The Tongue and Hell

"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." (Matt. 5:22 NAS)

In this article, I will be dealing with the last of the three declarations or warnings Jesus gave as found in Matt. 5:22 regarding man's attitude and speech toward his fellowman. Jesus says that to say to one's fellowman "you fool" puts him in danger of going to hell itself. That is a frightful thought that the words out of one's mouth are enough to condemn a man for eternity, and yet the Bible teaches that.

"You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil. And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." (Matt. 12:34-37 NAS)

It is important that we remember what was just quoted. If we did so, we would be slow to speak, thinking about what we are about to say before we say it. We would not just blather out thoughtlessly the very first words that come to mind. James tells us, "Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger." (James 1:19 NAS)

Words not spoken ordinarily cause no trouble nor lead to condemnation. However, certainly, there are times and places where it is appropriate to speak up and sinful not to. But words spoken that would have been best left unspoken have resulted in murders, hatred, anger, strife, bitterness, and condemnation before God.

For the moment I want to put emphasis on what Jesus said in Matt. 12 quoted above when he said, "For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart." (Matt. 12:34 NAS) Elsewhere Jesus said, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts." (Matt. 15:19 NAS) It is the pure in heart that shall see God (Matt. 5:8). It is the heart that loves God and loves man that is blessed with eternal life and happiness. "He who does not love abides in death." (1 John 3:14 NAS)

The words we direct to our fellowman are a reflection of how our heart feels towards the one to whom we speak. Do we love him/her? Are we kind to the person, compassionate, caring? The words that roll off our tongue are a reflection of the inner attitude we have toward that individual.

To call a man a fool reflects the speaker's heart and lack of love. Even if he was right about the man to whom he was speaking and that man was indeed a fool, it would not get the speaker off the hook for violating the law of love toward one's fellowman.

The Greek word translated "fool" in Matt. 5:22 has been and is highly debated as to its exact meaning. You and I know what the English meaning of the English word fool is without being told, but is that what the Greek word meant that lies behind the English translation in our Bibles? That is the debated question.

Most of the old commentators I consulted (Barnes, Clarke, and Gill) believe it means a wicked reprobate man. Gill says, "The word 'fool' does not signify a man of weak parts, one that is very ignorant in things natural; this the word Raca imports; but a wicked reprobate man; in which sense Solomon often uses the word. The Persic version renders it here 'wicked'." (Gill's Commentary) The translation notes from the NET Bible say, "The meaning of the term moros is somewhat disputed. Most take it to mean, following the Syriac versions, 'you fool,' although some have argued that it represents a transliteration into Greek of the Hebrew term moreh 'rebel.'" Young's Literal Translation uses the word "rebel" rather than the word "fool."

I have no way of knowing the truth on this, but I suspect Gill was correct since Raca means fool, which Jesus had already addressed. Robertson's Word Pictures quotes Bruce as saying the word "more," "more" in the original language, "expresses contempt for his heart and character=you scoundrel".

Vine's An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says, "'Thou fool;' here the word means morally worthless, a scoundrel, a more serious reproach than 'Raca;' the latter (a reference to Raca--DS) scorns a man's mind and calls him stupid; moros (the word in question--DS) scorns his heart and character." (Page 444) Elsewhere, Vine says in reference to the word translated "fool" (in most translations) it means "a godless, moral reprobate." (Page 915)

Be all that as it may, Matt. 5:22 makes it clear that God has not relinquished his right to be God and handed that right over to me to make me the judge and make proclamation over others. When I call someone a fool, a reprobate, or whatever, I have proclaimed that I myself am not a fool and I am able to judge others, for I am superior. I know these things and you don't is the idea, and I know because I am superior. It is pride and it is arrogance and it is the placing of oneself on God's judgment seat.

Is it true there are no fools and/or godless reprobates on the earth? No, it is not. The book of Proverbs speaks of fools time after time (the word "fool" is mentioned in 40 verses in that book in the NAS and the word "fools" in 21 verses), and enough is said about them so that we can learn quite a bit about who is and who is not a fool. There are many who do not believe in God's existence. David, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" (Psalms 14:1, 53:1 NAS)

God has not asked us to be naïve and go around acting like we cannot discern foolish things from things that are rational, and he has certainly not asked us to give up discerning righteousness from unrighteousness. We are not asked to live as though we are blind and see no evil and refuse to recognize evil or foolishness. We know there are evil men in the world; we know there are foolish men in the world. Jesus in the New Testament addressed a certain class of men as "fools and blind men." (Matt. 23:17 NAS) Paul did the same thing in Rom. 1:22. We are told by Solomon, "Do not be a fool." (Eccl. 7:17 NAS) Surely we can know what foolishness is.

That does not mean, however, that we are to take God's place and declare a man a fool, or worse, implying we are not. Have we not all played the role of the fool at one or more times in our life? I doubt I could find a man who would deny it if he has any honesty about himself at all. If we are, and always have been, so perfect, what need do we have for Jesus? Paul said, "For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another." (Titus 3:3 NAS) We have no room to speak of others as being fools.

While the New Testament only uses the words fool and fools 3 times each in the New American Standard Bible (1977), it uses the word foolish in 25 different verses. The first instance is found in Matt. 7:26, "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand." (NAS) It is not hard to be foolish; not obeying the commands of Jesus will do it. Jesus and Paul both spoke of foolish men and foolish acts. One of the problems of the man who is inclined to call his brother, his fellowman, a fool is his failure to see that he too falls into the same category. His disregard for Jesus' words spoken in Matt. 5:22 clearly places him in the classification of being "a foolish man" according to Matt. 7:26.

What is needed is mercy and grace, kindness and love, and taking the speck out of our own eye. "And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." (Matt. 7:3-5 NAS)

There is a "fiery hell." Jesus said so in the passage before us, and he told us of one personality headed there. It is our choice as to whether or not we make the decision to heed the teachings of Matt. 5:22 or disregard them. There is a path that leads away from the fiery hell. Jesus described it when he said, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock." (Matt. 7:24-25 NAS) That is the rock that is higher than I.

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The Sin of Verbal Abuse

"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." (Matt. 5:22 NAS)

I want to deal in this article specifically with the second clause in this statement of Jesus where he says "Whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court." My main interest is how this applies to you and me today. There is a warning in this teaching that transcends the ages.

A good place to begin is with the word "Raca" which is meaningless to the average reader of the Bible. Consequently, many translations translate the Greek differently using terms or phrases such as "insults his brother" (ESV), "insults a brother" (NET, NRSV is similar), "You good-for-nothing" (NAS update—I used the original NAS in my quote at the top of the page, GNB), and "Empty fellow" (YLT). Vine's An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says, "It was a word of utter contempt, signifying empty, intellectually rather than morally, empty-headed." Strong's Dictionary described it as "a term of utter vilification." I believe from my study that the YLT (Young's Literal Translation) comes the closest of any of the versions in giving the best translation of the Greek. I also think the word "stupid" or "moron" would fit based on Vine's definition.

When one takes a look at the various translations given above for the Greek and learns the meaning of the Greek word used behind those translations it becomes obvious that we have a sin that can be committed today even though we might use a different word than Raca. The man that would say this kind of thing to a brother not only insults that brother but displays a lack of love and compassion, a lack of kindness for his fellowman. It tells you more about the man speaking than it does about the man he is insulting with such speech. It manifests a feeling of superiority in the speaker's mind and contempt for the other guy.

If you are an American, have you ever wondered why the desperately poor southern white who never owned a slave or had hopes of doing so fought to uphold the slave holding rights of rich southern plantation owners during our Civil War in the 1860s? I am told, through their writings, by those who have studied the subject, that the slave gave them a sense of self-worth in that there was at least one man below them in terms of how society judged its own. They were at least better than the black slave (as they saw it). As long as there were slaves, they were not in society's lowest caste. Take the slave away and then it is a different matter.

One wonders how much of this belittling of one's brother or sister is similar in kind. I insult and belittle you so I can feel better about myself. My low self-esteem leads me to drag you down to raise myself up. And, no doubt, a great amount of this kind of behavior comes not so much from low self-esteem but arrogance in those who speak to another person this way. Full of pride and puffed up, better than another in their own mind, the other guy is mere dust under their feet. But the motive makes little difference. It is the result that matters. One can be a jerk for this reason or that reason but he is still a jerk, if that is his character.

There is a price to be paid for such behavior. In school we call such conduct bullying. School shootings and suicides of young people oftentimes are directly related to some child being continually subjected to such torment by those who would verbally abuse others. When I was a student in high school I saw a young girl tormented (bullied) mercilessly daily (this was back in the early 60s). This was long before schools ever gave a thought of disciplining such conduct. I have always sort of blamed those tormentors of hers for the way her life turned out. I saw what she went through daily. She was going to have a tough go of it at best and needed all the love, friendship, and kindness she could get, but what she got instead was tormentors and bullies who verbally abused her daily and made her life miserable.

In another article on this passage, I talked about anger. We ought to be angry against sin and that would include the sin those engage in who would belittle others, insult them, and call them names. I hate this sin. My dad was an honest man and a hard worker. People thought well of him for that, but Dad had a speech impediment of sorts and had some difficulty pronouncing certain letters or sounds. I could understand him perfectly and everyone did who was around him all of the time but still, he did not quite pronounce some of his words correctly.

Dad never told me this but I learned it later and I never said a word to him, never brought it up to him, but I learned as they were eating lunch one day at work one of his co-workers was making fun of him, evidently mercilessly, and he slapped the man. No doubt Dad was too ashamed to ever tell it. He had to have been tremendously provoked to do that for it was totally out of character for him and hard to believe he had done such a thing.

Certainly, Dad was in the wrong but those who speak hurtful words to others tearing them down to the point of the loss of all dignity--what kind of love do they have in their hearts toward others? Is there any love, compassion, any mercy, any humanity in such speech? If I incite a person to the point it becomes intolerable for them and they just cannot take it anymore, am I guilt-free of sin? Dad knew he could not pronounce his words correctly and never liked to be out in public. No man wants to be embarrassed.

I think one can begin to see that this sin involves more than just words, it involves the heart. The man who would call his brother names and insult him has not only sinned with the words of his mouth but in his heart as well. He certainly has not loved his brother, the one he should have been protecting.

The Bible tells us, "Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." (Phil. 2:4 NAS) Does the kind of speech of which we are speaking violate this scripture? This speaking humiliating things to others, putting them down, is a sin on so many levels—a sin of the heart, of the tongue, a violation of all the passages that speak of love, compassion, kindness, and mercy.

"And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell." (James 3:6 NAS)

In closing, it is readily seen that whatever this passage meant in the first century it is still applicable today in that there will be a judgment for such speech. We need not worry about the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court in the first century, for a greater than the Sanhedrin is here—Jesus Christ himself, the judge of all, on that special day that has been appointed for that. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." (2 Cor. 5:10 NAS)

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America and Corinth

Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun." (Eccl. 1:9 NKJV) When it comes to human behavior it is hard to argue that anything has changed since Solomon's day well over 2,000 years ago. Human pride and arrogance just seem to roll on from one generation to the next endlessly. I was reminded of that today (4/6/2015) when I was reading from 1 Cor. 5, Paul's letter to the church at Corinth.

"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father's wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you." (1 Cor. 5:1-2 NKJV)

While America is certainly not a church it seems it has much the same attitude toward sin that the church at Corinth was displaying. There is no mourning in America today over adultery, homosexuality, fornication, lying, deception, malice, drunkenness, you name it. In fact, for some politicians their sins make them more popular with the public. Bill Clinton was one notorious example of that. Bill Bennett's book, The Death of Outrage, was written as a direct response to the public's reaction to that sordid episode.

Being caught in a lie no longer disqualifies one from holding even the highest office in the land. We have lied so much and for so long people no longer think much about it and it no longer seems to taint your character in the eyes of the public at large with but few exceptions. Harry Reid, the senator from Nevada, just admitted lying about Mitt Romney not paying any taxes for 10 years but where is the public outrage? There is very little of it.

There is little difference with other sins. The quickest way for an actress to gain fame and fortune seems to be to take her clothes off and display herself publicly, maybe even get into pornography, and as for drunkenness, why everyone does it do they not? There is no shame in America anymore. If you are on your fifth live-in arrangement, so what? Who really cares? We will tolerate anything in America. Sounds like Corinth to me. We will in the name of toleration tolerate the very things that will lead to our personal and national destruction.

What outrage we do see today is against Christianity, not against sin and evil doing. We are experiencing the evolution of morals in America where we now call evil good and good evil. It is a destructive evolution for God has said, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness." (Isa. 5:20 NKJV)

But why have we become this way? I think the following remark from Bill Bennett's book, The Death of Outrage, is on the mark:

"Why have we been drawn toward a culture of permissiveness? My former philosophy professor John Silber was correct when he spoke of an 'invitation to mutual corruption.' We are hesitant to impose upon ourselves a common moral code because we want our own exemptions." (Page 120)

We in America like to blame our leaders for our problems as a nation, but the problem lies within us, each of us. We have become proud, puffed up, much like the Corinthians. Add to that we enjoy our own personal sins and do not want to give them up. Living righteously no longer matters to us. We will set our own standards and they are far, far more lenient than God's standards for we like it that way.

The answer to our problems lies within each of us. While it is true "there is none righteous" (Rom. 3:10 NKJV), we are not righteous on our own, don't you think we might all be better off and our nation be better off if we made an attempt to live godly? The desire to do so has been lost but God has given us free will. We can change if we will just will to do it. With God's help, it is not impossible for men and women to live godly, righteous lives. If there is not a change, a sort of national repentance, we are doomed as a nation. On a personal level Jesus put it bluntly, "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3 NKJV) "God is not mocked." (Gal. 6:7 NKJV)

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Free Will and God's Foreknowledge

Did God know Adam and Eve would sin? The answer is yes, but it is a hard answer for some to accept, for they cannot understand how mankind could keep from sinning if God foreknew they would sin. Did they, Adam and Eve, have free will; that is the question being asked? If God knew we were all going to need Jesus and his blood for salvation even before our existence, what choice did any of us have but sin?

That question does not bother me. Why not? Because God by definition is supernatural. His understanding is infinite. What seems impossible with man is possible with God (creating the universe, the virgin birth, raising the dead to life again, walking on water, walking through closed doors, knowing man's thoughts without being told, disappearing into thin air, etc.). "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen. 18:14 NKJV) "Is there anything too hard for me?" (Jer. 32:27) "His understanding no one can fathom." (Isa. 40:28 NIV) Because a matter is too deep for my own understanding does not mean it is too deep for God.

Now for the scriptural truth that God did indeed know Adam and Eve would sin, I will just quote the appropriate scriptures and leave it with you.

In 2 Tim. 1:9 the scripture says God has "saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." (NKJV) You did catch that, did you not—"before time began"? John refers to Jesus as "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev. 13:8 NKJV)

In Eph. 1:4 Paul says we Christians were chosen "in him before the foundation of the world." (NKJV) The prior verse (verse 3) makes it clear Paul is speaking of "in Christ." In the same book, we read of "the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Eph. 3:11 NKJV) If it was eternal, it was before the earth was created.

The kingdom was prepared for us "from the foundation of the world." (Matt. 25:34 NKJV) Paul speaks of "the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory." (1 Cor. 2:7 NKJV) Did this wisdom have anything to do with Jesus and salvation from sin? So, yes, this wisdom that was ordained before the ages dealt with the salvation of man.

We read in Titus 1:2 of the "hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began" (NKJV), but, of course, eternal life depends on Jesus and his sacrifice for man, so again, the answer is yes; God did indeed know man would sin before creating man.

Finally, we close with Peter who says Christ was "foreordained before the foundation of the world." (1 Peter 1:20 NKJV)

Our duty before God as believers is to believe and not fret about how God can do things that seem impossible to us. God knew we would sin before we were created. But, don't you think God also knew mankind could love? "God is love." (1 John 4:8 NKJV) We were made in God's image (Gen. 1:26). Perhaps, just perhaps, we were created in part to be loved by God and to love God back. "We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19 NKJV) Every person desires to be loved. Is God any different?

Jesus said the first commandment, the one with top priority, is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30 NKJV) Perhaps love is of such great and wonderful value as to be worth some pain. God knew some would reject him and continue on in sin, but he also knew some would love him and be loyal to him. To love God is a wonderful thing. Just maybe it was worth creating man.

I conclude by saying I cannot know God's motives in creating man, and so I have speculated. Take it as that. But, I have to believe that God saw value in the creation of man, or he would not have created us. And, I also know, God could have created a robot rather than a man had he desired to do so. A robot has no choices about love, or hate, or anything else. A robot cannot receive love or give love. It can give no satisfaction to the hearts of spiritual beings.

This is making a case for free will. A robot, I suppose, could be programmed to go through the motions of loving you, but it would all be artificial, programmed into the wiring, without choice. We love God because he chose us (1 John 4:19). We love our husbands or wives because they chose us. That was and is very meaningful. They didn't have to do it. We were not the only man or woman on earth. Their choice of us was special. It had and has real meaning. So, God had to give us a choice if there was to be a meaningful relationship with him. That meant some would not choose him. But for those who did and do, that is special.

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