How Can We Know When Someone Is Offended Because Of No Known Reason Of Ours From Our Side?
Question : Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24, "23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." My question is, we are not God to know when someone is offended because of something jealous, anger, dislike they have in their heart towards us just because we are different from what they expect us to be? How can we know that they are offended because of us? How do you explain this?
Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! When ever we see a Scripture to know its real meaning, the thumb rule is that we should see the whole context in which it is spoken and then understand to the best of our ability what it really says.
Here is what the context to those verses that fully reveals the deep real meaning of it, "21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny." (Matt 5:21-26).
In the above verses God reveals that in the Old Testament all that they were needed to do is to restrain themselves from the fruit of anger which is murder, but in the New Testament Jesus has demanded that every one who gets angry without a cause shall be in danger of God's judgment equal to that of murder itself before the Lord because every murder which is the fruit that has happened is because of the root not uprooted in the heart which is anger. 'Raca' comes from the Aramaic term 'reqa' which was a derogatory expression meaning “empty-headed,” indirectly suggesting a person's stupidity or inferiority and really mean that they are vain, empty, worthless, it is only found in Matt. 5:22. The Jews used it as a word of contempt. It is derived from a root meaning "to spit." So whoever would say 'raca' to anyone is worthy to be judged before court or council, and whoever says someone as a 'fool' is in danger of hell fire because the seed of anger which remain in a person's heart over a period of time will become as wrath which may lead to violence or even to murder someone when the evil seed have grown from being a small seed to become as a strong tree to bear fruit of the flesh through such events.
So Jesus forbids any anger from anyone without a cause, because the root of anger when it is not uprooted immediately and let loose to grow over a period of time will definitely lead to the ugly evil fruit of violence or even murder. In short, all serious sins including murder begins in the heart and bears evil fruits if it is not properly uprooted out of the heart as soon as possible by the offender through asking pardon and reconciling with the offended, it will lead to evil deeds of worst kind. Jesus dealt with the root of sin which starts in our heart and gets stronger to lead us in to more sins if it not uprooted as soon as possible, so that we could live in peace with all people as much as possible (Rom 12 :18).
Once we understand the above context in which Jesus spoke, then we come to the verses you described, "23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matt 5:23-24). When there is a 'therefore', we should automatically understand why it is 'there for', and then look to the previous message spoken for which the resultant main decision is expected of us to take and work out practically towards the result of the message positively. In that way, it shows that when we go to the presence of God to pray, praise and worship God personally, and there God shows to us that the angry words we have blurted against someone has caused offense to someone whom have got offended, immediately it does mean that God is saying to us to go to that person whom we have offended and get reconciled and then come to pray, praise and worship God which will please Him immensely. To God you worshiping in his truth through your spirit is more important to Him than worshiping Him at all (John 4:23-24). The Lord will not hear the prayer of or receive the worship of those who regard iniquity in their heart (Psa 66:18). Not only that, Jesus is saying that when we have come to know the truth that we have offended someone, immediately He tells us to even agree with the devil's valid accusation within us that we have sinned and not justify our own deeds as right after God has spoken to us clearly that we have sinned, or else if the our enemy Satan appeals before the Lord of our unrepentant attitude towards our fault, then God in His justice will deliver us to the demonic officers of mentally and physically torturous kind who will put us in to the prison of our own foolishness of unforgiveness and make us pay for it till we forgive those whom we have offended or until we die because of it which is the last penny we pay in life. In other words, unforgiveness rooted in our heart is like eating the rat poison and expecting the rat to die.
So the verse you were quoting is not speaking about someone who is offended because of something jealous, anger, dislike they have in their heart towards us just because we are different from what they expect us to be, it clearly points to a previous reference point of offense we have done intentionally or unintentionally towards someone and would have taken it as a light thing by justifying our own self which is absolutely wrong. So God will only show us or give information of truth about the offense we have previously done by offending others when we come to worship Him in His Presence, so that we could be reconciled through asking for their forgiveness sincerely from our heart. If someone is not willing to accept our sincere apology, they have to give account to God for their own unforgiveness, but as for us God will fill us with peace and love towards the offended and personally in our heart within us so that we could live peaceably as much as possible with all humans.
You are right, we are not God to know what is going on in someone else heart, but God knows all things and can even reveal someone else wrong motives towards us in His Presence, but at such times, God will give us information like that to make us continue to walk in His love towards them even though they think evil towards us which He will judge in His time when they continue to walk in unrepentant attitude (Luke 6:35-36). Every bad attitude of people towards us can be used by us to walk in Divine Love and turn those evil things to be turned in to a great heavenly reward personally for us for eternity ahead. That is why even when we get Divine information about the bad attitude of people towards us in His Presence, knowing it should make us more compassionate towards the offenders and depend on the goodness of the Divine Love of God within us to overcome such evil with good.
Much Blessings.....
Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! When ever we see a Scripture to know its real meaning, the thumb rule is that we should see the whole context in which it is spoken and then understand to the best of our ability what it really says.
Here is what the context to those verses that fully reveals the deep real meaning of it, "21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny." (Matt 5:21-26).
In the above verses God reveals that in the Old Testament all that they were needed to do is to restrain themselves from the fruit of anger which is murder, but in the New Testament Jesus has demanded that every one who gets angry without a cause shall be in danger of God's judgment equal to that of murder itself before the Lord because every murder which is the fruit that has happened is because of the root not uprooted in the heart which is anger. 'Raca' comes from the Aramaic term 'reqa' which was a derogatory expression meaning “empty-headed,” indirectly suggesting a person's stupidity or inferiority and really mean that they are vain, empty, worthless, it is only found in Matt. 5:22. The Jews used it as a word of contempt. It is derived from a root meaning "to spit." So whoever would say 'raca' to anyone is worthy to be judged before court or council, and whoever says someone as a 'fool' is in danger of hell fire because the seed of anger which remain in a person's heart over a period of time will become as wrath which may lead to violence or even to murder someone when the evil seed have grown from being a small seed to become as a strong tree to bear fruit of the flesh through such events.
So Jesus forbids any anger from anyone without a cause, because the root of anger when it is not uprooted immediately and let loose to grow over a period of time will definitely lead to the ugly evil fruit of violence or even murder. In short, all serious sins including murder begins in the heart and bears evil fruits if it is not properly uprooted out of the heart as soon as possible by the offender through asking pardon and reconciling with the offended, it will lead to evil deeds of worst kind. Jesus dealt with the root of sin which starts in our heart and gets stronger to lead us in to more sins if it not uprooted as soon as possible, so that we could live in peace with all people as much as possible (Rom 12 :18).
Once we understand the above context in which Jesus spoke, then we come to the verses you described, "23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matt 5:23-24). When there is a 'therefore', we should automatically understand why it is 'there for', and then look to the previous message spoken for which the resultant main decision is expected of us to take and work out practically towards the result of the message positively. In that way, it shows that when we go to the presence of God to pray, praise and worship God personally, and there God shows to us that the angry words we have blurted against someone has caused offense to someone whom have got offended, immediately it does mean that God is saying to us to go to that person whom we have offended and get reconciled and then come to pray, praise and worship God which will please Him immensely. To God you worshiping in his truth through your spirit is more important to Him than worshiping Him at all (John 4:23-24). The Lord will not hear the prayer of or receive the worship of those who regard iniquity in their heart (Psa 66:18). Not only that, Jesus is saying that when we have come to know the truth that we have offended someone, immediately He tells us to even agree with the devil's valid accusation within us that we have sinned and not justify our own deeds as right after God has spoken to us clearly that we have sinned, or else if the our enemy Satan appeals before the Lord of our unrepentant attitude towards our fault, then God in His justice will deliver us to the demonic officers of mentally and physically torturous kind who will put us in to the prison of our own foolishness of unforgiveness and make us pay for it till we forgive those whom we have offended or until we die because of it which is the last penny we pay in life. In other words, unforgiveness rooted in our heart is like eating the rat poison and expecting the rat to die.
So the verse you were quoting is not speaking about someone who is offended because of something jealous, anger, dislike they have in their heart towards us just because we are different from what they expect us to be, it clearly points to a previous reference point of offense we have done intentionally or unintentionally towards someone and would have taken it as a light thing by justifying our own self which is absolutely wrong. So God will only show us or give information of truth about the offense we have previously done by offending others when we come to worship Him in His Presence, so that we could be reconciled through asking for their forgiveness sincerely from our heart. If someone is not willing to accept our sincere apology, they have to give account to God for their own unforgiveness, but as for us God will fill us with peace and love towards the offended and personally in our heart within us so that we could live peaceably as much as possible with all humans.
You are right, we are not God to know what is going on in someone else heart, but God knows all things and can even reveal someone else wrong motives towards us in His Presence, but at such times, God will give us information like that to make us continue to walk in His love towards them even though they think evil towards us which He will judge in His time when they continue to walk in unrepentant attitude (Luke 6:35-36). Every bad attitude of people towards us can be used by us to walk in Divine Love and turn those evil things to be turned in to a great heavenly reward personally for us for eternity ahead. That is why even when we get Divine information about the bad attitude of people towards us in His Presence, knowing it should make us more compassionate towards the offenders and depend on the goodness of the Divine Love of God within us to overcome such evil with good.
Much Blessings.....
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