"AGREE WITH THINE ADVERSARY."
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Saviour said to the people, “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.” Matt. 5:25, 26. Sometimes the question is raised, Who is meant by “the adversary” in this text? The adversary of God’s people is the devil (1 Peter 5:8), but Jesus was talking to “the multitude,” and even the disciples were as yet unconverted. Moreover, Christ would not have advised any class of men to agree with the devil. All the lessons He ever taught were spiritual, so He was not merely giving advice as to the wisest procedure in a common lawsuit; He was drawing a spiritual lesson from that which they already knew of legal contests. The Roman law which Christ used as an illustration is thus expounded by Joseph Evans Sagebeer, Ph.D., in the N. Y. Examiner:— One of the earliest actions known to the Roman law was the personal action employed to recover a private penalty, which consisted in the defendant’s forfeiture to the plaintiff of double, triple, or quadruple the amount of the damages actually sustained. The action was not necessarily for debt, but might be for violation of contract or for any other wrong. If the plaintiff’s claim was just, the judge did not adjudge the defendant to pay money, but he pronounced an interlocutory judgment commanding the defendant to perform the object of the plaintiff’s claim. The suit had now been moved, “litem motam,” the defendant was “in the way with the plaintiff.” If he obeyed the interlocutory judgment of the magistrate, special damages were not demandable; if he refused to obey, the plaintiff was permitted to estimate his own damages, and if the ground of action was fraud or deceit, the defendant was also adjudged infamous. If the plaintiff’s claim was just, therefore, it was evidently wise to agree with him “quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him;” that is, before the suit was brought to its final judgment. This action at law is one of the earliest forms of action, and it was in force in Palestine at the time our Lord used it to illustrate His sermon. Christ is the Adversary of those who disobey God, and who are the enemies of His people. Ex. 23: 20-22; Num. 23:21, 22. His counsel to the unconverted multitude assumed that they were sinners, and therefore already under condemnation of death. But the plan of salvation put them “in the way with Him”—a position in which it was possible for them to make favorable terms with Him by agreeing with Him. His purpose was to free them from condemnation entirely, if they would agree to His terms: “He that believeth in Me, tho He were dead, yet shall he live.” But those who will not agree with the Adversary of sin and sinners (the enemies of God) must inevitably suffer the full penalty of the law; and “the wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. While the Gospel lamp holds out to burn, there is opportunity to agree with Him who holds the destiny of every one in His hand. But “the time is short,” and the golden opportunity is fast passing away. “Agree with thine Adversary quickly.”