Deeper Look at the Sermon on the Mount, A repaired

The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed. It is the nearest thing to a manifesto that he ever uttered, for it is his own description of what he wanted his followers to be and to do. To my mind no two words sum up its intention better, or indicate more clearly its challenge to the modern world, than the expression “Christian counterculture.” For the essential theme of the whole Bible from beginning to end is that God’s historical purpose is to call out a people for himself; that this people is a “holy” people, set apart from the world to belong to him and to obey him; and that its vocation is to be true to its identity, that is, to be “holy” or “different” in all its outlook and behavior