The New Testament is another living and breathing evolution of the original law given to Moses. Christ is the one that pioneered this evolution with words that seem excessive. Christ takes one of those old and misunderstood laws of “no killing” to a whole new level. However, in reality it is an expansion of the qualities of the blessed. This article will break down the three ways someone is killing another person mentally. Naturally we know that physically killing, is a terrible thing but we never think that our thoughts are equally detrimental. Christ gives us the truth behind this phenomenon and expands the law of “no killing”. Moses said, ” Thou shalt not kill”, but Christ said, “Thou shalt not even think of killing”.
Christ first established that though he is expecting the righteous to practice the qualities of the blessed. The Old Law still applies to us today. As if these pleasant qualities are not good enough to enter into heaven. He elaborates on the importance of the Old Law by saying:
Matthew 5: 17-20
Matthew 5: 17-20. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
There we have it. Christ is straightforward in telling us that he is not replacing the teachings of the prophets. He’s not just talking about Isaiah, Daniel or Hosea. He meant all of them including Moses, the most important one. Moses gave us the commandments and Christ is now evolving its interpretation. Even the least of them must not be broken and we are not allowed to teach that.
Christ Law Against Killing.
Matthew 5: 21-26
Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
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.
23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles 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.
26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Christ Reveals 3 Ways We Kill
This seems familiar, this was one of the first ten commandments, “Thou shalt not kill”. Christ put a new twist to it in verse 22. Christ reveals to use the three other ways that we are subconsciously “killing” someone.
- Being angry with thy brother without cause.
- Thinking that your brother is worthless or a terrible person.
- Thinking that your brother is a fool, or unintelligible
These three negative thought processes will cause us spiritual vexation, aka hell fire. This concept of bad thoughts must have been new to some of the Israelites at the time. All bad actions are manifested from bad thoughts. In his passage Christ is telling us that in order to not kill we must stop the root cause of your actions, which is our thoughts.
Killing Against Family and Foes.
However, who is thy brother? Is Christ only talking about a blood relative and only a brother, not a sister? From the Greek adelphos, meaning someone figuratively or literally is near kin to you. This is a common saying in Israel, they generally called anyone within their nation “brother” or “sister” even though they were not all close kin. Remember that the nation of Esau and the Ishmaelites are still kin to the Israelites through genealogy. If we take it even further, everyone on the planet today is loosely kin originating from the family of Noah. Christ is referring to everyone as the “brother” in his verse. We are not supposed to hate, ridicule or disregard any person. These thoughts are one in the same as killing our brother.
Christ gives us two ways to fix this issue. First we need to talk it through with our “brother” who we have a problem with and resolve it. Second, if we have any issue with our enemy we must agree to disagree or simply apologize even if we did not cause a bad situation. We are obliged to do these two things before we do any good deed for The Highest God unless he rejects our good doings.
Those of us professing Godliness must put forth some effort in communicating face to face with people we might not like. We ought to learn how to choose love over hate even if someone might hate us. Honestly this is extremely hard to do but being in a constant “loving” state of mind is very peaceful. This falls under the peacemaker quality of the blessed and under the civil law of the Law of Moses.
Conclusion:
Christ first gave us the meaning for the qualities of the blessed, then he returned to explain that we must uphold the old law through the practice of these qualities. Not only that, these qualities are not the only practices we need to enter heaven. He then evolves the old law of killing to a whole new level. Now there are three ways that we can mentally and spiritually “kill” someone. We ought not hate, think someone is useless or think of them as a fool. These thoughts put us in the same category as a killer according to christ evolution of the Old Law. They law now as 4 fold because now we can’t even perfume good works unless we resolve our iniquity with our brother beforehand.
It’s commonly thought that life is easier in the new testament. Lol that couldn’t be any further from the truth.