NOTES for Mat 7:13-29

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, which gathers the most important rules for the life of Christ’s disciples, there is a kind of commentary by Jesus Himself on this entire moral teaching: it is not enough to hear the word; one must carry it out—that is, put it into practice. This means that all these rules, commandments, and moral guideposts are not merely ethics, a “moral code,” or a statute, but rather instructions for putting faith into effect. Faith is God’s presence in a person’s life; therefore, to believe means to live in a godly way. For Christ, “religious convictions” detached from practice are impossible. He does not expect from us some special worldview or set of beliefs—He expects God to be present in the world through us...