Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 20 I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
21 “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. 23 Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, 24 leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. 37 Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.
Matthew places these teachings together because they are a single demonstration of Jesus’ claim: he fulfills “the law and the prophets” and then shows what that fulfillment looks like in real moral life. Each unit begins with what “was said” and then Jesus speaks with his own authority, pressing God’s commandment into the heart, into relationships, and into daily speech.
Jesus first makes his position unmistakable. He has not come to abolish God’s revelation to Israel. He has come to fulfill it. In Matthew, “fulfill” means that Jesus brings God’s prior word to its intended completion and teaches its true scope. That is why he speaks about the smallest letter and the smallest part of a letter. The point is reverence for God’s will and confidence that God’s word is dependable. Disciples are not free to treat commandments as optional, or to train others to do the same. Obedience and faithful teaching belong together.
Jesus then names the decisive issue: righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees. In this setting, righteousness is not about appearing strict. It is about a deeper fidelity that matches what God truly intends. Jesus immediately shows what he means with four examples.
He begins with the commandment against murder and moves to the interior roots that can lead to it. Anger that is nursed and expressed in contempt becomes morally serious because it attacks the dignity of the person and fractures communion. Matthew preserves specific insults to make the point concrete. “Raqa” is a term of contempt, and “You fool” treats another person as worthless. The reference to the Sanhedrin evokes Israel’s highest council as an image of serious accountability, and “fiery Gehenna” is judgment language using a well-known image of grave ruin. Jesus’ concern is not simply what a person avoids doing. It is what a person becomes when anger is allowed to govern the heart and the tongue.
That is why reconciliation is made urgent. If you come to worship and remember that your brother has something against you, you do not postpone repair. You go first and seek reconciliation, then return to offer your gift. Jesus is teaching that worship cannot be separated from the moral demands of charity. The short scenario about settling quickly “on the way to court” continues the same realism. Conflict tends to harden, and delay increases the cost. The point is not legal detail but the wisdom of timely peacemaking.
Jesus then takes up adultery and moves again to the interior source. “Looking with lust” describes a deliberate way of seeing another person that turns desire into an intention that violates the truth of the other. Jesus uses shocking images about tearing out an eye or cutting off a hand to demand decisive action against whatever leads into sin. This is not a command to harm the body. It is forceful speech meant to show that disciples must take sin seriously and avoid the paths that draw them into it.
Next comes divorce. Jesus cites the practice of giving a bill of divorce and then teaches the moral reality of what divorce does to the marriage covenant. Matthew includes the parenthetical phrase “unless the marriage is unlawful,” which points to situations where a union is not a valid marriage to begin with. The central thrust remains Jesus’ insistence that marriage is not to be treated as disposable. Mark’s parallel saying states the same seriousness in a direct form (Mk. 10:11-12).
Finally, Jesus addresses oaths. People often use oaths to make speech sound more reliable while still leaving room for evasion. Jesus calls his disciples to a different kind of integrity. He forbids the habit of swearing by heaven, earth, Jerusalem, or one’s head, and he presses toward plain truthfulness: “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’” Anything beyond that is linked to evil, because it pulls speech away from simple honesty and toward manipulation. James gives the same practical instruction to Christians: let your yes be yes and your no be no (Jas. 5:12).
In these four units, Jesus is showing what a deeper righteousness looks like. It is a heart that seeks reconciliation rather than contempt, a purity that begins with the discipline of desire, a fidelity that takes marriage seriously, and a truthfulness that does not rely on verbal props. This is how Matthew explains Jesus’ fulfillment of the law: he brings God’s will to its full moral depth and calls his disciples to live it.
Lord Jesus, give me a heart that loves what you command. Heal what is angry in me, purify what is disordered, strengthen my fidelity, and make my words simple and true. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Roman Catholic Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Matt. 5:17-37.
- The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, Matthew, pp. 15-16.
- Raymond E. Brown, S.S., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., and Roland E. Murphy, O.Carm., eds., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990), pp. 641-643, pars. 28-33.
- The Navarre Bible: St. Matthew, pp. 62-64.
- Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018), pp. 920-921.
- The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, 3rd fully revised ed. (2020), pp. 1182-1183.
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