But *I* say unto you, that every one that is lightly angry with his brother shall be subject to the judgment; but whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be subject to [be called before] the sanhedrim; but whosoever shall say, Fool, shall be subject to the penalty of the hell of fire.
The Lord has just quoted the commandment against murder and the penalty attached to it. Now He reaches past the deed to the feeling and the word behind it, and that raises a hard question: how can the sentence for killing fall on a flash of temper and an insult?
The authority behind "But I say to you"
The words that open the verse are a claim, not just a comment. One writer notes how often they recur, and who has the right to use them:
The Lord Jesus now sets His own words against this commandment and its human addition: "But I say to you." These words occur five times in this part of the fifth chapter. He speaks with the same authority as the One who had once given the law, for He is the Son of God. Yet His words do not set the law aside. They stretch it to reach the condition of man's heart.
Another notes that the law was left standing, yet it never reached far enough:
The law and the prophets He had vindicated. All must come to pass. Yet the law made nothing perfect. He speaks Who is above the law and gave fulness to all on His own authority.
Anger placed in the same category as murder
The commandment took hold of the extreme act. Christ takes hold of everything that act grows out of:
The law dealt with this extreme form of violence, but our Lord gives it length, breadth, height, and depth… He treats every kind of violence, feeling, and expression as now falling into the same class as murder in the sight of God. It covers anything of contempt and hatred, whatever expresses the ill feeling of the heart. It covers any putting down of another, the will to destroy others as far as their character or influence goes. All this is no better than murder in God's searching eye.
Commentators differ on the wording of the clause about anger. Some texts read "without a cause." Others read "lightly angry." One writer defends "lightly" as the original wording, and takes it to mean "even the remotest feeling of displeasure."
Two words that reveal what is inside
"Raca" and "fool" are not random insults. The Lord weighs each word and gives each its own penalty:
The one who called his brother "Raca" (Aramaic: "reka" — fool, lunatic) was liable to be called before the Sanhedrin (the supreme Jewish court at that time). Whoever said "fool" was liable to hell ("Gehenna"): eternal damnation. These three sins hardly differ from one another. If the last of them led to eternal damnation, then the others would do so as well. God does not look at the outward appearance but into our hearts.
The rising scale runs from thought, to a word of scorn, to a word of hate:
He judges men's inner thoughts. But if someone put such thoughts into words of scorn, branding another as "Raca" (vain or empty), he was in danger of being rightly called before the Jewish council to answer this serious charge. Worse still, he might put those thoughts into words of hate, calling someone a fool. If so, he was in danger of hell fire. A character that is hateful at heart has no faith: "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15).
Courtroom language His hearers knew
The three penalties come from the courts of that day:
It was not enough not to kill. To nurse anger or contempt was of the same character as murder in His sight. He expressed His judgment of it in the terms of the court proceedings they knew, in their local and higher courts. "The judgment" put men to death by the sword. "The council" (Sanhedrin) did it by stoning. And "the Gehenna of fire" would make the horror of it greater.
Not every anger is condemned
The verse is not a ban on all indignation. What decides the matter is what the anger is for:
The source, motive, and aim decide. If of God and for Him by the Spirit, anger has His sanction; if for self, it is evil that exposes to judgment.
Where this leaves the hearer
One writer takes these words two ways — as coming judgment, and as present exposure:
No doubt this will be so when the kingdom comes to the earth; swift judgment will overtake the offender. But the words lay bare the heart. They show that men cannot stand in their own righteousness before God, who judges the heart. The believer shares the divine nature, and so is righteous and loves his brother. Only receiving eternal life, which is Christ Himself, can produce righteousness and love.
Summary
- Authority. "But I say to you" is the voice of the One who gave the law, not setting it aside but pressing it into the heart.
- Root. The commandment forbade the deed. Christ exposes the root — anger, contempt, the will to destroy another's name — and calls it murder in God's sight.
- Words. "Raca" and "fool" carry rising penalties: the local court, then the council, then Gehenna. Speech publishes what the heart holds.
- Motive. Anger of God and for Him has His sanction; anger for self exposes to judgment. The source, motive and aim decide.
- Result. The verse ends self-righteousness. No one stands before a God who judges hearts. Only eternal life received in Christ produces this love.