But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
Christ corrects not Moses but the scribes' false reading of him. Truth carries more weight than custom or the hoary age of error. This precept restrains not the hand alone but all affections hostile to brotherly love, anger, contempt, reproach are all murder of the heart.
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The sixth commandment forbids killing directly or indirectly, and protects life itself. But Christ expands it far beyond mere murder: anger without cause, contempt, harsh words, all violate the law's true intent and spiritual depth.
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Commenting on Matthew 5:21-26
Christ speaks with magisterial authority against the Pharisees' hollow gloss on the murder law. Causeless anger toward any man breaches the commandment; there is anger that is right, against sin and vice, but unjust wrath lies under God's judgment.
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