What does Matthew 5:21 Mean?

Verse Meaning

In each of these six cases Jesus first related the popular understanding of the Old Testament, the view advocated by the religious teachers of His day. In this verse He introduced it by saying, "You have heard that the ancients were told" (NASB). This was an expression that the rabbis of Jesus" day used when they referred to the teachings of the Old Testament. ^[1] [source]

Jesus quoted the sixth commandment and combined it with Leviticus 19:17. The "court" in view was the civil court in Israel. [source][source]

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Context Summary

Our Lord's mission was not to destroy but to construct. As noon fulfils dawn, and summer, spring; as manhood fulfils childhood and the perfect picture, the rude sketch, so does Jesus gather up, realize and make possible the highest ideals ever inspired in human hearts or written by God's Spirit on the page of inspiration.

Under the terms, "the law and the prophets," our Lord includes the entire range of the Old Testament. See Luke 24:44; Acts 13:15. Nothing could exceed our Lord's reverence for the oracles of God. He repeatedly refers to them as of divine authority. His words and teachings are the endorsement of the venerable Scriptures which had nourished His people, preparing them for His further instruction. See Romans 3:31; Romans 8:4.

The local magistrates' court had the power of life and death, which was inflicted by beheading; the Sanhedrin executed by stoning; the outrageous criminal was cast out to Gehenna, Matthew 5:22. In Christ's kingdom unwarranted anger is equivalent to the first, contempt to the second, and vehement passion to the third. To allow hate to smolder is a capital offence. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 5

¹  Jesus' sermon on the mount:
³  The Beattitudes;
¹³  the salt of the earth;
¹⁴  the light of the world
¹⁷  He came to fulfill the law
²¹  What it is to kill;
²⁷  to commit adultery;
³³  to swear
³⁸  He exhorts to forgive wrong,
⁴³  to love our enemies;
⁴⁸  and to labor after perfection