Matthew 5:21-32

All right, welcome back to the listeners commentary on the gospel of Matthew in this recording we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter 5, 21 through 32. We're going to cover a lot of ground fairly quickly here when we could really slow down and think through some of the implications of things a little more fully and we just don't have time to do that on the commentary, it doesn't really make sense. But on my Bible and Life podcast where I went through the sermon on the mount several years ago, I do that. I slow down, think through the implications and approach it more in smaller chunks. So if you want more detail after you listen to this recording, you could go find some of those recordings there on the Bible and Life podcast. So let's jump into this section here by looking at the context. Just remember where we're at and the entire flow of the sermon on the mount. Chapter 5, 1 through 20, functions as the introduction to the sermon on the mount and it culminates in what I understand to be the main theme of the sermon and that theme is this idea of surpassing righteousness. And then coming out of that theme at the end of verse 20, beginning here in this section what Jesus does is he provides some examples of what surpassing righteousness looks like. In this section we're going to look at the first two, murder and adultery. And what Jesus does is he's going to offer some reflections and teachings on two of the 10 commandments to help us really see how deep they go and how wise and important they are. So the overarching question here is what really is the aim of the commands you shall not murder and you shall not commit adultery. So Jesus begins with the murder command. He says in verse 21, "You have heard that the ancients were told." That is our forefathers, those who lived a long time ago. You have heard that they were told you shall not murder and whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court. This refers to command 6 of 10, right? I have the 10 commandments, here's command 6, "You shall not murder." And he amplifies it with this further statement, "Whoever commits murder shall be answerable to or liable to the court." They're going to be guilty before the court if you commit murder. And we would all agree that murder is a heinous, not only crime, but sin. And the fact is most of us could say, "I haven't committed murder." And if that in itself made us truly righteous, then that would be that. But there's more to it than that. And so Jesus goes on in verse 22 to help us see that the principle of the thing goes much deeper than just the actual act of murder itself. So he says in verse 22, "But I say to you." The ancients were told this, "But I say to you." And this really demonstrates Jesus' authority for being able to say, "Look, listen to me, there's actually more going on here than meets the eye." So I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother or sister shall be answerable to the court. It's not just whoever commits murder, it's being angry with them makes you liable before the court. And whoever says to his brother, "You good for nothing shall be answerable to the Supreme court." Whoever says, "You fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." And we get what anger is here. These other two, and he says, "You good for nothing or you fool." These are actually two terms of contempt. What Jesus is doing is giving a couple examples of how anger might play out in contempt. The phrase good for nothing literally is the word raka. The aromatic term of contempt, roughly like the idea of like idiot or something like that. And you fool is another term of contempt, you know, you're stupid, you're a fool. But in a Jewish context, the idea of a fool included kind of immoral component as well. Think of the fool and the proverbs who doesn't listen to advice, who can't control his emotions, who won't take wise counsel. That's the fool. So what Jesus is helping them and us see is that anger and contempt really violate the sixth commandment as well. The principle of the thing Jesus is saying is that contempt for other people and the anger towards other people that leads us to be mean and hurtful and spiteful and vengeful to do cruel things to other people, right? That anger and contempt that leads us to say hurtful things to our husband or our wife or our kids or our neighbor or coworkers, even if we don't say them out loud, but we say them in our own mind, that anger and contempt is destructive and damaging as well to human flourishing. The biggest takeaway from this text then is for us to agree with Jesus and own that anger and the contempt that often flows from it isn't good, it isn't right. So we quit justifying our anger, we quit minimizing our anger, we don't blame others for our anger, we own it, we confess it, we resolve and plan to deal with it. Then Jesus gives two illustrations that envision the kind of person he wants his people to be. Verse 23, here is the first illustration, it says, therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar, that is at the altar in Jerusalem, that's important because Jesus is teaching in Galilee. People in Galilee might only get to Jerusalem once a year, maybe twice a year. So you've made this trip all the way from Galilee down to Jerusalem 80 to 90 miles to the south, this is the highlight of the year for you, it's a high moment in your life. There you are about ready to present your offering on the altar, and Jesus says, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, has a beef with you, that there's something fractured in some relationship with one of your brothers or sisters, one of your fellow Jews, and then Jesus says, here's what you should do, verse 24, leave your offering there before the altar, and go, first be reconciled to your brother, then come and present your offering. This is an example of how ready and willing Jesus wants His disciples to be to repair broken relationships, as far as it's possible with you, be at peace with all men. The idea here is to have a conciliatory spirit, to be eager and ready to make amends. And Jesus creates a bit of an extreme example to emphasize how important this is and how those in His kingdom are going to take this very seriously, that the work of restoring relationships and not letting anger and contempt and resentment fester and grow how important that is. If you make the trip, He says all the way down to Jerusalem to offer your offering there at the altar, set that aside, be reconciled to your brother, then come and present your offering. Then Jesus gives another scenario to drive home the point. This time from the Roman context or a civil court context. So the previous illustration is a brother or sister, it's a Jewish context and an altar and all that. But what if it's not? What if it's an outsider? What if it's an enemy? Well, Jesus gives another illustration and says this, verse 25, "Come to good terms with your accuser quickly while you are with him on the way to court so that your accuser will not hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer and you will not be thrown into prison." That's the illustration. So somebody is taking you to court and they're going to sue you in some sort of way. And Jesus is like, "Look, even if you're already on the roadway with him to go to the judge, like do everything in your power to reconcile, to make amends, to settle this issue and be done with it before you get there. Why? Because if there really is a problem, the judge is going to hand you over to the officer, you're going to be thrown into prison and then he says in verse 26, "And truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you paid up the last quadrant." The quadrants was the least valuable Roman coin, tiny little coin. It would be roughly equivalent to us saying, "You won't get out of there until you've paid the last cent." The picture here, again, paints the urgency of reconciliation. In this case, with your legal accuser, and Jesus actually says, "There's a real practical benefit to making amends as quickly as you can." Now, keep in mind that Jesus is giving illustrations. These are two illustrations, the altar and the court, right? He could have given others, but these two serve to help us see that what Jesus wants for his followers is a readiness and a willingness, almost an eagerness to make amends, to build bridges, to work things out relationally, if at all possible. Now, we have to be careful with illustrations, not to turn them into laws. There are, in other words, related. relationships that it's it's going to be really difficult where maybe you can't work things out or relationships where it may be Wises to leave those relationships behind because the people are so harmful and so damaging right that might be some wisdom as well But the main thing here is to recognize How damaging anger and contempt actually is so that rather than It's doing in anger and brewing up a cocktail of animosity and resentment and contempt Disciples of Jesus are people who readily pursue resolving conflicts So that's Jesus's further teaching on commandment number six. You shall not murder. It goes deeper than what we often think Next Jesus offers some wisdom on commandment number seven Commandment seven says verse 27 You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery. That's commandment seven and we all know what adultery is, right? adultery is when you have sex with someone who's not your spouse But Jesus is going to go on and say that it goes deeper than that that there are other ways This is really important. There are other ways to be unfaithful Than just that then just the physical act of adultery itself Jesus is going to highlight two of those other ways that were relevant in their culture and not surprisingly because human nature hasn't changed that much are relevant in our culture also and so he says but I say to you You heard that it was said don't commit adultery But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart Now just a couple little technical things when he says looks at a woman with lust for her That's actually a little bit weak the language here actually states Purpose it's looking in order to lust. It's looking with the intent to lust and that word lust is just the word for Desire but in this context it means sexual desire So you're looking with the intent to desire this person sexually speaking Notice that Jesus here in verse 28 is calling out the man holding him accountable That's not because women can't be guilty of this in his culture or in modern times Women have been guilty of this can be guilty of this Men more often than not are the ones but the primary issue here is men in their culture and in many cultures Typically have more power in Jesus culture men were the ones who could initiate divorce and they were the ones who Could commit adultery and then use their power to hide it or get away with it They were the ones who would find fault with their wives and then trade them in and Jesus is talking about surpassing righteousness that goes beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees Some of whom had been guilty of using their position and their power for these kinds of things and so Jesus doesn't want to let them off the hook And so Jesus is helping them see and us see that just because you haven't had sex with another woman or another man Doesn't mean you're as pure and as faithful as you pretend to be that purity and faithfulness is more than skin deep And so that's that's one of the other ways you can violate the seventh commandment beyond the physical act of adultery You could do so by looking to desire another person Jesus then goes on to say that in his kingdom his disciples must treat their sexual holiness with ruthless seriousness he uses hyperbole to do it He gives an extreme exaggeration to help us see how serious we must treat Sexual purity and holiness and so he says in verse 29 now if your right eye is causing you to sin tear it out and throw it away from you for it's better for you to lose one of the parts of your body Then for your whole body to be thrown into hell again This is hyperbole but it's helping us see the ruthless seriousness with which we must take this if your right eye is Causing you to to stumble and sin in the area of looking to lust get rid of it throw it away or Verse 30 if your right hand is causing you to sin well cut it off and throw it away from you again This is hyperbole. It's not literal, but it's helping us see the ruthless seriousness with which we take this for it's better for you To lose one of the parts of your body then for your whole body to go into hell to go into the Punishment of those who have violated God's ways and God's commands So one way that we can violate the intent of the seventh commandment Even if we haven't had a sex with someone who's not our spouse is by looking to lust for someone else Then Jesus gives another example another way that someone could be unfaithful to their spouse and that other way he's going to give is divorce We could have separated this out as a separate section But I think it's important here in the sermon on the mount to keep it connected to its context Rather than treating it separately and the reason for that is because it's an example of what the seventh commandment is actually Amian, that's how Jesus uses it's here. So it's directly connected to this idea of you shall not commit adultery You should not be unfaithful to your marriage vows. That's the idea Jesus will give more treatment on this subject in Matthew 19 so we can look at In a little bit more detail there, but here I want to keep it connected to this command So we see how it fits in the sermon on the mount and so he says in verse 31 Now it was said whoever sins away his wife is to give her a certificate of divorce This comes from Deuteronomy 241 and in Matthew 19 when we look at it there That make Jesus makes it clear there that this instruction was only given because of the hardness of the human heart That divorce was not something God Willed or wished for it's really not our will or our wish either right like no one actually plans their wedding day While at the same time planning on getting divorced That's just not the way we plan weddings and so divorce is not God's will It is a concession to the hardness of human heart and so in verse 32 Jesus goes on to show that divorce is contrary To marriages design and actually leads to the breaking of the seventh commandment look what he says in verse 32 He says but I say to you That everyone who divorces his wife and the reason again it stated from the man's perspective is in their culture Only the man could initiate divorce right so it was he who had to initiate maybe they were rare exceptions But for the most part only the man could initiate divorce and that's why it stated the way it is in my culture Either man or woman can initiate divorce and so the principal goes both ways and applies to both men and women here So he says Everyone who divorces his wife or we might brought it out to spouse right everyone who divorces his wife except for the Reason of sexual morality that phrase sexual morality translates a word that just refers to any sort of sexual Infidelity any sort of sexual activity beyond that within the marriage confine So whoever divorces his wife except for this reason Makes her commit adultery Notice the way that's worded causes her to become an adulterous and there's a variety of reasons for that But the general idea here is that causes her to become unfaithful To her marriage vows and then notice the follow-up in the last line of verse 32 And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery that there's been unfaithfulness here to the marriage vows notice that adultery gets mentioned twice at the end of verse 32 Why is that? Well, it's because Jesus is giving an example of another way you can break the seventh commandment He's trying to help them and us see that divorce violates the principal embodied in the command You shall not commit adultery the principal is you ought to be faithful to your marriage vows And divorce is a form of unfaithfulness now in Jesus's day divorce was actually a raging debate among the teachers of the law That's why it comes up again in Matthew 19 and it actually comes up where they're trying to invite Jesus into that debate And there were two main schools of thought in first century Jewish culture They typically centered around two kind of rabbinic schools of teaching the school or the thought of Shemaay and That of Rabbi Halal Shemaay was more the strict school on this issue here more conservative more strict and Shemaay basically said that The only reason a person can divorce their spouse is in the case like Jesus of adultery or unfaithfulness The school of Halal on the other hand was a little bit more Progressive and open and on this issue said that a person could divorce their spouse for any reason Now that they took that little phrase in Deuteronomy 24 for any reason and just said yeah, that's what it means for any reason So you could divorce your spouse if you found somebody more attractive if you're Spouse, you know, burnt your meal or whatever else it was feel free to divorce them. And that was the raging debate. And so we'll see how Jesus engages that debate in Matthew 19. But here what Jesus is saying is, if you say as a scribe or a Pharisee or somebody who's a faithful Jew, you say, "Look, I haven't broken the commandments. I've been faithful. I've never committed adultery." All the while you've traded in your spouse for a new one, casting her aside, or in our case, him aside, for whatever reason, that actually violates the intent of command number seven. You shall not commit adultery. And Jesus is trying to show us what surpassing righteousness looks like and how it goes beyond those kinds of debate of the scribes. And Pharisee, how it goes beyond their external or sometimes shallow holiness and purity. Now, because divorce is such a personal issue, and because divorce often is typically just so painful, we must bear in mind that Jesus' instructions about divorce here, and we'll see them in Matthew 19, are really driven by compassion. It's based on the fact that there is an objective reality. That is, there is a way things are supposed to be. There is a way human beings, human relationships, and in this case, human marriage is actually designed by our Creator to operate into function. And when we human beings violate the way things are designed to function, there's there's typically real harm and real brokenness that ensues. And Jesus is trying to protect us human beings from that brokenness, that harm, that damage, and that pain. And so his instructions about divorce here are actually compassionate wisdom given for that purpose of protecting us. Divorce is wrong. Not because it just violates some, you know, arbitrary religious command from Jesus himself. No, it's wrong because it violates the way God designed humans and marriage to operate. And therefore, it does real harm. It's, but it's not the unforgivable sin. So that's why we have to hear it properly, right? In this context, anger is also wrong here. Contempt is wrong here. Looking to lust is wrong here. All such things work against human flourishing and human well-being. And it's the same with divorce. It's not the way it's supposed to be. And the fact is is the conversations I've had with people who have been divorced, they felt its pain. They they've seen the heartache that it's caused. And they know it's not the way it's supposed to be. Maybe even if they felt like it was absolutely necessary, they know it was still painful and hard. And the reason for that is because faithfulness and oneness are God's design. We human beings are made in God's image. God is one and yet three unity and yet difference. And and God made marriage to reflect that in some sort of way, right? Like that's why he can say the two have become one just like God is three and one and God is faithful in all his relationships. And we're made to operate the same way. And so ultimately Jesus is against looking to lust and Jesus is against divorce because he's for faithfulness and he's for oneness in marriage. And he is he knows the damage that unfaithfulness causes to human flourishing and human well-being. And that's the point of this whole section that there's more going on in these commands of the commandments that say you shall not this while there's also a positive side. You shall be this. You shall be patient. You shall be forgiving. You shall be kind. You shall be faithful. You shall be loyal and one. And that's the point. And so if we're going to have surpassing righteousness in the areas of anger and sexuality, it's going to look like what Jesus has described and called us to here. All right, thanks for tuning into this session on the listeners commentary. The listeners commentary is a listener supported crowdfunded Bible teaching ministry that is made possible by the generosity of tons of folks just like you. 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