The Sermon on the Mount - The Law and Prophets
Donald MacLeod
65.38
1 January 2023
14 November 2025
Automatic captions only. This was the third lecture from the 2003-2004 lecture series on the Sermon on the Mount. The subject of this lecture was Jesus' relationship with God's previous revelation. The speaker was Donald Macleod who was professor of systematic theology at the Free Church College - now Edinburgh Theological Seminary (ETS).
00:00 01 Thanks
00:23 02 announcement of text- Matthew 5 v17-20
00:45 03 the Law, the Old Testament and their place in the Christian life
01:57 04 overview of lecture
02:16 05 Don't think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets v17
02:27 06 perceived to be opposed to 'law' because critical of 'oral law'
05:47 07 Why was Jesus critical of the oral tradition?
05:57 08 Two reasons - made the written law ineffective and trivialised it
09:16 09 the mentality of legalism - making the law manageable
11:32 10 Jesus' public image and his assertion - that is not my position
12:47 11 I have come to fulfil them v17
12:58 12 come - Jesus' self-image and his mission
13:39 13 Three departments of the law- ethical, doctrinal, predictions
14:18 14 Jesus had come to fulfil the law's ethical commandments - obey it
15:52 15 come to fill out the meaning and implications of the law
19:33 16 summary of ethical elements- to obey them and to amplify them
19:45 17 doctrinal teaching completes the teaching & completes the canon
23:19 18 summary of the first two departments of the law
23:29 19 come to fulfil the predictions and prophecies of the OT
24:36 20 superseding of temple, food laws, circumcision, Passover etc
27:00 21 the permanence of the law v18
27:22 22 the Bible is the word of God in its every unit of meaning
29:17 23 it will never pass away
31:01 24 summary-not come to abolish the OT but to fulfil it & endorse it
31:29 25 our responsibility and our relation to the law v19
31:38 26 what is greatness in the kingdom of heaven
35:40 27 greatness is keeping those commandments
36:44 28 role of the law in our own personal lives - 2 Protestant opinions
37:20 29 Luther believed that the law had two great uses
37:47 30 Luther's first use of the law - civil
39:00 31 Luther's second use of the law- theological
41:59 32 Calvin endorsed -but added a third- rule of life for Christians
42:27 33 how we are supposed and induced to live once in the kingdom
44:42 34 love and keeping the commandments
47:03 35 summarising Romans 8 v3-4 - false antitheses
49:03 36 link with 1 Corinthians 13
49:37 37 unless your righteousness surpasses, you will not enter v20
49:55 38 the Pharisees were not too strict - they were not strict enough!
50:22 39 extremism of the Judaism of the New Testament period
50:48 40 the Sadducees - champions of Moses
51:39 41 the Pharisees - champions of the Oral Tradition
52:42 42 two codifying works of 'The Sages' - the Midrash and the Mishnah
54:33 43 the later codifying of the Talmud (the Mishnah plus the Gemara)
55:01 44 Judaism today (edited)
55:39 45 the Halachah - the ever evolving Jewish law
56:20 46 'Judaism is primarily a code of practise' - about how you live
57:07 47 assumption - the Halachah reflects the position of the Pharisees
57:36 48 the great antitheses - Jesus versus the Oral Law
1:00:43 49 our own righteousness at the last judgement
1:03:39 50 warnings against anti-Semitism and evading the law
1:05:00 51 closing
Other Lecture Series:
Edinburgh Conference https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzqI2edT8iWS06BEdUEsn6My&si=uUFCQHFMqfzI3NCR
1991-92 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3Wrzq6iDnNRliGcYv21zXnbTC6
1992-93 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzoambhfnVoiVC3aPnwiDna2
1993-94 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzrcJaXyotZ_GK5oc0doLQGS
1994-95 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3Wrzq8i3Sa3BAV97GX--4FghRD
1995-96 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzobglGI1s0hhBaU7zlcvTd6
1996-97 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzoRn1IvAsYc2DbSr9ST04cg
1997-98 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzrYch7S_TiYm5mEjcpepbid
1998-99 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzrDVNjhYqtyztOtMqbJ76Jc
1999-2000 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzrY4nOVe41LpMxg2A2UBwVX
2000-2001 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzpF9JVF4u-8E_RNFYPoZKLe
2001-2002 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzoD76R4qYfpD6WRPkvpN2V8
2002-2003 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzpsvC_UdhqaNdyVOatl2w0T
2003-2004 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzpqW5sZ0kJbnXQRkNXVQxeH
2004-2005 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3Wrzrvz4DXBuAlgESi9P9iH_Bp
2005-2006 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzrRHtZ36UTaeQ47neutiQlE
2006-2007 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3Wrzprjq0fAu4olVUUKM2EQ_TG
2007-2008 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3Wrzrh9ruEwroUwYWl1Qd8UkKx
2008-2009 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLieNTYk3WrzorLd1ijXEwkWAc5_9YAaKO
