Sermon on the Mount - (Story of God Bible Commentary) by Scot McKnight (Hardcover)

About the Book

Emphasizing the historical distance between the New Testament and our modern culture, The Sermon on the Mount by Scot McKnight helps pastors, students, and lay people live out the biblical text in the world. A highly-anticipated commentary series, The Story of God Bible Commentary will cover both the Old and New Testaments in 43 volumes.

Book Synopsis

Emphasizing the historical distance between the New Testament and our contemporary culture, The Sermon on the Mount offers helpful contextual insights for those seeking to discern how to live out the Bible in today's world.

This sermon is the moral portrait of Jesus' own people--yet the contrast between his vision and our lives is so stark that many theologians have tried to soften the demands it makes on us until it's been skewed beyond recognition in the minds of many Christians. The goal of this special volume of The Story of God Bible Commentary series is to investigate the Sermon on the Mount in light of the way Jesus meant it to be heard, requiring us to ask difficult questions about ethics, discipleship, and salvation.

The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding everyday readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is ideal for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and laypeople alike.

Each volume employs three main, easy-to-use sections designed to help readers live out God's story:

• LISTEN to the Story: Includes complete NIV text with references to other texts at work in each passage, encouraging the reader to hear it within the Bible's grand story.
• EXPLAIN the Story: Explores and illuminates each text as embedded in its canonical and historical setting.
• LIVE the Story: Reflects on how each text can be lived today and includes contemporary stories and illustrations to aid preachers, teachers, and students.

Edited by Scot McKnight and Tremper Longman III, and written by a number of top-notch theologians, The Story of God Bible Commentary series will bring relevant, balanced, and clear-minded theological insight to any biblical education or ministry.

Review Quotes

An extremely valuable and long overdue series that includes comment on the cultural context of the text, careful exegesis, and guidance on reading the whole Bible as a unity that testifies to Christ as our Savior and Lord.--Graeme Goldsworthy, author of According to Plan

Getting a story is about more than merely enjoying it. It means hearing it, understanding it, and above all, being impacted by it. This commentary series hopes that its readers not only hear and understand the story, but are impacted by it to live in as Christian a way as possible. The editors and contributors set that table very well and open up the biblical story in ways that move us to act with sensitivity and understanding. That makes hearing the story as these authors tell it well worth the time. Well done.--Darrell L. Bock, Dallas Theological Seminary

I love The Story of God Bible Commentary series. It makes the text sing, and helps us hear the story afresh.--John Ortberg, Senior Pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church

I'm a storyteller. Through writing and speaking I talk and teach about understanding the Story of God throughout Scripture and about letting God reveal more of his story as I live it out. Thus I am thrilled to have a commentary series based on the Story of God---a commentary that helps me to Listen to the Story, that Explains the Story, and then encourages me to probe how to Live the Story. A perfect tool for helping every follower of Jesus to walk in the story that God is writing for them.--Judy Douglass, Director of Women's Resources, Cru

In this promising new series of commentaries, believing biblical scholars bring not only their expertise but their own commitment to Jesus and insights into today's culture to the Scriptures. The result is a commentary series that is anchored in the text but lives and breathes in the world of today's church with its variegated pattern of socioeconomic, ethnic, and national diversity. Pastors, Bible study leaders, and Christians of all types who are looking for a substantive and practical guide through the Scriptures will find these volumes helpful.--Frank Thielman, Beeson Divinity School

Pastors and lay people will welcome this new series, which seeks to make the message of the Scriptures clear and to guide readers in appropriating biblical texts for life today.--Daniel I. Block, Wheaton College and Graduate School

The Bible is the story of God and his dealings with humanity from creation to new creation. The Bible is made up more of stories than of any other literary genre. Even the psalms, proverbs, prophecies, letters, and the Apocalypse make complete sense only when set in the context of the grand narrative of the entire Bible. This commentary series breaks new ground by taking all these observations seriously. It asks commentators to listen to the text, to explain the text, and to live the text. Some of the material in these sections overlaps with introduction, detailed textual analysis, and application, respectively, but only some. The most riveting and valuable part of the commentaries are the stories that can appear in any of these sections, from any part of the globe and any part of church history, illustrating the text in any of these areas. Ideal for preaching and teaching.--Craig L. Blomberg, Denver Seminary

The Story of God Bible Commentary series invites readers to probe how the message of the text relates to our situations today. Engagingly readable, it not only explores the biblical text but offers a range of applications and interesting illustrations.--Craig S. Keener, Asbury Theological Seminary

The Story of God Bible Commentary series is unique in its approach to exploring the Bible. Its easy-to- use format and practical guidance bring God's grand story to modern-day life so anyone can understand how it applies today.--Andy Stanley, North Point Ministries