Are You A Murderer?
Matthew 5:21-26
“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.’ 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. 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 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. 25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.”
As you know, we are studying through the Sermon on the Mount. In it, Jesus is teaching His disciples about His kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. We are learning what it looks like to be a kingdom citizen, a disciple of Jesus. And what we have learned so far is extremely challenging. He began with the Beatitudes—eight kingdom attitudes characterize those who are blessed by God. They are those who are poor in spirit, who mourn over sin, who are meek and submitted to God, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, pure, peacemakers, and who rejoice when they are persecuted. And if you were honest with yourself before God, like me, you found yourself falling way short of His kingdom righteousness.
Then Jesus revealed two expectations of kingdom disciples. They are to be salt and light in the world, serving as a preservative to prevent the corruption of this evil world and as a light to expose the darkness of sin and reveal the truth and salvation in Jesus Christ. And again we were convicted and challenged by the high standard of the kingdom of heaven.
Then we saw the great principles that Jesus set forth concerning His relationship to the Old Testament law and what that meant for us, His disciples. Remember that Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” (Matt. 5:17). Jesus fulfilled the law in the promises and prophecies; in His perfect life, death, and resurrection; and in implanting God’s law in the hearts of His disciples. The basis for His fulfilling the law was its enduring authority from God (Matt. 5:18). The law of God cannot be abolished, annulled, or avoided.
Jesus warned those who would break God’s commandments and promised a blessing to those who keep them and teach others to keep them (Matt. 5:19). In fact, Jesus taught, “… unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). The scribes and Pharisees had reduced obedience to God’s law to a superficial matter of merely conforming to the outward “letter” of the law. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were meticulous in trying to keep every little detail of the Law in its external conformities, but they neglected the need for inner cleansing and purity. Jesus was saying that the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was not good enough, because the righteousness produced and acquired by religious activity will not get anyone into the kingdom of heaven.
Rather than the superficial, external, and hypocritical righteousness of the Pharisees, Christ’s disciples must have a true righteousness. Their righteousness must not just be the man-centered standard of the Pharisees, it must be the perfection of God. Jesus will conclude Matthew 5 by teaching, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48).
Now, to be clear, Jesus understands we are not capable of perfection in our sinful condition. The Sermon on the Mount is meant to expose faulty righteousness. It is meant to show us our need for the Savior, Jesus Christ. And it is meant to show us the inner heart change that God makes in one who believes in Jesus for salvation.
Everything from Matthew 5:21 to the end of the chapter is an explanation, an illustration, and an application of what Jesus has just taught about the law in Matthew 5:17-20. Jesus is teaching us the true meaning of the law, and as we mentioned last time, in this section Jesus repeatedly uses the phrase: “You have heard that it was said … but I say.” Six times in this chapter Jesus will use this phrase or some variation of it.
The first illustration Jesus gives us is that of the sixth commandment. The scribes and Pharisees had reduced obedience to God’s law to a superficial matter of merely conforming to the outward “letter” of the law. (Ex. 20:13). And I believe Jesus chose this one for a reason. This would be a commandment that even the most imperfect scribe or Pharisee could boast of having kept to the strict letter of the law. Even today, people often defend themselves by comparing themselves to others and saying something like, “Well, I’m certainly not perfect, but I’m not as bad as some people. After all, I haven’t murdered anyone.”
But as we look closer at Jesus’ words, we discover that we can only say that we haven’t “murdered” if we’re looking at the law in an external sense. Jesus here teaches the true intent of the commandment, “You shall not murder.” And as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to be characterized by a higher obedience to God’s law than a mere conformity to its outward ‘letter’. Our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. It’s not enough that we have not physically taken the life of another. God’s intention is that we do nothing, or say nothing, or think nothing, or even wish nothing, that in any sense takes away from the personhood or dignity of another. That, according to the Lord’s teaching, is the real intention of God’s commandment, “You shall not murder.”
Let’s consider Jesus’ words a little closer this morning. Let’s begin by examining . . .
1. The real meaning of murder (Matt. 5:21-22)[i]
Jesus began by identifying what people typically thought of when they thought of that commandment. He said, “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 Jesus spoke of what was said to “those of old“, He wasn’t necessarily speaking of the written commandment itself. He was speaking of the particular way in which that commandment had come to be interpreted by the teachers and scholars since the ancient times of the Jewish people. He was about to show how they had not been interpreting that commandment correctly.
The scribes and Pharisees had taught the people the mere “letter-of-the-law” of the sixth commandment. They taught that the commandment was being kept if someone had merely refrained from the physical act of murder—the unlawful taking of another human life. They had restricted the intended application of that commandment by combining it with Numbers 35:30: “Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses . . .” Thus, they taught that the sixth commandment only referred to an act that could be witnessed and tried in a court of law, murder. The sixth commandment certainly meant that much; but the ‘spirit’ of that commandment meant much more than just that. So Jesus first analyzed what they have been taught and then He explains what they should have been taught.
Look at how Jesus does this. He steps in and says, “. . . But I say to you . . .” (Matt. 5:22). In the original language, He speaks emphatically: “But I myself say to you . . .” Do you see what Jesus is doing here? He is asserting Himself as an authority even greater than the ancient teachers! He is asserting Himself as the true interpreter of God’s law! He, and He alone, is the true interpreter.
This was one of the outstanding features of Jesus’ teaching ministry. He didn’t merely quote other authorities like the other Jewish teachers. He dared to speak and teach from His own divine authority! After Jesus teaches this sermon Matthew 7:28-29 record the people’s reaction to it: “28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” The scribes tried to lend authority to their teaching by quoting from others; but not Jesus. He didn’t need to borrow authority from anyone else. He already had all authority (Matthew 28:18).
Now remember, our Lord was not asserting His authority, and saying, “But I say to you . . .” to contradict God’s law. He was not saying that “those of old” were wrong about the divine authority of the commandment itself. Nor was He now introducing something new and different from God’s commandment. What He was doing was asserting His authority to correct the popular interpretation of that commandment.
Look at how Jesus teaches us this. He says that, from times of old, the people were taught that the sixth commandment strictly meant that, if anyone took the physical life of another, they would be “in danger of judgment” (Matt. 5:21), meaning, the judgment of human courts. The word, translated “in danger of” literally means “held in.” It is used in the sense of being held guilty for a crime, or liable for and unable to escape the penalty imposed by the court. Jesus uses the same word three times in Matthew 5:22 to speak of those who are guilty and subject to punishment.
So Jesus says in Matthew 5:22, “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the court.” In other words, whoever is angry with his brother is just as guilty before God and liable for the penalty for murder as the man who rises up and takes another person’s life!
It sounds as if Jesus made the sixth commandment so strict that it would be humanly impossible to keep, doesn’t it? People have often sought to soften the edge of Jesus’ words. In fact, some ancient copies of the New Testament tried to soften the edge of these words by adding the phrase “without a cause”. The New King James Version features those words; but they are not found in the oldest and best of the ancient Greek texts. If those words were added later, it’s easy to understand why. After all, Jesus Himself displayed anger at times. Jesus was angry when people dishonored His Father’s temple, or when people behaved hypocritically, or when they used innocent people for selfish and ungodly purposes. Jesus was never angry “without a cause“, though.
The verb “is angry” in the original language is a present passive participle; and a correct translation would be, “. . . Whoever continues to be angry toward his brother in an ongoing, habitual way is liable to judgment . . .” It’s not “Whoever HAS BEEN angry with his brother . . .”, but “Whoever IS angry with his brother . . .” in the sense of a continual state of enmity.
Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote, “‘Be angry, and do not sin’“, quoting from Psalm 4:4. Then Paul is helpful in explaining what it means to be angry without sin “. . . Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:26-27). In other words, we’re not to hold on to our anger against someone continually, but we are to make sure our anger is set aside before the day comes to an end. Jesus is teaching that, when we keep on being angry toward our brother and hold a grudge against him, we are sinning and are guilty of murder, liable for punishment.
Now that alone is enough to make murderers out of us all. But Jesus goes even further. Jesus teaches, “And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council.” “Raca” was an Aramaic word of contempt and insult that, according to some scholars, meant something like “empty head”. Jesus teaches that such names, spoken in a moment of anger, are acts of murder that are forbidden in the sixth commandment. They are taking the life of another and make someone guilty of murder before the highest courts of the land!
Then Jesus teaches, “But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” The Greek word for “fool” is mõros from which we get the word moron. To call someone “Raca!” is to merely attack their head; but the sense of calling them a “fool” is to attack their spirit, the very personhood of another. It’s the difference between carelessly and thoughtlessly calling someone “dummy”, and seriously condemning someone as a complete and utter reject in the sight of God, a “fool” in the worst sense. Jesus says that that’s enough to make you subject to the very fires of hell.
And I hope you can see the point of all this. It means that the real intention of God’s commandment against murder is much greater than merely the prohibition of the taking of a physical life. It’s real intention is that we do nothing, or say nothing, or think nothing that would, in any way, diminish the humanity of another. Because God “looks at the heart,” we realize that the Law which God gave to Moses involved much more than our actions, it was designed to look straight into our hearts, our thoughts, our desires.
Isn’t that true of God’s Word? Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” God’s law, God’s word, is not simply interested in what you do, God’s word is interested in who you are.
And if you’ve read the Old Testament then you know that the issue was never just whether or not you killed someone, but it was always about the condition of your heart. God had always been concerned with attitudes – that wasn’t anything new. It was just that the people of Israel had lowered the standard, and consequently, needed to be reminded of that. They were justifying themselves by what they didn’t do, while their hearts were full of murder, lust, lies, hate, and anger.
In fact, God’s real intention behind the sixth commandment is far more than that, negatively speaking, we refrain from killing our brother. Rather, it’s that, positively speaking, we faithfully love our brother. The apostle John wrote, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:14-15).
Now let’s face it: this makes us all into murderers in God’s eyes, doesn’t it? It may be true that no physical blood was shed; and it may be true that no human court can actually convict us of such acts of murder in the heart. But God does see it us guilty of murder just the same.
So then; what do we do about it? Well, we can be thankful that Jesus doesn’t leave us in the dark as to what to do. Do you see the word “Therefore” in verse 23? That’s were Jesus tells us . . .
2. The necessity of reconciliation (Matt. 5:23-26)
Reconciliation simply means making peace with others. We talked about it in the Beatitudes when we discussed being a peacemaker. Now Jesus shows us how important it is to guard against the sin of murder in our hearts. Jesus gives us two illustrations – the first one from the perspective of worship in the temple, and the second one from the perspective of the court of law.
First, Jesus says, “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar. and there remember that your brother has something against you . . . ” Jesus makes it personal. If YOU come to worship and remember something! How many of you have experienced this? You are on your way to church, or you come to the Lord’s Table and God lovingly but gently reminds you of an issue in your relationships that you have not resolved. And note that it’s not that you have something against your brother; but that your brother has something against you. Now it is not just that I should not be angry at my brother, but that I should also do everything in my power to make sure my brother has no grounds to be angry at me. Perhaps I spoke that angry, hateful word to my brother and now he resents me. Perhaps I exposed my seething angry heart and my brother knows it.
Jesus says that, before taking another step toward the altar of God, you must: “. . . Leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” In this, Jesus teaches us that God places a higher priority on the heart condition of the giver than He does on the gift itself. The worshipper is to come back, but only after having made things right with his brother. Even if you have done nothing wrong but if your brother is angry at you, God would rather have you fix that, than for you to bring an offering to Him.
And I would suggest that this has particular application to our church when we come before the Lord’s Table to participate in the communion meal. We should never come to the “communion” table with “murder” toward each other in our hearts. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11, “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” (1 Cor. 11:27). The word “guilty” in that verse is the same as the word or “in danger of” here in Matthew 5, meaning “liable for”. To eat the Lord’s Supper in a manner that violates its purpose to proclaim the Lord’s death and the forgiveness of sin makes one “liable” for the death of the Lord. The Corinthians were coming to the Lord’s Table making no distinction between the Lord’s Supper and a common supper or festival. They came without love and concern for one another and thus they came with murder in their hearts. So, before you come to the Lord’s Table today if there is some forgiveness that needs to be sought in your life, seek it; if there is some forgiveness that needs to take place in your life, give it. Make sure your heart is right with God.
Now, that first illustration was taken from the realm of worship. But Jesus’ second illustration is taken from the realm of law. He says, “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him . . .” The word “adversary” is one that refers to a legal opponent; and the picture is one of a man walking down the road on his way to the court to stand before the judge. Along the way, he meets up with his opponent in law. It’s to the advantage of the one man, in such a situation, to work out terms of agreement with the other while “on the way” – that is, to settle out of court quickly, before coming before the judge.
Jesus clearly teaches us that the time to make restitution is NOW. I believe Jesus is giving us a picture of the threat of judgment before God. Our Lord has already spoken of such judgment in verse 22, and I believe He is urging us, in very serious terms, to make peace quickly with the one we’ve been murdering—while there is still time—”lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be throne into prison.” Do it before you stand before the judge.
Again, this illustration should be seen carefully, and in the context of “heart-murder”. The man or woman who harbors ‘heart-murder’ against another brother or sister, and who will not repent, will stand as guilty of ‘murder’ before God. “Assuredly,” Jesus says, “I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.” The whole point here is that because of your heart murder you are guilty, and you are on your way to see the judge. You had better do something to settle out of court. This isn’t meant to teach us that we can buy our way out of God’s judgment. Quite the opposite, this is meant to impress upon us that it is impossible to buy ourselves out of it. And it’s meant to reinforce to us the urgency of making things right with our brother while we have the chance in life. We must do it “quickly”.
How do we do that? Come to Jesus for salvation. Paul writes in Romans that the righteousness of God “… shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” (Rom. 4:24-25). He then writes, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So you might ask, “Doesn’t that mean that God no longer condemns a believer even for murder in the heart?” Yes, it does. Because of the death and resurrection of Christ our sins are forgiven and we have no fear of eternal judgment. But then in light of what Jesus teaches in Matthew 5, I have to turn the question around and ask, “Would a true, genuine believer continue to hold, unrepentingly, to such a murderous attitude toward another believer?” And the Bible’s answer to that is also NO. As we’ve already seen, the apostle John said, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). A lifestyle of unrepented hatred is heart-murder. And again, this simply underscores the urgent need to repent now – while we can, and before we face the judgment seat of God!
And so now, as we draw near to the Lord’s table this morning, let me ask you: Has the Holy Spirit stopped you short, and brought something to your remembrance? Has he revealed to you that you have been committing murder in your heart toward another; and that He wants that matter taken care of before you come to the communion meal? Perhaps He is urging you to refrain from partaking of His table until you have reconciled with the one who has something against you. Perhaps He is even calling you to stop, before you partake of His supper, and make things right with someone in this very room today.
May God lead you to do so now – while you are still “on the way”.
[i] Greg Allen, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2004/100304.htm#f1 Copyright © 2004 Bethany Bible Church, used by permission on web site. I adapted Allen’s outline and some of his points in the sermon.
