you that un less your righ teous ness surpass es that of the Phar i sees and the teachers of the law , you will cer tain ly not en ter the king dom of heav en .
Murder 5:25,26pp — Lk 12:58,59
21 “ You have heard that it was said to the
peo ple long ago , ‘ You shall not mur der , a a and any one who mur ders will be sub ject to judg ment .’ 22 But I tell you that any one who is an gry with a broth er or sis ter b , c will be sub ject to judg ment . b Again , any one who says to a broth er or sis ter , ‘ Raca ,’ d is an swer able to the court . c And any one who says , ‘ You fool !’ will be in dan ger of the fire of hell . d
23 “ There fore , if you are of fer ing your gift
at the al tar and there re mem ber that your broth er or sis ter has some thing against you , 24 leave your gift there in front of the al tar . First go and be rec on ciled to them ; then come and of fer your gift .
25 “ Set tle mat ters quick ly with your adver sary who is tak ing you to court . Do it while you are still to geth er on the way , or
5:21 a Ex 20:13 ; Dt 5:17 5:22 b 1Jn 3:15 c Mt 26:59
d Jas 3:6
5:27 e Ex 20:14 ; Dt 5:18 5:28 f Pr 6:25 5:29 g Mt 18:6 , 8 , 9 ; Mk 9:42‐47
Matthew 5:30 | 1619
your ad ver sary may hand you over to the judge , and the judge may hand you over to the of fi cer , and you may be thrown into pris on . 26 Tru ly I tell you , you will not get out un til you have paid the last pen ny .
Adultery
27 “ You have heard that it was said , ‘ You
shall not com mit adul tery .’ e e 28 But I tell you that any one who looks at a wom an lust ful ly has al ready com mit ted adul tery with her in his heart . f 29 If your right eye caus es you to stum ble , g gouge it out and throw it away . It is bet ter for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell . 30 And if your right hand caus es you to stum ble , cut it off and throw it away . It is bet ter for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell .
a 21 Exodus 20:13 b 22 The Greek word for brother
or sister ( adelphos ) refers here to a fellow disciple , whether man or woman ; also in verse 23 . c 22 Some manuscripts brother or sister without cause d 22 An Aramaic term of contempt e 27 Exodus 20:14 the demand that people free a mother bird ( Dt 22:7 ), but that whoever kept this command received life , the same reward as one who kept the greatest command , honoring father and mother ( Dt 5:16 ). The titles of least or greatest in the kingdom are also graphic and hyperbolic . A rabbi could , e . g ., praise one pupil as wiser than the entire rest of the world , and the next day praise another pupil in the same terms ; such statements were graphic ways of making the point , not invitations to calculate an individual ’ s precise merit . 5:20 the Pharisees and the teachers of the law . Pharisees belonged to a movement scrupulous in understanding and obeying the law according to the traditions of their predecessors ( the “ tradition of the elders ”; see 15:2 ; Mk 7:3,5 ). Far more than the aristocratic Sadducees , Pharisees were also popular with the people and respected for their piety . They tithed meticulously , were careful about ritual purity , and at least during the dry season , they often fasted twice a week . The term for “ teachers of the law ” can refer even to executors of legal documents in villages , but in the Gospels it normally refers to those who were literate and formally trained in the Law of Moses , often teaching others the law . Jesus ’ words are again designed to shock his hearers , since Pharisees and teachers of the law would be among the people most respected for piety . But Jesus demands a deeper form of righteousness ( see vv . 21 – 48 ). 5:21 heard that it was said . Sometimes Jewish teachers would say something like , “ You have heard it said , but I say ,” meaning , “ You thought it meant only this , but it actually means also this . . .” ( cf . 1Co 7:12 ). murder . The prohibition against murder was one of the cardinal commandments ( Ex 20:13 ; Dt 5:17 ). 5:22 anyone who is angry . The law limited sin , but Jesus ’ kingdom demands go deeper ; the law said , “ You shall not murder ,” but Jesus demanded , “ You shall not want to murder .” Some other ancient teachers agreed that desiring to kill someone revealed the same sort of heart that actually could commit murder . The insult , “ Raca ” ( essentially meaning , “ empty ,” “ devoid of value ”) was roughly equivalent to the common insult , “ Fool .” The punishments might also be equivalent , if the “ judgment ” and the “ court ” refer to the tradition , attested in later Jewish literature , of a heavenly court ( cf . vv . 25 – 26 ). Jesus ’ word for “ hell ” here is a Greek rendering of Gehinnom ( Gehenna ), a place of fiery torment for the damned ( see note on 3:12 ); by adding explicit mention of “ fire ,” Jesus underlines the warning even more strongly . Jesus might have employed an element of hyperbole to drive home the point ( cf . his use of “ fools ” in 23:17 ). 5:23 – 24 God welcomed offerings only from those who acted justly ( Ge 4:4 – 7 ; Pr 15:8 ; Isa 1:11 – 17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Am 5:21 – 24 ). 5:26 paid the last penny . The term for “ penny ” here refers to the quadrans , a Roman coin equivalent to only several minutes ’ wages . Some think this parable uses the image of debt imprisonment , a Gentile custom forbidden in Jewish circles in this period . 5:27 adultery . The prohibition against adultery was one of the cardinal commandments and allowed no exceptions ( Ex 20:14 ; Dt 5:18 ). 5:28 anyone who looks at a woman lustfully . Whereas the law merely said , “ You shall not commit adultery ,” Jesus demanded , “ You shall not want to commit adultery .” Many ancient Jewish moralists condemned lust ; some later rabbis even compared extreme lust to adultery . Jesus ’ warning here develops the context of the prohibition against adultery in the law : the seventh commandment prohibited adultery , but the tenth commandment warned that one should not even covet one ’ s neighbor ’ s wife ( Ex 20:17 ; Dt 5:21 ). Jesus uses here the same verb as in the standard Greek translation of the tenth commandment . He refers , then , to wanting to have one ’ s neighbor ’ s wife . The principle , of course , extends beyond Jesus ’ illustration , applying to both genders and to single people , coveting one who might be someone else ’ s spouse someday . 5:30 cut it off . Corporal punishment in which a member was cut off was better than capital punishment or eternal torment . Because cutting off an offending member would not necessarily end one ’ s sin , Jesus here uses hyperbole , or rhetorical overstatement , to graphically