Anger
Matthew 5:22 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.
I say unto... Christ speaks with authority in making the laws of the new covenant (Mat. 7:29; 26:28; John 1:17).
without a cause... People must have just and lawful causes to be angry and even then they are to keep their temper under strict control (Eph. 4:26). The fruit of the Spirit is temperance or self-control (Gal. 5:22).
his brother, Raca... An Aramaic word of utmost contempt and scorn, such as scoundrel or wicked rascal.
of the council... The Sanhedrin, composed of 71 judges presided over by the high priest, or a local council of each synagogue composed of 3 or more men.
Thou fool, shall... Greek: moros, a wicked reprobate, destitute of all spirituality.
of hell fire... Greek: gehenna (Hebrew: gay’ Hinnom, Valley of Hinnom), near Jerusalem, where perpetual fires were kept to burn all refuse and purify the air to prevent pestilence (Isa. 30:33; Jer. 7:31-32; 19:6-14; 2Kgs. 23:10). Used 12 times of hell, the place of eternal punishment of the wicked (Mat. 5:22, 5:29, 5:30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 23:33; Mark 9:43-47; Luke 12:5; Jas. 3:6). It is the same as "the lake of fire" (Rev. 19:20; 20:11-15; 21:8), "furnace of fire" (Mat. 8:12; 13:42, 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 3:17), and a place of eternal "fire and brimstone" (Mat. 25:41, 25:46; Rev. 14:9-11; 19:20; 20:10-15; 21:8; Isa. 66:22-24). See, Luke 12:5.
Jesus suggested here that the verbal abuse stems from the same sinful motives (anger and hatred), that ultimately lead to murder. The internal attitude is what the law actually prohibits, and therefore an abusive insult carries the same kind of moral guilt as an act of murder.
Here again, Jesus was telling us that the sin takes place in the heart. We have sinned already if we desire to kill, even if we do not carry it out. We should not call people names. First of all, we are not their judge, Jesus is their judge. Notice here, it says do not call your brother “Raca”. This is one Christian calling another this name. “Raca” means, “o empty one”, or “thou art worthless”. Christians are never empty; they are filled with the Spirit of Jesus. They are never worthless. Jesus thought they were valuable enough that He gave His life for them. You can see, if we were to call a Christian this name, we would be saying that Jesus was in error. You can readily see how dangerous this would be.
The word that was translated “fool” here, has a base meaning of stupid, blockhead, absurd, or dull. It is very important to be more concerned with cleaning up our own lives, than trying to criticize our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Furthermore, becoming angry and assuming a position of superiority over another by calling him a derogatory name (such as the Aram. Raca or You fool!) demonstrates sinfulness of the heart. A person with such a sinful heart obviously is a sinner and therefore is headed for the fire of hell (“hell” is lit., “Gehenna”; cf. Mat. 5:29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 23:33; 7:1-29 of the 11 references to Gehenna are in Mat.). “Gehenna” means valley of Hinnom, the valley south of Jerusalem where a continually burning fire consumed the city refuse. This became an apt name for the eternal punishment of the wicked.
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