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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 18:8 - 18:9
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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_18:8-9
8If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. 9If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.
Mat_18:8-9 "If. . .if" These are both first class conditional sentences which are assumed to be true from the author's perspective or for his literary purposes. These shocking hypothetical statements stress the seriousness of personal sin, as well as sinners that causes others to stumble (cf. Mat_18:6-7).
Mat_18:8-9 "cut it off. . .pluck it out" These were not meant to be taken literally, but to show the seriousness of sin and its consequences (cf. Mat_5:29-30).
▣ "eternal fire" See Special Topic following.
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Mat_18:9 "the fiery hell" Gehenna is from two Hebrew words ge meaning "valley" and henna meaning "sons of Hinnom" (cf. 2Ki_23:10; 2Ch_28:3; 2Ch_33:6; Jer_7:31). This was the valley outside of Jerusalem where the Phoenician fire god was worshiped by child sacrifice (the practice was called molech). The Jews turned it into a garbage dump. See hyperlink at Mat_5:22. Jesus Himself used this place metaphorically to describe Hell. Only Jesus uses this term (except one verse in Jas_3:6).
This is a frightening verse. However, one must remember the use of overstatement (hyperbole) in Jesus' teaching. The context relates to followers, believers. Yet Jesus wants to warn even His own followers of the need for a continuing and loving faith (cf. Mat_5:22).