Going to a firey Hell?

[Syndicated]

I'm a little confused about something here...

NASB
Matthew 5:21"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.'

22"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

23"Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,

24leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

25"Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

26"Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.



Obviously Jesus is talking about attitudes and actions towards other people and how we are to treat them.  In verse 22 it states that if we even call someone a fool we should burn in a firey hell, but in verse 26 it states that we won't come out until the debt has been paid in full.

... I thought Jesus paid our debt already?

I understand about the negative effects of talking down and ridiculing people and how it's not a good thing to do for either person as it builds up annimosity and anger between them, but does it mean that we can't seek forgiveness from the Lord regarding our sinful or prideful actions until we have reconciled with the person we have spoken against?

[gregoryfl]

Hello syndicated :)

Mat 5:22 Yet I am saying to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to the judging. Yet whoever may be saying to his brother, 'Raka!' shall be liable to the Sanhedrin. Yet whoever may be saying, 'Stupid!' shall be liable to the Gehenna of fire.
Mat 5:23 If, then, you should be offering your approach present on the altar, and there you should be reminded that your brother has anything against you,
Mat 5:24 leave your approach present there, in front of the altar, and go away. First be placated toward your brother, and then, coming, be offering your approach present.
Mat 5:25 You be humoring your plaintiff quickly while you are with him on the way, lest at some time the plaintiff may be giving you up to the judge, and the judge to the deputy, and you should be cast into jail.
Mat 5:26 Verily I am saying to you, By no means may you be coming out thence till you should be paying the last quadrans.

What I see is Jesus speaking before his death of just how strict the law of God is, giving the true understanding of it if it were to be applied the way God intended.

The penalty for being angry, for calling someone Raka, and Stupid, are all different. Interestingly, the last penalty is the harshest. It isn't being thrown into any Christian hell, but into Gehenna, which was a literal place where criminals and trash were burned on the south side of Jerusalem. No Jew would want to be put to death and end up there.

And yes, before the cross, God's acceptance of you in terms of forgiveness was based on how forgiving you were of others. Not very hopeful at all. So anyone put in jail, a literal one that existed back then, would indeed pay every cent before being released.

Thank God we are on the other side of the cross, where God has freely forgiven us, even while we were unforgiving. These teachings of Christ what they were supposed to, drive people to hopelessness so that they could only look to him for what they could not do themselves.

Hope that makes sense. :)

Ron

[sven]

court - Sanhedrin (highest court) - endless torment; for calling somebody a fool? - wouldn't this be an extreme step-up?

court - highest court - death penalty/shamefull death; this would seem more realistic to me

[Syndicated]

court - Sanhedrin (highest court) - endless torment; for calling somebody a fool? - wouldn't this be an extreme step-up?

That was where I had the problem... I'm sure there was name calling back then as there is today (maybe not as much tho) and if that was actually the case, there'd be a lot of people that would be eternally tormented!

Thank God we are on the other side of the cross, where God has freely forgiven us, even while we were unforgiving. These teachings of Christ what they were supposed to, drive people to hopelessness so that they could only look to him for what they could not do themselves.

And that is AWESOME news!! 

Thank you!  It makes more sense to me now.

 

[Chris]

This servant's 'debt' was already forgiven him, what he actually "owed" was exactly what was shown to him by his lord.... MERCY and COMPASSION (forgive us OUR 'debts' AS WE FORGIVE our 'debtors'). 

Zec 7:9  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

God shows MERCY to those who are MERCIFUL!