Matthew 5:22
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
The beatitudes. The longest sermon the Lord provided for His people. Yes, it may be a compilation of Jesus teachings, given over a period of days, but that does not detract the sheer power of the message delivered.
Our verse, Matthew 5:22 is found in a portion of the sermon addressing anger. The question being addressed is – How is a believer to understand anger in his life?
There are some well meaning believers that consider this passage to be applicable to the future, to the saints who will exist in some future kingdom. As such, this passage supposedly does not apply to the church age believer. I know of these teachings because I was drawn to them, believed this slant and taught others of it. It is an outgrowth of a dispensational thought process and it was a comfortable way of thinking.
A comfortable way of thinking since this passage is a very challenging portion of Scripture if we allow it to be applicable to the current age. After many years of hanging on to a teaching that I currently reject, that strips the Word of much instruction for the modern believer, and causes much confusion, I began to consider that this passage Jesus gave His followers while He was on earth were for His followers while He was on earth.
Nevertheless, Jesus is instructing those who want to know of His teaching, what He expects of those who follow Him, and occasionally provides the results of not obeying His Word.
Such is the case in this passage. He builds in intensity of judgement, based on three acts escalating acts of anger.
- Angry with his brother = liable to judgement
- Insults his brother = liable to the council
- Calls his brother fool = liable to the hell of fire (Gehenna)
His teaching is a correction of the Pharisees, in that they allowed anger to be resident in the faithful adherent, teaching that physical murder is where sin is found. Anger seemed to be allowed, but not under the Lordship of Christ.
A bit of a sidebar. Note that the Lord speaks of anger in relation to a brother. This is critical, for we know that the overarching message to the follower of Christ is to love the brethren, to care for them, to carry their burdens if called upon.
Yet there is a place for anger in the believers life. I fear I may be going down a bit of a rabbit trail mentioning this, but I do want to make clear that Jesus is addressing interpersonal relationships within the body of people we eventually call the church. There are situations where anger is called for, but this post is not addressing that topic. Maybe another day!
Let us move on to the reason for considering this passage. What is the outcome of anger being resident in the believers life, the one who is following the Savior?
It is not good!
According to Jesus, being angry with a brother is equal in judgement to that of physical murder! The first mention of anger Jesus addresses is equal to the sin of murder, and the worst judgement the Pharisees spoke of. Both murder and anger with a brother are described as being “liable to judgement”.
Jesus continues His teaching that a believers act of insulting a brother would result in being liable to the council. I don’t understand this to be yanked in front of the Sanhedrin, other than Jesus saying it to provide context. This judgement may be before a council that had not been convened as yet, or that was convened, but without physical location. It may be the very council of God, setting judgement for the believer in his life.
Matthew 12:36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
A careless word certainly would include insulting a brother! To give account speaks of our defense, but we know we have no real defense before the holy and righteous God, sitting on the throne. Our only defense is the Lamb of God, slain for our sins. Yet we must remember that our actions have consequences, even as we live in the abundant forgiveness of the Lord.
For the last phrase, Jesus mentions Gehenna fire. As you know if you have been following Considering the Bible, I am not convinced this reference is to what is commonly thought of as hell, or the lake of fire. For those who may be interested in my current thoughts, I would direct you to Perishing in Eternal Torment. I readily admit that I am unsure of the exact fate of the lost, other than it will not (at least immediately) be with the Living Savior.
No matter, for as the Lord speaks of Gehenna, He communicates clearly that any believer who degrades a brother, calling him a fool, is liable for the fires of gehenna.
Ok, we should make every effort to understand what the people Jesus was teaching would associate with when He uses this word. Did they have, as a general teaching in their culture and religion, a concept of Dante’s inferno, with pitchforks, darkness, fire, demons, eternal suffering and torture already in their consciences? Was that a common thought in the first century?
I would suggest that Jesus’ audience more likely associated the term Gehenna with a garbage dump on the east side of the City of Jerusalem. A waste pit, the repository of the garbage generated by the city, constantly being consumed by the fires that were continually burning.
A very vivid picture for Jesus to refer to.
As a believer, if we are angry with our brother, we are liable (destined?) for the waste pit. A stark message from the Savior, that anger has no place in the believer’s life, and that if anger is resident in the believers life, it escalates and consumes the believer until he has wasted his life, destined for a waste pit.
Would Jesus’ audience have understood the Savior as such? Should we?
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