Lecture 7 — Against homicide

^5:20^ For I say to you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. [n. 478]

^5:21^ You have heard that it was said to those of old: you shall not kill. And whoever will kill, will be liable to the judgment. [n. 482]

^5:22^ But I say to you, that whoever is angry with his brother, will be liable to the judgment. And whoever will say to his brother: raca, will be liable to the council. And whoever will say: fool, will be liable to hell fire. [n. 485]

^5:23^ If therefore you offer your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has anything against you; [n. 494]

^5:24^ Leave there your offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to your brother: and then coming you will offer your gift. [n. 494]

^5:25^ Be in agreement with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him: lest perhaps the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast in prison. [n. 497]

^5:26^ Amen I say to you, you will not go out from there until you repay the last farthing. [n. 501]

476. For I say to you, that unless your justice abound. Above, the Lord shows that it was not his intention to do away with the law, but to fulfill it; wherefore, here he begins to fulfill it. In the law there are four things: namely, moral precepts, judicial ones, figures, and promises. Three of these, namely, the moral precepts, the promises, and the judicial ones, the Lord fulfilled by his words, i.e., he teaches us to fulfill them. But he fulfilled the figures by his deed in his passion.

Hence this part is divided into three:

in the first, he fulfills the law as to the moral precepts,

in the second, as to the promises,

in the third, as to the judicial precepts.

477. There are two kinds of moral precepts: some are prohibitive and some permissive; first he fulfills the first kind, then the second kind, at it has been said: ‘whoever will put away’ (Matt 5:31).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he prohibits homicide;

second, adultery, at **you have heard . . . ‘do not commit adultery’ **(Matt 5:27).

Concerning the first he does two things:

first, he sets down the necessity;

second, the fulfillment, at you have heard.

478. Therefore he says but I say to you. Note that justice is taken in two ways: for sometimes it is a certain particular virtue, one of the four cardinal virtues, and it has a certain determinate matter, namely, commutable goods useful for life. At other times, it refers to a general virtue that is a common virtue, which the Philosopher calls legal justice, which has to do with the keeping of the law: and it is taken this way here.

More than that of the scribes. And he says of the scribes and Pharisees, for they were superior in the justice of the law because they added on certain observances; therefore in order to indicate the excellence of the New Testament, he shows that it transcends even their justice. Therefore it is said whoever is less in the kingdom of heaven, i.e., the Church, is greater than they are. Therefore, this is the sense: unless your justice abounds, that is, unless your justice is more perfect than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter.

479. And it should be known that the state of the Gospel is a middle one between the state of the law and that of glory, and this is clear from Galatians: the Apostle compares the state of the law to a child, and the Gospel to advanced age, hence he says, when we were children (Gal 4:3), and afterwards, the law was our pedagogue (Gal 3:24), and when I was a child, I spoke as a child (1 Cor 13:11). Therefore, it is a middle state, and this is natural, for no one can arrive at the end without crossing through something else; for no one can arrive at old age unless he passes through childhood. In this way the Lord says one cannot arrive at the state of the kingdom of heaven unless he climbs through all the rest.

Likewise, a better reward is gained by greater labor: he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly (2 Cor 9:6); but in the law, temporal and earthly things are promised: If you be willing and listen to me, you will eat of the good things of the land (Isa 1:19). But here heavenly goods are promised, therefore, the justice in us must exceed, for a greater reward is expected.

480. But it is objected against the Lord’s saying unless your justice abounds, that the justice of the law consists in observing the decalogue; but anyone who fulfills the precepts of the decalogue will have eternal life: **if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments **(Matt 19:17). And it is solved in two or three ways. First, because observers of the decalogue could never enter except in faith and by the redemption of the blood of Christ, for if justice comes by the law, then Christ died in vain (Gal 2:21). And thus it must be said that that passage, **but if you will enter into life **(Matt 19:17), should be understood as assuming faith; but the scribes and Pharisees did not have faith; but Israel, by following after the law of justice, did not arrive at the law of justice. Why not? Because they sought it not by faith but of works (Rom 9:31–32). And this is a good enough solution.

Another is that of Augustine, who says that all these observances that Christ makes are each contained in the old law, for there anger is also prohibited: you shall not hate your brother (Lev 19:17). Therefore, what did the Lord add to this? It should be said that he adds something with respect to the corrupt understanding of the scribes and Pharisees, for they believed that in that precept you shall not kill, they were not forbidden from anything except out of fear of an act, the act of homicide. Hence the Lord explains this and thus he does not simply say: unless your justice is greater than the law, but greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees.

481. Still another solution, with Augustine: for Christ had said but he who will do and teach, (Matt 5:19), and, **who will break **(Matt 5:19); but Pharisees and scribes do not do and teach, as it says later: for they say, and do not (Matt 23:3). Therefore, unless your justice abounds, that is, what you say, you must also do, or you will not enter in.

But there remains another question, for the Lord said he therefore who will break . . . will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:19), and whoever does not abound will not enter; therefore, whoever breaks the law will enter.

And Chrysostom resolves this by saying it is one thing to be in a kingdom and another thing to enter it: for properly speaking, those enter who have a part in the rule of the kingdom, but those are in it who dwell in it somewhere; hence, even those who are kept in prison are said to be in the kingdom. So also it is of heaven, for those who are almost condemned are in the kingdom, but they do not participate in ruling.

Augustine says otherwise, that by this we can understand that the kingdom of heaven is said in two ways: one in which no one enters unless he has justice, and this is eternal life; another in which those enter who break the commandments, and this is the present Church.

482. You have heard that it was said to those of old: ‘you shall not kill.’ Here is set forth the fulfillment of the precept. And concerning this he does three things: first he sets forth the precepts, second he fulfills them, third he warns about observing the fulfillment; the second is at but I say to you, the third at if therefore you offer. Concerning the first, he does two things: first he sets down the precepts about the prohibition of homicide, second, the penalty for homicide.

Therefore he says you have heard that ‘you shall not kill’ (Exod 20:13; Deut 5:17); and he says to them of old because, according to Chrysostom, just as if a teacher says to one of his disciples: for a long time I have taught you these basics, the time has come that you learn greater things; so with the Lord, since the time is coming when you will be teachers, you need to be taught (Heb 5:12).

483. And it must be noted that in this precept a threefold error was made, for certain men said that it was not permitted to kill even small animals; but this is false, for it is no sin to use the things that are subjected to the power of man, for it is the natural order that plants be for the nourishment of animals and certain animals be for the nourishment of others; and all things are for the nourishment of man: every moving thing that lives will be food for you, just as I gave you the green plants (Gen 9:3). And the Philosopher also says in the Politics that hunting is like just war.

Second, there is an error of certain men who said: ‘you shall not kill’ means men; hence they call it homicide when secular judges sentence people according to the laws. Against this Augustine says that God did not remove from himself the power of killing, hence I will kill and I will make live (Deut 32:39); therefore it is permitted to those who kill by the command of God, for God is the one who does it. But every law is a command from God: by me kings reign (Prov 8:15); he does not bear the sword in vain for he is God’s minister (Rom 13:4). Therefore ***‘you shall not kill’* **is to be understood by proper authority.

484. The third error is that some believed ‘you shall not kill’ someone else, but to kill oneself is permitted, for this is found in the story of Samson, and also Cato and certain virgins who threw themselves into a fire, according to Augustine. But Augustine answers that whoever kills himself, kills a man, for one cannot kill another except by God’s authority, nor oneself except by the will of God or the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and in this way he excuses Samson.

But whoever will kill. Here he sets down the punishment: will be liable to the judgment, i.e., the punishment that the law adjudicates (Exod 21:12).

485. But I say to you follows. Having laid out the precept of the old law, here the Lord fulfills it. And this fulfillment does not make the law void, but to the contrary acts to its greater fulfillment, for someone who gets angry is prone to homicide, but when he gets angry he does not commit homicide. It is somehow contained in this precept because that law was given by God, and there is a difference between the law of men and of God, for a man is judge of external actions, but God of internal ones: men see the things that appear (1 Sam 16:7); hence in this ‘you shall not kill’ is included also the motive for killing. But there is a twofold motive for hurting one’s neighbor, namely, anger and hatred; nor is hatred the same thing as hardened anger, but it is a predication by cause, for hatred happens from hardened anger. Therefore there is a difference, for anger does not seek evil for one’s neighbor unless inasmuch as it wants vengeance, hence vengeance accomplished quiets it. But in hatred, the very harming is desired for itself and the appetite is never quieted; therefore hatred is a more serious motive than anger. But God does not only prohibit the motive of hatred but also of anger, which is less grave: whoever hates his brother is in darkness (1 John 2:11).

But he sets down three levels of anger: the first level is the anger hiding in one’s heart, the second, anger appearing externally, and the third, anger erupting into harm. The first is at but I say to you, and Augustine says that the reading should be without cause, for the man who gets angry without cause will be liable to the judgment. Jerome, however, says that without cause is not in the text, for then an opening would be given to anger; but the Lord leaves no place for anger.

486. But surely not all anger is contrary to virtue? It should be known, as Augustine says, that concerning this there are two opinions among philosophers: for the Stoics said that no passion of the soul happens in the wise man, for to the contrary, they were the ones desiring true virtue. But the Peripatetics said that anger happens in the wise man, but is moderated, and this is a truer opinion: which is also clear by authority, for in the Gospels we find these passions sometimes attributed to Christ, in whom was the fullness of wisdom; also from reason, for if all passions were contrary to virtue, there would be certain powers of the soul that had no purpose but to harm, for they would not have any suitable act, and then the irascible and concupiscible powers would have been given to man in vain. And therefore it must be said that anger is sometimes a virtue, sometimes not.

But anger is taken in three ways: first, as it is in the judgment of reason alone without any disturbance of the soul; but this is not called anger, but judgment: for so the Lord seems bad and angry when punishing: I will bear the wrath of the Lord (Mic 7:9).

487. Second, it can be taken as a passion, and this is in the sensitive appetite, and it is twofold, for sometimes it is ordered by reason and contained within the limits of reason, namely, when one is angry as much as he should be, at what he should be, and so on; and then it is an act of virtue and is called anger from zeal. Hence the Philosopher also says that meekness is not never growing angry. And thus Chrysostom says that if anger were completely taken away, discipline would also be taken away. This kind, therefore, is no sin.

There is a third anger which escapes the judgment of reason, and this is always a sin, but sometimes a venial one and sometimes mortal, and this is determined by the worst impulse. For something is a mortal or venial sin in two ways: either from its genus or circumstances, or by the act and by consent; for example, homicide is an act of mortal sin by its genus because it is directly contrary to the divine precept, and thus consenting to homicide is a mortal sin; for if the act is mortal, consent is as well. Likewise, if it were a venial sin, consenting to it would be as well, and so on. But sometimes a sin is mortal by its genus, but nevertheless the movement is not a mortal sin, because it is without consent, just as when a movement of concupiscence arises toward fornication, if it is not consented to it is not mortal. Similarly, anger is a movement to avenge an inflicted injury; for this is properly anger. But if this movement, for example to homicide, is such that even reason is led astray, then even if the movement is only in the passion, it is a mortal sin; but if reason is not perverted, then it is venial. But if there is no movement with the genus of a mortal sin, then if the consent is given it is not mortal.

488. Therefore, what the Lord says, whoever is angry with his brother, will be liable to the judgment, is to be understood about the movement inclining to harm, which movement is a mortal sin if it is consented to: all things that are done God will bring into judgment (Eccl 12:14). And this is the but I say.

And note that no prophet speaking about the law of Moses spoke in this way: but I say to you, but nevertheless they preached observance of the law of Moses. By this it is clear that the Lord shows that he has authority, and he shows that he is the lawgiver when he says, but I say to you.

489. Accordingly he sets forth the second level of anger, namely when it appears externally without hastening to harm.

490. Raca, according to certain men, is not an expression signifying any definite concept, but an interjection of anger. According to Augustine, it is like ‘alas’, an interjection of suffering, and it signifies a certain feeling from which anger erupts externally, but not to the point of harm. According to Chrysostom, it is an interjection of spite, and sounds slighting. But either of these is forbidden, whether to show bitterness to one’s brother, as the Apostle says: all bitterness . . . be put away from you (Eph 4:31), or to despise him, why does everyone despise his brother? (Mal 2:10).

Or raca, according to others, is an expression signifying a definite concept, and according to this there are two opinions, for according to Augustine it means the same thing as ragged, from ‘rachos’, and this opinion agrees with that of Chrysostom. According to Jerome, raca means ‘empty’ or ‘inane’, hence **raca **is, as it were, ‘without a brain’, and it is a great insult, even an insult to the Holy Spirit, when a wise brother full of the Holy Spirit is called ‘empty-headed’: all were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4).

491. But Chrysostom asks if ‘empty-headed’ is the same as ‘foolish’, then why did the Lord afterward say whoever will say: fool? And he said that in all idioms there are words used to injure, but the injury is done by the use and custom of speaking: raca then, can mean the same thing as fool, but not in the same use, for raca is said familiarly and it is a sin when it is said from anger.

Liable to the council. Augustine says: it is more before God to be liable to the council than to judgment, since up until the judgment, culpability is in question and it is uncertain whether someone is liable: observe these things without prejudice (1 Tim 5:21); but after someone is convicted of a crime he is no longer dealt with as master of himself, but the judges hand him over to the council for sentencing. Hilary says it means **liable to the council **of the saints, for whoever commits injury to the Holy Spirit deserves to be condemned by the saints. Chrysostom says that the Apostles explained it in this way: liable to the council, i.e., he would be considered among those who sat in the council against Christ.

492. But whoever will say: fool. This is the third level, which is when someone inflicts harm through words. And just as someone who says raca inflicts injury on the Holy Spirit, so whoever says fool, injures the Son of God, who became wisdom for us (1 Cor 1:30).

He will be liable to hell fire. This is the first place that mention is made of Gehenna, as no one had ever used this word before (cf. Dan 10). The Spirit of the Lord is held in earthen vessels just as in heaven. Around Jerusalem was a certain favorite valley called the valley of Topheth or of the sons of Annon; but in this valley the sons of Israel worshipped idols and God threatened them through Jeremiah that in that valley their dead bodies would be cast down, hence: that this place will no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the sons of Ennom, but the valley of slaughter (Jer 19:6)

493. Gehenna, according to the Hebrews, is the same as the valley of Ennon. Therefore since in it many were struck down and killed by Nebuchadnezzar when they were coming down from Jerusalem, thus the Lord calls the place of hell Gehenna. For just as he transformed the earthly promises which were in the old law into heavenly and eternal goods, so he also exchanged the temporal punishments that the old law imposed for eternal punishments. But just as the crimes are related to each other, for it is worse to show anger externally than to hold it in, and it is worse still to inflict harm, so also the first is judgment, the second council, and the third a specific punishment. And all these things, i.e., judgment, council, gehenna, signify the punishment of hell. And he says it several times because he shows by this diversity of penalties that those will be punished the most who inflict harm.

But then a question arises. Do those who call a brother fool sin mortally? Some people say that he is speaking hyperbolically in order to frighten. But this is false, for the teaching of Christ is a teaching full of truth. Hence it should be known that the third includes the first and the second, and the second includes the first. In the first it is understood that anger is a mortal sin; and if someone erupts from it into words or violence, he sins mortally. It is likewise with whoever has said: fool, for there is anger which is a mortal sin. But the Apostle seems to have acted against these words: O senseless Galatians (Gal 3:1). It must be said that he was not speaking out of anger, but out of the necessity of justice, according to which also whipping is not a sin. And therefore Augustine says that when he said whoever grows angry, he added without cause, and in the second sentence and third he also says without cause. Nevertheless, according to him it has the same meaning even if he does not say without cause.

494. Afterward when he says if therefore you offer, having set down the fulfillment, he shows how it should be observed. And first, he shows how someone should act toward one he has injured; second, how someone should act toward one who has injured him, at be in agreement. Concerning the first he does three things: first, he sets down good advice; second, the obstacles to employing that good advice; third, the remedy. The second is at and there you remember; the third, at leave your offering.

Thus he says if . . . you offer, as it were: thus because you should not offend anyone, if you offer. By this we honor God in that we acknowledge that we were given all things by God: all things are yours, and we have given you what we have received from your hand (1 Chr 29:14). Similarly we honor the Church, for in this way the poor are supported by the Church: honor the Lord with your substance (Prov 3:9), for I am the Lord . . . I have made you (Isa 41:13–15). Before the altar, not among others joking; beware lest you offer your holocausts in every place that you will see, but in the place which the Lord will chose (Deut 12:13–14).

495. The obstacle is offending one’s neighbor; hence and there you remember. Note that sometimes you have something against your brother, sometimes your brother has something against you, namely when either you offend him or he offends you. But you should forbear, as the Apostle says: bearing with one another . . . if anyone has a complaint against another (Col 3:13). And so whoever is offended is not said to seek forgiveness from the one who offended, but vice versa, thus he says, and there you remember that your brother has anything against you, although according to Chrysostom it is even more perfect to do more than this: with those who hated peace I was peaceable (Psalm 120:7).

And he says there you remember, for perhaps beforehand you did not remember: so he gives a threefold counsel. First: leave your offering. The Lord never wants a good to be abandoned completely because of an evil that accompanies that good, but to refrain from the evil; a beast that may be sacrificed to the Lord, if anyone will vow, will be holy, and cannot be exchanged, i.e., neither a better for a worse, nor a worse for a better (Lev 27:9–10). And thus he says leave your offering, not stop, i.e., keep your plan and remove the obstacle. And this is and go first . . . to your brother.

496. But Augustine objects that if the Lord understands this literally then something unfitting follows, for one’s brother could be overseas. But it must be understood that if one has no opportunity of finding him, he must go there in his heart. You may also understand by altar the faith without which it is impossible to please God. Augustine even says that if he has also remembered before the altar a mortal sin, and he wishes to make his offering, if he had no opportunity to confess he can make his offering with contrition and the intention of confessing. Therefore, go to be reconciled, at least in one’s heart, and then coming you will offer; the Almighty does not approve the gifts of the wicked (Sir 34:23).

You will offer your gift: in this it is noted that by the exercise of charity toward one’s neighbor we come into the charity of God: if . . . he who loves not his brother whom he sees (1 John 4:20).

497. Be in agreement. Above the Lord set forth one useful instruction for the observance of this fulfillment; now he sets down another, and it can be developed in two ways from what went before. First in this way: the Lord taught above how you should treat someone you have hurt; now he teaches how you should deal with someone who has hurt you, and this is be in agreement. Or, in another way, so that adversary is taken broadly: either for someone who has hurt you, or someone you have hurt.

Thus the Lord teaches that you should be reconciled with your brother. Yet someone could say ‘I will be reconciled, but not right away.’ Thus the Lord says, quickly: let not the sun go down upon your anger (Eph 4:26). And it should be noted that, as Jerome says, in Greek, in agreement is a certain word that means ‘well-wisher’ or ‘clement’.

498. But it is asked who this adversary might be. And it should be known that there are five adversaries with whom we should be in agreement, namely man, the devil, the flesh, God, and the word of God. Concerning the first, hear the voice of adversaries (Jer 18:19). Concerning the second, let my enemy be as the ungodly and my adversary as the wicked one (Job 37:7). Concerning the third, for the flesh lusts against the spirit (Gal 5:17), and, but I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind (Rom 7:23). And concerning the fourth, namely, God, who is opposed to those sinning, both when he punishes and when he commands the opposite deeds: you are changed to be cruel toward me and in the hardness of your hand you are against me (Job 30:21). And concerning the fifth, deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner and out of the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust (Ps 71:4); how very unpleasant is wisdom to the unlearned (Sir 6:21).

Therefore Augustine asks which of these should be understood by this verse. It is not about a man who has injured you, because of two things. First, because of what follows: lest perhaps the adversary deliver you to the judge, for how would he hand you over to Christ who will judge both together? Second, because if he dies, will he never have hope of forgiveness? Therefore it cannot be understood about a man. Nor about the devil: for God would not want this; by the fact that the first man agreed with him he fell into misery. Although certain people, according to Jerome, explain it about the devil, saying that we are in agreement with him when we keep the pact that we struck with him in baptism, as we said I renounce Satan. But this explanation is forced.

499. It is not about the flesh, nor about God, for he says: be in agreement: for although God is with every man, nevertheless, not every man is with God. Hence Augustine says that it is to be understood about God’s words and law: which law is opposed to us when we sin. Nevertheless, the explanation of Jerome and Chrysostom is more literal, who say be in agreement with your adversary, i.e., agree with the man who has hurt you or whom you have hurt, and do this quickly, delay not to be converted (Sir 5:8); on the way, i.e., in this life.

Afterwards he assigns the reason from the things unfitting to this, which are four. First: lest perhaps the adversary deliver you to the judge: if this is understood about the word of God, the literal sense is plain. The judge here is taken for Christ: the Father . . . has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22); and, to testify that it is he who was appointed by God to be the judge of the living and of the dead (Acts 10:42). Hence, the words of God hand us over to Christ inasmuch as they accuse us of the sin which we have committed against the law; hence *the word that I have spoken . . . will judge him in the last day (*John 12:48).

But if it is understood as being about a man, then he delivers you over either for a reason or by chance, for discord is the reason that you would hand someone over to a judge and by this very sin you would become liable to the judge. And he says perhaps because if he dies and you remain in this life, the place of repentance will not be taken from you, since God is above all the reason you should love him; but if he were the adversary, reconciliation would happen more easily.

500. The second unfitting thing follows from and the judge. This minister, according to Augustine, is a good angel; bless the Lord, all you his angels . . . ministers (Ps 102:21). Nor is it doubtful that angels will come with Christ at the judgment and will be the agents of the things that are done there: when the Son of man will come (Matt 25:31). Chrysostom understands this as referring to a bad angel, as though it were to be under the power of the devil. But is the devil called a minister of God? It should be said that someone can be called minister of someone else in two ways: as to his deed, i.e., because he does the will of another, or as to his intent. And in this second way the devil is no minister of God, for he does not serve because of the justice of God, but because of his hatred of men whom he punishes. Hence minister is said only in the first way, the same as: I have given all the kingdoms of the land to Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 27:6).

The third unfitting thing is found at and you be cast into prison. Here the prison of hell is understood, about which is written: the devil will cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried (Rev 2:10). And it is called a prison by similitude because those who are there have their free will bound, by the fact that they are obstinate in evil. Nevertheless, if it were understood as referring to good angels it should be known that a good angel does punish sometimes. But according to Dionysius it never punishes the good but only the bad, like the one who struck the army of Sennacherib (2 Kgs 18).

501. The fourth unfitting thing is this: amen I say to you . . . the last farthing. A farthing is even less than a denarius which has two lesser coins below it, and it was called a ‘quadrans’ because it was the fourth part of one large denarius. Therefore the Lord means you will not go out from there until you pay the price and you satisfy for your least sins, even the venial ones. Hence comparison is made with a farthing because of its smallness. Or, according to Augustine, the metaphor can be taken also according to number, not only quantity. Hence it can signify sins that are committed from love of earthly things; and earth is the fourth element.

502. But why did he say you will not go out from there until: therefore, it is possible to get out. It should be said that the until sometimes designates a limited time, sometimes an unlimited one, as in, he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet (1 Cor 15:25). Afterward, then, will he cease to reign? Not at all. Hence what is said there is unlimited: and so also this you will not go out from there until, i.e., he will never get out, for he will never repay the last penny. And Hilary explains why: for no one is forgiven of sin except by charity: charity covers all sins (Prov 10:12). Therefore, whoever dies with discord dies without charity, and thus he will never be purged from sins. And note in this that they are punished in hell eternally not only for mortal sins but even for venial ones, (provided that they were not forgiven before when they were in charity). And this is you will not get out from there.

503. Because of this difficulty about the until, other explanations are suggested. Hence into prison, that is, the prison of these present tribulations: behold, the devil will cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and you will have tribulation ten days (Rev 2:10). Once God punishes someone in the present for sins he does not relax until he is totally purged. But Chrysostom says that the whole can be explained as the present life. Hence he says be in agreement as quickly as possible, since not only eternal punishment looms, but even temporal damages. Hence, lest perhaps the adversary deliver you to the judge, literally. And he says perhaps because it does not always happen this way, for although the Gospel promises are about eternal goods, nevertheless sometimes the Lord makes temporal promises and eternal penalties: and this is amen I say to you.