Even the greatest doubters are profoundly impressed by his teaching. The Sermon on the Mount expresses the highest ideals of mankind. For instance:

• We should treat others as we would want to be treated.
• To think bad thoughts is as evil as acting on them.
• Our word should be our bond.
• The standards we impose on others God will expect from us.
• We should not retaliate when personally attacked.
• It is the meek, the pure, the merciful and the peacemakers who find God's favour.
• We should love not only our neighbours but even our enemies.

The self-sacrificing love that Jesus taught was such an original idea that the Greeks, for all the richness of their language and ideas, had no word to describe it.