Fulfilling the Law is Full of Forgiveness

Jesus proceeds now to demonstrate how deficient the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were in their keeping of the commandments -

Read 5:21.How do most people interpret this commandment?

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According to their traditions, the Jews could keep the Fifth Commandment simply by refraining from the outward act of murder. Therefore, they gave themselves a magnificent way out: they would not be guilty of murder if they handed someone over to another person to be killed.

What are some examples of people using this “cop out” throughout the Bible?

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When Jesus says “you” shall not murder - what could be included in “you?”

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Luther: What does the word “you” mean? Not just your hand or foot or tongue or any other organ, but everything you are in body and soul. When I say to someone, “You should not do that,” I am not addressing only his fist but his total person. Even if I were to say, “Your fist should not do this,” I would not mean just the hand but the total person to whom the hand belongs; for the hand would do nothing by itself if the whole body with all its organs did not co-operate. (LW 21:76)


A or D: The members of the Heaven’s Gate cult didn’t commit suicide. They were actually murdered by the tongue of their leader.

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Read 5:22. What does Jesus say is as bad as actual murder?

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1 John 3:15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. (NIV)

Is there any difference between the three sins mentioned?

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Is there any difference between the three punishments mentioned?

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Albrecht: Jesus refers to the three levels of courts that functioned in Israel. The lower courts dealt with civil matters, and the intermediate courts handled criminal cases. The highest court was the Sanhedrin, which consisted of 70 men with the high priest presiding over them. Only this court could consider matters of war or the imposing of the death penalty, although at Jesus’ time any death penalty had to be approved and imposed by the Roman court.

John found out his daughter was having sexual relations with her boyfriend. He was very angry with her, but was always taught that anger just causes walls to be built. When he talked with her, she just excused it with, “everyone else is doing it.” Finally, he let his anger get to him and said to her, “don’t be so foolish!” He told her to get out of the house if that was going to be her attitude. About an hour later he felt bad for letting his anger show. So he called her to apologize for his anger, and let her back home.


Was John taught correctly?

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Should John have shown his anger?

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Why or why not?

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How could his actions have encouraged her behavior?

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How would you have approached her?

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Would you have shown any anger?

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Can you think of any biblical examples of a righteous anger?

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Luther: Anger is indeed necessary sometimes, but only in those whose responsibility it is, and only if it does not go beyond the punishment of sin and evil. Thus when you see another man sinning and you warn and urge him to stop it, such anger is Christian and brotherly, yes, even fatherly. You see pious parents punishing their children, not in order to hurt or harm them, but to keep them from mischief and evil. That is also the way the government must be angry. Here it applies that there should be no anger in the heart, and yet there must be signs and marks of anger; for the voice is sharp, and the fist is rough, but the heart remains sweet and friendly, free of any malice. In other words, it is an anger of love, one that wishes no one any evil, one that is friendly to the person but hostile to the sin. So the command here is to “hate the deed, but love the doer.” (LW 21:76, 79)

Jesus goes on to apply this matter of holding anger in your heart to worship -

Read 23-24. What should you do if you are holding anger or if someone is angry with you?

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Why?

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When do we approach the altar?

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William didn’t know what to do. He knew that he shouldn’t approach God’s altar when someone is angry with him. His brother was angry with him for selling some inherited family land to his neighbor instead of to him. William realized that he had wronged his brother, and he had gone to apologize to him. But his brother wouldn’t talk with him. He wanted to take the Lord’s Supper, but he couldn’t get his brother to forgive him.


Should William take the Lord’s Supper? Why or why not?

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What kind of anger is Jesus talking about?

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What if William hadn’t gone to talk with his brother yet,Should he still have taken the Lord’s Supper or given money to church?

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A or D: If you are angry with someone - say your boss - for yelling at you at work - you shouldn’t go to the Lord’s Supper until you talk to him about what he did.

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Evaluate: Jill said, “I’ll forgive my husband for having an affair, but I’ll never forget it.”

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Luther: It is neither necessary nor possible for a man to forget it in the sense that he never thinks of it again, but in the sense that your heart is just as friendly toward your neighbor as it used to be before he injured you. If the stump remains in your heart and you are not as friendly and kind toward him as you used to be, that is not forgetting or even cordially forgiving. You are still the scoundrel who comes before the altar with his sacrifice and tries to serve God even while his heart is crammed full of anger, envy, and hate. But very few people pay any attention to this at all. (21:83)

What is especially dangerous about this sin that Jesus is mentioning?

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Luther: Many people who are otherwise fine, respectable, learned, and upstanding become filled with secret anger, envy, and hate, and are embittered by it. Still they never become aware of it, and their conscience is satisfied that what they are doing is in pursuit of their office or in obedience to righteousness. Their screen is so lovely and delusive that no one dares to speak of them as anything but pious and upstanding people. The ultimate result is a sin against the Holy Spirit and hardened hearts, which become confirmed and obdurate in this poisonous vice. (LW 21:80)

Read 25-26. What is the best thing to do if you have offended someone?

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How can you “make friends” with your accuser?

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What will happen if you don’t?

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When this is applied spiritually, what is Jesus saying?

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What if someone has sinned against you and never repents?

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Luther: As we have said, anger is sometimes necessary and proper. But be sure that you use it correctly. You are commanded to get angry, not on your own behalf, but on behalf of your office and of God; you must not confuse the two, your person and your office. As far as your person is concerned, you must not get angry with anyone regardless of the injury he may have done to you. But where your office requires it, there you must get angry, even though no injury has been done to you personally. For example, a pious judge gets angry with a criminal, even though personally he wishes him no harm and would rather let him off without punishment. Only the deed is punishable and must bear the anger; without it there would be no anger or punishment. But if your brother has done something against you and angered you, and then begs your pardon and stops doing wrong, your anger, too, should disappear. (LW 21:83)

Have any of you wronged someone without apologizing?

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What does Jesus say will happen to you if you don’t seek restitution?

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What do we need to remember?

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Albrecht: Anyone who is condemned by God and vcast into the prison of hell will never be able to regain his freedom, no matter what the members of his family might be willing to do for him. That would be the fate of anyone following the example of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. The righteousness of Jesus’ disciples had to surpass that of the false teachers. This is possible only when Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to sinners through faith. (PB 75)

Any questions? Next time we’ll learn about what Jesus had to say about adultery and divorce.