Patte, Daniel. Discipleship according to the Sermon on the Mount: Four Legitimate Readings, Four Plausible Views of Discipleship, and their Relative Values. (Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1996).

Daniel Patte presents four ways of looking at the Sermon on the Mount (SM) as delineations of discipleship.

A. Ethical (Deontological. also “Historical”). Strecker and Kingsbury uses redaction-critical and literary-critical methods.
The SM is a Law that determines the boundaries of the Christian community. The SM expresses the reality of Mattthew’s time in terms of Jesus’ unique time with his original disciples. The SM is an absolute expression of God’s eternal will by God’s unique Son. It is a law (but not a legalistic one) that disciples need to perform, and it is urgent that they do so because the coming of the Kingdom of God is imminent.
Discipleship is the implementation of God’s eternal will as revealed by Jesus. It is presented as a set of universal principles that constitute a code of behavior for the church and its members.

B. Narrative. Edwards uses plot analysis.
The SM is a call to discipleship. The SM contributes to transforming its hearers into disciples who are fully ready to carry out their mission. (Matthew is the story of how the lowly servant of all becomes exalted Lord of all, and how fishers become novice disciples and finally full-fledged disciples, equipped to carry out their mission to fish for people).
Discipleship is seeking to continue Jesus’ ministry — by performing good works that others can discern as expressions of God’s goodness and that can encourage them toward discipleship.

C. Figurative. Luz, Davies, and Allison focus on taking the Lord’s Prayer as central to the SM.
The SM specifies what discipleship involves in view of the fact that the disciples live between two horizons: the present (in which God’s love as a caring Father is manifest) and the future (the ethical demands of the coming Kingdom of God).
Discipleship is a faith venture in intuitive ethical practice. Jesus is the primary model whom disciples are to imitate.

D. Thematic. Patte focuses on taking the “sound eye” as the controlling theme in the SM.
The SM focuses on moral discernment, which distinguishes faithful discipleship. Being a faithful disciple means being totally focused on the manifestations of God’s goodness, the good works of people, and the hidden good in righteous people. The person who has such vision knows what direction to go in — imitating God and anyone else who performs good works.
Discipleship is a faith venture in which disciples seek by faith to discover what they must do. If they have a sound eye, disciples can discern examples of moral behavior all around them: in the poor of spirit, in the scribes and Pharisees, and even in tax collectors and pagans. The difference is not in the kind of behavior. The difference is that disciples are called to have the very same kind of behavior but to perform it in an overabundant manner – loving and welcoming not only those who love them, but also others, even the enemy.