Review: "The Sermon on the Mount: A verse-by-verse look at the greatest teachings of Jesus" by R T Kendall

The following is the unedited version of a review I wrote published in the July 2013 edition of Evangelicals Now newspaper. 

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

A verse-by-verse look at the greatest teachings of Jesus

R. T. Kendall

Monarch Books, 425 pages, £12.99

978 0 85721 334 1

R. T. Kendall, author of more than fifty books, now delivers a verse-by-verse treatment of the Sermon on the Mount that is more expositional than exegetical and useful more as a devotional than as a commentary. With simple clarity, Kendall warmly communicates rich truths about God’s grace, the Christian’s Spirit-enabled holiness, and eternal rewards in a readily grasped way, incorporating a fair amount of material from elsewhere; indeed, the reader might be forgiven for thinking he uses Jesus’ Sermon as a plate on which to again serve up Total Forgiveness, The Anointing, and Did You Think to Pray (with a sprinkling of In Pursuit of His Glory for illustrative purposes).

Kendall argues that the Sermon is “in the main Jesus’ doctrine of the Holy Spirit”, an overstatement at best: the Spirit is not actually mentioned in the Sermon! Perhaps he might have more precisely described it as “Jesus’ doctrine of the Spirit-empowered believer”, which is more accurate of both the Sermon and this book. Other features are also problematic: the book gives an entirely spiritual and internal, over-realized definition of the ‘kingdom of heaven’ with much reference to the individual believer, but little to the visible, corporate body of Christ. It offers helpful correctives to those who have theologically and practically neglected the Holy Spirit’s person and work, but it promotes concepts that should be treated with biblical caution (rhema words of prophecy for example) and that cannot be adequately defended from Scripture (as with “levels of anointing”), dangerously descending early on to positively (and gratuitously) reference the Toronto Blessing’s Rodney Howard Browne, who teaches that prolonged laughter and animal noises during worship are evidence of the Spirit’s outpouring. This is not to mention other areas of questionable exegesis or application!

While Kendall’s volume may have something to offer the discerning reader, I cannot give it unguarded commendation. If you choose to handle it, do so with care!

Ryan King is Assistant Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Wood Green.