This final admonition summarizes all that has gone before. The beginning of the sermon presented the Beatitudes that promised God’s blessings, despite less than optimum worldly circumstances. The second section is the Antitheses, or the “they said… I say” section. In it, Jesus lays out the way in which horizontal relationships differ between the law of Moses and the law of the gospel. The third section deals with the vertical relationship with God and changes that the gospel requires in performing our devotions.
The fourth and final section deals with the pragmatics of living the gospel. Jesus tells the people the types of concerns they should and should not have. He reminds them about their ability to approach God their Father in prayer and gives them a foretaste of how their community would fit into the greater world.
In conclusion, he tells the community to build on the foundation of his explanations of the gospel way. Now they must live it. Because Jesus was a carpenter, he doubtless knew something of construction and building. Probably others among his listeners had similar skills, and nearly everyone would have easily grasped the principle. Jesus notes the structural stability when the foundation is rock rather than sand. The implication is that gospel principles are bedrock that will provide a firm foundation for believers’ faith and action.
Book of Mormon Context: The metaphor has already appeared in the Book of Mormon (2 Ne. 28:28, Hel. 5:12).
Comparison: There are no changes to the Matthean text in these verses, but Matthew 7:28–29 does not appear in 3 Nephi: “And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
These verses conclude the sermon in Matthew, and they also conclude Jesus’s period of instruction. In 3 Nephi, the chapter ends, but Jesus remains with the people.
Text: This concludes a chapter in the 1830 edition.