The Bible

 

Matthew 5:2

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2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

Commentary

 

Explanation of Matthew 5:2

By New Christian Bible Study Staff

"The Sermon on the Mount," by 19th-century Russian Ivan Makarov

The meaning of this verse is pretty straightforward, but look at the language! Is it necessary to say that Jesus opened his mouth to speak? Isn’t it redundant to say He “taught them, saying”? Couldn’t the whole verse be simply, “And he said”?

The fact is, though, that the spiritual meaning reinforces the importance of what the Lord was about to say. The “mouth” in the Bible represents active, concrete thought and logic, and to “say” something has to do with sharing truth. From the “mountain” of His love, then, the Lord was putting truth into vivid, visual, memorable terms so that people could grasp and remember them.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Scriptural Confirmations #6

  
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6. 4. If any one preacheth any other gospel than that which He preached let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9).

I live, no more I, but Christ liveth in me (Galatians 2:20). The power which God wrought in Christ, wherefore He set Him at His own right hand above the heavens, above all principalities, power, and might, etc., and hath put all things under His feet, and hath given Him to be the head over all things of the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all (Ephesians 1:20-23).

Through Christ we have access in one Spirit unto the Father. Christ is the corner stone, by whom the whole building framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, through whom ye also are builded together into an habitation of God in the spirit (Ephesians 2:18, 20-22).

God hath founded all things by Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:9).

One body and one Spirit; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all; and unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ (Ephesians 4:4-7).

He that descended is also the same that ascended above all the heavens, that He might fill all things (Ephesians 4:10).

For the edifying of the body of Christ, and that the church is the body and Christ the head (Ephesians 4:12, 15-16).

We are members of His body; of His flesh, and of His bones (Ephesians 5:30).

By faith we have access to Christ in confidence (Ephesians 3:12).

Christ is the head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body (Ephesians 5:23).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.