Make friends with thine adverse party quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him; lest some time the adverse party deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
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Matthew 5:25 reads: "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison." While the verse carries a plain moral weight, the older writers insist its primary force is prophetic — a warning to Israel at the very moment their Messiah stood among them.
The prophetic application to Israel
William Kelly, expounding this verse in his readings on Matthew, takes the "adversary" to picture Israel's own Messiah, whom they had turned into a legal opponent by their unbelief:
William Kelly"I believe that Israel were guilty of that very folly — Israel as a people — that they did not agree with the adversary quickly. There was the Messiah, and they, being adversaries of Him, treated Him as their adversary and compelled God to be against them by their unbelief. The position of Israel morally, in the sight of God, was very much the one shown us here. There was a murderous feeling in their heart against Jesus." — `authors/kelly/2Newtest/MATT_PT1.html`
Kelly then draws the consequence through the whole chain of the parable — judge, officer, prison, farthing:
"They did not agree with their adversary quickly, and the judge could only deliver them to the officer to be cast into prison; and there they remain until this day. The Jewish nation, from their rejection of the Messiah, have been shut out from all the promises of God; as a nation they have been committed to prison, and there they must remain till the uttermost farthing is paid." — `authors/kelly/2Newtest/MATT_PT1.html`
He ties the release of the prisoner to Isaiah's word of comfort to Jerusalem:
"In Isaiah we have the Lord speaking comfortably to Jerusalem: 'Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.' Thus, while we come into His favour now… yet there can be no doubt that rich blessing is in store for Jerusalem." — `authors/kelly/2Newtest/MATT_PT1.html`
J. N. Darby, in his Synopsis, gives the same reading in one compressed sentence. Treating the Sermon as describing "the character proper to a place in the kingdom of God," he adds:
J. N. Darby"It is not a question of the sinner's redemption, but of the realisation of the character proper to a place in the kingdom of God; that which the sinner ought to seek while he is in the way with his adversary, lest he should be delivered to the judge — which indeed has happened to the Jews." — `authors/darby/synopsis/matthew/matthew5.html`
The parallel in Luke 12
Kelly's commentary on the Lukan parallel (Luke 12:58–59) reinforces the same interpretation, showing it is not an isolated reading but the consistent force of the warning in both Gospels:
"Israel were on their trial now, they were in the way. There was an opportunity of being delivered: would they refuse? Would they throw all away? They might depend upon it, if there was not diligence to avail themselves of what God was now granting them, in the presence of Jesus, justice must take its course… And such in point of fact has been the history of the Jews. They are in prison still, and out of this condition they will not be delivered until the whole debt is paid in the retributive dealings of God." — `authors/kelly/2Newtest/LUKE_PT2.html`
How God became their adversary
A reading recorded in the Bible Treasury carefully guards the language. God is not inherently man's adversary — the gospel knows nothing of that; but Israel's rejection of Christ put them in that legal posture:
"God is no adversary to man, and if it is a poor sinner it would be a wrong thought altogether that God needed to be reconciled… Yet on the other hand, we must not forget that whatever God does, it must be in perfect righteousness consistency with Himself… And here as to Israel, sin had made Him an adversary by their rejection of Christ, culminating in the cross, and now they are cast out of their land; or, in the language of our chapter, are 'cast into prison.'" — `magazines/bt/BT_NS11/1917_209_Matthew_Reading.html`
The same writer then shows that the "uttermost farthing" has, in one sense, already been paid at Calvary for the believer, even while Israel nationally still awaits that reckoning:
"On the ground of law payment must be to the uttermost farthing; and it has been paid in the cross of Christ for the believer… The majesty of the law was never so upheld as in the death of Christ." — `magazines/bt/BT_NS11/1917_209_Matthew_Reading.html`
Drawing it together
Matthew 5:25 sits in the middle of the Lord's exposition of the sixth commandment, where He traces anger, contempt, and unreconciled hearts to their root. At the surface the verse teaches the wisdom of settling a quarrel quickly rather than pressing a case to judgment — a plain warning that God's righteousness, once engaged, runs its course to the last farthing. But the verse's deeper force is historical and prophetic: Israel was "in the way" with her Messiah-Adversary, offered one moment of reconciliation before the judgment fell. They refused; and from that day the nation has been "cast into prison," scattered and preserved, yet shut up until the whole debt is discharged and the word of Isaiah 40 — "she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins" — brings them out. The same warning still speaks to every soul: while grace holds open the way, agree quickly with the God whose claims are righteous, for once judgment is entered upon, nothing less than the uttermost farthing will close the account.