What did Jesus mean with the following statement?

[Stu]

What did Jesus mean by the underlined bit. Are you not allowed to call someone a fool?

Matthew 5:21-23 King James Version (KJV)
21 Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

Also, what does Raca mean, Google says the following:

The word Raca is original to the Greek manuscript; however, it is not a Greek word. The most common view is that it is a reference to the Aramaic word reka, which literally means "empty one", but probably meant "empty headed," or "foolish."

Raca seems to mean the same thing as fool, so I'm a little confused.

[PaulSacramento]

You may be missing the point of the verse.

[Stu]

You may be missing the point of the verse.

Yeah I am, please explain it.

[Philip]

Stu, I hope you are reading more than just the KJV - because there is much to be gained from comparing versions. I particularly like the NASB and the ESV translations. The ESV probably has the best footnotes and additional understandings of the Bible than any other.

AS for the passage, Jesus is quite aware that when people who have unrighteous / unwarranted anger in their hearts, that is where murder and hatred begin. So, that is the grave danger - and it's precisely where real murder and mayhem begin - just as began in Cain's heart before he killed his brother. And we should deal with these things in forgiveness and getting our hearts right before we come before God. As usual, the religious teachers of Jesus' time only cared about the temporal and sinful actions that could actually be seen - and so they failed to warn of what leads up to these - hard hearts harboring seething anger and hatefulness. And so we know people can go around smiling and saying all the right words, appearing to the "good Christian," and yet their minds and hearts reveal the exact opposite, as they are holding great darkness and evil.

[DBowling]

Let me take a shot at this one.

Mat 5:21-23 is part of a larger section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is discussing the Law and the error in the Pharisaic interpretation of the Law.

In Mat 5:17-48 Jesus is contrasting the Pharisaic focus on external behavior with Jesus' focus on heart attitudes.

In Mat 5:21-23, Jesus is pointing out that a heart attitude of hate that causes a person to murder another person is the same heart attitude of hate that causes a person to tear down another person verbally.

Jesus' concern was the heart attitude of hate that leads to murder and tearing down others. Jesus' concern contrasts with the Pharisees who were content with their external behavior as long as they didn't murder someone.

Jesus is telling us that a heart attitude of hatred (no matter how it manifests itself) is inconsistent with the heart attitude of a person who has put their faith and trust in God.
Now even those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus are still tempted with hateful heart attitudes, which is why Jesus did not say they would definitely go to hell.

Again, Jesus' focus in Mat 5:17-48 is not on external behavior, rather Jesus' focus is on the heart attitudes that manifest themselves in certain behaviors.

[PaulSacramento]

You may be missing the point of the verse.

Yeah I am, please explain it.

See DB's post above.

In short, you focused on the Tree instead of the forest.
A word instead of the reason behind what was being said.

For His ( Jesus') audience, that word meant something that for us is, largely, not relevant because the meaning of the WHOLE passage is clear.

[Stu]

Thanks guys, yeah think I got it. And Philip I do compare different versions. King James is the first one I usually go to and then the NIV, just because I have the physical version as well and am familiar with it. Will check out the NASB and ESV in the future.