page_title: Matthew 5
section_title: Antitheses
hierarchical_section_title: Matthew 5 / Teachings on the law / Antitheses
caption_attribution_description: English: page of the codex with text of Matthew 5:22-6:4
context_page_description: Matthew 5 is the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It contains the first portion of the Sermon on the Mount, which will also take up chapters 6 and 7. Portions are similar to the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6, but much of the material is found only in Matthew. It is one of the most discussed and analyzed chapters of the New Testament. Warren Kissinger reports that among Early Christians no chapter was more often cited by early scholars. The same is true in modern scholarship.
  In the Middle Ages an interpretation was developed that the chapter only applied to a select group, and not to the general populace. Reformer Martin Luther, in a discussion of this chapter, was highly critical of the Catholic view. He wrote that "there have fallen upon this [fifth] chapter the vulgar hogs and asses, jurists and sophists, the right hand of the pope and his Mamelukes."
context_section_description: The sermon then moves to a highly structured discussion ("Ye have heard…  But I say unto you") of the "Law and Prophets" or Old Covenant. This section (Matthew 5:17 to Matthew 5:48) is traditionally referred to as the Antitheses, or the Six Antitheses.
  Gundry disputes this title: "The sayings are traditionally called 'the Antitheses'. But this designation seems to imply that after stoutly affirming the Law in Matthew 5:17–20, Jesus contradicts it". Instead Gundry argues that Jesus escalates the Law towards "the goal toward which it was already headed, so that we should stop calling these sayings "the Antitheses" and perhaps start calling them "the Culminations".
  After the introduction (5:17–20), the next verses are commentaries on six specific topics where Jesus recites a law, starting with two of the Ten Commandments, and then comments on it. This generally sees Jesus impose more rigorous standards. The six antitheses are on: 
  You shall not murder in verses 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
  You shall not commit adultery in verses 27, 28, 29, 30
  Divorce in verses 31 and 32
  Oaths in verses 33, 34, 35, 36, 37
  Eye for an eye in verses 38, 39, 40, 41, 42
  Love thy neighbour as thyself in verses 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48
  The Jewish Encyclopedia states:
  As Schechter in J.Q.R. x. 11, shows, the expression "Ye have heard…" is an inexact translation of the rabbinical formula (שומע אני), which is only a formal logical interrogation introducing the opposite view as the only correct one: "Ye might deduce from this verse that thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I say to you the only correct interpretation is, Love all men, even thine enemies."
  Jesus' six antitheses are on six topics. In each of them, Jesus opens the statement with words to the effect: "You have heard it said… but I say to you…"  These antitheses only appear in Matthew. At the outset, Jesus made it clear that he greatly respects Old Testament Law in the Torah, and fulfilling the Law was one of his purposes for coming to Earth.
  Daniel J. Harrington believes that the community for which Matthew wrote primarily but not exclusively were Jewish Christians. If so, that may explain why Matthew could use Jewish rhetoric and themes without explanation. Harrington says that is not the case for 21st-century Americans and others who read the Gospel today.  In the six antitheses Jesus either extends through the Commandment's scope by going to the root of the abuse (avoiding anger and lust to prevent murder and adultery) or going beyond a biblical commandment as in the case of divorce and oaths. Harrington writes that Matthew presents the six antitheses as examples of the principle that Jesus came not to abolish but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.
  Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
  — Jesus, Matthew 5:17–20
caption: Codex Sinaiticus (AD 330–60), Matthew 5:22–6:4
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