A Biblical-Theological Analysis of Matthew 6:19-34 and Implications for Contemporary Christians Faith

Abstract

The Preaching of Jesus usually refered to as the Sermon on the Mount (SOM) covers chapters 5-7 of the Matthian Gospel. Various issues were addressed by Jesus in this proclamation, but the focus of this paper is the issue addressed about the expected Christian’s disposition to money (mammon). There have been diverse perspectives to how practicable are Jesus’ presentations in the SOM: First that the Sermon is impossible praxis; second that the Sermon is apocalyptic in nature, so, it is not expected to be practiced now; third, that the sermon is only applicable during the millennia reign of Christ; fourth, that the Sermon is a representation of the ideal but not reality. And the fifth position is that the Sermon is practicable both in the public and private spheres of mankind. Thus, this paper alludes to the fifth position, and thus presents the admonition of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-34 as practicable for Christians. Jesus addressed the issue of material wealth in this passage, but the literary analysis did not show that Jesus was referring to money explicitly. However, in Jesus’ addressing the relationship between His disciples and material wealth, it was noted that money was implied. Therefore, there is a demand on the Christian disciple to neglect allegiance to money in favour of allegiance to God.