In the Fulness of Time/Part 14

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Divine Principles

One of the controversies of our time has to do with the posting of the Ten Command­ments in non-religious buildings such as public schools or courthouses. In spite of the fact that every piece of money minted or printed by our government includes “In God we trust” as part of its message, the Ten Commandments have not been granted similar privilege. You might expect that Jesus would have said, that, since He brought the grace of God, not Law, that He, too, would not promote the Ten Commandments; but as we stated in last month’s article, His desire was not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it. In Matthew 5:21-48 He gives a number of Divine Principles which will be enforced in His Messianic Kingdom, and begins by giving His own interpretation of six of the Ten Commandments.

Matthew 5:21-22 “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shalt 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.”

There are six statements of the antitheses of how the rabbis taught the Law and how Jesus interpreted it. It makes little difference whether it was said “by them” (the rabbis) or “to them” (the people), the result is the same. Jesus is giving the true interpretation. The Sixth Commandment “Thou shalt not kill” must have had specific reference to murder, as made clear by Genesis 9:6 and Exodus 21:12, because there were many commands for executing human beings under the Law. For example, a stubborn son was to be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 21:18-23), as were a kidnapper (Exodus 21:16), adulterers or adulter­esses (Deuteronomy 22:22), and one who broke the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-33).

However, the rabbis apparently watered down the Law, even for the murderer, because they added “and whosoever shall kill (murder) shall be in danger of the judgment.” This judgment undoubtedly referred to Deuteronomy 16:18 which provided for judges through­out the tribes. These courts may or may not have been completely fair if the decisions were left up to them. Still, Christ is not opposing either the commandment or the court. His an­swer, however, should not be taken as an annulling of capital punishment since He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. To the contrary, Jesus gives an even more severe warning since it deals not only with the overt act of murder but with that which is its cause.

In Matthew 15:19 Jesus taught that the essential cause of murder is the sinful human heart. The Apostle John clearly states that “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (I John 3:15). Further, in I John 4:20 he adds that if a man says he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar. Jesus takes the sixth commandment back to its origin and gives three examples of judg­ment, all of which will result in death. First, one who is angry with his brother is in danger of

the local court, possibly referring to a secular court which could order death by the sword or crucifixion; that is, if the anger eventuated in actual murder. Second, the Jewish Sanhedrin, the council, would insist on death by stoning, if anger expressed in the Aramaic word “Raca” (empty-head) led to murder. Finally, if the inward motivation which was expressed in calling someone a fool led to murder, it would eventuate in Gehenna, or hell-fire. Gehenna in the Old Testament is Ge-Hinnom, the valley of Hinnom which was south of Jerusalem.

As part of the worship of Moloch children were burned there (Jeremiah 7:31). Contrary to many commentators, Lenski claims, “We have absolutely no evidence that the Jews ever burned criminals alive or that the dead bodies of criminals were dragged to this valley, or that constant fires were there kept going” (p. 215, Gospel of Matthew). Yet he does indicate that Gehenna is used as a designation for hell and that it is used exclusively in this way by Christ (cf. Matthew 5:29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33).

Note carefully that Jesus does not say that simply being angry without cause, or using slanderous names automatically results in murder and its punishment. In each case He says the person “is in danger of” the punishment, which in its ultimate result means hell­fire. His point is to get them to see anger for what it really is, the incipient cause of murder! Anger is wrong; it will easily lead to something worse, and as John says, it may well indi­cate that such a person does not have eternal life!

In His Messianic Kingdom, the Lord Jesus Christ will rule with a rod of iron (Revelation 2:27; 19:15) and any overt sin will be dealt with summarily. So, here in Matthew 5:21-22 He makes this very strong statement about anger and then gives two illustrations to show the importance of stopping such an attitude before it becomes uncontrollable!

A Religious Illustration

Matthew 5:23-24 “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath anything 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.”

Even more important than going to the temple is the settling of a dispute between brothers. Jesus postulates one brother who remembers that his friend has something against him; that is, the person on his way to worship did the wrong since he is the one to be reconciled (changed) with regard to his brother. Reconciliation always points to the sinful one. Scripture never says that God is reconciled to the sinner; God never needs to change; the sinner must be reconciled to God (II Corinthians 5:18-20). Likewise, if you have wronged your brother you need to make it right with him first; then come back and worship God with a clear conscience. This will stop the anger of your brother from foment­ing against you and prevent a possible murder!

A Secular Illustration

Matthew 5:25-26 “Agree with thine adversary quickly, while you are 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 from there until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.”

Literally, the idea would be to settle the dispute out of court and release your anger toward your adversary by recognizing your debt and giving assurance of repayment. Other­wise your refusal to settle (which is an indication that you are still angry) will result in some­thing far worse: prison, until you pay the debt in full.

Taking the illustration parabolically, the debtor is the sinner who cannot ever pay his debt of sin, and the adversary is God. The prison from which no sinner can be released is then Gehenna, or hell-fire. This all goes back to the necessity of possessing a righteous­ness from God by faith which exceed the self-righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, which will result in hell-fire for them “in the fulness of time.”

Read Part 15