The Teaching of Jesus on Great Themes

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The Kingdom of God

Jesus's central message was the kingdom: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). The kingdom is God's rule, already present in Jesus and yet to come in fullness. "For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21; the Greek can also mean "in the midst of you") points to the present reality. Jesus taught his followers to pray for its coming.

God as Father

Jesus spoke of God in a new way, as Father. In his prayers, he used the intimate Aramaic word "Abba" (Mark 14:36). He taught his disciples to share that relationship: "Our Father which art in heaven" (Matthew 6:9). Yet he always distinguishes his own sonship from theirs: "my Father, and your Father" (John 20:17).

Love

Asked for the greatest commandment, Jesus replied: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40). At the Last Supper he gave a "new commandment": "That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:34-35).

Humility and Service

When the disciples argued over who was greatest, he said: "whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will 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 20:26-28). He washed their feet, and said: "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you" (John 13:15).

Forgiveness

Peter asked how often to forgive, suggesting seven times. Jesus answered, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:22), and he linked God's forgiveness to ours (Matthew 6:14-15).

The Outcast, the Child, and the Poor

Jesus welcomed those whom society rejected: tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, Samaritans, women. When disciples tried to turn away children, he said: "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:14). He declared: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

Salvation, Judgment, and Eternity

He spoke often and seriously about judgment, and he also taught that eternal life is a gift: "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

The Authority of Scripture

Jesus treated the Old Testament as God's word: "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18). He rebuked the Sadducees: "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God" (Matthew 22:29). And of his own words: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

The Distinctiveness of His Teaching

Many of Jesus's moral teachings have parallels in the wisdom of other traditions. What sets his teaching apart, believers say, is that he does not merely teach about God but points to himself: "Come unto me." Others called their followers to the Law, or to the way; Jesus called people to him. N.T. Wright and others have emphasized that Jesus's teaching cannot be separated from his claims about himself [10].

CHAPTER 10