The Teachings of Jesus

The gospels describe Jesus as a teacher who astounded the crowds who gathered to hear him, “for he taught them as one having authority” (Matthew 7:29). Although he engaged in debate with learned Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus also took great interest in ordinary people.

The central theme in Jesus’s teaching was the kingdom of God (in Matthew, the kingdom of heaven). For Jesus, the kingdom of God was not an ordinary realm but the state of affairs that exists when human beings recognize God’s sovereignty over the world and respond in love and obedience to God’s will. To put it another way, the kingdom of God means the world as it ought to be, a world in which God’s love and righteous rule are fully realized. In the gospels, Jesus sometimes speaks of the kingdom as a future event to be heralded by dramatic signs such as a darkening sun and stars falling from heaven. In the midst of these cataclysmic events, the present age would pass away and the kingdom would be revealed in all its glory. But Jesus also spoke of the kingdom as already present within himself and his followers. Asked when it would come, he replied that it was already present: “The kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21). Though it was still small, Jesus expected the kingdom to grow into something great and wondrous. In one of his parables, he compared it to a tiny mustard seed that “grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade” (Mark 4:30). Whether speaking of the kingdom of God as present or future, Jesus emphasized its all-surpassing importance. Nothing can compare to the kingdom, he said, and so it is worth any price: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44).

Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is open to all who repent. By repentance, he meant something more than a mere expression of regret for some wrong one has done. The Greek metanoia (“a change of mind”) found in the gospels suggests a turning away from anything that might prevent one from doing God’s will. Like other Jews, Jesus found God’s will expressed in the Torah and its commandments. In his famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), however, he gave the commandments his own interpretation, emphasizing that what God requires is obedience in thought as well as in deed. For Jesus, it was this absolute obedience to the will of God that constituted the true righteousness of the kingdom of God.

Jesus also taught that true obedience to God’s commandments was an expression of love. When pressed by a Pharisee to identify the greatest of the commandments, he cited two (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18), explaining that they embody the essence of scripture: ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

The nature of love lies at the heart of Jesus’s teachings. The gospels use the Greek word agape, which denotes the love one has for one’s family as well as God’s love for humanity. Jesus taught that genuine love knows no limits and is offered freely to everyone: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:44-45). Understood in this way, love leaves no room for the condemnation of others: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged” (Matthew 7:1).

Instead, love requires forgiveness: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14). These principles are richly illustrated in Jesus’s parables.

The gospels describe Jesus as embodying these principles of repentance, obedience, and love. They also depict Jesus as living in the expectation of his crucifixion. In Mark, he tells his disciples that his death will be “a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Jesus spoke of God as Father, sometimes using the Aramaic abba (“papa”) to suggest a relationship of special intimacy, as well as obedience. He urged his followers to draw close to God as well. They were God’s children, he told them. As such, they should approach God in prayer with the words “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9) and with confidence that, like a loving parent, he would provide for their needs (Luke 12:22-31).

As we will see later in this section, these fundamental teachings of Jesus lie at the heart of what Christians believe about sin, divine love, and salvation. But we first turn our attention to Paul of Tarsus, the first great interpreter of the life and teachings of Jesus, to see how Christian beliefs began to take shape in the years immediately following Jesus’s crucifixion.