Posted on 04/12/2022 9:58:02 AM PDT by metmom
‘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 fiery hell’” (Matthew 5:21–22).
Throughout history, most decent people rest assured that at least one sin they have not committed is murder. The conventional wisdom limits murder to physically taking another person’s life. But Jesus’ teaching on murder shatters the self-righteous complacency of so many good people.
God’s original command “you shall not commit murder” was of course scriptural (Ex. 20:13). But the Jewish practice of taking murder cases to civil court fell well short of the biblical standard in three ways: it did not prescribe the death penalty (Gen. 9:6), it did not take God’s holy character into consideration (His role in meting out judgment, the sinfulness of taking a life made in His image, or the general disobedience to the law), and it said nothing about the heart offense of the murderer. These omissions ignored David’s statement in Psalm 51:6, “You [God] desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.”
With the transitional words, “But I say to you,” Jesus begins to point us to a scriptural understanding of murder and its implications. Murder goes much deeper than physically taking someone’s life. It originates with evil thoughts in the heart, and is still a serious sin, whether or not it culminates in violent action against another person.
Ask Yourself
If Jesus is making this harder than before, then what’s so freeing about being free from the law? Why is this more helpful than a black-and-white statute?
From Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. 1, John MacArthur. Copyright © 2008. Used by permission of Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL 60610, www.moodypublishers.com.
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Studying God’s Word ping
Sounds like we’re all guilty of murder
I will take a simple poke at the question in hand as a cvery laidback layman. I would postulate that Jesus was saying we are sinners, even the devout among us who have had evil thoughts about another being—and thus as we are all sinners, we need to repent and ask the Lord for forgiveness for all transgressions minor and major.
Yes. And thus all of us are in need of redemption, available through the finished work of Christ on the cross.
For all have sinned........................
the Law wasn’t given to us to show us how we ought to live,
it was given to us to show us how imperfect we are and how much we are in need of a Savior.
What is impossible for men is possible for God.
“God...Himself...shall provide the sacrifice”
“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Everyone is a scoundrel of varying degrees - All in need of the Savior for eternal life. Pride the biggest separating sin of them all.
No we aren’t all.guo,ty of murder for being angry at someone. The words used for anger depict a vicious a German, not simple upsetness towards someone
Its important to,jnderstand that the anger he speaks of isn’t the simple anger that everyone experiences and gets over, it is the type of vicious anger that dwells on hurting the other person, and getting revenge. It is a brooding seething anger that consumes a person who then wishes evil on their opponent.
Brings to mind the expression, “If looks could kill…”
Also note that the verse says angry with someone “without cause”- this denotes that there is sometimes a justifiable reason to be angry with someone ifmtheremisma,cause to,be angry at,them.
There are many reasons to,be angry at people, even a righteous anger towards others when needed, but the person who is angry for no reason, who harbors ill will, and who plots revenge, this kind of intense anger leads to murder in some cases, and this kind of anger is obviouxly not godly or a justified anger.
We obviously,shoukd be righteously,angry towards the evil,that permeates society and destroys lives. This is a righteous anger. There is also,reason to,be angry with people for hurting us, but thus anger needs to,be bridled lest it lead to the kindmof,anger that rises up and plots harm to the other person.
One can be angry with someone and give the situation to God to,handle rather than taking matters into their own hands
“...a brooding seething anger that consumes a person who then wishes evil on their opponent.”
Oh. Like leftist Progs vs Conservatives, and — to a far lesser extent — vice versa.
Notably, a fairly recent Axios (I think) poll found nearly 40% of political leftists claiming they would break relationship with friends over differing cultural and political opinions. Only 5% of those more politically right-wing said the same. [Yes. Cite needed. I’ll have to track it down, but I think it was in an American Thinker article I’ve read within the past day or two.]
So, within the context of “all have sinned, and fall short” let’s at least be done with the political mythology of “both sides are doing it.”
More constructively, though, I don’t need to wish evil on anyone; the wrath of God is stored up to handle that, and the eternal backstop for any who might miss it is Hell, itself. So, the problem can be thought of as self-correcting; I don’t have to devote brain waves to solving it on my own, though it’s good to ruminate on it long enough to grasp the eternal finale that alleviates our pressure to effect a terrestrial solution.
Still, I’m rather fond of the sound of leftists gnashing their teeth, so I pray “impossible” things like, “Oh, God, that The Lamb Who was slain may have the fullness of the reward for which he suffered, let your Holy Spirit fall upon Ketanji Brown Jackson in vibrant convicting power to turn her dead heart fully toward You in redeeming grace that — like Saul was turned to Paul — her life, which is now bent on evil, would be snatched from Satan’s grasp, and turned to a life-giving instrument of righteousness. Amen.”
that’s the point- our anger can stop at that idea that it is God who repays- not us-
The bible speaks about ‘being angry and sinning not’ - which at first glance woudl seem to contradict Matt 5 22 that seems to condemn all anger- but again it condemns anger ‘without cause’ so obviously it can’t mean that all sin regardless of whether there is cause or no cause is sin- The ‘do not let the sun go down on your anger’ also speaks of that seething hate-filled anger that has murderous intent- not simple anger- that has no murderous intent-
I always figured not letting the sun go down on your wrath was more about not holding a grudge.
Amen! Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
And it will be appropriate and just.
the way we were taught was that the word for anger there means a violent anger- it means wrath- violent wrath=- plotting wrath- giving the Devil a chance to inflame more what is already inflamed by a deadly or revenge filled anger-
Jesus was talking to the Jews who hated the gentiles with a passion- and now all of a sudden the Gentiles are part of the body of Christ
when a person goes to bed fuming, lyign awake in wrath, figuring out how to get even, then waking up and continuing in their fuming rage- that is sin-
It’s actually healthy to go to bed angry rather than lash out at a person before going to bed- as long as you let it melt from you so you can fall asleep and wake up with a new perspective on the issues-
The way we were taught was that righteous anger is justified- Hating the sin- even being angry at a person for various reasons, but vengeful plotting wrath is a totally different animal- When we seethe in anger towards the person rather than towards the sin, we give the evil one a chance to work further on our anger till it results in our deciding to take revenge-
The bible tells us to be angry and sin not- then in matt says we shouldn’t be ‘angry’ or else we sin- but note it does say angry ‘without cause’- and since the two verses seem to contradict each other- there has to be an explanation to explain the seeming discrepancy- so i believe the ‘without cause’ gives us insight into what Jesus is talking about- The Jews he was speaking to really really hated Gentiles- and they had to righteous cause to be angry towards them- I believe this is what Jesus was talking to when he said this verse about anger- I believe he was talking about wrath- Their anger and contempt for Gentiles woudl break out in scorn- which could lead back then to court suits against them- as that kind of explosive anger was frowned upon- it was an anger directed at the person unjustifiably, and it took it out on the person- going to bed with that kind of anger was not a good thing-
Here’s a bit about the difference and which Jesus condemns
“Barclay notes that there were two Greek words for anger: thumos, which is a fiery kind of anger that flames up and then dies—and orge, which is a smoldering anger, the kind of anger that a person nurtures and keeps alive. It is orge—the kind of anger that we deliberately harbor in our hearts over long periods of time—that Jesus condemns here.”
https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary-old/matthew-521-37/
That Thumos- ‘which flames up then dies’ is the anger i spoke of that it is probably better to go to bed with without saying anything- then awaken in the morning to find that it has died down- or even if things were said- get up i n th e morning and apologize in the light of a new day- but the other anger, the ogre- results in a stewing seething violent anger that doesn’t forget and forgive-
I think it even more common that the ‘do not let the sun go down on your anger’ refers to our tendency to simply put forgiveness of others on the back burner and let things ride instead of doing the hard and godly work of dealing with it.
Look, God The Father CRUSHED JESUS (Is. 53:10) at Calvary so that other person wouldn’t have to die for what they did to you; the wages of sin IS Death, after all (Rom. 6:23). Is Jesus’ sacrifice enough for you to let it go, or has God not gone far enough for you?
Yes, God in Christ eradicated the PENALTY of sin; nailing it to the cross in our place, and we ought not miss that God, The Father, is the Agent here, either. But our relational sin — and unforgiveness is one — has relational CONSEQUENCES about which Christ taught us to pray “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”; that the parable of the unforgiving servant is set in the context of Jesus’ teaching us about the requirement that we forgive others for our good should be a mammoth clue (c.f. Matthew 18). In fact, the unforgiving servant being given over to “torturers,” should stand as a startling depiction of why we ought to be quick to forgive.
Don’t wait for sunset; it’s always five o’clock somewhere.
Even a cursory reading of the Book will let the reader know that there are NO 'decent' people and that ANY sin is as bad as the perceived 'worst' one(s).
I am!
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