Bible Studies in the Gospel of Matthew

XIX

Matthew 5:21-22: Here you see the tremendous difference between the laws of the old covenant and the laws of the new covenant. Previously you were guilty according to the law when you murdered someone. Now—during the dispensation of grace—we are so far from being free from the law that we are guilty before the law when we are angry with our brother without a cause.

Verse 22 contains three stages of man’s anger that does not produce what is right in God’s eyes.

If we really want to appreciate the seriousness of this matter, we can just note that anger in the first stage in the new covenant corresponds to murdering a person in the old covenant.

Man’s anger is all the anger that revolves around me and mine. It is always punishable. God’s anger, which can also be found in us, is a holy anger; it is anger that is not punishable. This is anger that is not the result of being treated unjustly or something similar, but which we find is profitable for others’ education; for example, in parents toward their children, in teachers toward their students, and in superiors toward their subordinates.

XX

Matthew 5:23-26: We notice immediately that this commandment is totally backwards according to human concepts. When I have nothing against my brother but he has something against me, then you would almost think that he ought to come to me in order to be reconciled to me.

Why should I approach him instead? Because he does not have the strength to do it. When do you think he would come? Never! Therefore God, who is wise and understanding, does not ask the offended party to go and be reconciled. That would be useless.

From the last two verses it is evident that even if you are not aware that you owed something to the offended party (the person who was offended, the one who has something against you), it could still happen that you, while talking with him, might get to see that you owed him something, even if it was only a “few pennies.” Therefore you may also need to go to your adversary for your own good.

There are sure to be innumerable matters among God’s people that are not cleared up, and they certainly are the source of much harm.

The extent of this rarely-observed commandment is far-reaching. The question is if unimaginably great things could not be accomplished by unreservedly following this commandment.

XXI

Matthew 5:27-32: The law of the new covenant concerning chastity and adultery is, as are all the other laws of the new covenant, very severe, far-reaching, precise, and comprehensive. It is very difficult to keep it, but it is also very easy.

It is very difficult because of unbelief; in fact, it is impossible. However, by faith it is possible to keep it. “His commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:3. When you attempt to keep this law and at the same time think that it is impossible, the entire attempt is still-born. This is the mystery.

It is with adultery as it is with drunkenness. You plan to taste only a little bit, only one single glass, and then only one more, but of course you are not going to get drunk. With each glass that you “only” have, your resistance and your ability to judge decreases, and eventually you end up under the table. This is also how it goes when it concerns adultery.

The person shall “only” look a little bit and think a little bit, and then a little bit more; and he shall “only” touch, and then “only” a kiss, and then “only” a hug in all innocence, and then “only” one more not quite as innocent as the first one, and then eventually he ends up in manifest adultery.

How did the person get drunk? Well, he was “only” going to taste it. How does he fall in adultery? By “only” enjoying it a little bit in his thoughts and by looking. Could he have become drunk by never having tasted it to begin with? Of course not! Can you fall in adultery by never enjoying any unchaste thought or by looking, or by never getting close to the other sex? Of course not!

Science and the “education” of our days—the entire spirit of the times— attempts to explain that unchastity and adultery are permissible and necessary, and with it, that God’s commandment is impossible and foolish. Most of God’s children are naturally—unfortunately—influenced or even overcome by the spirit of the times.

On the other hand, let us, keep God’s commandments pure and blameless in life and in the preaching and not ease off one single iota! God is wise! God is good! It is perfectly possible to keep God’s commandments by His grace and power. They cannot become outdated or be improved!

His commandments are easy, glorious, sound, beneficial, advantageous, enriching, liberating, refreshing, enlightening, strengthening, blessed, lovable, and good in every way. Everyone who keeps them benefits greatly by keeping them. Thus speaks the power of godliness, but not its form.

Jesus uses very serious words concerning keeping yourself pure: tear out the eye and cut off the arm. People almost always view this matter too lightly; they even consider it almost a joke. If someone takes the matter seriously, he will have indescribably great gain from it.

Divorce for the sake of adultery is permissible—but not commanded. It is not permissible when a person suspects his marriage partner of unfaithfulness. But only when it has been proved that it is so, when the marriage partner admits it, or when there are two or three witnesses.

However, it is never permissible for divorcees to marry again as long as the other party is alive; this also applies to the innocent party. The innocent party must suffer (namely, living as an unattached person) for and together with the guilty party. The innocent party has to do it just as much in this instance as when he has to suffer because of his wife’s talkativeness, or because she is a wasteful householder, or when she is sick often for long periods of time; or as someone who is poor has to accept the troubles and pains that are the consequences of being poor; or as someone who has few talents has to accept that fact for the rest of his life; or as many an older single woman has to accept that she must live till her dying days never having had a husband.

Isn’t that unrighteous? Yes, if God were unrighteous it would be, but not otherwise! God is righteous! Glory to His holy name! It is man who is ungodly through and through. But there is also an opportunity to be converted through and through.

If a person was married to a divorcee before his conversion or before he received full understanding of this commandment, or if he as a divorcee himself married another person and the divorcee’s real spouse is alive, then the situation is awkward. However, in any case, there is sufficient grace to live according to God’s commandment to the fullest extent.

We have to bow to reality, and the reality is, in short, that the person with whom one is now living is not one’s true spouse. Therefore it is not permitted for them to live together. The best and only correct thing one can do is accept the shame and the inconvenience and all the accompanying pain by correcting the situation so that one either—if possible—lives together again with one’s rightful spouse, or lives as an unattached person as long as the divorced person’s spouse is alive.

Let us believe God and keep His commandments. All power is available, and God guides everything for our best, however impossible it might appear.