17 [m]“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.[n] 20 I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
The Sermon on the Mount, as presented in Matthew Chapters 5, 6, and 7, is about divine morality the social architecture that God designed for the primate species and particularly humans. In these chapters, Jesus teaches what it means to live within God’s creation, in union with Him, what He calls the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is what is what is achieved by living within divine morality, called tsedeq by the ancient Hebrews. The Sermon on the Mount reveals how God has designed human social architecture, inviting us to dwell within it according to divine morality. Jesus’s words guide us on how to live in harmony with God’s intentions, experience the grace that comes from such living, and understand the consequences when we fall short of this divine calling.