Verily I say to thee, Thou shalt in no wise come out thence till thou hast paid the last farthing.
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The Lord's word in Matthew 5:26 — "Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing" — closes the solemn warning begun in verse 25 about agreeing with one's adversary on the way to the judge. Those who have written on this passage see in it both a practical principle for the disciple and a prophetic word aimed directly at Israel.
The immediate exhortation
Frank Binford Hole reads verses 23–26 as a twofold lesson on righteousness toward man and before God:
Frank Binford HoleIn verses 23-26, He showed two things of importance: first, no offering is acceptable to God if it be presented while there is unrighteousness manward. We cannot condone wrong towards man by professed piety towards God. Only when reconciliation has been effected can God be approached. Then, second, if the matter which causes estrangement is carried to law, the law must take its course apart from mercy.
The logic is plain: while the dispute is still "in the way," mercy is possible; once it reaches the tribunal, only strict justice remains, and the last farthing must be paid.
The prophetic application to Israel
Every commentator here seizes on the words "deliver thee to the judge… cast into prison… till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing" as a picture of the very fate Israel was about to bring on herself by rejecting her Messiah.
Hole continues directly from his practical observation:
The Lord's words here doubtless have prophetic significance. The Jewish nation was about to prosecute their case against Him, turning Him into their "adverse party," and it will issue in their condemnation. They have not even yet paid the uttermost farthing.
J. N. Darby draws the same line, but frames it in terms of the kingdom:
J. N. DarbyIt 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.
And a little earlier he says plainly:
Matthew 5:25 evidently alludes to the position of Israel in the days of Christ. And in fact they remain captive, in prison, until they have received their full chastisement, and then they shall come forth.
William Kelly gives the fullest treatment, identifying the "adversary" as none other than Christ Himself, whom Israel refused to meet on the way:
William KellyI 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.
Kelly then traces the sentence through to its present effect:
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.
Strikingly, Kelly does not end on judgment. He links the "uttermost farthing" to Isaiah's word of comfort and to the type of the city of refuge:
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." … And the book of Numbers teaches that there the man abode, out of the land of his possession, till the death, not of the manslayer, but of the high priest that is anointed with oil. … When the Lord has completed His heavenly people… blood-guilty Israel will return to the land of their possession.
Drawing the threads together
Matthew 5:26 is therefore not a teaching about purgatory or post-mortem payment of sins; it is a solemn picture drawn from everyday legal life and applied in two directions. For the disciple it presses the urgency of being reconciled now — while there is still "the way," still room for mercy — because once the case reaches the judge, inflexible justice takes over and every last farthing must be paid. For Israel, who were at that very moment in the way with their Adversary-Messiah and refusing to agree with Him, the Lord's words were a prophecy already casting its shadow: the nation that refused to settle with Him on the road would be handed over to the Judge, cast into the prison of her long dispersion, and held there until the full measure of chastisement is paid out. Yet the closing note, as Kelly shows from Isaiah, is that when the priesthood of Christ for His heavenly people is complete, Israel's "warfare" will be accomplished and the blood-guilty nation will at last come forth.