Matthew 5:22, can someone give a good explanation?

[zoidar]

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
— Matthew 5:21-26

It sounds like Jesus is saying if you are angry with your brother or call him "good for nothing" you are guilty in our Earthly courts, but calling someone a fool makes you guilty of hell. Does this mean some sins lead to hell and others not? I have never understood this.

 

[d taylor]

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
— Matthew 5:21-26

It sounds like Jesus is saying if you are angry with your brother or call him "good for nothing" you are guilty in our earthly courts, but calling someone a fool makes you guilty of hell. Does this mean some sins lead to hell and others not? I have never understood this.

This is speaking of the time when Jesus will be ruling upon earth. The Messianic Kingdom or what is also know as The Millennium Rule of The Messiah. When Jesus will rule the earth with The Mosaic Law (613).

During this time satan will be bound and can not be accused for causing man to sin. So The Messiah will rule the people of the earth with a rule of an iron hand.

 

[Kylism]

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
— Matthew 5:21-22

It sounds like Jesus is saying if you are angry with your brother or call him "good for nothing" you are guilty in our Earthly courts, but calling someone a fool makes you guilty of hell. Does this mean some sins lead to hell and others not? I have never understood this.

Sins lead us away from God and choosing not to follow and believe with a trusting faith that relies on Jesus will lead us to 'hell' or 'lake of fire'.

I notice that Jesus mentions murder first. Now many people say I don't murder so I am not that bad of a person. Here Jesus shows how here how similar the problems of mean angry and murder are.

Jesus is teaching God's intent behind the commandments of the law. In particular, Christ is pointing out that living a way that is not right with God or being righteousness; in a way with attitudes and thoughts, while not exactly the same as unrighteous actions, are just as much worthy to be labelled as sins.

Jesus show that someone who insults another risks judgment from other men. By this, Jesus may have meant that someone who is angry enough to insult another must answer not just to God, but to government, such as the council of Jewish religious leaders. Even in the ancient era, speaking unkind words could result in legal problems. The term Jesus uses here is rhaka, originally a Hebrew word which can mean "fool" or "empty head." Next, though, Jesus escalates this teaching even further. The original phrasing of this verse uses the Greek term mōre, used as a slur like calling someone a "moron," or an "idiot." being guilty of 'hell'.

So being a murder is a sin and now mean angry words spoken are also a sin.

Both are doomed and going to hell.

Only Jesus who takes away our sins can rescue us from hell.

God is trying to educate everyone

 

[Brother-Mike]

I see no reason to appeal to the Messianic Age/Kingdom to understand these verses, nor can I find any hint of this in a quick scan of commentarians, from the early Fathers to the present. Which is not to say that there's not simultaneously that level of analysis present too.

These verses in some ways parallel the immediately following verses on lust (Matthew 5:27-28), where Christ is going beyond the mere law against adultery and probing deeper into its heart, where lustful intent originates even before action. In the same way, your verses on anger (Matthew 5:21-25) strike the same note: it's not about just harming someone physically, but instead about the wellspring of anger, leading to insults, leading to serious cursing, all taking place before the first blow has landed.

Calvin has this to say on the topic:

"Christ assigns three degrees of condemnation besides the violence of the hands; which implies, that this precept of the law restrains not only the hands, but all affections that are opposed to brotherly love. “Those who shall only be angry with their brethren, or treat them with haughty disdain, or injure them by any reproach, are murderers.” Now, as it is certain that the word Racha occupies an intermediate place between anger and openly reproachful language, I have no doubt that it is an interjection of contempt or disdain. Though Christ adjudges to the hell of fire none but those who break out into open reproach, we must not suppose, that he declares anger to be free from a similar punishment; but, alluding to earthly judgments, he assures them that God will judge and punish even concealed anger. But, as he who manifests his indignation by bitter language goes farther than this, Christ says, that that man will be held guilty by the whole heavenly council, that he may receive severer punishment.

Those, again, who break out into reproaches are adjudged to the hell of fire: which implies, that hatred, and every thing that is contrary to love, is enough to expose them to eternal death, though they may have committed no acts of violence."

John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 1:285.

Finally, Jesus' beautiful additional comment about reconciliation superseding even an immediate offering to God further highlights the priority here, should there be any doubt.

 

[HTacianas]

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
— Matthew 5:21-26

It sounds like Jesus is saying if you are angry with your brother or call him "good for nothing" you are guilty in our Earthly courts, but calling someone a fool makes you guilty of hell. Does this mean some sins lead to hell and others not? I have never understood this.

The translation your using makes the meaning sound more harsh than it actually is. The message it is communicating is in the context of murder, and the anger described is escalating. It begins with a simple insult, and the insults become more severe, ultimately leading to murder. It is the murder itself that leads to condemnation. But the lesson is that as your anger increases you are getting closer to condemnation. So to avoid the condemnation for murder, learn to control your anger before it leads to it. It's similar to lusting after another man's wife leading to adultery, see Matthew 5:27-28. To avoid adultery, control the lust.

As to your question if some sins lead to hell while others do not, yes some do. It's most fully described in the Roman Church's teaching on mortal and venial sin. Some sins are minor while some sins are serious. Under the old testament sacrificial system, sacrifices were offered for unintentional sins (sins committed in ignorance) and also for ritual cleansing. Under the new testament it is by faith that we are cleansed of unintentional sins and also ritual impurity, see 1 John 1:7. Mortal sin still brings condemnation, see 1 John 5:16.

 

[timothyu]

Simply saying if you don't love your neighbour as self you are not doing the will of God and have no place in the Kingdom. We must first repent of such ways before we are even considered worthy of the Kingdom. Everything in the Bible including these verses revolve around this fact. Jesus summed things up in two commandments. Sometimes less is more. Jesus made it simple. People like to complicate things. It creates jobs lol

 

[Der Alte]

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
— Matthew 5:21-26
It sounds like Jesus is saying if you are angry with your brother or call him "good for nothing" you are guilty in our Earthly courts, but calling someone a fool makes you guilty of hell. Does this mean some sins lead to hell and others not? I have never understood this.

Here is the definition of the word translated "Supreme court"

συνέδριον sunedrion Thayer Definition:
1) any assembly (especially of magistrates, judges, ambassadors), whether convened to deliberate or pass judgment
2) any session or assembly or people deliberating or adjudicating
2a) the Sanhedrin, the great council at Jerusalem, consisting of the seventy one members, viz. scribes, elders, prominent members of the high priestly families and the high priest, the president of the assembly. The most important causes were brought before this tribunal, inasmuch as the Roman rulers of Judaea had left to it the power of trying such cases, and also of pronouncing sentence of death, with the limitation that a capital sentence pronounced by the Sanhedrin was not valid unless it was confirmed by the Roman procurator.​

 

[dqhall]

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
— Matthew 5:21-26

It sounds like Jesus is saying if you are angry with your brother or call him "good for nothing" you are guilty in our Earthly courts, but calling someone a fool makes you guilty of hell. Does this mean some sins lead to hell and others not? I have never understood this.

The good Lord gives and the good Lord takes away. It is cheaper to settle disputes out of court as legal fees are high, the judge or jury may not be fair and punitive damages ruined people. It is better to build a house than to destroy one with artillery. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God (Matthew 5:9).

 

[zoidar]

Thanks for the replies people! Right now I'm not sure what to say, but you have given me a range of answers.

 

[Guojing]

Simply saying if you don't love your neighbour as self you are not doing the will of God and have no place in the Kingdom. We must first repent of such ways before we are even considered worthy of the Kingdom. Everything in the Bible including these verses revolve around this fact. Jesus summed things up in two commandments. Sometimes less is more. Jesus made it simple. People like to complicate things. It creates jobs lol

No place in the Kingdom means no eternal life for you?

 

[timothyu]

No place in the Kingdom means no eternal life for you?

Only those in the Kingdom are reconnected with the tree of life

 

[Guojing]

Only those in the Kingdom are reconnected with the tree of life

So salvation now requires you to love your neighbor as yourself?

And that is not works based salvation?

 

[Brad D.]

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
— Matthew 5:21-26

It sounds like Jesus is saying if you are angry with your brother or call him "good for nothing" you are guilty in our Earthly courts, but calling someone a fool makes you guilty of hell. Does this mean some sins lead to hell and others not? I have never understood this.

The entire sermon on the mount including these versus have to be taken in the context in which they were spoken. The entire sermon was meant to bring us to our knees and say, " Who is sufficient for these things?" Jesus is saying throughout, " You think you have done well in these things? Well I tell you even if you have thought these things you are guilty." No one in this world could have walked away from that sermon feeling good about themselves! No one! Who in this world can stand by their own account today up to the sermon on the mount? No matter how long we have walked with Christ we are in need of the blood every day! For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin; He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.(Romans 8:3-4)

His Spirit hadn't been poured out in that day. He was speaking to a people who would never be able to live up to the righteousness laid out in that sermon. He was saying for this reason I have come. He was bringing them to their knees, yes, but only so they would come to see the answer was in Him.

That does not mean we can continually spit in the face of grace and do what we want each day. We are continually between the blood and the Cross. We stand in the blood for where we are not, We go through the cross for where He is taking us. Our minds are to continually be set steadfast on the Spirit to take us where we cannot go ( Romans 8:5) Until Christ be formed in us. We have to sit in the humility of that sermon. Christ is not looking for a perfect person, but He is looking for a perfect heart. What is the difference? A perfect person has been brought to the zenith of everything they should be in Christ. There is nothing left for Him to do. But yet even Paul said, " Not that I have already attained or am already perfected: but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have laid hold of it; but one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus ( Philippians 3:12-14) And that passage is the difference between an already perfected person, and a person whose heart is perfect towards Him. It is rather one who rises each day and says, " Lord I see where I am not, do in me all that is necessary today, to bring me where I need to be, whatever the cost, whatever the cost." That is mind staid on the Spirit while standing in the blood.

 

[zoidar]

The entire sermon on the mount including these versus have to be taken in the context in which they were spoken. The entire sermon was meant to bring us to our knees and say, " Who is sufficient for these things?" Jesus is saying throughout, " You think you have done well in these things? Well I tell you even if you have thought these things you are guilty." No one in this world could have walked away from that sermon feeling good about themselves! No one! Who in this world can stand by their own account today up to the sermon on the mount? No matter how long we have walked with Christ we are in need of the blood every day! For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin; He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.(Romans 8:3-4)

His Spirit hadn't been poured out in that day. He was speaking to a people who would never be able to live up to the righteousness laid out in that sermon. He was saying for this reason I have come. He was bringing them to their knees, yes, but only so they would come to see the answer was in Him.

That does not mean we can continually spit in the face of grace and do what we want each day. We are continually between the blood and the Cross. We stand in the blood for where we are not, We go through the cross for where He is taking us. Our minds are to continually be set steadfast on the Spirit to take us where we cannot go ( Romans 8:5) Until Christ be formed in us. We have to sit in the humility of that sermon. Christ is not looking for a perfect person, but He is looking for a perfect heart. What is the difference? A perfect person has been brought to the zenith of everything they should be in Christ. There is nothing left for Him to do. But yet even Paul said, " Not that I have already attained or am already perfected: but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have laid hold of it; but one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus ( Philippians 3:12-14) And that passage is the difference between an already perfected person, and a person whose heart is perfect towards Him. It is rather one who rises each day and says, " Lord I see where I am not, do in me all that is necessary today, to bring me where I need to be, whatever the cost, whatever the cost." That is mind staid on the Spirit while standing in the blood.

Certainly you have a point. Perfection seems impossible to attain. I do think Christ asks a lot of us, much more than many Christians want to admit. If the heart is in the right place, I believe the rest will follow. But I'm a bit confused about it all.

Is it the Lutheran all you need to do is believe? Or is it the Catholic, if you don't "work" your faith is disqualified. What part does obedience play?

 

[Rescued One]

Obedience is what God is doing in the one who is indwellt by the Spirit of Christ:
Romans 8:9
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Ephesians 2
5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved); 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

God has truly blessed you with a desire for truth and understanding!

 

[Rescued One]

Certainly you have a point. Perfection seems impossible to attain. I do think Christ asks a lot of us, much more than many Christians want to admit. If the heart is in the right place, I believe the rest will follow. But I'm a bit confused about it all.

Is it the Lutheran all you need to do is believe? Or is it the Catholic, if you don't "work" your faith is disqualified. What part does obedience play?

I'm not Lutheran, but I think they believe the verses I posted. We don't work to get salvation. God saves us first, changing our hearts and then leads us to the works He wants us to do for His glory.


Romans 4:2

• For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. ... For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, ...

 

[Rescued One]

So salvation now requires you to love your neighbor as yourself?

And that is not works based salvation?

Apparently his religion requires works for salvation. The Bible says that God saves us so that we we will love and obey God Who begins a work in us and will complete what He began.

Read Ephesians 2 and Philippians 1.

 

[Brad D.]

Certainly you have a point. Perfection seems impossible to attain. I do think Christ asks a lot of us, much more than many Christians want to admit. If the heart is in the right place, I believe the rest will follow. But I'm a bit confused about it all.

Is it the Lutheran all you need to do is believe? Or is it the Catholic, if you don't "work" your faith is disqualified. What part does obedience play?

When Paul was on the road to Damascus He had just come from being an accomplice to Stephen's murder and was on His way to violently round up more Christians and put to death if needed those like Stephen who wouldn't obey. He did nothing that day or in his prior actions to receive the unmerited grace of Jesus Christ, yet I have no doubt Christ came into His life that day and He was converted. But he didn't sit on his laurels. He rose from that day committed from then on with the attitude I quoted him to have in the above scriptures regarding the sermon on the mount. It cost Paul everything Philippians 3 to follow Christ. Should it cost us any less?

So the answer you seek is not found in Lutheranism or Catholicism, the answer will always be found in Christ. Whatever he tells you to do, do it and it will be enough. It is not what we do for Christ that matters it is what we do In Christ that matters. At the end of the day everything will be seen as it really is. Everything hidden will be brought to the light. Only what was truly of and out from Christ will remain. That is what will really matter. If you seek to live out from and do that which comes from Him each day that is the only thing that counts. Our works are nothing apart from that. We can go to the ends of the earth in His name and never get to Him. We can spend all we have to feed the poor and still not come into that which really matters. That is why it says . And yet I show you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy understanding all mysteries.... and faith to move mountains, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor...and give my body to be burned, but have not love I am nothing, it profits me nothing. ( 1 Corinthians 12:31) (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

But likewise if we just come to the cross for the benefits of the blood and not the hassle and trouble thereof then what have we really done? It is not a place I would want to be in the end. He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for My sake will find it (Matthew 10:38-39)

That to me is the balance between grace and works.

 

[BobRyan]

It sounds like Jesus is saying if you are angry with your brother or call him "good for nothing" you are guilty in our Earthly courts, but calling someone a fool makes you guilty of hell. Does this mean some sins lead to hell and others not? I have never understood this.

He is talking about the "court of heaven".

The Jews would have known about it from Daniel 7.

9 “I kept looking
Until thrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days took His seat;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head like pure wool.
His throne was ablaze with flames,
Its wheels were a burning fire.
10 A river of fire was flowing
And coming out from before Him;
Thousands upon thousands were serving Him,
And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him;
The court convened,
And the books were opened.

...
13 “I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a son of man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 And to Him was given dominion,
Honor, and a kingdom,
So that all the peoples, nations, and populations of all languages
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.
.
..21 I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and prevailing against them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

...26 But the court will convene for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the empires will serve and obey Him.’​

 

[timothyu]

So salvation now requires you to love your neighbor as yourself?

Always did and Jesus made that plain in His two commandments.