5:19-21
(Verse 19 and following) Therefore, whoever shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but he who shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your justice exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to those of old: You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment. But I tell you. This chapter, sticking with the previous testimony, in which he said: Not one iota, or one apex, will pass from the Law, until all things are fulfilled. Therefore, he seals the Pharisees, who, despising the commandments of God, establish their own traditions, which do not benefit them in teaching the people if they destroy even a small thing that is commanded in the Law. However, we can also understand that the education of teachers, even if subject to a small sin, leads them down from the highest rank, and it does not benefit them to teach righteousness, which the smallest fault destroys. And let perfect happiness be to fulfill with action what you have taught in words.
5:22
(Verse 22) Because whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. In some manuscripts it is added, without cause: but in the true definitive sentence, anger is completely eliminated, as the Scripture says: Whoever is angry with his brother. For if we are commanded to offer the other cheek to the one who strikes us, and to love our enemies, and to pray for those who persecute us (Luke 6), all occasion for anger is removed. Therefore, without cause must be removed, because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (James 1).
But whoever says to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be liable to the council. This word 'Raca' is properly of the Hebrews: for Raca signifies 'empty,' that is, foolish or senseless: which we can call a common insult, without a brain. If we are to give an account for idle words, how much more for an insult (Matthew 5:22)! But it is also distinctly added: Whoever says to his brother, 'Raca.' For our brother is no one else, unless he has the same Father as us. When someone believes in God in the same way and knows Christ as the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1): by what means can it be indicated by the praise of foolishness?
But whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. Ἀπὸ κοινοῦ ex superioribus subauditur: Whoever says to his brother, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. For whoever says to a believer, 'You fool!' is impious in religion.
5:23-24
(Vers. 23, 24.) Therefore, if you offer your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to your brother: and then coming, offer your gift. He did not say, if you have something against your brother, but if your brother has something against you, so that a harsher necessity of reconciliation may be imposed on you. As long as we cannot appease him, I do not know whether we should consequently offer our gifts to God.
5:25-27
(Verse 25 onwards) Be reconciled quickly with your adversary while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the last penny. You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones: 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I tell you that everyone. Because what we have in Latin codices is 'consentiens,' it is written in Greek as 'Εὐνοῶν,' which means benevolent or kind. From the preceding and subsequent passages, it is clear that our Lord and Savior, while we run on the path of this world, encourages us to peace and harmony, according to the Apostle, who says: If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all men (Rom. XII, 18). For in the preceding chapter, he also said: If you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you: and when this is finished, he immediately adds: Be reconciled to your adversary, etc. And in the following he commands: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and slander you. When this is clear and the consequent understanding, many think it is said about the flesh and the soul, or about the soul and the spirit, which is not entirely correct. For how can the flesh be sent to prison if the soul does not agree, since both the soul and the flesh must be imprisoned together? And the flesh can do nothing except what the mind commands, or the Holy Spirit dwelling in us can deliver judgment to the flesh or the soul that resists, since he himself is the judge. Others, according to the Letter of Peter saying: Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8), and the rest, interpret the adversary as the devil, and they want to command from the Savior that, as long as it is in our power, we may be benevolent towards the devil, who is an enemy and avenger, and not make him suffer punishment on our behalf. For since he himself supplies the incentives of vices, and even to us who sin willingly, if we agree with him who suggests vices, he must also be tormented on our behalf. And they say it is a kind act for each saint to sustain his adversary, if he does not make him endure torments for himself. Some say more forcefully that in Baptism each person enters into a pact with the devil and says: I renounce you, devil, and your pomp, and your vices, and your world, which is in the evil one (1 John 5:19). Therefore, if we keep the pact, we are kind and consenting to our adversary, and by no means are we to be shut up in prison. But if we have in fact transgressed anything of what we promised to the devil, we will be handed over to the judge and the officer, and we will be thrown into prison, and we will not be released from it until we repay the last quarter. A quarter is a type of coin that has two minutes. Hence, in another Gospel, that poor and widowed woman is said to have sent a quarter into the treasury (Mark 12), and in another, two minutes (Luke 21). Not that the Gospels are in disagreement, but that one quarter has two minute coins. This is therefore what he is saying: You will not leave the prison until you have paid even the smallest sins.
5:28
(Verse 28.) Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Between passion and pre-passion, that is, between feeling and intense feeling, there is a difference: passion is considered a vice, while pre-passion, although it carries the fault of initiation, is not held accountable in the crime. Therefore, whoever looks at a woman and his soul is tickled, he is struck by pre-passion. But if he agrees and allows himself to be affected by the thought, as it is written in David: They passed into the feeling of their hearts (Ps. 73:7), he moves from pre-passion to passion, and it is not a lack of will to sin, but an opportunity. Therefore, whoever sees a woman with lustful intent, that is, if he looks at her in order to lust after her, he is rightly said to commit adultery in his heart.
5:29-30
(Verse 29, 30.) And if your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. For he had spoken earlier about a woman's desire, and now correctly referred to the wandering of thought and sense as an eye. On the right hand, as well as other parts of the body, the beginnings of the will and emotions are demonstrated: such as what we conceive in our minds, we accomplish in our actions. Therefore, we must be careful that what is best in us does not quickly turn into vice. For if the right eye and right hand cause stumbling, how much more those things that are on the left in us! For if the soul falters, how much more the body, which is inclined towards sin! Otherwise, in the right eye and in the right hand, the affections of brothers, wives, children, relatives, and close ones are shown, which if we see as an impediment to contemplate the true light, we must cut off such portions, so that while we desire to make others gain, we ourselves do not perish forever. Where is it said, concerning the high priest, whose soul is dedicated to the worship of God: 'He shall not defile himself for the dead among his people, except for his close relatives.' (Lev. 21:11), that is, he shall not experience any emotions except for those related to his dedication.
5:31-33
(Vers. 31 seqq.) However, it is said: Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for the cause of fornication, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients: You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord. In the later part, the Savior explains this place more fully, that Moses commanded the certificate of divorce to be given because of the hardness of the hearts of the husbands, not granting a separation, but removing homicide. For it is far better, even if a sorrowful discord were to arise, for blood to be shed through hatred.
5:34-37
(Versed 34 onwards) But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor should you swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your word be 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything more than this comes from evil. The Jews have always had this wicked habit of swearing by the elements, as the prophetic word often accuses them (Isaiah 65). Whoever swears, worships, or loves the one by whom they swear. In the law it is commanded that we do not swear, except by the Lord our God (Deut. VI and VII). The Jews, by swearing by angels, and by the city of Jerusalem, and by the temple, and by the elements, honored and worshipped creatures and earthly things with the honor and worship due to God. Finally, consider that here the Savior did not prohibit swearing by God, but by heaven, and earth, and Jerusalem, and by your own head. And this was granted in the law as if to little children, so that just as they would sacrifice animals to God and not to idols, they would be allowed to swear by God: not that they would do this rightly, but because it was better to offer this to God than to demons. However, evangelical truth does not require an oath, since every faithful statement is considered as if made under oath.
5:38
(Verse 38.) You have heard that it was said: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist evil. Whoever says an eye for an eye does not want to take away the other, but to preserve both. Our Lord, by taking away vengeance, cuts off the beginnings of sins. And in the Law there is retribution, in the Gospel there is grace. There, fault is corrected, here the beginnings of sins are taken away.
5:39
(Verse 39.) But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. The man described in Ecclesiasticus is an imitator of him who says: Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29). And he confirms his promise by saying: If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness to the wrong; but if well, why do you strike me? (John 18:23). David says in the Psalm: 'If I have repaid those who did evil to me' (Ps. VII, 5). And Jeremiah in the Lamentations: 'It is good for a man to bear the yoke from his youth' (or sit by it, etc.). He will give his cheek to the one who strikes him; he will be filled with insults (Thren. III, 27,30). This is directed against those who think there is one God of the Law and another of the Gospel, which is taught both there and here. According to mystical understanding: our right hand, when struck, we are not commanded to offer the left, but the other, that is, the other right. For justice does not have a left hand. If a heretic strikes us in a dispute and wants to wound the right doctrine, let another testimony from the Scriptures be set against him, and let us continually offer him our right hands while he is weary with anger.
5:42-43
(Verse 42, 43.) Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said: Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. If we understand this saying to mean only about almsgiving, it cannot apply to most of the poor. But even if the rich give constantly, they cannot give constantly. Therefore, after the good of almsgiving, instructions are given to the apostles, that is, to the teachers, so that those who have received for free may give for free (Matthew 10). Money of this kind never runs out; but the more it is given, the more it is doubled. And when it waters the fields under its control, the spring's waters never dry up.
5:44