Matthew 5: Elaine Miles on some spoken ministry

‘πραοs cannot be translated as “meek”. Jesus did not preach meekness.’

'Set your mind on God’s kingdom and his justice before everything else, and the rest will come to you as well.' | Photo: Come, ye blessed (linocut, 1980) by Nathaniel Mokgosi

We call it ‘The Sermon on the Mount’, but that name is not in the original Greek. All we are told there is that, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the hillside, sat down, and began to speak (literally just ‘opened his mouth’). This does not suggest something prepared, like a sermon – when Jesus intended to preach he went to the synagogue. No, this teaching seems more spontaneous, even meditative.

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