Chapter 8 EARLY CONFESSION Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing (Matt. 5:25-26).
The theocentric principle of this law is the authority of God to bring eternal punishment against His enemies. God is the adversary who brings a covenant lawsuit in history against those who have broken His covenant. Covenant-breakers are warned to settle with God before the day of judgment, when they will be delivered over to the judge, sentenced, and cast into prison. In prison, a man cannot earn enough to buy his freedom. Though it is not clear from this passage, prison here is analogous to hell. Jesus' parable of the unjust steward makes this clear: "And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses" (Matt. 18:34-35). The presumption of this passage is that the listener is guilty. His adversary is God. Man does not come before God in a guiltless legal condition. Jesus warned every guilty man against refusing to make restitution to this innocent victim before the case comes before the judge.
Discount for Early Confession In the Mosaic law, there was a lower penalty for admitting guilt before the trial. The thief had been accused by the victim, but he had avoided a trial because he had sworn falsely to his neighbor that he was innocent. "Then shall an oath of the LORD be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good" (Ex. 22:11). The thief was required to repay whatever he had stolen, plus 20 percent. "Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering" (Lev 6:4-5).
The presumption here is that the thief had already sworn falsely. His adversary comes to him and demands payment. Does he have new evidence? Can he now prove that the thief had in fact stolen his goods? If so, the thief faces a greater penalty if convicted: double restitution (Ex. 22:4), plus a trespass offering -- a slain ram (Lev. 6:6) -- to the church in payment for the false oath.
The Mosaic law offered a discount for timely confession: before the false oath, no trespass offering was required, though restitution was. After the false oath to the neighbor, a 20 percent penalty was required and a trespass offering. After the trial, double restitution and a trespass offering were required. This system reduced the expense to the victim or the civil court for gaining a conviction. It lowered the price of civil justice.
New Evidence The guilty man in this case thinks that he can avoid making restitution to his victim. His adversary confronts him, but still he persists in his deception. His adversary suspects that he has committed the crime. Nevertheless, the guilty party refuses to admit this and pay the victim.
The key question for the guilty party is this: Can the victim prove his case in a court? Has he additional evidence that will lead to his conviction? The assumption of Jesus' warning here is that the victim possesses additional evidence. Perhaps he has witnesses. Whatever he has, the victim is offering the criminal one more opportunity to "come clean." He is being given another opportunity to confess his guilt and escape from the court by means of a reduced payment. Jesus warned His listeners: accept the offer. Do not risk suffering a far harsher penalty when the judge hands down his decision.
The guilty party may think to himself, "I have successfully avoided conviction previously. I think I will avoid it this time, too. Yes, there is some risk, but I would rather bear this risk than make a settlement with my victim now." This is unwise, Jesus said. Confess now. Make restitution now.
The assumption of this passage is that the victim has new evidence -- compelling evidence -- and will gain a conviction. Theologically speaking, the criminal is dealing with an omniscient God who is his judge. In His court, no guilty party will ever escape conviction. The force of the passage comes from the presumption that the adversary possesses evidence that will hold up in court.
The Merciful Victim The biblical principle of justice is victim's rights.(1) The victim has approached the guilty party and has graciously offered him one more opportunity to clear up the matter. He is under no obligation to do this. He has already confronted the criminal, and he has sworn that he was innocent. This oath may have been taken in private or it may have been taken in public. God heard it.
The victim understands this law court. It will impose the penalty of prison. In this court, the risk is permanent incarceration. Such a penalty offers no hope for the convict other than restitution made on his behalf by a free man. This was not a Mosaic penalty. The Mosaic penalties were flogging, restitution, and execution.(2) Jesus was speaking to an audience in the Roman Empire. Rome used prisons as the means of punishment. The Mosaic law aimed at restoration through restitution to the victim. Execution was the means of delivering a convicted man into God's court. There was no prison system, precisely because prison is God's monopoly. Hell is God's prison. Everyone sentenced to this prison receives an eternal life sentence. There is no way to buy your way out. There is no mercy shown.
This is why the victim in this passage is merciful. He has the evidence that will convict the man. Nevertheless, he approaches him one more time to persuade him to admit his guilt and pay what he owes. If the case comes to trial, the guilty party will have no hope. The language Jesus invoked here is a sentence without mercy: payment to the last farthing -- to the last penny, in other words.
What kind of person, knowing his guilt, would reject the offer? Only someone who assumes that the victim does not have the evidence. In other words, he underestimates his victim. He trusts in his own cleverness in covering up the crime. He also underestimates the severity of the court. After all, he has previously escaped a permanent penalty. Why not again?
Ultimately, Jesus was calling men to recognize Him as the victim who has the evidence necessary to convict them. The heavenly judge will recognize the legitimacy of this evidence and will convict. The criminal will surely suffer the penalty. What He was saying was that every man is guilty before God. But there is a way of escape. The guilty person can declare his guilt to the victim and make restitution to him privately. The dispute will not go to court. The case can be settled in advance of a trial.
Payment in advance assumes that the criminal is economically capable of making restitution. If he isn't, then he needs to find someone who will pay the victim on his behalf, while the opportunity for making a substitute payment is still available. After the court declares his guilt, this opportunity will be lost. The man will be cast into prison and forced to pay. But in prison, he cannot gain access to the money necessary to make this restitution payment. Hence, his punishment will be permanent. He will never get out. The language of the passage implies life imprisonment. The theology of the passage implies eternal life imprisonment. It implies that God is content with extracting payment through by tormenting rebels forever.
Conclusion One goal of biblical law is the early confession of guilt. A reduced penalty payment is offered to those who admit their guilt before the trial begins. Jesus warned His listeners that they should settle with their adversary early. This presumed that they were guilty.
The top priority here is gaining the admission of guilt prior to trial. The cost of obtaining justice is less when guilty men admit their guilt early. This is a benefit for the victims of crime. It is a benefit for society, which gains justice at a lower cost. He who is guilty is required by God to admit this fact early. The system of eternal judgment rests on the validity of this principle.
Footnotes:
1. Gary North, Victim's Rights: The Biblical View of Civil Justice (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1990).
2. There was a unique penalty imposed on a wife who grabbed the genitals of her husband's opponent when he and her husband were fighting (Deut. 25:11-12). The King James translators translated the penalty as cutting off her hand. James Jordan says it meant deeply cutting her hand through the palm. The word in Deuteronomy 25:12 is kaph or kaf, which Strong's Concordance defines as "the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal, of the sole, and even of the bowl of a dish or sling, the handle of a bolt, the leaves of a palm-tree); fig. power:-branch, + foot, hand ([-ful], -dle, [-led]), hollow, middle, palm, paw, power, sole, spoon." To cut a palm is different from cutting off a hand.
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