Week 1    Day 4

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Being Subject to the Judgment, Council or Gehenna of Fire

Matthew 5:22

I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother rashly shall be subject to the judgment. Whoever shall say to his brother, Raca⁴, shall be subject to the council; and whoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be subject to the gehenna of fire.

Arcana Coelestia 374

Whoever bears hatred toward his brother, kills him in his heart, as the Lord teaches:

You have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not murder, and whoever shall murder shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you, that whoever is angry with his brother rashly shall be in danger of the judgment; and whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire (Matt. 5:21, 22).

By these words are meant the degrees of hatred. Hatred is contrary to charity, and kills in whatever way it can, if not with the hand, yet in spirit, and is withheld from the deed of the hand only by external restraints.

Apocalypse Explained 746:18

That one who thinks ill of his neighbor without adequate cause and turns himself away from the good of charity will be punished lightly as to his soul, is signified by “Whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to the judgment.” “To be angry,” signifies to think ill, for it is distinguished from “saying Raca,” and “saying, Thou fool.” “Brother” means the neighbor, and also the good of charity, and “to be liable to the judgment” means to be examined and to be punished according to circumstances.

That one who from wrong thought slanders the neighbor, and thus despises the good of charity as of little value, will be punished grievously, is signified by “whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the council,” for “to say Raca” signifies to slander the neighbor from evil thought, thus to hold the good of charity to be of little value, for “to say Raca” means to hold as useless and as of little value, and “brother” means the good of charity.

That one who hates the neighbor, that is, one who is altogether averse to the good of charity, is condemned to hell, is signified by “Whoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be liable to the hell of fire.” To say “Thou fool” means to be altogether averse to; “brother” means the good of charity; and “the hell of fire” is the hell where those are who hate that good and thence hate the neighbor.

These three describe three degrees of hatred: the first is from evil thought, which is “to be angry,” the second is from consequent evil intention, which is “to say Raca,” and the third is from an evil will, which is “to say Thou fool.” All these are degrees of hatred against the good of charity, for hatred is the opposite of the good of charity. The three degrees of punishment are signified by “the judgment,” “the council,” and “the hell of fire.” The punishments for lighter evils are signified by “the judgment,” the punishments for the more grievous evils by “the council,” and the punishments for the most grievous evils, by “the hell of fire.”

Arcana Coelestia 8902

Thou shalt not murder. That this signifies not to take away spiritual life from anyone, also not to extinguish faith and charity, as well as not to hold the neighbor in hatred, is evident from the signification of “murdering,” as being to deprive of spiritual life. That “murdering” means this in the internal sense, is because in this sense spiritual life, or the life of heaven with man, is treated of. And spiritual life, or the life of heaven with man, is the life of faith and of charity. Therefore by “not to murder” is signified also not to extinguish faith and charity in anyone. The reason why “not to murder” is also in the internal sense not to hold the neighbor in hatred, is that he who holds in hatred continually wishes to murder, and also would murder in act unless prevented by the fear of the penalty, of the loss of life, of reputation, and the like. For hatred is of evil, is contrary to charity, and breathes nothing but the murder of him whom it hates: in the world the murder of his body; in the other life the murder of his soul. This is meant by the words of the Lord in Matthew [5:21, 22] ....

Hatred against the neighbor is meant by being “angry with the brother rashly,” and the degrees of its increase are described by saying to him “Raca,” and by calling him “a fool.” (That anger is a turning away from charity, and is from evil, thus that it is hatred, see n. 357, 4164, 5034, 5798, 5887, 5888.)

⁴ which means “empty, worthless” (see AE 746:18 on this page)

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