Matthew 5:21, commentary and pictures

Christ in the Sermon on the Mount freed the command not to kill from human traditions and set it forth in its true spiritual breadth as reaching the heart and every phase of life. Murder begins in the mind, for cherished hatred, anger without cause, revenge, contempt and insulting speech are themselves violation of the command. This does not condemn all anger, for righteous indignation when God is dishonored, truth is disgraced, or the innocent are oppressed is not sin. Whoever allows hatred, bitterness and animosity to remain cannot offer acceptable worship, and must first put them away and be reconciled to his brother. The heart that loves God supremely will give the largest meaning to His commandments and render full inward obedience in thought and character, which exposes sin, removes self-righteousness, and drives the soul to Christ as the only remedy.

Setting and Wording

Matthew 5:21 belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, delivered on a mountainside after the ordination of the apostles to the disciples and the gathered multitude. The sermon was addressed both to His disciples and to the mixed crowd. It sets out the principles of His kingdom of divine grace, not a promise of earthly glory or national restoration. He spoke this saying when His hearers were filled with indignation and horror over a reported murder and robbery near Capernaum. Reports of robbery and murder by criminals lurking in Bashan across the sea were also fresh in mind.

The repeated phrase it was said introduces a teaching handed down by earlier authorities. It reflects the rabbinical school habit of repeating what people said, expressed in formulas such as they say and it hath been said. Accepting such human authority as wisdom can corrupt the mind, and He did not encourage attending those schools. He taught from Scripture with authority rather than repeating sayings, in contrast to human traditions, inventions and faulty traditions put in place of God's word. His teaching offers certain wisdom and is the standard by which inherited ideas and habits are corrected, shaping character and guiding conduct.

In the sermon He revealed that the Jewish people were separated from God by failing to walk in the light given to them. The resulting darkness increased in proportion to the light they had allowed to shine on their path. The law's requirements are reasonable and just, and God requires perfect obedience to His commandments.

Law Reaches the Heart

In the Sermon on the Mount Christ explained the law to show its far-reaching claims and restore its true meaning beyond cold rigid rules, human traditions, minute requirements and exactions that made God's commandments of no effect and hid their significance, in direct opposition to the doctrines and practices of the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees. He freed the command against killing from that rubbish of rabbinical tradition and presented it in its true significance and importance, so that to listeners it seemed a new revelation. The same One who Himself spoke the law at Sinai amid flame and thunder and tempest magnified it and made it honorable, placing the commandment in the framework of the gospel without taking anything from the sacredness of a single precept. He manifested its spirituality so that it reaches to every phase of life, and He exalted and enforced it by supreme obedience and a sinless life revealing its perfection through purity, goodness, love for fellow men and zeal for God, with the law as the controlling power within His heart. His teaching and sinless life show its full reach, requiring perfect obedience and condemning every evil action, for anger as the surrounding teaching explains is also murder in the heart.

The law is exceedingly broad and covers the whole matter, holy, just and good and the standard of righteousness, a matter of character rather than of form. It penetrates to motives and searches thoughts, feelings, desires, intents, motives and purposes, revealing what others cannot see, condemning hidden hatred and other evil passions and evil deeds planned but never carried out. Even the least injustice breaks it, the lover of self is a transgressor, and outward correctness without inward holiness does not excuse. It rests on love to God and other people, is the believer's perfect rule of life and the sinner's condemnation, lies at the foundation of God's government, and obedience to it is the whole duty of humanity. If obeyed through human cooperation with God it would keep the world from being corrupted with iniquity and crime, suffering and death, leading people to reject ungodliness and worldly desires and to live rightly before God.

Murder begins in the mind, for malice and revenge that would delight in deeds of violence is itself murder in its root, and giving hatred a place in the heart sets a person on the murderer's path. Anger without cause and contemptuous speech expose this inward murder, as lust is adultery and covetousness is idolatry. Those who avoid outward crime but cherish hatred and revenge have already entered that path and are guilty at heart. The hearers were zealous to denounce robbers and murderers, yet their own passionate and contentious temper, their bitter hatred of their Roman oppressors, and their hatred and contempt for all other peoples and even for their own countrymen who did not conform to their ideas were themselves violations of the command not to kill. Not all anger is of this criminal nature, for righteous indignation born of sensitive morals when God is dishonored, truth is brought into disrepute, the innocent are oppressed or persecuted, or the cause of truth is harmed is not sin.

An indulged vindictive feeling can lead to a succession of feelings that ends in murder, showing that a small departure from what is right can prepare the way for greater wrongdoing and become difficult to leave behind. The heart that loves God supremely will not narrow His precepts to the smallest possible claims but will give the largest interpretation to His far-reaching commandments and cheerfully render full spiritual obedience in thought, word and character, laboring to be on the Lord's side. Restricting His injunctions to outward acts alone while venturing as far as possible toward wrongdoing without being branded a transgressor is self-deception. Seeing the law in its spiritual power makes sin appear exceedingly sinful, brings deep conviction, self-loathing and cleansing of the soul temple, removes self-righteousness, self-esteem, self-honor and self-security, and drives the soul in desperate peril to lay hold on the blood of the Lamb as the only remedy from the condemning power of sin, which is genuine sanctification, while heart work leads to righteous actions. True righteousness is not a selfish outward show of rule-keeping but an inward work of grace that brings the heart into harmony with God's revealed will and expresses that obedience in life, requiring inward purity and a mind shaped by love and righteousness, whose light reveals guilt before God; a person can violate its claims inwardly without showing it in feelings or actions. As explained on the Mount, the holy law's demand to love one's neighbor rules out unjustly acquiring wealth at another person's expense, showing that such conduct has not learned the law's full moral standard.

Worship and Daily Life

Whoever allows hatred, bitterness, revenge and animosity to remain in the heart cannot offer acceptable worship, for the command against killing reaches beyond the outward act to the mind where murder begins, and malice and revenge that would welcome violence are themselves murder in the heart. Worship offered by one who harbors hatred is abhorrent to God, and the only remedy is to root such feelings out. This inward requirement governs outward life, because the state of the heart governs life and character, its spirit and far-reaching principles must dwell within, and heart work leads to righteous actions.

Reconciliation must come first before presenting an offering to God, with bitterness and animosity removed and reconciliation sought. Even if another has aught against us, his mind must if possible be relieved and those feelings removed before the offering can be acceptable. This duty binds especially on the church when unhappy differences exist between brethren.

The sayings in Matthew 5 are a clear expression of God's will to be read, believed, practiced and often dwelt upon, developing Christlike character and bringing divine principles and virtues into the heart and life. They hold the standard high for the church, show its backsliding and existing evils, and teach how to speak, act and represent Christ. They call disciples to learn and obey so that unity, love and Christian fellowship prevail, putting away accusing, finding fault and speaking evil of fellow believers, which contradict that teaching and prevent working with God and forming Christlike character. They likewise call for putting away misapprehension, unkindness, retaliation, strife and words that separate friends, for misapprehension produces unkindness, unkindness provokes retaliation, and strife spreads unless God's virtues break the cycle.

Christ's teaching on the commandments is broad and applies to everyday life, reaching beyond outward acts to thoughts, and must be heeded in thoughts and conduct. Therefore the law must not be set aside in favor of claims to spiritual guidance apart from Scripture.