Matthew 5:26 - Exposition

Thou shalt by no means , etc. A solemn statement of the unrelenting character of justice. The Romanists hold that the verse implies

The first statement is probable; but as for the slightest hint of the second, it is wholly wanting. Christ affirms that non-reconciliation with a brother, if carried beyond that limit of time within which the quarrel can be made up, involves consequences in which the element of mercy will be entirely absent. The element of mercy can enter up to a certain point of time, but after that only justice. (On "pay," ἀποδῷς , see Matthew 6:4 , note.) It will be observed that, in the above interpretation, ἀντίδικος has been consistently explained as a human adversary, for this seems to be the primary meaning here. But it should not be forgotten that, in the parallel passage in Luke, the reference is to God. Offences against man are there represented in their true character as offences against God, who is therefore depicted as the adversary in a lawsuit. That, from another point of view, be is also the Judge, matters not. Both conceptions of him are true, and can be kept quite distinct. It may be the case, indeed, that this reference of ἀντίδικος to God was present to St. Matthew's mind also when he recorded these words, and this would partly account for the terrible emphasis on verse 26, the pendant to verse 22. But even if the reference to God were present to St. Matthew's mind by way of application, it is not with him, as it is with St. Luke, tile primary. signification of the word. Farthing . The quadrans , the smallest Roman coin.