The Sermon on the Mount, if carefully considered, contains the perfect standard of the Christian life. For the Lord Jesus Christ, who came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it, teaches here the highest righteousness, not merely that which restrains from evil deeds, but that which purifies the heart itself.
The Beatitudes form, as it were, a ladder by which the soul ascends to God. They are not separate commands but a single path, each step leading naturally to the next.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Here humility is commended. No one enters the kingdom who is swollen with pride, for pride is the root of all sin. Poverty of spirit is not the loss of goods, but the renunciation of arrogance.
