John Calvin Commentary Matthew 5:21

"Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:" — Matthew 5:21 (ASV)

You have heard that it was said. This sentence, and those which immediately follow, are connected with what we have just considered: for our Lord explains more fully, by minute instances, by what tortuous methods³⁹⁶ the Pharisees debase the law, so that their righteousness is mere filth.

It is a mistake, however, to suppose that this is an ἐπανόρθωσις, or correction³⁹⁷ of the Law, and that Christ raises His disciples to a higher degree of perfection than Christ could raise a gross and carnal nation, which was scarcely able to learn first principles.

It has been a prevailing opinion that the beginning of righteousness was laid down in the ancient law, but that the perfection of it is pointed out in the Gospel.

But nothing was farther from the design of Christ than to alter or innovate anything in the commandments of the law. There God has once fixed the rule of life which he will never retract.

But as the law had been corrupted by false expositions and turned to a profane meaning, Christ vindicates it against such corruptions and points out its true meaning, from which the Jews had departed.

That the doctrine of the law not only commences, but brings to perfection, a holy life, may be inferred from a single fact: that it requires a perfect love of God and of our neighbor (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18). He who possesses such a love wants nothing of the highest perfection. So far as respects the rules of a holy life, the law conducts men to the goal, or farthest point, of righteousness. Accordingly, Paul declares the law to be weak, not in itself, but in our flesh (Romans 8:3). But if Moses had given nothing more than the first lessons of true righteousness, how ridiculous would have been that appeal!

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that you may live (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Again:

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul? (Deuteronomy 10:12).

Vain and deceitful, also, would have been that promise, The man that does them shall live in them (Leviticus 18:5; Romans 10:5; Galatians 3:12).

That Christ, on the other hand, intended to make no correction in the precepts of the law is very clear from other passages: for to those who desire to enter into life by their good works, He gives no other injunction than to keep the commandments of the law (Matthew 19:17).

From no other source do the Apostles, as well as Christ Himself, draw the rules for a devout and holy life.

It is doing a grievous injury to God, the author of the Law, to imagine that the eyes, hands, and feet alone are trained by it to a hypocritical appearance of good works, and that it is only in the Gospel that we are taught to love God with the heart.

Away, then, with that error: “The deficiencies of the law are here supplied by Christ.” We must not imagine Christ to be a new legislator who adds anything to the eternal righteousness of his Father.

We must listen to Him as a faithful expounder, that we may know what is the nature of the law, what is its object, and what is its extent.

It now remains for us to see what Christ condemns in the Pharisees, and in what respect his interpretation of it differs from their glosses.

The substance of it is that they had changed the doctrine of the law into a political order and had made obedience to it consist entirely in the performance of outward duties.

Thus, he who had not slain a man with his hand was pronounced to be free from the guilt of murder, and he who had not polluted his body by adultery was supposed to be pure and chaste before God.

This was an intolerable profanation of the law, for it is certain that Moses everywhere demands the spiritual worship of God.

From the very nature of the law we must conclude that God, who gave it by the hand of Moses, spoke to the hearts, as well as to the hands and to the eyes.

True, our Lord quotes the very words of the law; but he does so in accommodation to the view which was generally taken of them by the people: “Until now, the scribes have given you a literal interpretation of the law, that it is enough if a man keeps his hands from murder and from acts of violence. But I warn you that you must ascend much higher. Love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10); and I say that your neighbor is injured when you act towards him otherwise than as a friend.”

The latter clause which he quotes, he who kills shall be liable to the judgment, confirms what I said a little before: that Christ charges them with turning into a political scheme the law of God, which had been given for the government of the heart.

³⁹⁶ “Comment les Phariseens avoyent deprave la Loy par leurs expositions tortues;” — “how the Pharisees had debased the law by their crooked expositions.”;” — “how the Pharisees had debased the law by their crooked expositions.”

³⁹⁷ “Une correction ou amplification de la Loy;” — “a correction or enlargement of the Law.”;” — “a correction or enlargement of the Law.”