These “Matthew 5:21-37” devotions explain what Jesus said about The Ten Commandments. We’ve compiled the following devotionals to help you grow in your faith and understanding of God’s Word. Use them for personal Bible study or when preparing a sermon or Sunday School lesson on this passage.
Matthew 5:21-37 Devotions
The “Go” of Reconciliation | My Utmost For His Highest
Sep 26, 2019 – By Oswald Chambers … —Matthew 5:23 … of God— “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24).
The Spurgeon Center | Sermons from Matthew
Hereafter. Matthew 26:64 … March 05, 1893 Matthew 11:28 · The Private Thoughts and Words of Jesus. March 26, 1891 Matthew 20:17-19 …
Living Your Theology | My Utmost For His Highest
By Oswald Chambers … the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).
God’s View of Sex – Decision Magazine
The following message, first preached by Billy Graham more than 60 years ago … for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).
Reflections on the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:17-20
And reading texts like Matthew 5:17-20 does little to ease the spiritual … A few days ago, I stumbled across an old sermon by Billy Graham in …
Dealing Wisely With Temptation – In Touch Ministries
Jesus debunked this idea in the Sermon on the Mount when He … Anything less than God’s standard of holiness is not His will for us (Matt.
Scripture for Medication and Memory:
Matthew 5:23-24
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
Bible Commentary Matthew 5:23
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;(23) If thou bring thy gift to the altar.—Literally, If thou shouldst be offering. Our Lord was speaking to Jews as such, and paints, therefore, as it were, a scene in the Jewish Temple. The worshipper is about to offer a “gift” (the most generic term seems intentionally used to represent any kind of offering), and stands at the altar with the priest waiting to do his work. That is the right time for recollection and self-scrutiny. The worshipper is to ask himself, not whether he has a ground of complaint against any one, but whether any one has cause of complaint against him. This, and not the other, is the right question at such a moment—has he injured his neighbour by act, or spoken bitter words of him?Matthew 5:24Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.(24) Leave there thy gift.—The words describe an act which would appear to men as a breach of liturgical propriety. To leave the gift and the priest, the act of sacrifice unfinished, would be strange and startling, yet that, our Lord teaches, were better than to sacrifice with the sense of a wrong unconfessed and unatoned for, and, à fortiori, better than the deeper evil of not being ready to forgive. The Talmud gives a curious rule, to which the words may perhaps allude: “If a man is on the point of offering the Passover, and remembers that there is any leaven left in the house, let him return to his house, and remove it, and then come and finish the Passover” (Pesachim, f. 49). What the scribes laid down as a duty in regard to the “leaven of bread,” our Lord applies to the leaven of malice and wickedness.
Be reconciled.—It is not enough to see in this only a command to remove ill-will and enmity from our own mind, though that, of course, is implied. There must be also confession of wrong and the endeavour to make amends, to bring about, as far as in us lies, reconciliation, or atonement.
Background on Matthew 5
- Read about Matthew chapter 5 on Wikipedia
- Read about The Beatitudes on Wikipedia
Teaching Matthew 5 for Kids
- Children’s Sermon Matthew 5:21-37
- See all our Sunday School Lessons for Valentine’s Day
- Download our Love themed Valentine coloring pages (Christian Themes)
- Compare the Love Your Neighbor (Luke 10 – Good Samaritan) Bible Lesson
- Download our Heart Craft ideas for Valentine’s Day
- Get more Valentine’s Ideas from Sunday School Works
Devotional Prayers
O Lord God,
who seest that we put not our trust
in any thing that we do;
Mercifully grant that by thy power
we may be defended against all adversity;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.Almighty God,
The Book of Common Prayer
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
Teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit
reigns supreme over all things, now and for ever.
Matthew 5:21-37 NIV
Murder
21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Adultery
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Divorce
31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Oaths
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Footnotes:
- Matthew 5:21 Exodus 20:13
- Matthew 5:22 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman; also in verse 23.
- Matthew 5:22 Some manuscripts brother or sister without cause
- Matthew 5:22 An Aramaic term of contempt
- Matthew 5:27 Exodus 20:14
- Matthew 5:31 Deut. 24:1
- Matthew 5:37 Or from evil
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Image Attribution
Harron, Maurice. Hands Across the Divide, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55419 [retrieved February 9, 2020]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hands_Across_the_Divide_-_geograph.org.uk_-_478600.jpg.
About Matthew 5
Matthew 5 is the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It contains the first portion of the Sermon on the Mount, which will also take up chapters 6 and 7. Portions are similar to the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6, but much of the material is found only in Matthew. It is one of the most discussed and analyzed chapters of the New Testament. Warren Kissinger reports that among Early Christians no chapter was more often cited by early scholars. The same is true in modern scholarship.
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