Murder Begins in the Heart

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

SUMMARY: Instead of, “Do not kill”, Christ prohibited anger. Anger leads the way to murder. All anger is forbidden us. He that wishes to commit murder is a murderer, although he is unable to kill. To give assent to sin is already a completed evil, even if someone does not actually commit the deed. “The altar” refers to a place of sacrifice. There is one Eucharist, one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, one cup, and one altar. Our sacrifice is our prayers and the altar is in heaven. The altar that is with us here is the congregation of those who devote themselves to prayer. According to Clement of Alexandria, “the adversary” may be a reference to Satan. Tertullian understood “the prison” to be Hades, and interpreted “the uttermost farthing” to mean the very smallest offense. Five: twenty-one and following. Irenaeus: Moreover, this impious opinion of theirs, with respect to actions—namely, that it is incumbent on them to have experience of all kinds of deeds, even the most abominable—is refuted by the teaching of the Lord, with whom not only is the adulterer rejected, but also the man who desires to commit adultery; and not only is the actual murderer held guilty of having killed another to his own damnation, but the man also who is angry with his brother without a cause: who commanded His disciples not only not to hate men, but also to love their enemies; and enjoined them not only not to swear falsely, but not even to swear at all; and not only not to speak evil of their neighbors, but not even to style any one “Raca” and “fool;” declaring that otherwise they were in danger of hell-fire; and not only not to strike, but even, when themselves struck, to present the other cheek to those that maltreated them; and not only not to refuse to give up the property of others, but even if their own were taken away, not to demand it back again from those that took it; and not only not to injure their neighbors, nor to do them any evil, but also, when themselves wickedly dealt with, to be long-suffering, and to show kindness towards those that injured them, and to pray for them, that by means of repentance they might be saved—so that we should in no respect imitate the arrogance, lust, and pride of others.

IRENAEUS: Instead of that which runs thus, “Do not kill,” He prohibited anger.

TATIAN: You have heard that it was said to the ancients, “Do not kill; and every one that kills is worthy of the judgement.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause is worthy of the judgement; and every one that says to his brother, “You foul one,” is condemned by the synagogue; and whoever says to him, “You fool,” is worthy of the fire of Gehenna. If you are now offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has any grudge against you, leave your gift at the altar, and go first and satisfy your brother, and then return and offer your gift. Join your adversary quickly, and while you are still with him in the way, give a ransom and free yourself from him; lest your adversary delivers you to the judge, and the judge delivers you to the tax collector, and you fall into prison. And truly I say to you, you shall not get out from there until you pay the last penny.

TERTULLIAN: The memory of God's precepts paves for our prayers a way into heaven; of which precepts the chief is, that we do not go up to God’s altar before we compose whatever of discord or offense we have contracted with our brothers and sisters. For what sort of deed is it to approach the peace of God without peace? The remission of debts while you retain them? How will he appease his Father who is angry with his brother, when from the beginning “all anger” is forbidden us? For even Joseph, when dismissing his brothers and sisters for the purpose of fetching their father, said, “And do not be angry in the way.” He warned us, to be sure, at that time, that when, set in “the way” of prayer, we do not go to “the Father” with anger. After that, the Lord, “amplifying the law,” openly adds the prohibition of anger against a brother to that of murder. Not even by an evil word does He permit it to be vented. Ever if we must be angry, our anger must not be maintained beyond sunset, as the apostle admonishes. But how rash is it either to pass a day without prayer, while you refuse to make satisfaction to your brother; or else, by perseverance in anger, to lose your prayer?

ORIGEN: To give assent to sin is already a completed evil, even if someone does not actually commit the deed. And by this saying our Savior, hurling us away from the cause of sins, endeavors to cut sin off completely. For when this intention is not present in our souls, neither shall the action accompany it.

CYPRIAN: In Solomon in the Proverbs: “Better is a patient man than a strong man; for he who restrains his anger is better than he who takes a city.” Also in the same place: “The imprudent man declares his anger on the same day, but the crafty man hides away his dishonor.” Of this same thing to the Ephesians: “Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun set upon your wrath.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “You have heard that it was said by the ancients, Do not kill; and whoever shall kill shall be guilty of the judgment. But I say to you, That every one who is angry with his brother without cause shall be guilty of the judgment.”

THE DIDACHE: Do not be prone to anger, for anger leads the way to murder; neither jealous, nor quarrelsome, nor of hot temper; for out of all these murders are engendered.

IRENAEUS: “He that is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment.” All this is declared, that we may know that we shall give account to God not of deeds only, as slaves, but even of words and thoughts, as those who have truly received the power of liberty, in which condition a man is more severely tested, whether he will reverence, and fear, and love the Lord.

IRENAEUS: From that Father, therefore, from whom the Son was sent to those husbandmen who slew Him, from Him also were the servants sent. But the Son, as coming from the Father with supreme authority, used to express Himself thus: “But I say to you.” The servants, again, who came as from their Lord, spoke after the manner of servants, delivering a message; and they therefore used to say, “Thus says the Lord.”

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: This filthy speaking the apostle beats off, saying, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good.” And again, “As is fitting for saints, do not let filthiness be named among you, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which things are not seemly, but rather giving of thanks.” And if “he that calls his brother a fool be in danger of the judgment,” what shall we pronounce regarding him who speaks what is foolish? Is it not written respecting such: “Whosoever shall speak an idle word, shall give an account to the Lord in the day of judgment?” And again, “By your speech you will be justified,” He says, “and by your speech you will be condemned.” What, then, are the salutary ear-guards, and what the regulations for slippery eyes? Conversations with the righteous, preoccupying and forearming the ears against those that would lead away from the truth.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Wisdom pronounces anger a wretched thing.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: He that wishes to commit murder is a murderer, although he is unable to kill.

TERTULLIAN: He judges murder to consist even in a word of curse or of reproach, and in every impulse of anger, and in the neglect of charity toward a brother just as John teaches, that he who hates his brother is a murderer.

TERTULLIAN: If concupiscence or malice have ascended into a man’s heart, Jesus says it is held as a deed.

ORIGEN: And now, to confirm the deductions of reason by the authority of Scripture—namely, that it is our own doing whether we live rightly or not, and that we are not compelled, either by those causes which come to us from without, or, as some think, by the presence of fate—we adduce the testimony of the prophet Micah, in these words: “If it has been announced to you, O man, what is good, or what the Lord requires of you, except that you should do justice, and love mercy, and be ready to walk with the Lord your God.” Moses also speaks as follows: “I have placed before your face the way of life and the way of death: choose what is good, and walk in it.” Isaiah, moreover, makes this declaration: “If you are willing, and hear me, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.” In the Psalm, too, it is written: “If My people had heard Me, if Israel had walked in My ways, I would have humbled her enemies to nothing;” by which he shows that it was in the power of the people to hear, and to walk in the ways of God. The Savior also saying, “I say to you, do not resist evildoers;” and, “Whoever shall be angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment;” and, “Whoever shall look upon a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart;” and in issuing certain other commands,—conveys no other meaning than this, that it is in our own power to observe what is commanded. And therefore we are rightly rendered liable to condemnation if we transgress those commandments which we are able to keep.

ORIGEN: There are commands in the Gospel about which there is no doubt as to whether they are to be literally observed or not; for instance, that which says, “But I say to you, whoever shall be angry with his brother,” and so on; and, “But I say to you, do not swear at all.”

CYPRIAN: For since it is written, “Neither shall revilers inherit the kingdom of God,” and again the Lord says in His Gospel, “Whoever shall say to his brother, “You fool;” and whoever shall say, “Raca,” shall be in danger of the Gehenna of fire,” how can they evade the rebuke of the Lord the avenger, who heap up such expressions.

CYPRIAN: For even in the sacrifices which Abel and Cain first offered, God did not look at their gifts, but at their hearts, so that he was acceptable in his gift who was acceptable in his heart. Abel, peaceable and righteous in sacrificing in innocence to God, taught others also, when they bring their gift to the altar, thus to come with the fear of God, with a simple heart, with the law of righteousness, with the peace of concord. With reason did he, who was such in respect of God’s sacrifice, become subsequently himself a sacrifice to God; so that he who first set forth martyrdom, and initiated the Lord’s passion by the glory of his blood, had both the Lord’s righteousness and His peace. Finally, such are crowned by the Lord, such will be avenged with the Lord in the day of judgment; but the quarrelsome and disunited, and he who does not have peace with his brothers and sisters, in accordance with what the blessed apostle and the Holy Scripture testifies, even if he has been slain for the name of Christ, shall not be able to escape the crime of fraternal dissension, because, as it is written, “He who hates his brother is a murderer,” and no murderer attains to the kingdom of heaven, nor does he live with God. He cannot be with Christ, who had rather be an imitator of Judas than of Christ. How great is the sin which cannot even be washed away by a baptism of blood—how heinous the crime which cannot be expiated by martyrdom!

CYPRIAN: Why do you stand like Cain? For that he who is jealous of his brother, and has him in hatred, is bound by the guilt of homicide, the Apostle John declares in his epistle, saying, “Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has life abiding in him.” And again: “He that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because that darkness has blinded his eyes.” Whosoever hates, says he, his brother, walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going. For he is going unconsciously to Gehenna, in ignorance and blindness; he is hurrying into punishment, departing, that is, from the light of Christ, who warns and says, “I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” But he follows Christ who stands in His precepts, who walks in the way of His teaching, who follows His footsteps and His ways, who imitates that which Christ both did and taught; in accordance with what Peter also exhorts and warns, saying, “Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow His steps.”

IGNATIUS: Let no man deceive himself: if any one is not within the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God.

IGNATIUS: He that is within the altar is pure, but he that is without is not pure; that is, he who does anything apart from the bishop, and presbytery, and deacons, such a man is not pure in his conscience.

IGNATIUS: Take heed to have but one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to show forth the unity of His blood; one altar; as there is one bishop, along with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow-servants: that so, whatsoever you do, you may do it according to the will of God.

IRENAEUS: The offering of the Church, therefore, which the Lord gave instructions to be offered throughout all the world, is accounted with God a pure sacrifice, and is acceptable to Him; not that He stands in need of a sacrifice from us, but that he who offers is himself glorified in what he does offer, if his gift is accepted. For by the gift both honor and affection are shown forth towards the King; and the Lord, wishing us to offer it in all simplicity and innocence, did express Himself thus: “Therefore, when you offer your gift upon the altar, and remember that your brother has anything at all against you, leave your gift before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then return and offer your gift.” And the class of offerings in general has not been set aside; for there were both offerings there among the Jews, and there are offerings here among the Christians. Sacrifices there were among the people; sacrifices there are, too, in the Church: but the species alone has been changed, inasmuch as the offering is now made, not by slaves, but by freemen. For the Lord is ever one and the same; but the character of a servile offering is peculiar to itself, as is also that of freemen, in order that, by the very offerings, the indication of liberty may be set forth. For with Him there is nothing purposeless, nor without signification, nor without design. And for this reason they, the Jews, had indeed the tithes of their goods consecrated to Him, but those who have received liberty set aside all their possessions for the Lord’s purposes, bestowing joyfully and freely not the less valuable portions of their property, since they have the hope of better things hereafter; as that poor widow acted who cast all her living into the treasury of God. For at the beginning God had respect for the gifts of Abel, because he offered with single-mindedness and righteousness; but He had no respect for the offering of Cain, because his heart was divided with envy and malice, which he cherished against his brother, as God says when reproving his hidden thoughts, “Though you offer rightly, yet, if you do not divide rightly, have you not sinned? Be at rest;” since God is not appeased by sacrifice. For if anyone shall endeavor to offer a sacrifice merely to outward appearance, unexceptionably, in due order, and according to appointment, while in his soul he does not assign to his neighbor that fellowship with him which is right and proper, nor is under the fear of God; he who thus cherishes secret sin does not deceive God by that sacrifice which is offered correctly as to outward appearance; nor will such an offering profit him anything, but only the giving up of that evil which has been conceived within him. Sacrifices, therefore, do not sanctify a man, for God stands in no need of sacrifice; but it is the conscience of the offerer that sanctifies the sacrifice when it is pure. As, therefore, He does not stand in need of these services, yet does desire that we should render them for our own benefit, lest we be unfruitful; so did the Word give to the people that very precept as to the making of offerings, although He stood in no need of them, that they might learn to serve God: thus is it, therefore, also His will that we, too, should offer a gift at the altar, frequently and without intermission. The altar, then, is in heaven, for our prayers and offerings are directed toward that place.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The altar, then, that is with us here, the terrestrial one, is the congregation of those who devote themselves to prayers, having as it were one common voice and one mind.

TERTULLIAN: Does the Eucharist cancel a service devoted to God, or bind it more to God? Will not your station be more solemn if you have stood at God’s altar? Fasting on certain days was known as “stations.”

TERTULLIAN: As regards the rule of peace, which is so pleasing to God, who in the world that is prone to impatience will even once forgive his brother, I will not say “seven times,” or “seventy-seven times?” Who that is contemplating a lawsuit against his adversary will compose the matter by agreement, unless he first begin by lopping off chagrin, hardheartedness, and bitterness, which are in fact the poisonous outgrowths of impatience? How will you “remit, and remission shall be granted” you if the absence of patience makes you tenacious of a wrong? No one who is at variance with his brother in his mind, will finish offering his “duteous gift at the altar,” unless he first, with intent to “conciliate his brother,” return to patience. If “the sun go down over our wrath,” we are in jeopardy: we are not allowed to remain one day without patience.

MARK MINUCIUS FELIX: Do you think that we conceal what we worship, if we do not have temples and altars?

ORIGEN: “If then you are offering your gift at the altar and there think you that your brother has anything at all against you, leave there your gift before the altar, and go back—first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift;” for what greater gift can be sent up to God from a rational creature than fragrant words of prayer that is offered from a conscience devoid of taint from sin? Similarly instructive is “Do not deprive one another, except by agreement for a season that you may give yourselves to prayer and may be together at another time again, in order that Satan may not have occasion to exalt over you by reason of your lack of self-restraint.” For prayer “as we ought” is restrained unless the marriage mysteries which claim our silence be consummated with more of solemnity and deliberation and less of passion, the “agreement” referred to in the passage obliterating the discord of passion, and destroying lack of self-restraint, and preventing Satan's malicious exultation. Yet again instructive for prayer “as we ought” is the passage: “If you are standing at prayer, forgive anything that you have against any man;” and also the passage in Paul “Any man who prays or preaches with his head covered dishonors his head, and any woman who prays or preaches with unveiled head dishonors her head” is descriptive of the right manner of prayer.

CYPRIAN: In Malachi: “Has not one God created us? Is there not one Father of us all? Why have we certainly deserted one another?” Of this same thing according to John: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.” Also in the same place: “This is my commandment, That you love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love than this has no man, than that one should lay down his life for his friends.” Also in the same place: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.” Also in the same place: “Verily I say to you, That if two of you shall agree on earth concerning everything, whatever you shall ask it shall be given you from my Father which is in heaven. For wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with them.” Of this same thing in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: “And I indeed, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I have given you milk for drink, not meat: for while you were yet little you were not able to bear it, neither now are you able. For you are still carnal: for where there are in you emulation, and strife, and dissensions, are you not carnal, and walk after man?” Likewise in the same place: “And if I should have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods for food, and if I should deliver up my body to be burned, but do not have charity, I avail nothing. Charity is great-souled; charity is kind; charity does not envy; charity does not deal falsely; is not puffed up; is not irritated; does not think evil; does not rejoice in injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It loves all things, believes all things, hopes all things, bears all things. Charity shall never fail.” Of this same thing to the Galatians: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and accuse one another, see that you are not consumed one of another.” Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: “In this appear the children of God and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not righteous is not of God, and he who does not love his brother. For he who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Also in the same place: “If any one shall say that he loves God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?” Of this same thing in the Acts of the Apostles: “But the multitude of them that had believed acted with one soul and mind: nor was there among them any distinction, neither did they esteem as their own anything of the possessions that they had; but all things were common to them.” Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: If you would offer your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you; leave your gift before the altar, and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift at the altar.” Also in the Epistle of John: “God is love and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.” Also in the same place: “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is a liar, and walks in darkness even until now.”

VICTORINUS: “And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain.” John relates that he saw under the altar of God, that is, under the earth, the souls of them that were slain. For both heaven and earth are called God’s altar, as the law says, commanding in the symbolical form of the truth two altars to be made,—a golden one within, and a brazen one without. But we perceive that the golden altar is thus called heaven, by the testimony that our Lord bears to it; for He says, “When you bring your gift to the altar” (assuredly our gifts are the prayers which we offer), “and there remember that your brother has anything at all against you, leave your gift before the altar.” Assuredly prayers ascend to heaven.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: But the Savior himself, whom alone they think one should obey, has forbidden hatred and reviling and says: “When you go with your adversary to court, try to achieve a friendly reconciliation with him.” Accordingly, they will either refuse to accept Christ's exhortation, in that they are in opposition to the adversary, or they will become his friends and cease to oppose him.

TERTULLIAN: In short, inasmuch as we understand “the prison” pointed out in the Gospel to be Hades, and as we also interpret “the uttermost farthing” to mean the very smallest offense which has to be recompensed there before the resurrection, no one will hesitate to believe that the soul undergoes in Hades some compensatory discipline, without prejudice to the full process of the resurrection, when the recompense will be administered through the flesh besides.

TERTULLIAN: For the Judge, who commits to prison, and allows no release out of it without the payment of “the very last mite,” they treat of in the person of the Creator, with the view of disparaging Him. Which petty objection, however, I deem it necessary to meet with the same answer. For as often as the Creator’s severity is paraded before us, so often is Christ shown to be His, to whom He urges submission by the motive of fear.

ORIGEN: In this life, this way traveled by all, you do well to accept and not ignore the suggestions of the conscience. But if you are inconsiderate and negligent in this life, conscience itself, assuming the role of a prosecutor, will accuse you before the judge. Conscience will subject to the juryman’s decision, and you will be handed over to incurable punishments. Such things you would not have suffered, if along the way you had in fact acquired goodwill toward your accuser, accepting his reproaches as offered out of goodwill. For this also the divine Evangelist John says in his letter: “If our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.”

TERTULLIAN: For who is there that will not desire, while he is in the flesh, to put on immortality, and to continue his life by a happy escape from death, through the transformation which must be experienced instead of it, without encountering too that Hades which will exact the very last farthing? Notwithstanding, he who has already traversed Hades is destined also to obtain the change after the resurrection. For from this circumstance it is that we definitively declare that the flesh will by all means rise again.

ORIGEN: Mark with me that each deed which is good or seemly is like a gain and an increment, but a wicked deed is like a loss; and as there is a certain gain when the money is greater and another when it is less, and as there are differences of more or less, so according to the good deeds, there is as it were a valuing of gains more or less. To reckon what work is a great gain, and what a less gain, and what a least, is the prerogative of him who alone knows to investigate such things, looking at them in the light of the disposition, and the word, and the deed, and from consideration of the things which are not in our power cooperating with those that are; and so also in the case of things opposite, it is his to say what sin, when a reckoning is made with the servants, is found to be a great loss, and what is less, and what, if we may so call it, is the loss of the very last mite, or the last farthing. The account, therefore, of the entire and whole life is exacted by that which is called the kingdom of heaven which is likened to a king, when “we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad” and then when the reckoning is being made, shall there be brought into the reckoning that is made also every idle word that men shall speak, and any cup of cold water only which one has given to drink in the name of a disciple.