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This reference shows us that we are still dealing with the same system
of truth as is taught in the Sermon on the Mount, for there, following the
great kingdom prayer, we have the words:
'If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses' (Matt. 6:15).
This is sound doctrine if kept within its Scriptural limits, and not
brought over into the dispensation of the grace of God. This is also true of
the teaching concerning gehenna. It belongs to the message of the earthly
kingdom, it applies to the subjects of the kingdom, and must be interpreted
in the light of that kingdom. The Lord contrasts the law of Moses with His
own deeper and spiritual law. Moses dealt with the external act, Christ
deals with the intent of the heart:
'Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not
kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 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' (Matt. 5:21,22).
The Lord here makes reference to the different courts of justice in
Israel that had the power of life and death.
(1)
The Judgment. -- An inferior court consisting of seven
presidents. This court could condemn to death by the sword.
(2)
The Council. -- This was known as the Sanhedrin. This council
had the additional power of condemning to death by stoning, which
was a great ignominy.
(3)
Gehenna. -- The Sanhedrin, moreover, could also condemn a man to
be denied burial, and to be cast after death into the valley of
Hinnom, there to be 'an abhorring to all flesh'.
Translating these degrees of judgment into modern terms we should say:
'Anger' is likely to bring you before the Magistrate.
'Raca' will lead you to the Assizes.
'Fool' will put you in the dock at the Old Bailey.
Here the progression is regular, but if we were to say that while anger
placed one in danger of being tried before the Magistrate, and saying 'Raca'
betrayed a spirit that might lead to the Assizes, to say 'Thou fool' would be
punished by never -ending torment, it would be so patently wrong that its
statement would be its own refutation. It is because tradition has twisted
gehenna to mean 'hell' that the perversion has obtained a hearing.
When we pursue the subject in the same chapter we find another context
that must not be ignored:
'If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee:
for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell' (Matt. 5:29).
If 'hell' here is literal, then the command to pluck out the eye must
be literal, but if the plucking out of the eye is to be taken in any