Article September 8, 1945 Issue

"Agree with thine adversary quickly"

RICHARD P. VERRALL

Perhaps no saying of our Master has provoked more general discussion than the following admonition (Matt. 5:25): "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him." A thoughtful reading of the context makes the meaning of this passage perfectly clear, especially when Dr. Moffatt's translation of the text is taken into account. A little earlier in his discourse Christ Jesus had said (Matt. 5:17), "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Jesus was not, therefore, annulling the law of Moses, but he was pointing out a better way.

The equivalent of the word "agree," according to Moffatt, is "make terms," which is to say, "make a settlement." The full text of his translation reads as follows: "Be quick and make terms with your opponent, so long as you and he are on the way to court, in case he hands you over to the judge, and the judge to the jailer, and you are thrown into prison."

Under the law of Moses, as in our own day, a person suspected of having injured another was liable to a summons, and, if found guilty, he would then have to pay the full penalty prescribed by the law. Under the new and more enlightened dispensation of the gospel, however, the defendant was advised not to wait for a legal summons, but to make the necessary explanation or amends at once, thus making an effort to settle the case out of court.

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