1. The Life of Christ (18) The Sermon on the Mount
The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
The Law of Adultery (Matthew 5:27-28)
Vocabulary
Reconcile (reconciliation) – Webster defines reconciliation as “the act of removing any obstacles between two parties and thus, removing the barrier so that a state of harmonious or friendly relations is established again.”
Reconciliation deals with the matter of the restoration of friendly relations following a time of anger, estrangement or hostility.
See 2 Cor. 5:18; Romans 5:11.
Adultery – Sex between a married person and someone other than his/her spouse.
Fornication – Sex between two people who are not married.
This lesson has two teachings, The Law of Reconciliation (Matt. 5:23-26) and the Law of Adultery (Matt. 5:27-27). This lesson is a continuation of the Sermon on the mount.
Look up 2Cor. 5:18 and Rom. 5:11
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2. The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
The Life of Christ (18)
The Sermon on the Mount
The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
Matthew 5:23–26 (NASB95)
23“Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled (resolve or settle) to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
25“Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.
26“Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
Matthew 5:21–22 (NASB95)
21“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’
22“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
The first passage in Matthew contains Jesus’ teaching about the Law of Reconciliation. Read and explain this scripture. The first two verses are about one situation and the last two cover another situation.
The second passage in Matthew contains Jesus’ teaching about the mental attitude sin of anger.
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3. The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
The Life of Christ (18)
The Sermon on the Mount
The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
Dealings with other believers (5:23-26).
The connection between Matthew 5:21-22 is as follows: if we are concerned about controlling anger and hate in ourselves, we should be no less concerned when we engender (cause) these attitudes in others.
In both parts of this teaching of Matthew 5:23-26, the common thread is conflict between individuals.
The first situation (vs. 23 and 24) referred to is when any believer knows that he has wronged another believer.
The setting for the first of these two examples is temple worship, which is somewhat equivalent to our Bible class or prep school.
The last half of verse 23 shows that the believer who is about to offer an offering under the law remembers that there is another believer who has something against him/her.
Read, review and explain these points and scripture.
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4. The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
The Life of Christ (18)
The Sermon on the Mount
The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
Dealings with other believers (5:23-26).
So rather than let the situation deteriorate he stops in midstream and goes to the offended believer and makes peace.
He acts as the peacemaker. (Matt. 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God).
Jesus’ emphasis here is that the ritual (ceremony) is less important than the spiritual reality of making peace with a brother.
Jesus recognizes the Jews’ need to understand that the ritual is only a teaching aid, not reality.
It is a contradiction to be at peace with God and to live in conflict with others of the family of God (in fact, it is an impossibility).
One of the main elements or features portrayed in the offerings of the Old Testament was reconciliation.
Read, review and explain these points and scripture.
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5. The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
The Life of Christ (18)
The Sermon on the Mount
The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
Dealings with other believers (5:23-26).
Jesus directs all believers to make peace with others before one engages in any form of worship.
Only when these known conflicts are resolved can formal service and worship of God be fully accepted.
Any time you recognize that you have acted badly toward another believer you should, at your earliest convenience, make contact and apologize.
This puts the offended believer to the test as to whether or not he will manifest (show) grace and forgive the one who offended him.
If the believer will not accept the offer of peace, the first believer can move on with a clear conscience since he has been obedient to Jesus’ teaching.
Read, review and explain these points and scripture.
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6. The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
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The Sermon on the Mount
The Law of Reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-26)
Verses 25 and 26, deal with a believer who is at odds with another believer in a legal or judicial sense.
As with the previous example the believer who is told what to do is in the wrong.
The situation involves a case where one believer owes money to another and has refused to pay.
In the ancient world debtors (people who owe money) could be taken to court and sent to debtor’s prison for failure to pay up.
The proper way to handle this situation is to go to the believer, apologize, and come to an agreement on the payment.
Jesus urges believers in that situation to reach an out of court settlement.
He insists on immediate action so as to avoid, if possible, the prospect of going to jail.
Here we see yet another situation in which we are to do all in our power to resolve conflict before matters become much worse.
Read, review and explain these points and scripture.
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7. 27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;
The Life of Christ (18)
The Sermon on the Mount
The law of Adultery (Matthew 5:27-28)
Matthew 5:27–28 (NASB95)
27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;
28but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
In Matthew 5:27-28, Jesus teaches about the law of adultery. Read and explain this verses. Difference in overt adultery and mental attitude adultery.
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8. The law of Adultery (Matthew 5:27-28)
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The Sermon on the Mount
The law of Adultery (Matthew 5:27-28)
Jesus continues to teach more on Mental Attitude Sins.
In verse 28 Jesus addresses the subject of mental attitude adultery.
As Jesus did previously with murder/anger, He tries to show that the mental attitude sin of lust puts one out of fellowship.
While mental attitude sins do not always lead to overt sins, the overt sins do not occur without first being in the mental attitude; you normally think about things before you do them.
There is the tendency on the part of some to not consider the sinfulness of the mental attitude that lays at the root (cause) of overt sin.
Read the verses and explain these points.
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9. The Life of Christ (18) The Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount
The law of Adultery (Matthew 5:27-28)
All Overt (Visible) Sins Start With Mental Attitude (Thinking) Sins
All Mental Attitude (Thinking) Sins Do Not Become Overt (Visible) Sins
Mental Attitude Sins
Mental Attitude (Thinking) Sins
Can Turn Into Overt (Visible) Sins
Explain this page.
Overt
Sins
Overt (Visible) Sins
All Start With Mental Attitude Sins
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10. The law of Adultery (Matthew 5:27-28)
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The Sermon on the Mount
The law of Adultery (Matthew 5:27-28)
The 10th commandment (Ex. 20:17) explicitly (clearly) makes the same point when it prohibits coveting (lusting after) another’s wife.
Exodus 20:17 (NASB95)
17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet (wish for) your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Mental attitude (Thinking) adultery is a sin that should be resisted by cultivating or promoting the right kind of thinking in your mind.
Kinds of adultery include:
Sex with a married person, Exodus 20:14
The mental attitude sin arising from the lust pattern of the old sin nature. Exodus 20:17
Spiritual adultery that involves placing other gods and things before the one and true God (Jeremiah 3:8-9; James 4:4)
Read, review and explain these points and scriptures.
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11. The law of Adultery (Matthew 5:27-28)
The Life of Christ (18)
The Sermon on the Mount
The law of Adultery (Matthew 5:27-28)
Spiritual Adultery
Jeremiah 3:8–9 (NASB95)
8“And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also.
9“Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
James 4:4 (NASB95)
4You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
These verses are examples of spiritual adultery. The verse in Jeremiah is an example of putting other gods before the One True God, i.e. worshiping idols of stones or trees. The verse in James is an example of putting the things of the world before God. Give examples of the James 4:4 verse. Things that we can worship are movie stars, money, sport stars.
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