Are you coping with anger? Are you hating? Do you need to overcome this dangerous behaviour?
Listen what Jesus said about this issue:
Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
Matthew 5:23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
Matthew 5:24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
The Jews cultivated a spirit of retaliation. In their hatred of the Romans they gave utterance to hard denunciations, and pleased the wicked one, Satan, by manifesting his attributes. Thus, they were training themselves to do the terrible deeds to which he led them on. In the religious life of the Pharisees there was nothing to recommend piety to the Gentiles.
Jesus bade them not to deceive themselves with the thought that they could in heart rise up against their oppressors, and cherish the longing to avenge their wrongs.
It is true there is an indignation that is justifiable, even in the followers of Christ. When they see that God is dishonoured, and His service brought into disrepute, when they see the innocent oppressed, a righteous indignation stirs the soul. Such anger, born of sensitive morals, is not a sin.
But those who at any supposed provocation feel at liberty to indulge anger or resentment are opening the heart to Satan. Bitterness and animosity must be banished from the soul if we would be in harmony with heaven.
The Saviour goes farther than this. He says,
Matthew 5:23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
Matthew 5:24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Many are zealous in religious services, while between them and their brethren are unhappy differences which they might reconcile. God requires them to do all in their power to restore harmony. Until they do this, He cannot accept their services. The Christian’s duty in this matter is clearly pointed out.
Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’
Jesus now proceeds to give specific examples of His interpretation of the law. As its Author, He is its only true exponent. Sweeping away the rubbish of rabbinical deception, He restored truth to its original beauty and lustre.
The expression “you have heard” implies that most of the audience upon this occasion had not read the law for themselves. This was only to be expected, for most of them were ordinary peasants and fishermen (MB 39).
When talking to the learned priests and elders, Jesus later inquired, “Did you never read in the scriptures?” (ch. 21:42). But that very day a group of common people within the Temple court, in talking to Jesus said “We have heard out of the law” (John 12:34).
Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.
When citing earlier expositors of the law as authority, the rabbis frequently introduced their remarks with the words Jesus here uses. In rabbinical writings these words are also used to introduce citations from the Scriptures.
The rabbis cited tradition as their authority for the interpretation of the law; Christ spoke on His own authority, and this fact distinguished His teaching from that of the rabbis, as the people were quick to observe.
The expression “but I say to you” appears six times in Matthew 5. (22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44) Christ showed that His requirements went far beyond the mere form of the law and that they included the spirit that would impart life and meaning to what was otherwise only form.
He set forth six specific examples by way of making clear the distinction between outward acts and the motives that prompt those acts. This contrast, which runs like a thread of gold through the Sermon on the Mount, makes the address the supreme statement of the Christian philosophy of life, the greatest exposition of ethics of all time.
Christ pointed out how far reaching the requirements of the law really are and emphasized that mere outward conformity to law avails nothing.
Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
Murder is a result of anger. But a man may hide his anger from his fellow men, even from those who are the objects of his anger. The best that the courts can do is to punish acts that result from anger; God alone is able to go to the root of the matter, and to condemn and punish a man for anger itself.
Jesus proceeded to show His hearers what it means to keep the commandments of God—that it is a reproduction in themselves of the character of Christ. For in Him, God was daily made manifest before them.
Raca. Gr. rhaka, “good for nothing,” “stupid.” It is an expression of strong contempt. In rabbinical literature reqa’ appears as the exclamation of an officer made to a man who had failed to salute him. The Christian will treat even the most ignorant and degraded with respect and tenderness (MB 57).
Christ Himself, when contending with Satan about the body of Moses, “durst not bring against him a railing accusation.” Jude 9. Had He done this, He would have placed Himself on Satan’s ground, for accusation is the weapon of the evil one. He is called in Scripture, “the accuser of our brethren.” Revelation 12:10. Jesus would employ none of Satan’s weapons. He met him with the words, “The Lord rebuke thee.” Jude 9.
His example is for us. When we are brought in conflict with the enemies of Christ, we should say nothing in a spirit of retaliation or that would bear even the appearance of a railing accusation. He who stands as a mouthpiece for God should not utter words which even the Majesty of heaven would not use when contending with Satan. We are to leave with God the work of judging and condemning.
Matthew 5:22 But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
You fool. Gr. mōros, “dull,” “stupid,” “foolish.” It has been suggested that mōros is related to the Heb. marah, “to be contentious,” “to be stubborn,” “to be rebellious.”
Whereas rhaka expresses contempt for one’s intelligence, or rather the lack of it, mōros, as here used, seems also to include contempt for one’s motives.
In the first case the person is called “stupid,” in the second, “scoundrel,” implying malicious intent. We should refrain from doing so in regard to our fellow men. We are to leave with God the work of judging and condemning a man because of his motives.
According to the Talmud (Ḳiddushin 28a, Soncino ed., p. 133) a man who became guilty of slandering another by using the epithet “slave” was to be excommunicated from the synagogue for 30 days, and a man who called another “bastard” was to receive 40 lashes.
Matthew 5:22 But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
Hell fire. Literally, “the Gehenna [Gr. geenna] of fire,” or “the hell of fire.” Geenna, “hell,” is a transliteration of the Hebrew ge’ ben hinnom, “valley of Hinnom,” or ge’ ben hinnom, “valley of the son of Hinnom” (Joshua 15:8). The valley is to the south and west of Jerusalem that meets with the Kidron Valley immediately south of the City of David and the Pool of Siloam (see on Jer. 19:2).
Wicked King Ahaz introduced the barbaric heathen rite of burning infant children to Molech at a high place called Tophet, in the Valley of Hinnom (2 Chron. 28:3; cf. PK 57), during the days of Isaiah.
The fires of Hinnom became symbolic of the consuming fire of the last great day of judgment and the punishment of the wicked (cf. Isa. 66:24). In Jewish eschatological thinking, derived in part from Greek philosophy, Gehenna was the place where the souls of the ungodly were reserved under punishment until the day of final judgment and rewards.
The tradition that makes the Valley of Gehenna a place for burning rubbish, and thus a type of the fires of the last day, appears to have originated with Rabbi Kimchi, a Jewish scholar of the 12th and 13th centuries.
Matthew 5:23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
Matthew 5:24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Gift. Gr. dōron, referring to presents generally or to special offerings. The ritual importance attached to a gift upon the altar is clear from ch. 23:18, 19.
Matthew 23:18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’
Matthew 23:19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
Matthew 5:24 First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Matthew 5:24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Those who listened to the sermon no doubt understood “brother” to refer to a fellow Jew. To Christians he would be a fellow Christian. The term is rightly understood as designating those with whom we are closely associated in one way or another. But Christ later made it clear that all men are brothers, regardless of race of creed (see Luke 10:29–37).
Matthew 5:24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Leave your gift. The act of offering a personal “gift,” or sacrifice, was among the most holy and important of all religious acts, but even it must take second place under the circumstances set forth.
It is possible that the “gift” here mentioned was a sacrifice made to secure divine forgiveness and favour. Christ insists that men must make things right with their fellow men before they can be reconciled with God (see Matt. 6:15; 1 John 4:20).
The more important obligation takes precedence over one of less importance. Reconciliation is more important than sacrifice. The living out of Christlike principles in the life (Gal. 2:20) is of far greater value in the sight of God than practicing the forms of religion.