We can’t get away from Matthew 5:21, 22 just yet. There’s so much to comment on. Which leads us to a challenging situation for us as individuals and corporately: conforming our lives to the Word.

Yeshua leads us on an exploration in the Spirit of the law. He was less concerned about killing then He was the origin of the action. This is definitely one of the “hard sayings” of Yeshua. It pushes us to the edge of our ethics. To the best of my knowledge none of us have physically killed anyone outside of self-defense. We are basically “good” people. But when Yeshua says that being angry with another person makes us just as guilty, enochos, as killing them, we rebel and get angry that He could dare say that about me. How can this be? Anger just happens. Someone insults me. Someone talks behind my back. Someone insinuates something. Someone harms me. Someone crosses my path. I can’t help becoming angry. It’s just natural. Yes, yes, yes, 1000 times yes, it’s a natural response. And as natural as it is, we can all testify that it hasn’t led to picking up a gun and taking someone’s life. We obey the law. So why should I be held liable, enochos? Why would I be in danger, enochos, of judgment?

To understand Yeshua we must move from the paradigm of rules to the paradigm of righteousness. He is commenting on the Spirit of the Law, not the letter of the Law. “Do not commit murder” is not a commandment about civil statutes. It is a statement about the character of Yahweh Elohim. I don’t kill someone else because Yahweh Elohim is the author of life, He holds life sacred and is the Judge of human behavior. Killing a human is an act of treason against Yah. Killing says, “I am god over this person’s life.” Make sense?

Now Yeshua extends the meaning. When we are angry, we are guilty, enochos, we are bound or subject to the judgment (the court) because anger distorts my own self-worth. My anger says, “My way is more important than yours.” My anger says, “I deserve better than you have treated me.” My anger says, “You and I are not the same.” Anger is a reflection of bloated self-esteem. I have never been angry over something that I felt I deserved. I might be angry that I was caught or angry that I was punished, but I cannot be angry over the act itself. It was appropriate. I am angry when I believe that I did not deserve what I got. My self-esteem does match the actions.

That’s why Yeshua says that anger pushes me in the same direction as taking someone’s life. I decide to be the Judge. I decide to take the role of Yahweh and determine what should have happened. The ethical action is exactly the same. I elevate myself because I inflate my own self-worth.

This is not His way. Followers of the Way live according to one central fact: WE deserved judgment. WE deserved no mercy. WE are redeemed from punishment for insults to the Creator. Followers of the Way know that self-esteem is a cult, a lie of a world that refuses to see its rebelliousness to holiness. How can I be angry towards someone else if I truly embrace what I have been forgiven? You and I are exactly the same…forgiven ‘Goobers’ with a capital ‘G’! Unwarranted anger should have no place in my life once Yahweh pardons me.

So what about calling my brother ‘raca’ (Heb: reyq; empty headed, an empty vessel, worthless, wicked)? Yeshua says, you are in danger of being brought before the council. Unfortunately, we don’t have too many councils to solve these issues. A council was a group of individuals who understood the Torah, both the letter and the Spirit of it and they would deliberate over cases to solve issues of the Torah (Ex. 18:21). In Yeshua’s day they were known as the Sanhedrin.

Yeshua warns us if we make statements about people like this that we will be in enochos of the council. What Yeshua tells us to do is not talk about them, but deliver them out of this. Remember, we are all where we are because of the choices that we’ve made and/or the choices that were inflicted upon us. Some are stronger in certain areas and some are weaker. But we are all one body and members one of another (Rom. 12:4,5).

All throughout Scripture the stronger are supposed to help the weaker run at the pace of the whole body. James 2:14ff makes it clear if we find a brother who is naked, destitute of daily food, we are to cover him and feed him. This does not mean ‘give him a fish so he can eat for a day…called enabling. This means teach him to fish so he can eat for a life time. Teach him how to live righteously and he’ll never be naked again (Rev. 19:7,8). Teach him how to feed on the Word and he’ll never have to mooch again. When we are focused on lifting one another up, rather than pulling another down, we strengthen the body and we don’t have time to call our brother names. If King David would have been doing what he was supposed to, he wouldn’t have done what he shouldn’t have. Need I explain more?

What if I call a brother a fool, moros? They will be in danger of hell fire. Now that’s serious! A council is one thing. Hell fire is another! What is Yeshua stating here? I think this gets a little tricky.

First of all each of us should be moros for Messiah (1 Cor. 3:18; 4:10)! Yahweh uses the moros things of this world to confound the wise (1 Cor. 1:27). And we should at all costs avoid moros and unlearned questions that produce strife and confusion (2 Tim. 2:23; Tit.3:9).

We also need to recognize that Yeshua called the Pharisees moros (Matt. 23:17,19). At the end of the Sermon on the Mount He concludes that those who hear His sayings and do not do them are moros because they are like a man who builds his house on the sand instead of the rock (Matt. 7:26). Ultimately, Yeshua will separate the wise virgins from the moros virgins (Matt. 25:2,3,8) where the enochos becomes reality.

If a brother/sister is foolish, don’t enable them. Help them become able members of the body. When we ‘talk’ about others in ways that put us in enochos, that behavior will ultimately lead to us into becoming the moros virgins. Now would be a good time to add a La Shon Hara (evil speech) study, but I think meditating on Eph. 4:29 and Gal. 6:1-4 would suffice at the end of these lengthy thoughts.

Shalom,

Alan