Matthew 5:22, commentary and pictures

Christ's words teach that causeless anger toward a brother brings danger of judgment, contemptuous dismissal of him as empty and worthless brings danger of the council, and condemning him as a godless apostate abandoned to wickedness brings danger of hell fire. The law is not outward only but reaches the heart, so hatred cherished within, contempt spoken, and motives and feelings behind words all break the commandment just as an outward deed does. Murder begins in the mind, and giving place to malice, revenge and vindictive feeling is murder at its root and sets the soul on the path that ends in outward killing. Indignation is not sinful when it springs from moral sensitivity against dishonor to God, perversion of truth, and oppression and abuse of the innocent. No worship is accepted while bitterness remains, so one who remembers a brother's grievance must leave the gift, confess the anger, be reconciled first, and speak only words that preserve unity and love.

Sermon Setting and Authority

The saying was uttered on a level place on the mountainside after departure from the seaside, addressed especially to the disciples while the gathered multitude also listened. It belongs to the blessings and teachings spoken on the mount that are to be read, believed, practiced and brought into practical life and experience, and to be shown in the way people live. Practicing those sayings develops Christlike character and writes divine principles in the heart.

It is part of a soul-saving message to be dwelt upon often, whose truths humbly received convert the soul and remove rebuke for past wrongs. Those who receive it hold the standard high and represent Christ as altogether lovely by bringing divine virtues constantly into words and attitude and actions. They put away misapprehension that produces unkindness, unkindness that provokes retaliation, strife that propagates itself, and many words that tend to separate friends, so that God's cause and work are without spot or wrinkle.

It sets forth the principles of a kingdom of divine grace rather than promising earthly glory or political deliverance, revealing the truth about God's government and its laws. Disobedience to God's commandments puts people in peril. It sets Christ's certain and greater wisdom against rabbinical sayings continually repeated as They say or It has been said, whose unstable words of men corrupt the mind and must not be accepted as exalted wisdom. His instruction rather than repeatedly handed-down human tradition and authority is the reliable guide for forming character.

It contradicted the self-righteous doctrines and practices of the scribes and Pharisees, helping reveal God's character as compassionate and merciful rather than a stern judge without compassion, mercy or love. It was spoken by the same One who spoke the law from Mount Sinai, at the opening of His ministry magnifying the law and making it honorable. By freeing the commandments from traditions, customs and burdensome exactions placed on them by Jewish teachers, it reveals their pure principles and far-reaching claims and exalts the law in its original purity as a perfect system of morality, illustrated by His own life in perfect conformity to its requirements. It explains what the precept comprehends, showing that anger is murder and that the law against killing concerns not outward actions merely but the heart, reaching even to anger and unspoken thoughts and to every phase of life.

It restates old truth already given through Moses and the prophets not to hate a brother in the heart, not to avenge or bear a grudge, but to love one's neighbor as oneself. Its warning that anger brings danger of the judgment is not new, but old truth that had become obscured by hardness of heart and love of sin and by misinterpretation that robbed the law of spirituality and made it burdensome with exactions. The Jewish people were separated from God because they failed to live by the light God had given them through the patriarchs and prophets, and as that light shone and was not followed, darkness came upon them in like measure, whereas obedience to God's revealed will would have shown the world a character and way of life worthy of the light entrusted to them. The saying teaches the far-reaching principles and inward spirit of the law as reaching the heart, governing not only outward acts but thoughts and intentions, with the state of the heart regulating life and character. Its claims remain in force and must be impressed on new converts, without which labor is lost.

Meaning of Insulting Words

To say Raca is to call a person a vain fellow in contemptuous speech that brings accountability before the council. Cherishing anger and bringing such a railing accusation brings serious judgment. The warning applies to anger and railing within the church.

Contemptuous words are serious because every human soul belongs to God by creation and, through Christ's blood, by redemption. All were made in God's image, so even the most degraded must be treated with respect and tenderness. A person is accountable to God for any contempt spoken about one for whom Christ could give His life.

To say Thou fool is to condemn a brother as an apostate or despiser of God who has abandoned himself to wickedness, because that is what the word fool designated in the Old Testament Scriptures. Whoever so presumes to condemn his brother shows himself worthy of the same condemnation and in danger of hell fire. There is a progression of guilt in which anger without cause brings danger of the judgment, calling someone Raca brings danger of the council, and calling someone a fool brings danger of hell fire.

Passionate, railing words oppose the work of saving others and are classed in heaven with common swearing. They bring death rather than life and cooperate with Satan rather than God.

Law Searches the Heart

Christ's explanation of the law reaches far beyond a cold code of outward rules, laying open its full and far-reaching claims upon the heart and upon the words people speak to one another. The prohibition of killing therefore condemns not only the outward act but anger and insulting speech, for anger is murder in the heart. The moral law is exceedingly broad, covering character and not outward form alone, reaching thoughts, feelings, desires, motives, attitudes, intentions and purposes as well as word and deed. A person can break it inwardly even when no outward behavior reveals disloyalty to its claims, for true righteousness conforms both heart and life to the revealed will. The law searches the hidden moral life and condemns concealed hatred and other evil passions even when never expressed, never carried out, or never acted on, with the tongue's words and the passions and motives behind them revealing character.

Even the least injustice breaks the law and degrades the moral nature, and hatred already sets a person on the path to murder, so that worship offered while hatred is harbored is abhorrent. Anger and contempt toward a brother break the commandment just as an outward act does, including unjustly taking another's means in violation of love to neighbor and falling short of the law's holy standard as taught in the pure gospel on the mount. To restrict the law to condemning outward acts alone is self-deception, but seen in its spiritual power the commandment comes home to the soul in its real force, sin appears exceedingly sinful, self-righteousness and self-security are gone, and deep conviction of sin and self-loathing lead the soul in its sense of peril to lay hold on the blood of the Lamb as the only remedy from the condemning power of sin. The obedient do not narrow the precepts to the smallest possible claims or seek to evade them, but give the largest interpretation to the far-reaching commandments and strive to bring will, affections and heart into obedience in thought, word and character, which is genuine sanctification. Christ restored the law's true meaning by exposing selfishness without lessening its sacredness, magnifying it and making it honorable by freeing it from traditions, customs and burdensome exactions, making manifest its spirituality and showing that it reaches to every phase of life, even to anger and unspoken thoughts. He exalted it in its original purity as a perfect system of morality, and His own sinless life illustrates perfect conformity to its requirements and exemplifies perfect obedience to its full spiritual demands.

The commandments thus apply to everyday life and to the state of the heart that regulates life and character, and this inward spirit must be impressed on new converts or labor is lost, though the Saviour's words on this are often neglected. Anger toward another and insulting or contemptuous speech are matters of accountability before God, so claims to spiritual light must agree with Scripture and be tested by it. The requirements of the law include the inward life as well as conduct, reaching the heart as well as outward words and actions and judging inner thoughts and speech. True religion requires holiness within and not merely correct outward conduct, with mind and soul pure and governed by love and righteousness.

Anger Condemned as Murder

Murder begins in the mind, for malice and revenge that would delight in violence are already murder in the heart and in its root, even when no outward crime has been committed, and anger without cause brings a person under judgment. Giving hatred a place in the heart sets a person on the path of murder and transgresses the law. A vindictive feeling may begin a chain of feelings that ends in murder, so that even a small departure from what is right can lead to separation from God.

Cherishing anger against a brother or sister is grave sin that is treated as murder. Those who condemn others as transgressors are themselves guilty when they cherish malice and hatred. Cherishing hatred and contempt violates the commandment against killing even when no physical killing has occurred, as was shown when people condemned criminals for robbery and murder while themselves harboring bitter hatred toward the Romans, other peoples, and countrymen who differed from them.

Not all anger is sinful, for indignation at God's dishonor, at the abuse or discrediting of truth, and at the oppression, persecution and abuse of the innocent can be righteous when it arises from moral sensitivity. Outward religious conduct does not make hatred and revenge acceptable, and religious service is not acceptable while bitterness remains, so hatred must be rooted out. Offerings and worship from one who harbors hatred are abhorrent to God.

Worship Reconciliation and Unity

To come to God with an offering while remembering that a brother has a grievance requires leaving the gift before the altar and first being reconciled to the brother, then offering the gift, which God accepts. The heart must be humbled, the sin of giving way to anger confessed, and forgiveness sought, for religious service is not acceptable while bitterness remains. Trying to be reconciled with anyone who has aught against oneself belongs to this same duty.

Making accusations without first going to the person accused and giving a chance to answer violates the duty to treat a brother fairly and seek reconciliation, since evil-speaking and false charges are condemned. The verse gives the plainest rule for conduct toward one another, leaving no perplexity and no place for disunion and variance. Words must savor of unity and love, personal feelings must not be easily stirred up, and suspicion toward one another must not be cherished.

Anger that puts brother at variance against brother and neighbor against neighbor is a terrible fruit of sin. Coldness and indifference between those who once enjoyed sweet union and love, arising because they do not hold ideas alike in all points, is likewise a terrible fruit of sin. Dissension comes from the absence of Christ in the soul and the cherishing of self-sufficiency, while Christ came into the world to bring peace and goodwill and prayed that His disciples might be one as He is one with the Father. His followers must learn and obey the lesson of unity, love and Christian fellowship, and refusing it brings condemnation as choosing a way contrary to God's teaching.

Accusing others, thinking and speaking evil, finding fault and reporting faults work against Christlike character and damage believers' confidence in one another. Unkind words and a wrong attitude can provoke retaliation and spread strife, separating even close friends, so care in words and attitude is required in order not to feed conflict and to keep God's cause and work without spot or wrinkle. Misapprehension that produces unkindness must be put away, because unkindness provokes retaliation and strife propagates itself. Anger without cause and condemnatory speech contribute to division, and words that bring heartache and discouragement rather than unity make the speaker responsible for causing anger and harm. Anger and harsh retaliatory words are sin even when others have done wrong, requiring not offending in words, talking less and not strongly, keeping well balanced without extremes, not retaliating or continually talking of others' wrongs, but being childlike, free, humble and wise in words and actions and doing right oneself.