One of the hardest sayings in the New Testament is this: “Anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is shall be in danger of the council. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:22b).
What our Lord is saying here is not that a man will be punished with hell fire for calling another a fool, but that a man who can say “You fool” to a fellow man is revealing a state of heart which will fit him for hell in the end. Not the relatively slight offense of calling a brother a fool, but the serious sin of contempt endangers a man’s future. The gravity of the situation lies not in the fact that a man can cry “Fool!” but that he can feel the contempt which the word expresses.
Contempt for a human being is an affront to God almost as grave as idolatry, for while idolatry is disrespect for God Himself, contempt is disrespect for the being He made in His own image. Contempt says of a man, “Raca! This fellow is of no worth. I attach to his person no value whatsoever.” The man guilty of thus appraising a human being is thoroughly bad; and for a number of reasons.
Contempt is an emotion possible only where there is great pride. The error in moral judgment that undervalues another always springs out of the error that overvalues oneself. The contemptuous man esteems himself too highly for reasons that are invalid. His high opinion of himself is not based upon his position as a being made in God’s image; he esteems himself for fancied virtues which he does not possess. He is wrong in his attitude toward himself and doubly wrong in his estimation of his fellow man. The error in his judgment is moral, not intellectual.
It is in the realm of religion that contempt finds its most fruitful soil and flourishes most luxuriantly. It is seen in the cold disdain with which the respectable church woman regards the worldly sister and in the scorn heaped upon the fallen woman by the legally married wife. The sober deacon may find it hard to conceal his contempt for the neighbor who drinks. The evangelical may castigate the liberal in a manner that leaves slight doubt that he feels himself above him in every way. Religion that is not purified by penitence, humility and love, will lead to a feeling of contempt for the irreligious and the morally degraded. And since contempt implies a judgment of no worth made against a human brother, the contemptuous man comes under the displeasure of God and proves himself to lie in danger of hell fire.
The Christian cannot close his eyes to good and evil in his fellow men. He cannot avoid rendering moral judgment on the deeds of men; and, indeed, he is accountable to do so. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” “From such turn away.” But his disapprobation of the evil ways of men must not betray him into contempt for their humanity. He must reverence the humanity of every man, however degraded, out of appreciation for his divine origin. No one for whom Christ died can be common or worthless. Humanity itself must be honored as the garment assumed by the Eternal Son in the Incarnation. To esteem anyone worthless who wears the form of a man is to be guilty of an affront to the Son of Man. We should hate sin in ourselves and in all men, but we should never undervalue the man in whom the sin is found.
( Article taken from The Price of Neglect, Chapter 16 )