A short chapter, but still important. It's the beginning of Jesus' clarification of the Old Testament laws. The scribes and Pharisees had been trying to find ways to make the laws easier to follow but also holding people to impossible standards (I don't know how that works), so Jesus is taking us back to the base laws and clarifying what it really means.
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"You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
Matthew 5.21-30 (NRSV)
Notes from my HarperCollins Study Bible
- Altering/radicalizing the law?
- Eliminate the causes of adultery.
A Christian's righteousness: avoiding anger and lust.
- Deepening the sixth and seventh commandments.
Avoiding anger.
- 6 is about murder, not killing; war and corporal punishment are permissible.
- Anger isn't always wrong. Righteous anger is a thing.
- Even righteous anger should be slow to rise and quick to die down.
An anger of love, one that wishes no one any evil, one that is friendly to the person but hostile to the sin.' (Luther)
- Insults are not okay, particularly as pertains to intelligence or character.
- Hating people isn't okay. Anger and insults = desire to eliminate someone.
- Cancel culture = murder in God's eyes.
- The only real thought police is God. Nobody else can know.
- If you're at church and suddenly remember you're in a fight go resolve that then come back.
- Settle unpaid debts before you get to court.
- Any time we hurt someone else, that is sin and we need to do our best to reconcile.
Avoiding lust.
- 7 is about immorality in general.
- Lustful looks and imagination = adultery, not just fornication.
- Looking is fine, it's lusting that's wrong.
- Wrong deeds are preceded by wrong thoughts/fantasies.
- There is a difference between attraction and seduction.
- Not a literal physical self-maiming but a ruthless moral self-denial.
- If something you're doing is opening you up to temptation, stop doing it.
- Everyone is different, so our thresholds will be different also. Prescriptive statements aren't useful.
- Self-discipline is important.
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This is like... alcoholics often talk about needing to avoid situations where they might be able to lay hands on liquor. Same with drug addicts. The idea is that if you're constantly being tempted to do something you know you shouldn't, stop putting yourself in that situation. We aren't at the Our Father yet, but near the end we ask God to "lead us not into temptation"; God doesn't put us into situations where we're going to be tempted to do stuff and we shouldn't do it to ourselves, either. It's like how I have a rule that I'm not allowed to go into stationery stores unless I actually need something from them, and then I need to have a list and stick to it. Because I love stationery and having pretty paper and pens and so on makes me happy. Except I don't need any more until I actually run out of something!
Um. I definitely need to set myself a similar rule for art supplies and yarn.
ANYWAY.
We're getting into the meat of things now. Some good information coming up. I'm excited to share it with you.
Peace & Blessings.
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