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I knew this was going to be the rebuttle. So I waited for it to be brought up. This one is easy. You are right, He is talking about the Law here.
First His audience needs to be established. Was he talking to the crowd, the pharisee's or was he talking to the disciples? From the audience, you will understand the context of what Jesus meant by Gehenna.
Matthew 5:1-2
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying....
Was he talking to the Pharisee? No, he was either talking to the crowds or his disciples or both. Since he was not talking to the Pharisee, I will make simple, Jesus was refering to the garbage pit outside Jerusalem called Gehenna. We still need to realize that at this time Gehenna was a garbage dump even if it had respresented the judgment coming to Israel. It was where they threw the dead bodies of those who broke the law and were stoned to death. So, now look at the context of what Jesus was talking about.
Matthew 5:21-22
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.
Numbers 35
...murderer shall be put to death.
Matthew 5:27-30
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into Gehenna.
Leviticus 20:10
" 'If a man commits adultery with another man's wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
What do they do with the bodies of criminals who broke the Law? They threw them into a physical Gehenna. KCDAD was correct concerning this usage of Gehenna but only when it came to Matthew 5.
Matthew 10:28
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
Jesus was warning the disciples of the Pharisee in Matthew 10, they are the only ones who ever destroyed the soul and body in Gehenna. God does not do this.
Jeremiah 7:31
They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom (Gehenna), to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.
So Jesus was not warning them of God who would destory their soul and body in Gehenna, since it is nothing that God commans, nor did it come into His Mind to do this.
We look at the context of Matthew 10, Jesus was warning the disciples of the Pharisee who would persue and kill them just like the they did the prophets and throw innocent people into the Gehenna. Simply stated. He was telling them that they will die, but the ones who are most dangerous are those who killed innocent people and threw them into the Fires of Gehenna because they did not follow God.
We look at Matthew 23, Jesus was talking to the Pharisee, and so when He said:
Matthew 23:32-33 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of Gehenna"
He was talking about the Judgement of Gehenna. What came out of Gehenna by the voices of the prophets of old, Josiah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, David, Solomon and Hosea (to name a few) concerning the evil practices of the Hebrew people, and that was God was bringing from Heaven a Stone from Zion, and it would reject Israel, Judah, Jerusalem and the Temple that bore his name, and salvation will given to a foriegn people, those who babble, and the people who were not His people, would then be called Sons of God. Of course that foriegn people with babbling tongues who were not God's people, wre the Gentiles! Jesus was warning, upon that Generation, those whom He was talking to, that this judgment will be consumated. Sure enough it was, Jesus died for ALL mankind, and the Jews could not attain righteousness by the works, because a righteousness apart from works manifested. Israel would be cut off and the Gentiles grafted in.
So there is Gehenna, the garbage dump.
There is Gehenna, the practice of apostate Jews.
there is Gehenna, the judgment which cut the Hebrew people off leaving only a remnent saved by grace.
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