Now if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell. Matthew 5:29-30
“And if your hand or your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you; it is better for you to enter life maimed or without a foot, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fiery hell. Matthew 18:8-9
Matthew records for us that Jesus said these challenging things not just once but twice, so they must be important. The first was in the very practical sermon on the mount. The second is after the disciples asked, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” and Jesus calls a child to himself to talk about being like a little child.
I’ve heard Christians say, “Well, he didn’t mean that literally. We aren’t supposed to be cutting off body parts.” Well, it’s hard for me to imagine he didn’t literally mean the beatitudes and the rest of the sermon on the mount. And He seems pretty serious about causing the little ones to stumble. So what is this all about? I just had to find an understanding of these disturbing passages that were more than “He didn’t really mean that” and gave peace to my spirit.
So I began by looking then as if Jesus actually meant what He said, and the more I read them, the clearer it became. If cutting off my hand would keep me from sinning, wouldn’t that be a minimal price to pay? Or if I had to lose an eye or foot to gain the kingdom, wouldn’t it be worth it? There was a resounding, “YES!” in my spirit.
So are we supposed to start cutting off body parts? Well, that didn’t seem right. Then the revelation came: it is never my hand or foot or eye that causes me to sin. My hands and feet only do what I tell them to do. My eyes only see things. So what part of me can actually cause me to sin? Well, we often express it as the heart or the mind. Either way, if I cut out my heart or my brain, I am DEAD! Oh, wait. Haven’t I heard that somewhere?
“He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might DIE to sin and live for righteousness…” 1 Peter 2:24
That is just one place in the Bible that talks about our need to die. My body of sin has to die so I can be born again INTO Christ. If it were as simple as cutting off a hand or foot, it would be well worth it, but it is not. Nothing short of death will solve this sin issue. But, oh how glorious it is to die and be free from sin.
Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24