Zane examines why there are three Gospels written with a discipleship emphasis—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—and identifies the primary audience for each one: Luke is directed to a Greek audience, Mark to a Roman audience, and Matthew to a Hebrew audience. He then asks how Matthew’s discipleship emphasis for a Hebrew audience affects our understanding of the Sermon on the Mount, highlighting that in Matthew, discipleship is lived out under the Kingship of Jesus—the King Messiah—and can be summed up as “discipleship with the King Jesus.” He gives an outline of the Sermon on the Mount: Prologue (Matthew 5:3–12), Thematic Statement (5:13–16), Body of the Sermon (5:17–7:12), and Conclusion (Matthew 7:13–27). In Part 1, Zane explains the Prologue and focuses on the Beatitudes, stressing that the Beatitudes emphasize being rather than doing; discipleship to Jesus Christ is driven by character, not by activity, and the starting point of real discipleship is recognizing that God’s goal is to form you into the person He wants you to be.
Matthew 5-7 – The Sermon on the Mount (Part 1)
