Matthew 5:21

Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, THOU SHALT NOT KILL; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.

THE REVISION OF THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT IN THE DECALOGUE (MATT. 5:21-26)

This is a clear reference to the Decalogue (Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18). What Christ did at this point in his teachings is bold, daring, and sensational beyond anything one could imagine today. Here was the case of a prophet, yet relatively unknown, placing himself squarely on record as superior to the Law of Moses, even the Decalogue. Christ in this chapter mentioned several of the commandments, exposed their weakness, and specifically elevated his own will and teachings ABOVE them. He also laid bare, in the most painful manner for the ceremonialists, the awful weakness of the Decalogue, in that a person might indeed keep the letter of it without being in any sense at all truly righteous in the eyes of God! Of course, the Pharisees were the obvious and notorious examples of that very condition; they kept the commandments, but were children of the devil. Jesus opposed the Pharisees and their way of life as essentially sinful in spite of all punctilious observances of tithes, ceremonies, and formalities of the Mosaic religion, embellished, of course, with countless traditions of their own.

Thou shalt not kill ... did not, however, prohibit HATE, the cause of killing. The Pharisee might indeed keep the command while at the same time hating his enemy, hoping that a wild beast would slay him, that lightning would strike him, or that a poisonous serpent would bite him! Christ exposed the weakness and sinfulness of such views. He made anger with a brother a sin equal to murder; and also, such derogatory statements as "Raca" and "thou fool," he made subject to the penalties of murder. It may well be doubted if the church as a whole, even today, has any adequate conception of Jesus' true meaning on this subject. When it is considered that a derogatory or uncomplimentary remark about a Christian brother is subject to punishment in the "hell of fire," and when it is considered that much of the journalism so widely received by "churches of Christ" is filled with cruel, uncomplimentary, and even false and vicious statements about brethren, the true follower of Christ must stand in awe of the penalties which divine justice shall certainly execute against evil doers. O God, be merciful to thy people!