6.4

Parallels between the Sermon on the Mount and the New Testament Epistles

Several passages in the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew’s Gospel have close parallels to texts in New Testament epistles. The following comparisons are especially noteworthy:

Matthew	Epistles
5:10	1 Peter 3:14
5:11–12	1 Peter 4:13–14
5:16	1 Peter 2:12
5:31–32	1 Corinthians 7:10–11
5:34–37	James 5:12
5:39	Romans 12:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:15; 1 Peter 3:9
5:44	Romans 12:14; 1 Corinthians 4:12
5:48	1 Peter 1:15
6:19–20	James 5:1–3
6:25	Philippians 4:6
7:1–2	Romans 2:1–3; 14:10
7:7	James 1:5; 1 John 5:14–15
7:16b	James 3:12
7:21–27	Romans 2:13; James 1:22

 

Such parallels are striking because the authors of these epistles are not thought to have had access to either Matthew’s Gospel or the Q source. The common suggestion, therefore, is that such sayings were attributed to Jesus via oral tradition in various sectors of the church.