Good afternoon and welcome to the Panhandle where we have been blessed with moister and are looking green and beautiful. Come on in, sit down and let's open God's Word and dive in. Today we are looking at Matthew 5:21-26 in which Christ Jesus explains to us about the connection between our thoughts, our anger, and yes even murder.
Alexander the Great conquered the world, but anger conquered him, and turned him into a murderer. Like so many of the murders of history, it was not intended or designed. It happened because men do not understand that anger is the beginning of murder. Clitus, his best friend, was teasing Alexander at a banquet. Both of them were filling up with wine, and they began to lose control. Clitus became quite nasty in his remarks, and Alexander lost his temper, and he hit him with his fist. His officers restrained him, and led him out of the banquet hall. Clitus, in anger, followed and continued to taunt Alexander. Quick as a flash, Alexander snatched a spear from one of his guards and hurled it at his friend, and killed him.
Remorse followed his fury, and he drew out the spear, and would have fallen on it in grief had his officers not prevented it. Clitus had been his friend from childhood. He did not want him dead. All that night and for several days Alexander lay in remorse piteously calling for Clitus. It was an awful price to pay to indulge in anger.
This is why Christ Jesus tells us that “thou shalt not murder” is not enough. While it is a good law, Christ Jesus came to do more than just show us the letter of the law. Christ Jesus came to show us the intent of the law and to make it more effective. Therefore, He says that the way to prevent murder is to recognize where it begins.
These verses introduces us to some of the more important ethical teachings of Christ Jesus in the New Testament. Christ Jesus acting on His own authority, gives the Scriptures their full meaning. In these verses begins a series of six issues from the Law which Christ Jesus interprets, giving the full word of God on these matters.
In his work “Stride Toward Freedom”, Martin Luther King admonished his people “to avoid not only violence of deed but violence of spirit.” He reflects the teaching of Christ Jesus from these verses.
Matthew 5:21-26
21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, `Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, `You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
25 "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
1. The Forbidden Anger (vs. 21)
Having just affirmed the lasting authority of the Law, Christ Jesus now makes His own declaration. “You have heard that it was said” to the Mosaic generation, “but I say to you …!”
Christ Jesus uses the emphatic first person, placing this declaration on the highest level of authority. It is a declaration of the ultimate prophet of God, the Messiah who is prophet, priest, King, and God/man. Christ Jesus' words, “but I say to you…” express His authority as Lord of the Scriptures. There was a rabbinical principle taught that some authority must confirm the pronouncement of every teacher. Christ Jesus needs no such authority, He is the ultimate authority.
For Christ Jesus' first example of the new standard He speaks to murder. In Exodus 20:13 the Israelites were told, “You shall not commit murder.” You may recognize this as one of the Ten Commandments, the sixth commandment to be exact. Christ Jesus took this Commandment and broadened mankind's understanding of it to include wrongful anger, that could in some cases lead to murder. He also included cutting and hateful words that could kill a persons spirit.
The Greeks used two words for anger, the first was thumos (thoo-mos') which described an anger that quickly blazes up and then just as quickly passes. The other word is orgē (or-gay') and it is a long lived anger, an anger over which a person broods and will not let die.3 This anger was liable to the judgment court. The Greek word used in verse 22 is orgizómenos which transliterated is orgizo (or-gid'-zo) and guess what the root for orgizo is, yep it is orgē.
What this means is that Christ Jesus condemns all selfish anger. What is selfish anger? Again it is a brooding anger, an anger that will not forget, an anger which refuses to be pacified, an anger which seeks revenge.
Now that said let me say this, anger is a valid human emotion and short lived anger is not necessarily a sin. But it must be short lived, or it will turn into harmful and sinful bitterness.2 The Bible speaks to this in James 1:20 ~ for man's anger (orgē) does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. And in Colossians 3:8 the Apostle Paul tells us ~ “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger (orgē), rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”
The 1st century Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer; Cicero wrote that when this kind of anger entered into the scene, “nothing could be done rightly and nothing sensibly.”4
To combat this orgē you must present your heart continually to God, so that He can examine you and show you what is righteous and what is not. Turn your anger over to God, don't let it control you.
To call a brother Raca (rhak-ah') was to cross a boundary. Basically, Christ Jesus instructed His kingdom servant, again you and me; to value every aspect of another person's well-being. And He taught that we are to treat each person accordingly.
2. Words of Insult (vs. 22)
To be angry with one’s brother brings one to judgment. To call one stupid, or empty-headed, might have brought one before the Sanhedrin or supreme court; and to hold one in contempt, calling him a worthless fool, places one in danger of “hellfire.”
Christian author William Barclay notes, “Raca is an untranslatable word, because it describes a tone of voice more than anything else. Its whole accent is the accent of contempt.”5
To call a person Raca was to call them a brainless idiot, a silly fool, or an empty-headed blunderer. Raca is the word that a person who despised another with an arrogant contempt would use.
It is as if Christ Jesus is saying here in verse 22, “The sin of habitual anger is bad, but the sin of contempt is worse.” There is no sin quite so unchristian like as the sin of contempt. Contempt comes in many forms:
There is contempt that comes with pride
There is contempt that comes from position and from money
There is contempt that comes from pride in material things
There is contempt that comes from knowledge.
Christ Jesus addressed this contempt, “and whoever says, "You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” The Greek word used for fool here means a moral fool. This is the kind of person the Palmist spoke of, “The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."” (Psalms 14:1). To call a person a fool was not to criticize their mental ability, it was to slander their moral character. It was to brand them a loose-living and immoral person. So Christ Jesus is saying that whoever destroys the name and reputation of another is liable to the severest judgment of all, the judgment of the fires of hell.
Geenna = (gheh'-en-nah) is the place in the valley of Hinnom (he-nom') where in ancient times human sacrifices were offered (2 Chr. 33:6; Jer. 7:31). Geenna occurs 12 times in the New Testament and in every instance except in James 3:6 the word was used by Christ Jesus to issue a stern warning of the consequences of sin. He describes it as the place where “their” worm never dies and of fire never to be quenched. The expression is identical in meaning with “lake of fire” (Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15).
So
again, Christ Jesus insists that to destroy a person's name and
reputations is a grave thing. Before you speak badly of someone stop
and think about what your doing?
3. Reconciled (vs. 23-26)
There are two things you need to know about the sacrifice spoken of here. First, the sacrifice could not atone for a deliberate sin. If a man committed a sin unaware or if he sinned during a moment of passion when his self-control broke, then his sacrifice was effective. But if a man committed a sin deliberately, defiantly, callously, with his eyes wide open so to speak; then the sacrifice was powerless to atone.
Secondly, to be effective, the sacrifice had to include the confession of the sin and true penitence. True penitence involved the attempt to rectify any consequences the sin might have had. If it was discovered that atonement had not be made with the individual wronged then the sacrifice had to be destroyed as unclean and burned outside the temple. The Israelites were quite clear that a man had to do everything he could to put things right before he could be made right with God. Christ Jesus is clear about this, you can't be right with God until you are right with yourself and others.
Sinful anger must be faced honestly and must be confessed to God as sin. You must go to your brother and get the matter settled, and you must do it quickly. The longer you wait, the worse the bondage becomes! You put yourself into a terrible prison when you refuse to be reconciled. It has been said that the person who refuses to forgive his brother destroys the very bridge over which he himself must walk.1
As a disciple of Christ Jesus you are to have the highest regard for others, to respect the sanctity of human life and to meet differences by the practice of love. There is no justification for you to destroy human life in any way, shape or form—it is always sin and when it happens it is will bring the consequence of sin.
While you have to deal with the earthly consequences of your sin, there is one who can take away the spiritual consequences of your sin. His name is Christ Jesus, "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:17-18.)
Thanks for dropping by and spending this time in God's Word. As we close His Word I pray that our LORD will bless you and yours mightily.
Until next time -
Biblesurfer
3Barclay, William – The Gospel Of Matthew
2Weber, Stuart K. - Holman New Testament Commentary; Matthew
4Barclay, William – The Gospel Of Matthew
5Ibid 4
1 Augsburger, M. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Matthew (Vol. 24, p. 18). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.
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