In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus presented truths pertaining to the kingdom He would soon establish (Matt. 4:17,23). In Matthew 5:20, He said that the righteousness required in His kingdom would be greater than the righteousness taught and practiced by the scribes and Pharisees. He then proceeded to discuss the higher righteousness required in His kingdom.

He began by discussing the superior righteousness we should exhibit in our attitudes toward others. The scribes and Pharisees condemned murder (v. 21), but their teaching fell short of what is required in the kingdom of Christ. Demanding a higher righteousness, Jesus condemns all feelings and expressions of contempt and ill will.

Three Examples of Wrong Attitude

To depict the hateful attitude, Jesus gave three examples of that attitude.

First, He spoke of one who is angry with his brother. The word anger, as used here, means an evil attitude toward another person - contempt, ill will, a desire to harm. It refers, therefore, to anger that involves these attitudes, not to a proper, controlled anger that shows no ill will toward the one whose evil actions anger us (Mark 3:5; Eph. 4:6).

The anger condemned by Jesus is all too prevalent, even among brethren in Christ. Sometimes, simple disagreements lead to bitter feelings. When a person reaches the point where he cannot feel kindly toward one with whom he disagrees, that person has a real problem. Even when spiritual truth is involved, and we properly become angry over false doctrine, our anger must not be the evil anger that involves ill feelings toward the individual; rather, we must desire his welfare, praying and hoping that he will come to a knowledge of the truth.

The second example Jesus gave of the wrong attitude was calling a brother "Raca." Raca was an Aramaic word which meant "empty-headed." It was used to express contempt and scorn.

The third example given was calling one a fool. The reference in this context is to calling one a fool out of contempt, calling him an insulting name simply to express scorn. There is a difference between such name-calling and simply describing a foolish person as what he is, with no bitterness or ill will involved. Jesus Himself did that (Matt. 23:17, 19; 7:26). Hence, if one says that those who disobey God are foolish, he is simply teaching what Jesus taught; he is not violating the principle being discussed here.

Three Ways of Expressing Judgment

As Jesus depicted the evil attitude in three ways, He also used three different examples to show that men will be held accountable for their attitudes (v. 22). (1) The one who is angry with his brother will be in danger of the judgment. (2) The one who says "Raca" will be in danger of the council. (3) The one who says "Thou fool" will be in danger of hell fire.

Some believe Jesus meant that each of the evils would result in a different fate. This is not the point. There is no significant difference between saying "Raca" and saying "Thou fool." If the one who says "Thou fool" will go to hell, so will the one who says "Raca." Rather than setting forth different fates for different evils, Jesus simply used three different ways to "press the fact of divine judgment."

Some like to point out that the word translated "council" (KJV) is the word that was used to identify the Sanhedrin (the highest Jewish court). Clearly, Jesus was not referring to the literal Sanhedrin. No one ever came before the Sanhedrin for saying "Raca." Jesus was not threatening folks with what the Sanhedrin might do to them. The one who said "Raca" had nothing to fear from the Sanhedrin. The word rendered "council" also had a more general meaning. It did not always refer to the Sanhedrin, but sometimes to other tribunals (Matt. 10:17). Jesus was saying that the guilty person would be brought to court - God's court.

Even if Jesus used the word to denote the Sanhedrin, He was speaking figuratively, using the earthly tribunal with which they were familiar to stand for the heavenly tribunal - much as a United States citizen might figuratively describe God's judgment seat as the Supreme Court. Jesus' purpose was simply to convey the concept of judgment; and the tribunal to be feared by the person who said "Raca" was not an earthly one, but the heavenly one.

Jesus said that those who are guilty are in danger of hell fire. The word translated "hell" is gehenna. Gehenna was the name of a valley near Jerusalem; it had a hideous history, having been the site where human sacrifices were burned during heathen rituals. In Jesus' day, it was the place where they dumped garbage and trash. The name gehenna had come to be used - and appropriately so - to denote the place of eternal punishment. No word in the Jewish language was more fitting as a name for the place of eternal punishment than the name of this loathesome valley.

Christians should contemplate well the fact that bitterness and ill will toward others will result in eternal punishment. There have been cases where brethren in Christ had such animosity toward one another that they would not speak to one another or sit on the same side of the meeting house. There have even been cases of physical violence among brethren. Those who harbor such feelings will be held accountable.

This article clearly sends a powerful warning to those who would harbor ill feelings toward brethren, family, friends, or those in the world. Bitterness is something we are told to put away from us {James 3:14-16}. Christians are to be forgiving people. "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." {Ephesians 4:31-32} Let us ever be on guard to keep our hearts from being guilty of this sin. We must be people who act according to what God commands us and not according to how others treat us. "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them..."{Matthew 7:12}--KG