Dealing with Anger and Lust
Mat 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:
Mat 5:22 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.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Mat 5:25 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.
Mat 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Lust
Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Mat 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
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Mat 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:
Mat 5:22 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.
When one first reads these verses, it appears that Jesus is saying, look, the Old Testament says this, but I say something different.
As though He is saying you can disregard that because I have come with a new message.
However, we know He can’t mean that because He said Himself, “I have not come to abolish the law”.
He also said in Matt 5:20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is going to intensify God’s laws–so that we live out a righteousness that exceeds the old and inadequate ways of following these laws.
Thou shalt not kill
In the Exodus text it uses the Hebrew word, râtsach. A primitive root; properly to dash in pieces, that is, kill (a human being), especially to murder: - put to death, kill, (man-) slay (-er), murder (-er).
In the Matthew text it uses the Greek word phoneuō . to be a murderer (of): - kill, do murder, slay.
In these verses, Jesus is going far deeper than just condemning the act of murder, He is getting to the root of why the murder is done.
Our laws deal with the end of an act, Christ here, is dealing with the beginning.
Jesus is not just looking at the act but to the motive.
For the Christian, merely abstaining from the act is not enough. Jesus is trying to get us to look at our hearts and to see what causes these actions. He seeks to prevent crimes of violence by rooting out the attitudes and drives in a person's character, that would make him kill. The New Covenant law searches the heart without doing away with the Old Covenant letter.
It is the same as what Jesus says about adultery. It is not just about committing the act of adultery but anyone who lusts after someone in their heart, it is just the same as if you have committed the act.
Reading Matthew 5:21-22, it shows us that Jesus is speaking not so much about murder but of the steps that lead to it.
v22 whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement:
What would cause someone to be angry without cause? Well! One who has personality issues.
Someone who gets easily offended and then nurses a grudge. This has the seeds of murder.
We must remember that there is something called “righteous indignation” or “righteous anger”.
This is what Jesus showed in the temple when clearing out the money changers.
The Bible tells us that a Holy God shows anger.
Deuteronomy 9:8 Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you.
Exodus 32:10-11 Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them
If we did not get angry when we see abuse happening, there would be something wrong.
But to be angry without just cause can very easily explode and expand into something far worse.
v22 and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council:
Raca – rhaka Of Chaldee origin, empty one, that is, thou worthless (as a term of utter vilification): - Raca.
People said raca in a tone of voice that conveyed scorn, contempt, or bitterness born of pride, snobbery, and prejudice.
Again this attitude contains the seed that can lead to murder.
v22 but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
"You fool" implies a moral fool. One using it was casting aspersions upon another's character to destroy his reputation. It is an expression of condemnation, of character assassination.
William Barclay, in his commentary on these verses, writes:
What Jesus is saying here is this: "In the old days men condemned murder; and truly murder is forever wrong. But I tell you that not only are a man's outward actions under judgment; his inmost thoughts are also under the scrutiny and the judgment of God. Long-lasting anger is bad; contemptuous speaking is worse, and the careless or malicious talk which destroys a man's good name is worst of all." The man who is the slave of anger, the man who speaks in the accent of contempt, the man who destroys another's good name, may never have committed a murder in action, but he is a murderer at heart.
Brooding anger, contempt, and character assassination are all the spirit of murder.
Christ here traces murder to several of its major sources. To continue in any of these states breaks the sixth commandment. Death is the penalty. Christians have to keep the spirit of the law.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Jesus then goes on to address the state of one’s heart when coming to worship.
Jesus is speaking here in the context of a Jew coming to the temple to offer a gift but we can put ourselves into this situation and see it as our coming to worship.
It is very easy for us to make excuses for breakdowns in our relationships.
We may say, “I have nothing against him, it is him that has a problem with me”.
However, it seems that Jesus is not making a difference here.
23a, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
There must be a reason why he has something against you.
It is still something that needs sorting.
Ellicott in his commentary says this:
If thou bring thy gift to the altar.—Literally, If thou shouldst be offering. Our Lord was speaking to Jews as such, and paints, therefore, as it were, a scene in the Jewish Temple. The worshipper is about to offer a “gift” (the most generic term seems intentionally used to represent any kind of offering), and stands at the altar with the priest waiting to do his work. That is the right time for recollection and self-scrutiny. The worshipper is to ask himself, not whether he has a ground of complaint against any one, but whether any one has cause of complaint against him. This, and not the other, is the right question at such a moment—has he injured his neighbour by act, or spoken bitter words of him?
It can be very uncomfortable to have to admit wrongdoing on our part and to seek forgiveness.
Of course if you try to mend the relationship and the other party refuses, there is nothing you can do, but at least your conscience is clear and your heart is right with God. The thing is having the will to make things right.
WE are told in scripture that we should try and live at peace with everyone.
Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
This is the principle we should try to accomplish.
Mat 5:25 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.
Mat 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
The second command is set in a legal context.
Jesus is giving an example of someone with a legal problem, it is better to sort the problem out of court. You may solve the problem by a court decision but will that sort the relationship?
I think Jesus’ point is that it is always best to seek right relationships with others in a way that legal means can never accomplish. It may be that pride or stubbornness get in our way. Here Jesus paints the picture of paying a very high price for refusing to work towards healing and instead settling for a legal righteousness, most likely the relationship will be in worse condition after the legal price has been exacted.
1 Cor 6:1 If any of you has a grievance against another, how dare he go to law before the unrighteous instead of before the saints!
2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?…
Can I pride myself on the fact that I have never actually killed anyone? Of course not.
My anger and my actions could have brought about death in my relationships.
So what is the lesson for us here?
Did Jesus come to make sure that we fulfil the law?
Obviously not. Only He could do that.
He was the one that brought about true righteousness, something that turns out to be a lot deeper and more wonderful than merely conforming to rules and law.
He came to make us new from the inside out.
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
Jesus goes on to deal with the sin of lust.
Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Again, Jesus is pointing out that sin goes deeper than we think.
We may not be guilty of actual physical adultery but it is a sin of the heart. Just by lusting and dwelling on the lust is just as bad as the actual sin.
Mat 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
This kind of statement that certainly grabs ones attention.
Does Jesus actually advocate plucking ones eye out literally?
Jesus is not saying that this is what one should but He is drawing attention to the serious nature of sin.
What He is pointing out is the importance of dealing with sin is to root it out and get rid of it.
It is like saying, "If the most precious thing you have is the cause of sin, get rid of it."
It is about making exceptional sacrifices if we are to follow Him.
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Jesus had been explaining how the lust of the eye is just as sinful as the deed.
Jesus here was using what is called a hyperbole. (exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.)
Using hyperboles can get a message across.
“I waited forever for that bus”. “I have told you a million times”.
For Jesus to say it would be better to pluck out your eye, shows how serious sin really is.
Sin is so bad that Jesus died on the cross to deal with it.
Sin takes people to hell and it something that should be avoided at all cost.
Mark 9:43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched.
This is how serious sin is, yet very often we make excuses for our sin. Sometimes it is necessary to be shocked into recognition of our sin.
God hates sin and God wants a holy people.
We need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us, draw near to us and assist us in resisting the devil.
The scripture tells us.
James 4:7 Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
