I am a Jesus pusher!!! Jesus did not give a progression from the superficial to the most severe either in the expression or the penalty of anger (Matthew 5:22). Murder, emotional upset, calling someone “Raca,” labeling a person “You Fool!” are degrees of anger. In each case, it is the same spiritual condition of the heart. Because this is true, the penalty described for each expression is the same. They are a threefold restatement of one overwhelming truth. They form three equivalent statements of emphasis. The consequence of physical murder is the same as calling your brother, “You Fool!” The three consequences, judgment, council, and hell fire, are all intended to express spiritual death.
You might consider this the punishment for anger, but in each case, Jesus said, “in danger” (enochos). That is an interesting word! It comes from the root word “to be held in something.” Thus it focuses on being subjected, exposed, or subject to something. The only passage in the New Testament where “enochos” appears without the context of judicial language is in the Book of Hebrews (Hebrews 2:15). Punishment for a crime does not seem included in the meaning of this term. It suggests that anger controls a person and ultimately brings him to the conclusion of judgment. God does not punish an angry person; instead, anger possesses a person and brings everything in his life to destruction and death. Anger carries its own judgment. It destroys the image of God not only in others but also in the one angry. It ultimately brings a person to a state of “hell fire.” Jesus rescues me from this state! I am a Jesus pusher!!!