Bible Study on Matthew 5, verses 21 to 26, without a cause

 

Matthew 5:21 ¶  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

 

Thou shalt not kill is stated as such in the Law given to Moses in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17. Jesus will define this very general sounding statement and clarify it as not murdering, that is killing an innocent person, in Matthew 19:18.

 

However, in this context God in the flesh is going a step further than forbidding murder. John Gill, the Baptist preacher who led Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s church a century before him said, citing rabbinical sources, that the brother here is every human being, every man. The Jews, and we by extension, are to be angry at no man without a cause, to call no one worthless, Raca, a term of contempt or reproach in Aramaic, which John Gill linked with someone worthy to be spit upon, and we are to call no one a fool, with the meaning, according to Gill, of being wicked.

 

Psalm 53:1  «To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.» The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

 

From this we see that this is serious stuff to God. Christians should be careful in their speech, not mocking, or using words carelessly.

 

Ephesians 5:3 ¶  But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4  Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

 

On the most superficial level you don’t know what anyone you talk to is going through or what they are struggling with and if you say you don’t care you are a reprobate.

 

On a deeper spiritual level the Jew here is told and we by extension that we are not worthy to worship God if our brother, whom many commentators, such as Matthew Henry, insist is anyone made of the one blood of all mankind, has an offense against us. Please note the express literal meaning of the following verse without any racist interpretation.

 

Acts 17:26  And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

 

If someone has something against us, if we have been angry at someone without a cause, called someone a worthless person holding them in contempt, or even wicked and without a cause as the context implies this without having to write the phrase without a cause over again, we need to be reconciled to them before offering our worship to God. Think about this for a moment.

 

There are other places in the Bible where writing a phrase once allows it to be applied to the rest of the statement without writing it over again.

 

Matthew 5:32  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced [the passage requires we think “for a reason other than for the cause of fornication” and then] committeth adultery.

 

James 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man [the passage we requires we think adding “with evil” for God does tempt, test, prove His people as in a comparison of Genesis 22:1 with Hebrews 11:17]:

 

The analogy Jesus gives us with a criminal case before a judge compares that to the Jew’s and our relationship to God’s judgment. It does not suggest a purgatory however as a place from which you can be delivered by the prayers of others or your own repentance AFTER death.