Eternal Life—Matthew 19:6; 25:46; Mark 10 :17, 30; Luke
10:25; 18:18; John 3:15; 4:36; 5:39; 6:54, 68; 10:28; 12:
25; 17:23.
REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS—Mark 1:115; (cf
Matthew 3:1, 2, 7) ; 4:17; 10:20; 12:4; Luke 10:13; 13:3-5;
7:43; Matthew 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32; 15:7, 10;
17:34; Matthew 6:14, 15; 18:35; Mark 11:25, 26; Luk«
11:4; Matthew 12:31, 32; 9:2, 5; Luke 7:48; Matthew
9:6; 18:18; John 20:23; Mark 2:9; Matthew 5:48.
FAITH—Mark 1:15; Matthew 5:36; 9:29; Mark 10:52;
Luke 8:48; Matthew 9:22, 29; Luke 17:19; 7:9, 50; Mark
2:5; Matthew 8:10; 15:28; Luke 5:20; Matthew 9:29;
17:20; 27:21; Mark 11:22; Luke 24:25; John 3:12; 10 :38;
THE TEACHING OF JESUS 127
11:15; 17:21; Matthew 23:33; Mark 11:28; John 5:24;
3:36; 17:8; 4:26; 14:1; 17:4; Matthew 6:25, 30; 18:2ff;
Luke 12:22, 28; 18:16, 17.
LOVE—(of Exodus 20:1-17); John 15:1-24; 13:34-35; Mat¬
thew 22:34-40; John 13:1-38; 14:1-31; (cf John 3:16-18;
Matthew 26:52).
1
PRAYER—Matthew 6:1-8; Mark 12:40; Luke 18:10-14;
Matthew 5:44; 7:7-11; .6:9-13; 24:20 ; 9:28; 18:19; Mark
3:8; Luke 11:2-4, 13; 6:28; 22:40; 11:9, 10; John 15:16;
14:13; 16:23; Matthew 4:7; 9:23-29; John 15:16; Mark
11:22-24; Luke 11:9-13; 22:24; Mark 14:36, 39; Matthew
26:39, 42; John 17:1-26; 11:41; 12:26; Matthew 6:8;
Luke 21:36; 18:1-8; 17:5-9; Matthew 13:33; 18:19; 14:23;
26:36-44; Mark 1:35; 6:46; 14:32f; Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12;
9:18, 28; 11:1; 22:41f; John 11:41; 12:26f; 17:lf.
Righteousness—Matthew 5:20, 48; 11:27; Luke 10:22;
John 13:15, 34; 15:12; Matthew 5:17; 7:1, 17-19; 6:19;
5:38, 43; Mark 12:3; Matthew 6:1; 5:10, 11; Mark 9:41;
r Matthew 25:45, 46; Luke 21:3; Mark 12:43; Luke 18:14;
Matthew 15:18; 25:34. ...
Sin—Mark 2:23-28; Luke 13:1-21; Mark 2:16; 7:19; Mat¬
thew 15:2-6; 22:36; chapter 19; 5:21-48; 12:35; Mark
9:43-47 ; 25:41-46; Luke 10:13-16; Matthew 11:20-24;
Luke 12:47, 48.
Hypocrisy—Luke 16:15; Matthew 7:2-5, 22, 23 ; 23:4, 5, 16,
27; Mark 7:6-13; 12:38-40; Matthew 6:16ff.
Ljtw of Kingdom—Matthew 23:8; Luke 8:21; John 15.10;
13:15-17; Luke 10:35; Matthew 10:8; 5:39-48; Luke 6:
31-34; John 13:34 and chapters 13, 14, 15.
Humility—Luke 9:46-48; Mark 9:34-36; Matthew 20:25-
28; John 13:4-17; 17:21.
128 THE TEACHING OF JESUS
Forgiving one Another—John 13:14-17; Luke 9:46; Mark
9:33-37; Matthew 20:20-29; 5:9-25; 6:14-15; Luke 11:4,
Matthew 18:35; 23:23-35; 5:44; Mark 11:25, 26; Luke
7:43, 47.
Government—Matthew 17:24-27; John 12:13-17; 19:11;
Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:19-26.
Wealth—Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:31-34; 18:24; Mark
10:23, 24; Luke 16:11; 12:16-21; Matthew 25:14-16; (cf
Acts 4:34-37); Luke 18:22; 16:19-31 12:31-33; Mark 6:
10; 8:34-38; 10:29, 30.