Purity

HOMEGROUP STUDY NOTES                 WALKING IN THE LIGHT

w/c 23rd January 2022

PURITY (Matthew 5.21-30)

READ verses 21-26 (Avoiding anger)

It has been suggested by some that Jesus’ teaching here is forbidding killing of any sort. Do you agree?

Others have suggested that Jesus means not simply murder but seemingly less serious things like anger and insults? Are these really tantamount to murder in God’s sight?

Is the concept of a “just war” tenable?

A better translation is, “Do not commit murder”. Jesus is not prohibiting taking all human life in any and every situation. The Mosaic Law forbids killing, but approves capital punishment – and even removing the corrupt pagan tribes who inhabited the promised land. War and the death penalty have always been sensitive subjects for Christians, on both sides of the argument. You will need wisdom here as to how far to open up this discussion within your group. Is the group mature/loving enough to listen to those with opposing views?

The scribes and Pharisees wanted to restrict the 6th commandment to the actual deed of murder. As long as I don’t kill anyone I have kept this commandment. For Jesus, the commandment included thoughts, words, anger and insult.

In some manuscripts verse 22 adds “without a cause”. Not all anger is evil, and we may all, at times, feels righteous anger at some of the things that happen in our fallen world (cf James 1.19; Ephesians 4.26).

RACA (22) is probably an insult to a person’s intelligence

FOOL (22) might mean  a rebel or an apostate

 John Stott sums up verses 21/22 by saying that not only are anger and insult equivalent to murder, but the punishment to which they render us liable is nothing less than the divine judgement of God.

So if …. (23ff) … If anger and insult are so serious and so dangerous, how can we avoid them?

Can we translate these illustrations into life today? What if you are in a church service and see someone in church who you have not spoken to for several years following an argument?

READ verses 27-30 (Avoiding lust)

This too can be a sensitive subject, so tread carefully! We are living at a time when this teaching is widely disregarded by many in society, and probably we all have family/friends living in ways which go against Jesus’ teaching here.

Jesus now tuns to the 7th commandment, relating to adultery. Once again the religious leaders were trying to limit the scope of this commandment – I have not committed adultery therefore I have kept this commandment.

How might we commit “adultery” in our hearts of minds?

 Two important points to make:

 1                    No suggestion at all that sexual relationships within the context of marriage are anything but God-given and to be enjoyed (just look at the Song of Solomon). What Jesus is referring to is sexual relationships outside marriage, either by married or unmarried people. Nor is Jesus saying we shouldn’t look at women – there is a difference between looking and lusting!

2                    Jesus is alluding to all forms of immorality.

What do you make of Jesus’ command to get rid of troublesome eyes, hands and feet?

Clearly a use of dramatic figures of speech and not a literal self-maiming. More a ruthless moral self-denial. Some Christians throughout the ages have taken Jesus’ teaching literally. For example, 3rd century scholar Origen of Alexandria went to extreme lengths of asceticism and renounced possessions, food and even sleep – even making himself a eunuch. Not long after, at the Council of Nicea in 325, such practice was rightly forbidden.

So what might this teaching look like in practice for Christians today?

Temptation will come – avoid it! Get rid of those things in our lives which could easily become sources of temptation. However we don’t have the right to judge others regarding what they feel able to permit themselves – or do we?

We have to acknowledge that this teaching is clearly at odds with modern standards of permissiveness. “We have to decide, quite simply, whether to live for this world or the next, whether to follow the crowd or Jesus Christ.” (John Stott)

PRAYER

It may well be that these verses have raised challenging issues for some people – even if they have not actually articulated them. So a sensitive piece of music/song may be appropriate to allow people to reflect on this teaching of Jesus.