CONTRADICTIONS: Was the Sermon on the Mount Delivered on a Mountain or a Plain?
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (See Matthew 5:1 – 7:29) is among the most famous orations in all of human history. But where was it delivered, on a mountain or on a plain? Critics of the Bible’s claim to be the Word of God sometimes point to a seeming contradiction between Matthew’s account and that of Luke.
Specifically, Matthew explains that when He saw the crowd gathering, Jesus “went up on a mountain and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him.” By apparent contrast, Luke 6:17 tells us that Jesus “came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people …”
So, did Jesus deliver the Sermon on the Mount on a mountain or on a plain? If it was one, then the other account is inaccurate, and, according to the critics, the Bible is thus proven not to be free of error and therefore not the Word of God.
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In fact, as Eric Lyons of the Apologetics Press points out in his masterful three-volume “The Anvil Rings,” the critics make assumptions that don’t reflect all of the possibilities:
“First of all, for these passages to be contradictory, one must assume that the two sermons were delivered in the same place and at the same time,” Lyons contends, noting that H. Leo Boles in his commentary on Luke notes that the sermon we know today as the Sermon on the Mount may actually have been delivered by Jesus on multiple occasions and in multiple locales.
Neither Matthew nor Luke say anything that suggests the Sermon on the Mount was a one-time event. As Lyons continues:
“It certainly is possible that Jesus repeated His teachings on various occasions. He could easily have preached the Beatitudes in Capernum, as well as Cana. He could have taught the model prayer in both Bethany and Bethsaida. Who are we to say that Jesus preached the principles and commands found in Matthew 5-7 only once?”
Nevertheless, even if it is the case that Matthew and Luke are describing the same event, the apparent geographical contradiction is only that, apparent.
“Since a mountain can have level places on it, no one can assert logically that Matthew 5:1 and Luke 6:17 are contradictory. I have been to the top of a mountain in Anchorage, Alaska, that is so level it is known as ‘Flattop Mountain. To say Jesus stood on a level place on a mountain is no oxymoron,” Lyons writes.
So, still think either one or the other of Matthew and Luke got it wrong?
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Jesus was a teacher who travelled from one place to another & spoke to many different groups. We would EXPECT Him to repeat the same vital teaching far more than once.