Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Matthew 5:22 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 22. 22But 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Extends accountability to anger and contemptuous insults with escalating judgment images.
Read It With
- Matthew 5:21–5:26
Read Matthew 5:22 with 5:21–5:26. In isolation, this verse's contribution—extends accountability to anger and contemptuous insults with escalating judgment images—can be detached from its speaker, audience, narrative or teaching sequence, and outcome. The complete unit establishes: Jesus recalls the murder command, exposes anger and insulting speech to judgment, prioritizes reconciliation, and urges settlement before a dispute reaches court.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Extends accountability to anger and contemptuous insults with escalating judgment images. This precise contribution belongs inside “Jesus presses the murder command toward reconciliation” because Jesus recalls the murder command, exposes anger and insulting speech to judgment, prioritizes reconciliation, and urges settlement before a dispute reaches court.
Follow the Context
- Jesus recalls the murder command, exposes anger and insulting speech to judgment, prioritizes reconciliation, and urges settlement before a dispute reaches court.
- The intensification addresses destructive anger and responsibility; the legal images do not erase due process or require direct contact when contact would be unsafe.
- This teaching does not equate every feeling with murder, force victims into unsafe reconciliation, forbid protective boundaries, or let abusers demand quick peace.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not detach its specific contribution—extends accountability to anger and contemptuous insults with escalating judgment images—from the complete unit or override the unit's explicit boundary: This teaching does not equate every feeling with murder, force victims into unsafe reconciliation, forbid protective boundaries, or let abusers demand quick peace.
What Remains True
Jesus recalls the murder command, exposes anger and insulting speech to judgment, prioritizes reconciliation, and urges settlement before a dispute reaches court. Matthew 5:22's proportionate contribution is this: Extends accountability to anger and contemptuous insults with escalating judgment images.
How It Can Shape Life
- Matthew 5:22 contributes this specific claim: Extends accountability to anger and contemptuous insults with escalating judgment images. Where reconciliation would expose someone to abuse, prioritize safety, lawful reporting, and accountable intermediaries rather than arranging direct contact to satisfy a slogan.
Teach It Back
Explain how Matthew 5:22 extends accountability to anger and contemptuous insults with escalating judgment images. Then identify its speaker or narrator, first Jewish and scriptural setting, one affected person, the material uncertainty, and the specific conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Matthew 5:21–5:26 — Jesus presses the murder command toward reconciliationSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Matthew 5:21–5:26, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control without treating one edition as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text file data/sblgnt/text/Matt.txt, Matthew 5:21–5:26
Open the Matthew Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for the expressions actually discussed in this thought unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data TAGNT rows for Matthew 5:21–5:26
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Matthew with Translators' and Textual Notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005-2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, historical, Jewish-background, and Synoptic notes for this unit.
Exact location: NET Bible Matthew PDF, printed pp. 1808-1867, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 5:21–5:26
Open source ↗open university bible study course
The Gospel of Matthew Course and Study Guides
Harold W. Attridge and Michal Beth Dinkler
Yale Bible Study, Yale Divinity School, current 2026 online edition
Supports: Critical literary orientation with source, setting, historical, and theological judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, course unit 'Sermon on the Mount,' Matthew 4-8 study guide
Open source ↗open seminary bible study course
Matthew Course
James L. Boyce; revised by Kristofer Phan Coffman
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2023 revision
Supports: Whole-book orientation and unit placement, including visible uncertainty about authorship, date, setting, and purpose.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Matthew course, 'Summary,' 'Outline,' 'Background,' 'Introductory Issues,' 'Theological Themes,' and passage index entry for Matthew 5:21–5:26
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
Matthew
Douglas Sean O'Donnell
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, current 2026 online edition
Supports: One complete confessional reading checked against the text, critical scholarship, and Jewish-context controls.
Exact location: O'Donnell, online Matthew commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Matthew 5:21–5:26
Open source ↗scholarly annotated translation
Matthew, in The Jewish Annotated New Testament
Aaron M. Gale; edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler
Aaron M. Gale, Matthew introduction and annotations, print pp. 1-54; related essays and sidebars in The Jewish Annotated New Testament, first edition.
Supports: Jewish setting, Scripture, Torah debate, named groups, practices, and anti-Judaism control at the passage address.
Exact location: Gale, Matthew introduction and verse-addressed annotations, first-edition print pp. 1-54, exact annotation at Matthew 5:21–5:26
Open source ↗open access scholarly essay collection
Matthew within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel
Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner, editors
SBL Press, 2020
Supports: Specialist control for Matthew's Jewish setting, Torah, Israel and nations, polemic, parables, Passion, resurrection, or mission as material to Matthew 5:21–5:26.
Exact location: Crossley, 'Matthew and the Torah,' printed pp. 29-51; Levine, pp. 449-466
Open source ↗open pastoral scholarly commentary collection
Focused Matthew Commentaries and Theology Articles
Susan Hylen, Melanie A. Howard, Greg Carey, Gennifer Benjamin Brooks, and Jillian Nelson
Susan Hylen, Commentary on Matthew 28:16-20, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/the-holy-trinity/commentary-on-matthew-2816-20-6; Melanie A. Howard, Commentary on Matthew 5:21-37, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/sixth-sunday-after-epiphany/commentary-on-matthew-521-37-5; Greg Carey, Commentary on Matthew 23:1-12, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-31/commentary-on-matthew-231-12-6; Gennifer Benjamin Brooks, Commentary on Matthew 27:11-54, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/sunday-of-the-passion-palm-sunday/commentary-on-matthew-2711-54-6; Jillian Nelson, Healing Beyond Bodily Transformation in Matthew's Gospel, https://www.workingpreacher.org/theology-and-interpretation/what-does-healing-mean-in-matthews-gospel
Supports: Focused ethical control for divorce, healing and disability, anti-Judaism, Passion responsibility, or noncoercive mission in Matthew 5:21–5:26.
Exact location: Howard, 'Commentary on Matthew 5:21-37,' sections 'The Antitheses' and 'Divorce,' exact discussion bearing on Matthew 5:21–5:26
Open source ↗