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  Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:21-26 (KJV)

YE HAVE HEARD THAT IT WAS SAID OF THEM OF OLD TIME, THOU SHALT NOT KILL; AND WHOSOEVER SHALL KILL SHALL BE IN DANGER OF THE JUDGMENT: 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. THEREFORE IF THOU BRING THY GIFT TO THE ALTAR, AND THERE REMEMBEREST THAT THY BROTHER HATH OUGHT AGAINST THEE; LEAVE THERE THY GIFT BEFORE THE ALTAR, AND GO THY WAY; FIRST BE RECONCILED TO THY BROTHER, AND THEN COME AND OFFER THY GIFT. 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. VERILY I SAY UNTO THEE, THOU SHALT BY NO MEANS COME OUT THENCE, TILL THOU HAST PAID THE UTTERMOST FARTHING.

The Master has just said that our righteousness is to "exceed" the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, and now He proceeds to give five illustrations of His meaning. The first of them forms the theme of this lesson. He goes back to the “ten words” of the Commandments¹ and selects the sixth word—"Thou shalt not kill"—and shows how far deeper that goes than the outward deed: murder is not only the crime of the hand that does it, but of the heart that would if it could.

The word “brother”

By way of introduction, let it be noted that this section contains the word "brother" no less than four times. Galatians 3:26 tells all Christians, "ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus": all who are sons of God the Father are, of course, brothers to one another, and their behavior to each other is to be of a brotherly kind.  "Brotherly kindness" is one of the foundation qualities of the Christian character (2 Pet. 1:7)—and it means, of course, the proper mutual behavior of brothers in Christ. A Christian lady asked, "What about sisterly behavior of sisters?" Certainly, brothers also mean sisters. We are all to understand here that an evil deed that is dastardly and criminal in itself, becomes particularly heinous when perpetrated against our "brother." With that in mind, let us consider three things. First:

The matter of anger

This is a common cause of murder. Our Lord takes his audience to the Old Law, which, He says, "ye have heard"—not read. They did not have the privileges and conveniences of reading the Scriptures that we possess today. There was no printing press to multiply copies—they had to be laboriously hand-written. But with how much greater earnestness was the reading of Scripture listened to. Edersheim points out² how much of the Scriptures came into the regular Synagogue Worship every Sabbath Day (Saturday)—a portion of the Law split up into seven sections, and read by seven different persons, followed by a reading from the Prophets. How carefully they "heard" the Scriptures in the synagogue; how splendidly, through oral teaching, they came to be "known" from childhood in the home (2 Tim. 3:15). This Law, then, was "said" "by them of old time." All the way through, the Master insists that the Law was not just Moses' word, but God's Word, and that He now was unfolding it in its inner meaning, fulfilling it with spiritual significance. "Thou shalt not kill"—they had imagined that it was obeyed if they abstained from striking the fatal blow; yet how much more was required, in the light of 1 John 3:15, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer."

The deeper view

The Master traces the deed back to the spring of action. Here, He deals not so much with murder, as with murder in the making. By nipping it in the bud, He would effectively prevent it coming to the flower. Notice the offences:

1. Silent anger, "angry with his brother";

2. Contemptuous speech, "Raca", is a Syriac word, meaning "vain" or "worthless";

3. Vehement language, "Thou fool" is probably too weak for the word used. We are told that "More" is almost identical as Greek or Syric, and why the translators did not take it as Syriac as in the former case and translate accordingly, we do not know. If it be Greek, of course the rendering of "Fool" is accurate; but if, as is more likely, it is really Syriac, we should have "Thou rebel!" In any kingdom it is a terrible thing to call a man a rebel, a traitor to his cause and country; and, in the Kingdom of Heaven, it is a crime to call a brother-member a rebel, a traitor.

The dangers

"The judgment": Those Jewish hearers would certainly recognize the allusion in each of these three cases. This one stands for the local court of the synagogue, where ordinary misdemeanors would be tried.

"The council": This is the one great central court of the seventy-one members of the Sanhedrin; not local, but in Jerusalem, to which the more serious charges were referred.

"The fire": Not "hell fire" but fire of hell"—i.e., of Ge-hinnom, Gehenna. Outside the south-east of Jerusalem, the Valley (Ge) of Hinnom was used as the city's great rubbish destructor. Waste of every sort was put there. It was necessary for health's sake that "the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Even the dead bodies of those who had been crucified were ignominiously thrown there and consumed. The body of our Lord would have been thus dealt with, if Joseph of Arimathaea had not "besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus" (John 19:38). See now the meaning—it is to be noted that He does not say that those guilty of such things will suffer these punishments; but that they will be "in danger of" them. There is always the hope one will repent. But, here is a thought for consideration: one who commits the first or second of these offences is in God's sight on a par with one who is arraigned before the synagogue or sanhedrin; and one who is guilty of the third ranks in His judgment with the worst of criminals? It is certainly a deep verse, and one thing we can, without a doubt, be quite certain of is that the Master places anger on a level with murder, as, a source of it, and that He regards it with the utmost seriousness. Perhaps our wisdom lies in keeping to the Bible Words, and leaving it at that.

“Without a cause”

But does it not add, "Without a cause"? After all, sometimes even our "brother," our fellow-Christian, can be provoking and exasperating. Is not there sufficient "cause" to then excuse anger? Most of us have sheltered behind this from time to time, and sought thus to quieten our conscience; but that will not do. The R.V. omits the phrase on the ground that the chief authorities are against its inclusion. Is anger never justifiable, then? The Master Himself could be angry on occasion. For example, consider Mark 3:5, where, "He . . . looked round about on them with anger"—this was righteous indignation; and all Christians should retain the capacity for such anger. If our blood does not boil sometimes in the presence of cruelty, injustice, meanness, hypocrisy, there is at least one Christ-like quality missing from our make-up. There is the exhortation of Ephesians 4:26, "Be ye angry, and sin not"—as if there were a kind of anger that is not sinful. But do not let us delude ourselves that our anger is always righteous indignation—sometimes it is nothing else than just plain childish temper. We suggest that the sure test lies in the question, "Is it something that touches self?" If our anger has exploded at what someone said or did against us, we may be sure that we are giving way to sinful anger. That is always wrong; and especially so when we vent it against a fellow Christian. In the matter of anger, we must be very particular to exercise brotherly behavior to Christians. Then,

Take the matter of wrong

Here in the passage the particular wrong is some exhibition of anger against our brother; but it might easily be some quite different wrong, anything that gives him just cause of grievance against us. In Mark 11:25 we have the opposite of this: "When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any": that is, if he has wronged you. Here it is, "that thy brother hath ought against thee": that is, if we have wronged him.

The convicting voice

It is a solemn moment when we become conscious of something wrong, that all is not well. In deep sincerity we proceed with our gift to God's altar, our heart's glad in the thought of what we do, our whole soul in it. Then, all of a sudden, like a cloud unexpectedly moving across our sight, blotting out the happy brightness of the occasion there comes the recollection of this wrong we have done to our brother. May we heed that accusing voice: it is not just chance that brings the matter back to our remembrance at that time. God’s acceptance and blessing of our offering will depend on how we now deal with that remembrance; and possibly the whole quality of our future spiritual experience may depend on the same. Nothing could be of greater importance to us than to listen to what God has to say about that wrong, and then to do what He tells us to do about it.

The specific instruction

We are to postpone our offering, while we go and seek reconciliation with our offended brother. How important this is for those whose altar is Calvary and whose gift is the offering of self. It is sad to contemplate what misunderstandings, grudges, and animosities exist even between some members of the body of Christ. Probably there are more local congregations of the Lord’s church deprived of spiritual blessing for this cause than for any other; and probably there are few quicker ways to an outpouring of blessing than the happy ending of these quarrels. But, who is at fault? In the case before us it is our fault—we have wronged him, or her; therefore, it is for us to move in the matter. Seeing that we are earnest enough to bring our gift to God, we must be brave enough to go and fulfill His instruction. Brave?—yes, for often this errand will need a good deal of pluck. Sometimes we will find it humiliating; but then we need to be humbled. And, in any case, the quickest way to the heights is by the depths. We may discover that our conciliatory advances are repulsed. The offended one may be so annoyed with us that he will not listen, and he may accuse us of insincerity, or he may receive us coldly, or he may keep a distance. That will certainly make our task all the more irksome; but nonetheless necessary. We must carry on and do our part, leaving everything else in God's hand. If we are faithful to our side, then we may go back to our offering, and God will accept our gift, even though for the moment the other party has perhaps refused reconciliation. But generally things turn out far happier than this: the dreaded task of going to confess our fault, to apologize, to say how deeply sorry we are, to ask if there is anything we can do to put things right, turns out to be surprisingly eased by the gracious manner and understanding sympathy of the one we wronged; they usually meet us more than half-way, and everything is quickly and happily adjusted. Still, hard or easy, it has to be done.

Restitution

Sometimes restitution has to be added to reconciliation—and where the wrong committed involves this, it must be undertaken if at all possible.

Illustration

William Harrison told about receiving a letter from a student. The young man had become a successful wood-working specialist. The letter read,

I thought you would be pleased to know that the lessons you taught me from the Sermon on the Mount are certainly true and bring forth fruit of the right sort. A young Christian called on me today and brought back a box of screws she had appropriated when she was in my employ some months ago. She came back expressing her sorrow. I am enclosing one of the screws as a sort of trophy.

Is there any kind of restitution that we ought to make in connection with that wrong we did our brother? Do we think highly enough of God's blessing to set about doing it right away, whatever the cost?

Seeking of reconciliation

This one thing is true: obedience to this direction of the Master, the seeking of reconciliation and the making of restitution will open the floodgates for us, and joy and blessing will fill our life, such as we never conceived. Yet, we should not seek to obey the Lord because it will make us happy: this is truly the lowest ground of loyalty. Our obedience must be based on duty—we do it because we ought to. This thought of duty is an increasingly rare regulating force among us today. The thought is seldom heard from the pulpit or anywhere else, and the thing is seldom conceived. But, as Christians, we should have a very high sense of duty.

Illustration

An old Scottish ship captain was speaking to a young lad joining the ship, "Remember, my lad, there are only two things on this ship: one is duty, the other is mutiny."

Does not that apply with equal force to the kingdom of our Lord? Then, our obedience must be rooted in love—we do it because the One we love wishes it done. This takes away all strain, all reluctance, all burden. It should be with us as with Paul, "The love of Christ constraineth us" (2 Cor. 5:14). So, we comply with His commands not because we have to, but because we want to. But, when all is said and done, it still remains true that reconciliation with a brother whom we have wronged is likely to ring us a precious peace of mind and joy of heart.

Dealing with Christians

In all this we are dealing not with outside people of the world, but with those in the kingdom. If we are Christians, then they are our brothers; and if communion with our Father is to be uninterruptedly blessed, there must be no rift in the family: filial behavior implies brotherly behavior. "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift . . . and go . . . be reconciled to thy brother . . . then come . . . offer thy gift" (Matt. 5:23-24).  And now,

Consider the matter of debt

It seems clear that the Master is still dwelling on the matter of anger. He has shown in verses 21-22 how deeply and dangerously sinful it is; He has told us in verses 23-24 that, in so far as it has hurt and wronged a brother, it must be confessed to Him and a reconciliation be sought before God will consent to accept our offering; and now, in verses 25-26, He bids us hurry with the reconciliation, for opportunity "quickly" passes.

The debtor’s prison

He draws the urgency of His teaching from the debtor's prison. The word translated "adversary" could be used in an almost legally technical sense, as meaning "the plaintiff," the complainant; the prosecutor. He is taking his man to court—and when they cross the threshold of that place, all hope of amicable settlement is gone, the law must take its course. On "the way" there, it is possible to come to some agreement, arranging some terms of payment of the debt. But that must be done "quickly", for the way between house and court is no great distance. It will be too late, if it is postponed. In those days, imprisonment for debt was the usual thing—as, at one time, in America. That is the fate awaiting this miscreant; and he will get no release unless, and until, the last farthing of the debt is discharged. And we, who have wronged another by our anger, owe him at least a heartfelt apology, and perhaps some reparation—the debt is heavy, the time is short. It is this time-factor that the Master stresses in this parable of the situation. Suppose one of us were to die or the Lord Jesus returns—it would be sad if either of those eventualities happened and found us unreconciled to someone we have wronged. Therefore "agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him," while both tread the same way of life, before we cross the threshold of the Heavenly Courthouse.

The debts of money

It does not seem illegitimate to apply the illustration, in the most literal fashion, to the debts of money—which may be a difficulty in our lives. "Owe no man anything" (Rom. 13:8); but the fact is that some Christians do owe people much, thereby living in a situation where the possibility of scandal abides, and the chance of bringing dishonor on His name, "that worthy Name by the which ye are called" (James 2:7). A dairyman was asked to come to God's house. His reply was, "No, I shall get no good there. If I went, I would no doubt see six or seven professing Christians who owe me money, and I cannot get a penny from them. To go to church would only create a bad spirit in me."  How wrong was the dairyman, to be put off by the bad actions of a few Christians; but what a scandal were the debtors, to behave in so utterly inconsistent a fashion and in that way to do damage to a soul. But, always remember, this is no isolated instance. Maybe some poor little dressmaker is doing without her badly needed money, because some thoughtless person tosses the bill carelessly aside, perhaps intending to pay later, but never doing so. It is such a small amount; but it may mean much to the one who is owed the money. And the Christian's unbrotherly behavior will cause him, too, much loss—much spiritual loss. "Such a small amount," one might say. Yes, a half-dollar is a small thing; but if held near enough to the eye it will shut out the sun. Some Christians are experiencing a sad eclipse of their sunny faith and blessing, simply because of unpaid bills. The debt may be small, or it may be large; but, are we willing to tackle the matter "quickly, whiles thou art in the way"? If we have been unfair to a brother in this respect, then we should straightway pay the debt we owe to our brother or sister in Christ.

Summary

Of course, there is one debt we can never pay. "Owe no man anything," but we owe God everything. Perhaps we can recompense Him just a little by giving Him all we have and all we are, to be used in His service and for His glory.

Footnotes:

¹ For more information on the Ten Commandments, see The Ten Commandments in Additional Resources section of StudyJesus.com.

² In his book, Sketches of Jewish Social Life (pp. 277f).