Overview: Most of Jesus’ teachings were completely new to the people of that day. Even though the Old Testament shows the same teachings, God’s people had become obsessed with keeping the law outwardly while having ungodly attitude on the inside. In other words, they followed the letter of the law without the spirit of the law.
The Jewish religious leaders had even added a lot of rules that God did not intend. And since the scribes and Pharisees (religious leaders) were the only ones with copies of the Old Testament, the people had to depend on them for their teaching. As Jesus taught, many of the people realized that their religious leaders had distorted God’s message.