“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.” — Matthew 5:22
Why else can this be except for the reason of a self-righteous attitude? Those who spill over such words as Raca and/or fool don’t let God be God and think they can do a better job. It is the opposite of praying for your enemies and loving them. There is no humility behind such anger. Any anger that stems from self not getting its way is without a cause. When anger is provoked by God’s will being ignored by those who claim to follow Him (your brother), then there is a cause to be upset.
First examine your own self to remove that board from your own eye before you attempt to remove a splinter out of your brother’s eye. Whatever measure you judge another person by is the same measure God is going to judge you by. So, don’t be angry without a cause (reason) to be angry or else God is going to judge you and you will be in danger of hell fire!
When you let the sun go down on your anger, you have suppressed your feelings instead of working with what they are telling you to do.
Raca means vain fellow and vain implies worthless. To think of your brother as worthless reflects arrogance. We are all worth nothing without God’s grace. To treat someone as if she does not exist is saying Raca to her. “I will forever ignore you because you are a non-person,” reflects judgment by God through social council. This middle-of-the-road malice is effacing (literally removing one’s face out of your memory) a person’s mind without casting away her heart. Raca reflects a disdainful mind from a contemptuous emotion primarily upon the thoughts another person has. The attitude behind Raca is, “I won’t listen to you, I don’t care about your opinions, your ideas are worth about as much as those of a lunatic in a psychiatric ward,” stemming from a childish level, “Jane Doe is a crank” and/or “Jane Doe is a kook.” An attack like this aims to nullify another’s words. It is not attacking character, but it does create alienation by isolating the victim.
In a church congregation each person is equally important, and his or her opinions are to be heard and taken seriously. This is one way that we can see God’s spirit no longer is in man’s churches. When self-proclaimed Christians ignore what input you have to share, it is truly a sign that the abomination of desolation has taken her stand in the holy place. Even if someone doesn’t verbally say the words signifying Raca (to spit), actions can reflect the neglect to care (be interested) about another’s soul. To be interested is to invest of oneself into another. To have no interest implies no one can gain anything of value from that person. Spit is to expel. To kill is to murder. Murder begins in the heart. Many years ago, church members have already started to kill God’s elect among their congregation. This marked the beginning of the Great Tribulation and the time for wise Godly people to come out from the antichrist’s temple (silencing the visible church).
Maybe some parents might believe that what their children think and say are not important, but God always values thoughts, words, actions, feelings, opinions, attitudes, etc. When a person completely rejects another, she acts as her own god believing she can ultimately judge who is a moral rebel (an apostate). It’s like telling a person to, “go to hell!” It is one thing to say someone is rebellious but another matter to label one as a rebel. Christ didn’t condemn anyone while He was here. To call someone rebellious is out of a motive to convict their conscience. To say she is a rebel, fool, or moral idiot is accusing and condemning. Reproof and rebuke can also be called accusing, but the motive is for correction out of a spirit of love and attitude, “therefore but by the grace of God go I.”
To call someone a fool is to label them as an idiot (in the spiritual sense). This totally malignant opinion of another shows God’s judgment as condemning one to eternal death without pardon. To have such total disregard towards another person’s heart (character) reflects the lack of God’s grace.
Fool is an old-fashioned term for today’s modern ones people call others; like: trailer-trash, waste product, trash, good-for-nothing, useless, chaff, reprobate, idiot — destitute one of all spiritual or Divine knowledge, etc.
Hell fire is perpetual. The refuse of Jerusalem was continually being burnt up by the fire outside the city gates. There is no greater curse a person can inflict upon another than to discard her from your concern over what happens to her soul.
Note: Raca expresses contempt for a man’s head —> stupid!; [The Greek word] “moros” expresses contempt for his heart and character —> scoundrel!
There is more than one meaning for the word fool in scripture. Verse 22 here implies spiritually empty. The other use of this term elsewhere implies unbelief. The difference between the two is the former is condemning and the later is convicting.
Matthew 10:14, Mark 6:11, Luke 9:5, and Acts 13:51, are¹ examples of a completely different motive behind leaving others with their kind. For starters, there is no anger involved (unless it’s from those who will not hear the gospel truth). Either you are walking in God’s Spirit living out His will in your life or you are walking in the flesh living out your will in your life.
¹Matthew 10:14, “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.”
Mark 6:11, “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”
Luke 9:5, “And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.”
Acts 13:51, “But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.”
