The Uniqueness of ChristSample

2/Unique in his Preaching

Jesus was unique in his preaching and teaching. 

This was acclaimed early in his public ministry. People were well used to rabbis quoting from the Law, the Prophets and the Writings, the three sections of the Hebrew Old Testament. And they knew that there had been a time when prophets frequently declared, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ But no one spoke on their own authority. Until Jesus.

What he did was unbelievable. Knowing full well how the religious leaders would respond, he began much of his teaching with statements like, ‘You heard such and such said in times past, but I say…’ 

Try to imagine your pastor doing that today. He stands up in the Sunday morning service and declares, ‘Paul once said thus and thus but I say…’ Or even worse—which is the equivalent of what the Lord did—‘Jesus once said but I say…’ 

In the Sermon on the Mount, there are many examples. ‘You have been told you should not commit murder, but I say, don’t even be angry. It amounts to the same thing’ (Matt 5:22)’ and, ‘Moses told you not to commit adultery, but I say don’t even think about it.’ (Matt 5:28).

And so he went on, even replacing a great Mosaic command—an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (Lev 24:17-20)—by telling people to suffer injustice without fighting back (Matt 5:38-42). Unheard of!

Sometimes his preaching and teaching simply endorsed an Old Testament precept (Prov 25:6-7; Luke 14:10), but frequently he took things much further.  

The outstanding example was his teaching on love: ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another’ (John 13:34). This was revolutionary. No one in the ancient world held to such a philosophy. But it was in this way that people would recognise his disciples (John 13:35).

And so it was in the early years of the Christian era. The great North African Latin scholar Tertullian, records how Romans used to say with amazement, ‘Look how these Christians love one another!’. In fact, some of the persecution directed towards those pioneer believers in Jesus was that they must have been engaged in sexual immorality because no one could love each other as they did without there being some skulduggery somewhere.

It was no wonder that at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, people were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law (Matt 7:38-39). And even soldiers, used to obeying authority, said in wonder, ‘No one ever spoke like this man!’ (John 7:46). 

What next?

Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matt chapters 5, 6 and 7). Choose one passage that really speaks significantly to you today.