"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words, thou shalt be condemned."
Matthew 12:36-37
Part 1
By this time in Jesus’ ministry, the Pharisees hated Him. His popularity with the people grew, and they saw their power over the people diminish. They had to agree that His miracles were real because they did believe in the miraculous. But to discredit Jesus, they said His power came from Beelzebub (the prince of the devils, Matthew 12:24). Jesus challenged their words, letting them know that His power came from God (Matthew 12:26-28). Jesus then taught them about good trees and good fruit and bad trees and bad fruit, pointing out that their evil words and actions come from a bad root in their hearts. He calls them a “generation of vipers” (Matthew 12:34; 3:7 – the “V” generation?), they have made a choice to follow Satan (John 8:44). Their thinking was bungled, and it showed up in their words!
“But I say unto you.”
When He speaks these words, He tells them something that they did not now know or understand, and the words He is speaking to them are contrary to their thoughts, actions, and comments.[1] Jesus said to them,
“A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matthew 12:35).
They did not believe this. The Pharisees thought that words do not matter. These evil men could not see how words coming from either a good or an evil heart mattered. The heart makes the difference in the words spoken. An evil heart produces wrong words; and a good heart, right words. “And Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them…” (Matthew 12:25).
“But I say unto you!”
He knew their hearts and that their thinking was skewed. They knew much of the Word, the Pharisees memorized the Pentateuch[2], but the Word had not been allowed to change their hearts.
Jesus made His thoughts about our words we think and speak very clear. What are these “idle words” that Jesus is talking about? Come back tomorrow when we try to discern what Jesus means.
Quote: “If I speak what is false, I must answer for it; if truth, it will answer for me”[3] (Thomas Fuller).
[1] “But I say…” Matthew 5:22; 5:28; 5:32; 5:34; 5:39; 5:44; 11:22; 11:24; 12:6; 12:31; 12:36; 17:12; 26:29.
[2] The Pentateuch is the five books of Moses; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
[3] Thomas Fuller’s (1608-1661) quote Downloaded: Monday, August 17, 2020. From: https://www.christianquotes.info/top-quotes/17-amazing-quotes-power-words/.