ABSTRACT

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book provides that the sufficient evidence has been found to advance the claim that temple materials comprised a strong element in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus' words struck one familiar chord after another. Its temple character also reinforces the view that the Sermon on the Mount should be thought of as a pre-Matthean source, written at an early time when Jesus and his followers were still hoping for a restoration, reform, and rejuvenation of the Temple, not its destruction or obsolescence. Moreover, movements as dynamic as early Christianity do not characteristically begin with a sputtering start. Paul's rhetoric may reflect oral rather than literary channels of transmission. The book of Acts, the Temple in Jerusalem continues to figure prominently in the religious lives of the followers of Jesus.