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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Matthew 18:8 - 18:8
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In Mat 18:8 and Mat 18:9 we have one of the dualities or doublets in Matthew (Mat 5:29-30). Jesus repeated his pungent sayings many times. Instead of eis geennan (Mat 5:29) we have eis to pur to aiōnion and at the end of Mat 18:9 tou puros is added to tēn geennan. This is the first use in Matthew of aiōnios. We have it again in Mat 19:16, Mat 19:29 with zoē, in Mat 25:41 with pur, in Mat 25:46 with kolasin and zoēn. The word means ageless, without beginning or end as of God (Rom 16:26), without beginning as in Rom 16:25, without end as here and often. The effort to make it mean “aeonian” fire will make it mean “aeonian” life also. If the punishment is limited, ipso facto the life is shortened. In Mat 18:9 also monophthalmon occurs. It is an Ionic compound in Herodotus that is condemned by the Atticists, but it is revived in the vernacular Koiné. Literally one-eyed. Here only and Mar 9:47 in the New Testament.