Address by Rev. Dr. Simon Jooste at the conference “Justification by Faith Alone: Recovering Law and Gospel” in Cape Town, South Africa, on 21 June 2025. Since Adam broke God’s covenant of strict justice, God has made merciful provision for humanity to live on under divine standards of justice, enforcedContinue Reading
In Matthew 5:33-48, Jesus – as the one greater than Moses – contrasts his spiritual kingdom with the earthly geopolitical kingdom of Israel in the Promised Land, governed by the laws of the Mosaic (Old) covenant. What is most striking about Christ’s words here is that he overturns God’s commandsContinue Reading
The following is an extract from this sermon audio on Deut. 28:15-29:1 where Moses continues to set before Israel the curses of the Sinai covenant for disobedience: Vv20-68 then forms an extended description of these six curses that will befall Israel if they do not dedicate themselves in holiness toContinue Reading
The following is the concluding excerpt from this sermon on Deut 27: Brothers and sisters, can you imagine being these poor Israelites on the plains of Moab. That pebble in sandal they picked up at the Exodus must have felt like a deadly scorpion by now. What must Israel doContinue Reading
In Matthew 5:27-30 Jesus calls his disciples to forsake lust for purity as the way of the kingdom of heaven. ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adulteryContinue Reading
The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day believed that they had kept the 6th commandment by not committing the gross external act of murder. In keeping with the penetrating and disorienting nature of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount so far, in Matthew 5: 21-26 Jesus proclaims that anger in theContinue Reading
Does your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees? The pious Jews of Christ’s day thought they had holiness before God figured out with their meticulous observance of the OT law. In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus destroys any notion that he had come to abolish the law or save anyoneContinue Reading
In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus declares that his disciples are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The saltiness and luminosity of the church is derived from the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. To replace or twist the preaching of justification of sinnersContinue Reading
From an essay entitled “Hungering and thirsting after righteousness” by the late Princeton Seminary theologian Geerhardus Vos: The Sermon on the Mount is rightly accorded a chief place in the teaching of our Lord. It carries a weight of authority, sets an ethical standard, and reveals heights and depths ofContinue Reading