Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Paul’s Address in Athens The Bible is comprised of 66 different books and has 40 main contributors within its pages (Foster). Two famous pieces within the Bible are Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount written in Matthew 5-7 and Paul’s Address in Athens written in the Book of Acts 17: 16-34. Both of these works are orations that contain powerful messages about Christian life. Comparing these orations, based on topics such as purpose, audience, structure, content, literary techniques, and significance provides a deeper understanding of each speech. Understanding the purpose of any biblical writing is very important and that holds true when interpreting these works. While Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Paul’s …show more content…
While each speech is unique and employs various design elements, there is little doubt that both pieces are widely known within the Christian community and hold significance for those who read or hear them. Jesus’s beatitudes within his oration are some of the most widely known patterned passages in the Bible (Ryken). With these verses, Jesus and God are proclaiming their ideal mindset for the current and future disciples of Christianity. The ideals and values that the beatitudes illuminate have guided many Christians before now and will continue to do so. These verses create a guideline or blueprint for current and future generations of Christians to live by, thus making them largely significant and memorable. The rest of Jesus’s speech focuses on the spiritual and moral instructions of how to be a good Christian. These instructions are significant because Jesus claims through them all, people shall become a part of the Kingdom of God and live …show more content…
Though they contain a multitude of differences within purpose, audience, structure, content, literary techniques, and significance, each piece has a similar goal of trying to reach the Christian audience and guide its members to a more meaningful relationship with God. Both Paul and Jesus gave orations to help the people live better lives and secure a future of peacefulness and fulfillment. Despite their differences, each of these orations has helped deliver important messages to readers for years and will continue to do so for generations to