Problem: Jesus gives a sermon on a mountain, or a plain
Verses: Matthew 5:1, Luke 6:12,17; Status: Minor

Both Matthew (5:1-7:29) and Luke (6:17-49) record that Jesus gave a long sermon at the start of his ministry, but they seem to differ on the location. According to Matthew 5:1, it was on a mountain:

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. (ESV)

On the other hand, Luke actually has Jesus come down from the mountain before giving it. This is Luke 6:12 and 6:17:

In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. [...] And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon (ESV)

I suppose one could deal with the problem by suggesting that they're both right: Jesus was on a mountain, but on a plateau of some sort, and not right at the top. Alternatively, the ESV Study Bible suggests that these are actually two seperate incidents, with Jesus using the same content more than once, which is conceivable.

Updated: 2009-05-09

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