Anger, murder and the sermon on the mount

I don't think we can place a blanket prohibition on all anger all the time. Righteous indignation is certainly not sinful. With that said, I think it's a rare occasion when we are angry and not sinful. Then again, perhaps that's just me.

 

If you think of grace as a higher standard than law i.e. OT "you've heard it said do not commit adultry" NT "but I say unto you if you lust in your heart you've commited adultry, " you can also plug in "do not murder" OT then "if you hate your brother in your heart it is murder" NT as a higher standard. So maybe his thought is correct if instead of saying don't be angry, maybe its better said, do not hate unrighteously or do not hate your christian brother. Just a thought.

 

It best fits Scripture to say that God's law on such moral matters remains the same (the law is based on God's character and God does not change)... but Jesus, as the messianic Chief Prophet, states the law in stronger and starker terms than it had been stated before. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount teaching about anger and lust can be gleaned from the Old Testament, too, if you look closely at the prophets and at wisdom literature. It isn't really a new law, though it does seem to come with new force. And like the prophets who came before him, Jesus challenges the legalistic approach to the law that people in his day (and ours) are often tempted to take.

 

What amazes me all the more, is while he was challenging the legalism of the scribes and pharisees, Christ himself possessed the moral perfection that the law demanded.

 

Deuteronomy 6:5 (AV) And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Mark 12:30 (AV) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Notice that "all thy mind" is added by Jesus. That is a NT addition to the OT command to Love God. It is explained by Christ that it is not just an outward obedience to the law but an inward obedience that is the righteous standard. In other words the inside of the cup must be clean. Therefore making the law of a stricter sense. The hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees had their external righteousness but inside they were stinking, rotting corpses, dead in their trespasses and sins, just like everyone else.

 

Doesn't the command to love the Lord with all of our heart also require inward obedience? Hasn't God always required inward obedience? I don't think Jesus is stating anything new but stating what the law really required in a way that exposed the Pharisees.

 

I have always understood inward obedience to be a part of loving the Lord with all of our hearts. I find this especially clear when reading Deuteronomy, yet also threaded throughout scripture.

 

(James 1:15 AV)Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

I may be wrong but I have equated the addition of "love the Lord thy God with all thy mind" as Christ showing that these hypocritical pharisees had an outward show of righteousness but inwardly they were full of the root of sin

Seven times in the sermon on the mount Jesus said "ye have heard that it was said...... But I say unto you......"
Thus showing that the root of sin starts in the mind.

 

I just wonder why Christ adds "all thy mind"? There has to be a reason for it. I will consult Henry, Poole and Calvin and see what they have to say.

 

I don't think there is a blanket prohibition against anger; note that the portion in bold in Matt 5:22 is omitted from the Critical Text and the modern versions (or doubted in the margins):


Matt 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment

Eph 4:26-27 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil

 

Thank you.