What is murder?

Matthew 5:21-24

You have heard that it was said by the ancient ones, “You shall not murder; further, whoever murders, is liable to the judgment.” But I say to you that whoever stays angry with his brother is liable to the same judgment. Further, whoever says to his brother, “detestable,” is liable to the judgment council, and whoever says, “moron” is liable to the fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you put your offering on the altar of sacrifice, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering before the altar of sacrifice and go; first be reconciled with your brother and then go and bring  your offering.

In the centuries since the “Enlightenment,” humanity—at least in the West—has convinced itself that progress in science, philosophy, social science, and so many other areas of inquiry, has taken us beyond the human foibles of the past, including religion, and especially Christianity.

Even a cursory look at the verses quoted above, and those to follow in the Sermon, show that the notion of human enlightenment is an illusion and a willful blindness to reality. In Jesus’s day, philosophy and science and religion (including Judaism) had the same illusions and willful blindness.

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The “antitheses”

If you have been following this Substack, you’ll know that we are now in the very heart of the Sermon on the Mount. 

In the remainder of Matthew 5, we read words of Jesus that begin with “You have heard it said” then turn to “But I say to you.” This pattern occurs five times.

In this section, Jesus took up several of the Ten Commandments along with some moral platitudes of the day and turned the common understandings on their head: murder, adultery, oath-taking, retribution/revenge, and love for friends but hate for enemies—all receive profound reworking from Jesus.

Many interpreters call this section the “antitheses.”

This word implies that Jesus proposed a meaning opposite of what was said before. 

Yet in the first two, murder and adultery, Jesus did not deny the first part, but took the ideas deeper.

The last three are truly opposites.

With all of these, Jesus systematically named and exposed the world’s view (or game), then replaced it with God’s kingdom view, something he began in the Beatitudes, and then proceeded to do in all of his teachings beyond the Sermon.

These particular words are iconic, though, because they are direct and clear and difficult to hear.

What’s more, none of what Jesus described has changed at all—we are still the same, no matter how technologically sophisticated we may see ourselves. Sin is the same today, though vastly more extensive with billions more people.

Murder

Today, I take up murder.

Though the KJV and quite a few others have “Thou shalt not kill,” those translations that use “murder” are closer to the Hebrew of Exodus 20:13 and to the Greek translation that also appears here (phoneuseis). Jesus clearly referred to the killing of another human.

In the follow up sentence, “And whoever murders is liable to the judgment,” Jesus did not directly quote the Torah but summed up the idea that murder was punishable with the judgment of death (see Exodus 21:12).

In line with my post on the inviolability of the commandments, Jesus did not deny or counter this commandment. The commandment stands as a statement of God’s character and will: murder a fellow human and you will bear the consequences one way or the other with current judgment or future judgment.

But Jesus was just getting started.

He began his rejoinder with the unforgettable, “But I say to you that ….”

At the end of the Sermon when the crowd was amazed that Jesus was teaching as having authority and not as their scribes, they were referring to this direct first person language.

Jesus spoke similarly to Moses and the prophets who conveyed the direct words of God, but went further and used “I.” 

He took on the very authority of God.

Jesus followed up with three further statements: “Everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to the judgment;” “Whoever should say to his brother, ‘detestable,’ is liable to the judgment council,” and “whoever should say ‘Moron,’ is liable to the fiery Gehenna.”

None of these three involved murder, yet the judgments were just as severe. We could translate the first as “Everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to the same judgment;” i.e. death. Further, the next two seem inordinately severe.

Why did Jesus say these things this way?

First, there is one caveat. Jesus did not refer to the momentary emotion of anger, but to the nurturing of the anger into its outworking of staying mad, or enraged, or even bitter. If anger in the moment is given to God and dispensed with in repentance, then it is not the anger Jesus referred to—as Paul quoted from the Psalm, “be angry and do not sin.” I’ll give the Greek explanation in the observations section.

Jesus equated this nurtured anger (“Everyone who stays angry”) and the demeaning statements with virtual murder.

Normal human anger is the outcome of unmet expectations. When one person (or entity such as a company or government) does not meet the expectations of another, anger ensues from the frustration.

The need to insult may come from a whole host of inner motivations such as pride, hurt, insecurity, desire for power, and others. Jesus did not name motivations but the action itself.

Anger and insults are murder because with these actions a person relegates his brother to a lesser status and exalts himself to a higher status: “I deserve to be angry at you, I am better than you, I am smarter than you.”

Jesus’s words are so important because he named basic behaviors that incite resentment, rivalry, and ultimately violence—even murder.

The back and forth of anger and insult—and the blame game of who started it—devolves quickly into destructive responses. I expect every parent reading this has seen it with their children, and to our discredit we even see it in our churches on occasion.

The vicious cycle of the world’s game is alive and well.

But for the follower of Jesus who exhibits poverty of spirit and all of the other attributes in the Beatitudes, there is no expectation of what others will do. 

We should expect anything of an evil world, so nothing should surprise us. 

And with no surprise, there is no anger. 

God is the judge; he will take care of it.

For the follower of Jesus who exhibits poverty of spirit and all of the other attributes in the Beatitudes, there is no reason to claim superiority in status or intelligence. 

We are all creations of God and everything we have is a gift. 

To demean another is to demean a fellow human whom God created in His image.

The Antidote

What is the antidote to the vicious cycle of anger and insult and violence?

That is what Jesus turned to with his next statement:

First, leave your gift at the altar (Jesus was referring to the altar in the Jewish temple), and go be reconciled.

Unresolved anger or wrong speech that leads to resentment is a barrier between humans, and ultimately a barrier to a free relationship with God.

To even make the sacrifice at the altar with a breach of relationship made the sacrifice itself a vain endeavor as David expressed so well in Psalm 51:16-17—“For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you are not pleased with whole burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, God will not despise the broken and humble heart.”

We can extend this idea to prayer or worship also.

Later in the Lord’s prayer, Jesus said, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The picture of leaving your gift at the altar is a perfect illustration of how forgiveness gets accomplished.

Jesus implored his listeners to take the first step to reconciliation rather than the next step to destruction.

With this picture, Jesus gave us the first hint of his upside down kingdom ethic that has the power to transform relationships

from antagonistic to reconciled,

from war to peace,

and from resentment to forgiveness, mercy, and love.

Jesus followed with a second illustration that is especially pertinent in our litigious society: make peace with your accuser on the way to court. I will take up those two verses in my next post.

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Observations on the Greek Text

Ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐρρέθη τοῖς ἀρχαίοις· οὐ φονεύσεις· ὃς δ’ ἂν φονεύσῃ, ἔνοχος ἔσται τῇ κρίσει. 22 ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὀργιζόμενος τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ ἔνοχος ἔσται τῇ κρίσει· ὃς δ’ ἂν εἴπῃ τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ· ῥακά, ἔνοχος ἔσται τῷ συνεδρίῳ· ὃς δ’ ἂν εἴπῃ· μωρέ, ἔνοχος ἔσται εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός. 23 Ἐὰν οὖν προσφέρῃς τὸ δῶρόν σου ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον κἀκεῖ μνησθῇς ὅτι ὁ ἀδελφός σου ἔχει τι κατὰ σοῦ, 24 ἄφες ἐκεῖ τὸ δῶρόν σου ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου καὶ ὕπαγε πρῶτον διαλλάγηθι τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου, καὶ τότε ἐλθὼν πρόσφερε τὸ δῶρόν σου.

1. τῇ κρίσει The article is a specifying article the first time it is used in 5:21.