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MATTHEW 5:22 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 5:21Matt 5:23
“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
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 but I say to you is Jesus' assertion of personal authority over the tradition — not thus says the Lord, not the prophets said, but I say. The escalation from murder to anger to insult to name-calling communicates that the commandment against murder is about the whole spectrum of relational destruction, not only its end-point. 1 John 3:15 says anyone who hates his brother is a murderer — the interior violence of hatred is already the death of the relationship that the external act of murder only makes visible. The graduated consequences (judgment, council, hell) communicate the graduated seriousness of the violations.

Church Fathers on Matthew 5:22

Beautiful entrance He here makes to a teaching beyond the works of the Law, declaring to the Apostles that they should have no admission to the kingdom of heaven without a righteousness beyond that of Pharisees.

Hilary of Poitiers · 4th century

By righteousness is here meant universal virtue. But observe the superior power of grace, in that He requires of His disciples who were yet uninstructed to be better than those who were masters unto the Old Testament. Thus He does not call the Scribes and Pharisees unrighteous, but speaks of 'their righteousness.' And see how ever herein He confirms the Old Testament that He compares it with the New, for the greater and the less are always of the same kind.

Chrysostom · 4th century

The righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees are the commandments of Moses; but the commandments of Christ are the fulfilment of that Law. This then is His meaning; Whosoever in addition to the commandments of the Law shall not fulfil My commandments, shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. For those indeed save from the punishment due to transgressors of the Law, but do not bring into the kingdom; but My commandments both deliver from punishment, and bring into the…

Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century
Read all 31 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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