Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 18:8
Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast [them] from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
8, 9. Cp. note ch. Mat 5:29-30.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If thy hand … – See the notes at Mat 5:29-30. The sense in all these instances is the same. Worldly attachments, friendships, and employments of any kind, that cannot be pursued without leading us into sin, be they ever so dear to us, must be abandoned, or the soul will be lost.
It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed … – It is not meant, by this, that when the body shall be raised it will be maimed and disfigured in this manner. It will be perfect. See 1Co 15:42-44. But these things are said for the purpose of carrying out or making complete the figure or the representation of cutting off the hands, etc. The meaning is, it is better to go to heaven without enjoying the things that caused us to sin, than to enjoy them here and then be lost.
Halt – Lame.
Maimed – With a loss of limbs.
Into hell fire – It is implied, in all this, that if their sins, however dear to them, were not abandoned, the soul must go into everlasting fire. This is conclusive proof that the sufferings of the wicked will be eternal. See the notes at Mar 9:44, Mar 9:46, Mar 9:48.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. – 9. If thy hand, c.] See the notes on Mt 5:29-30.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ver. 8, 9. Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot,…. The same words are repeated here on occasion of offences, as are spoken by Christ, Mt 5:29 on account of unchaste looks, desires and lusts: giving offence to Christ’s disciples, or endeavouring, by any means whatever, to cause them to stumble and fall, is equally gratifying the flesh, and no more to be indulged, than the other, on pain of eternal damnation. See Gill “Mt 5:29” See Gill “Mt 5:30”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In verses 8 and 9 we have one of the dualities or doublets in Matthew (5:29-30). Jesus repeated his pungent sayings many times. Instead of (5:29) we have and at the end of verse 9 is added to . This is the first use in Matthew of . We have it again in Matt 19:16; Matt 19:29 with , in 25:41 with , in 25:46 with and . The word means ageless, without beginning or end as of God (Ro 16:26), without beginning as in Ro 16:25, without end as here and often. The effort to make it mean “” fire will make it mean “” life also. If the punishment is limited, ipso facto the life is shortened. In verse 9 also occurs. It is an Ionic compound in Herodotus that is condemned by the Atticists, but it is revived in the vernacular Koine. Literally one-eyed. Here only and Mr 9:47 in the New Testament.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
C. NO SACRIFICE IS TOO GREAT (18:8, 9)
Mat. 18:8-9. At first glance, it would seem that Jesus has suddenly introduced irrelevant material, since He was discussing the danger of trapping others, not the disciples own peril. But this is precisely the point: to sin against even one of these little ones who believe in Jesus is to sin against ones own soul. To cause another to stumble is to stumble into sin, taking ones own weaker brother down too. So, Christ must make men sensitive to that IN THEMSELVES which proves to be a seduction to THEMSELVES and to others. Another reason for His inserting this paragraph is the fact that to recognize the weaknesses and mortal dangers in ones own personal character is devastating to his exaggerated sense of self-worth, or pride. The status-climbing disciples must face the horrid truth: their own weaknesses and liability to sin dogs their steps even to the top of the pile and mars their supposed worthiness and nobility of character! Worse, without forgiveness and mercy from God and others, they must instantly and forever surrender all claim to such greatness and honors.
In two pithy sentences the Lords focus zooms in on each disciples personal responsibility for his own degree of temptability, and therefore for his own stumbling into sin. Nine times (count them!) He hammers on the personal pronouns YOU and YOURS. He had pronounced fearful woes on the world in general for its multitudinous threats to ones soul security, and to particular tempters through whom those seductions come, but now He rips aside the veil to unmask that hotbed of temptations in the heart of each disciple. This time it is YOUR hand, YOUR foot, YOUR eye. Is Jesus discussing only our liability to temptation from the point of view of our fleshly members named? (See notes on Mat. 5:29-30.)
1.
He definitely includes whatever in our fleshly desires would render a holy life useful to God difficult for ourselves and others. Our selfishness and its passionate desires must be crucified. (Romans 6; Col. 3:5 ff; Gal. 5:24) But these temptations to sin are probably already thought of as forbidden under other precepts. Nevertheless, should anyone forget his own liability to lust, Jesus leaves nothing to guesswork on that point. What would not be so obvious would be actions that would be otherwise perfectly justifiable, which, because of the weakness of others, would become for them temptations to sin. Hand, foot and eye are gifts of God, therefore good and not intended simply to be disposed of. Rather, they are fit instruments of service to man and God, and the source of unsullied joy to their possessor. But their use can be subverted into abuse, in which case they must be sacrificed. This means that God has placed some things within our reach which, in most circumstances, are positive blessings, while in other situations, deadly instruments for seductions to evil. (Study Pauls argumentation about our members, in Rom. 6:12-14.) Man dare not let himself be deceived by his most useful, justifiable elements of his person or personality. (Cf. Jas. 1:13-15) To be true to himself and his Lord he has only one live option: dispense with such things completely.
2.
But since the illustrations He uses are of perfectly legitimate, justifiable members that, when normally and rightly used, are blessings to the well-rounded, happy life, the Savior may be pointing to what is symbolized by the hand, foot or eye: ones practice, pursuits or research. (Edersheim, Life, II, 121) Thus, He is also pointing to what we have a normally legitimate right to use, which, for the sake of our own salvation and the weak conscience of others, may be dispensed with. He means anything that compromises a persons virtue, Christlikeness, leaves him less humble, less determined to live with God.
An illuminating case in point is that of the rich young ruler, (Study Jesus comments on his case: Mat. 19:16-30.)
It could be personal taste, emotional attachments, partnerships, any kind of employment, occupation or hobby, the pursuit of some physical or intellectual culture or art. If these lawful things, however perfectly innocent in themselves and quite permissible for others who are not hurt by them, cannot be pursued without self-injury to our likeness to God, then, out of regard for our best self, that self for which Christ died, they must be stringently sacrificed. They may be perfectly innocent pleasures which we are unable to keep within their proper limits, pleasures that sap the strength out of our concern for the Lords work. However dear they may be to us, to enjoy the things that cause us to sin here on earth and be lost can never match the sheer delight of eternal life.
The all-important word here is IF. Such self-severity is recommended IF our soul is endangered, but if not? Here is a fundamental principle of Christian liberty. The decision about such matters must rest in our hands and be limited to our own case. This is the point of the repeated use of the second person SINGULAR pronoun. Other people may be able to keep their members, even if we cannot. They are responsible for their own decision, but their experience cannot be our guide. Nor may they decide for us, or we for them. The restrictions we find obligatory for ourselves are not to serve as a basis for condemning them for not adopting them, nor can we impose them on them. For fuller information on Christian liberty, study Rom. 14:1 to Rom. 15:7; 1Co. 6:12 to 1Co. 11:1; Gal. 5:1-6; Gal. 5:13-15; Php. 4:8 f; Col. 2:8 to Col. 3:4; Jas. 1:25; Jas. 2:8-12; 1Pe. 2:16.
Entrance into life is only possible for those who are willing to do without what they may most easily justify, but for whom the use of which would hinder their living a holy life useful to God and men. The direct consequence of this drastic severity is the salvation of two souls: the one who would have stumbled by abuse of his own liberty and the other, the little one who believes in me who would have been caused to stumble by the abuse of the first. Unconditional eternal security is just not available to earth-bound believers. Our possibilities for eternity are rigorously conditioned by the decisions we make as to whether we will make these sacrifices or not. (Heb. 3:6-14; Heb. 4:1; Heb. 4:11; Heb. 6:4-8; Heb. 10:19-39; Heb. 12:14-17; Heb. 12:25; 1Jn. 1:7-10; 1Jn. 2:1 f, 1Jn. 2:9 f, 1Jn. 2:15-17; 1Jn. 4:20; 1Jn. 5:16 f, 1Jn. 5:21) The phase of the kingdom of God into which we enter by such self-sacrifice (Mar. 9:47) is equal to the life (Mat. 18:9) and is co-extensive with it. Thus, the Lord refers to life in the kingdom of God, here and hereafter. Evidently Jesus is not troubled here to distinguish this life from that, because death is not going to make all that much difference. In fact, just as the kingdom of God is in existence now and continues on out into eternity (Col. 1:13; 2Pe. 1:11), so eternal life has already begun and we know that we enjoy it because we love the brethren enough to make these essential sacrifices for ourselves and them. (1Jn. 2:25; 1Jn. 3:14-16; 1Jn. 5:11 ff; 1Jn. 2:15-17; Joh. 5:24)
These two verses taken together prove that the eternal fire and the hell (Gehenna) of fire are identical and what is affirmed of one in Scripture is true of the other also. They stand together across the abyss from what it means to be in the kingdom of God (Mat. 18:3-4; Mar. 9:47) and eternal life. (Cf. Mat. 25:46) On Gehenna, see on Mat. 5:22, esp. Mat. 10:28 notes. Jesus is not just frightening folks with imaginary fears and medieval scarecrows! If JESUS informs us that there is a hell, then it really exists. Should not the garbage-heap of the universe be the proper dumping ground for those pompous individuals who, because of their self-assured insensitiveness to their own temptability, offend a child and sow the world solid with stumbling blocks? When talking about other people, even the most hardened have no difficulty with this doctrine. (There would have to be a hell just for Hitler!) Their hedging and objections begin when Christ begins insisting that even they could end up there too.
This painfully severe self-examination is the only spirit in which to begin to correct another. (Mat. 18:15-17; Mat. 7:1-5) In our liberty to select objects for prayer, have we sinned in ceasing to pray for our brother? (Cf. 1Sa. 12:23) Have we been a misleading example to him? (Rom. 12:1-5) While restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, we must consider ourselves because of our own vulnerability to temptations. (Gal. 6:1-5) If our own bad attitudes, offenses or neglect are factors contributing to our brothers offense, then we cannot proceed to settle the problem according to Mat. 18:15-17, but according to Mat. 5:23 f.
D. HOW DO YOU WANT IT: SAVED BY THE FIRE OR SAVED FOR THE FIRE?
At this point in the Synoptics narrative Mark (Mar. 9:48-50) inserts the following: 48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. 49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its saltness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.
The allusion is simply to the process of salting meat to preserve it. Jesus says that EVERYONE indiscriminately will be salted to preserve them. However, rather than with literal salt, everyone will be salted with fire. (Mar. 9:49) The fire itself, thus, is the preserving agent for everyone.
1.
The previously mentioned unquenchable fire of punishment (Mar. 9:48), intended for everyone who, contrary to the demands of severe self-discipline just given, refuses to present himself as a sacrifice to God, rather than just burn him up, will actually keep him perpetually in a state of severest suffering, or eternal punishment. (klasin ainion of Mat. 25:46) It is an eternal fire (Mat. 18:8) and unquenchable fire (Mar. 9:43).
2.
The Christian, on the other hand, who willingly submits to being a spiritual sacrifice to God, cost him whatever it may, by his embracing this very fire, will be preserved for eternal life. (Rom. 12:1-2; 1Pe. 1:6-9; 1Pe. 2:11; 1Pe. 4:12 ff; 1Pe. 5:9 f)
The Lord concludes with a caution and an exhortation: (Mar. 9:50)
1.
CAUTION: The preserving power of this chastening fire for the Christians only operates where men permit it to work by making every sacrifice necessary. Salt is good. Otherwise, it would be like saltless salt, useless in their individual lives. The very same chastening, disciplinary fires come to the ungodly too, but it does them no good, because they do not respond to it with the same spirit of self-sacrifice as the godly. The self-same fire to them is like salt that has lost its savor, and the corruption continues.
2.
EXHORTATION: Have salt in yourselves, i.e. let the aforementioned fire which preserves you do its work. Welcome the purifying, preserving principle of self-denial, enduring trials, removing stumbling-blocks, pride, ambition and contention. Welcome the severity of self-discipline, self-judgment and self-sacrifice. This cannot but restore peace and fellowship among you.
Another way of arriving at this same conclusion by another route is the following:
ANATHEMA = DOOMED AS A SACRIFICE = DAMNED
The point of this text may lie in the concept of sacrifice which God has taught us in the Bible. The philosophy behind any sacrificing is the unworthiness of man. He has no right to live, because the image of God in him has been marred by sins and character defects. Unfit to live, he should be destroyed. Mercy, however, offers man the privilege of sacrificing, the life of an animal for the life of the man, an object of value for the value of the giver.
Now, because of the preservative power of salt to stop corruption, the orientals used salt as a symbol of perpetuity and permanence. (Cfr. Num. 18:19; 2Ch. 13:5; Eze. 16:4 = immortality?) So, in the symbolism of sacrifice it seems that the Lord chose salt as an absolutely essential preparation for every offering, in order to impart, among other things, this meaning to the sacrifice. (Exo. 30:35; Lev. 2:13; Eze. 43:24) This sacrifice is hereby given permanent, eternal value, even though the thing offered is itself dead.
So, every human being, because he is a sinner is destined for the fire as a sacrifice, a victim of his own sins. From the fire there is no escape and no exception. But precisely at this point a merciful choice is given to humanity: (1) the opportunity to be a personal, willing, living sacrifice to the honor of Gods grace, or (2) the fiery punishment in hell, serving as fuel to the honor of Gods justice. Man, damned by his sins, is already doomed, hence anathema. But mercy gives him the choice of accepting his own damnation as Gods righteous judgment and freely sacrificing himself as an offering to God. Thus, he becomes anathema in the sense of an offering.
Anathema (from the verb anatthemi to place upon (the altar), to put upon (the walls of a temple as a votive offering) means what is offered up to God. (Arndt-Gingrich, 53f; Rocci, 112, 133; Thayer, 37) This is the common LXX translation of the Hebrew concept of cherem, a thing devoted to God without hope of redemption. It can be either consecrated or accursed, depending on the point of view required. (Gesenius, 305)
Unrepentant sinners who refuse to come to repentance and soul preservation by accepting the punishment for their sins in this life, must face eternal preservation in the midst of an eternal, fiery hell. The eternal fire is that which would burn them as sacrifices. Since the wicked accepted no substitute, rather than suffer as a living sacrifice in honor to God on earth, they burn as the victims of their own corruption in hell.
Christians, because they accepted the perfect Christ as their substitute sacrifice, do not themselves have to die the second death in the destruction by fire, because they will have already sacrificed themselves willingly on the altar of Christs service in this life, (Rom. 12:1-2; Gal. 5:24; Col. 3:3; Col. 3:5; Rom. 6:1-11) They have accepted their damnation as Gods righteous judgment and have been permitted to die spiritually to their sins. Thereafter, their life is to be considered as one continuous living sacrifice. Though it might seem a hell on earth, its fire not only purifies their dross, but preserves them eternally. (Cf. Heb. 12:4-12)
The fire of the Christians which preserves (salts) them, then, is all the discipline that comes to them in the normal course of their living the Christian life, all that purges them of their impurities (1Pe. 1:6 f; 1Pe. 4:12 f) and makes them like Christ (1Pe. 2:18-25; 1Pe. 4:1 f; Rom. 5:3-4; Jas. 1:2-4; Jas. 1:12) The man who has no fear of the blazing wrath of God is the man who has had all that is combustible in himself burnt away, who has already submitted to the fire, the purification that God directs. (Cf. Isa. 33:14 f) Living according to the will of God, he lives in the love of God, so he has no need to be alarmed at the judgment of God upon sinners.
Christians are preserved from destruction in hell by their willing submission to suffering for Christ in this life, by humble contrition and removal of stumbling blocks in their lives and by maintaining peace with others by a loving, forgiving spirit.
What is the good salt? (Mar. 9:50) It is the spirit of humble self-sacrifice for God and others which keeps Jesus followers united together in a common covenant whereby they can live in peace with one another. Should this salt lose its power to work its transformation, the individuals involved would not be sacrifices truly acceptable to God. The ensuing corruption would doom them to the other fire. The wicked treat their salt as worthless and so must suffer the consequences of their own corruption.
Thus, everything Christians give up for Christs sake is considered as offered up in sacrifice to God (anathema) because damned (anathema), if sinful, and consecrated (anathema), if a fit object for offering to God. No wonder a Christian lives forever! His self-denials, subduing his desire, his enduring trials and removing offenses for Christs sake is just another way of saying getting rid of all that is objectionable to God, so why should God destroy him?
See Mat. 18:22-35 for Fact Questions.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(8, 9) If thy hand or thy foot offend thee.(See Notes on Mat. 5:29-30.) The disciples had heard the words before in the Sermon on the Mount, but their verbal reproduction, sharpened as by a special personal application addressed not to the multitude but to the Twelve, gave them a new and solemn emphasis.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is good for you to enter into life maimed or lame, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is good for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.”
Attention is then turned to the one being caused to stumble, and this includes us all. For in the end we cannot blame others. Stumbling is in the end something that we do ourselves. And examples are then given of the great effort that must be put into avoiding any likelihood of stumbling. Again Jesus uses the method of exaggerated illustrations. If someone has stumbled, then rather than stumbling again through the temptations of hand, foot or eye it would be better for them to rid themselves of that hand, foot or eye that caused the stumbling, by cutting it off, or gouging it out, and hurling it away. The thought is of instantly ridding oneself violently of the causes of sin, without hesitation, because of the awareness of the awfulness of the sin. This is presented in an exaggerated picture of an instant response by hacking off the hand or foot and hurling it away, or of an instant gouging out of the eye and flinging it from them (compare Mat 5:29-30), so that the sin will not happen again. In other words it is vividly describing a violent reaction. No violent reaction is to be thought of as too great in order to avoid sin. We should be ready to do anything in order to be rid of the cause of sin!
It is not, of course, intended to be taken literally. Removing hand, foot or eye will in fact make little difference to whether we sin in the future. (It may in fact result in more sin). It is what is in the heart that must be rooted out (Mat 15:19-20). So the idea is rather that sin must be countered in the most severe way possible by the individual concerned. It was not intended to be a method of punishment, nor to be carried out in the cool light of day (such a sad and grotesque idea was left to a desert warrior prophet speaking to backward and fierce warrior tribes in Arabia who were used to chopping people up, and equally carried out by grotesque people who enjoy the same cruelty today). The point was rather the necessity of personally taking immediate and extreme action against sin as soon as it was committed, so as to avoid it happening again, and that because of its dreadful consequences. And the reason for the drastic action was that not to deal with such sins would be to be in danger of forfeiting eternal life and ending up in the eternal fire of Gehenna (the place of flaming destruction, the eternal Rubbish Dump where the maggots never die or cease consuming the rubbish, and the incinerating fire never goes out – Mar 9:48). It was a warning that we all ought to take more seriously.
Notice once again the choice of the two ways which is so emphasised in Matthew (Mat 7:13-27; Mat 6:14-15; Mat 6:19-24; Mat 6:32-33; Mat 10:13-14; Mat 10:28; Mat 10:32-33). Better to enter into life maimed, than enter into eternal destruction as a whole person. (In future this would have a deeper significance when Christians were tortured and deliberately maimed, accepting it joyfully for the privilege of suffering for His name’s sake).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A further warning:
v. 8. Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than, having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire.
v. 9. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell-fire. The subject upon which He here touches affects Jesus so deeply that He repeats His warning of the Sermon on the Mount, Mat 5:29-30. Offenses will come, not only from without, but also from within, from one’s own members. The hand, the foot, the eye present occasion for sinning. The law of sin is ever present in the organs of the body. To deny these members, to fight against every abuse of their God-given functions, to keep them in absolute control, that is the great concern of the disciple of Christ. That is not to be understood, as Luther says, that a person mutilate his body, but that he should keep his members in subjection with the help of the Holy Ghost, in true faith. The members must be cut off, that is, be subdued by the Spirit, in order that the hand, the eye, the feet do not perform what the sinful heart intends. For the end of him that yields to sin, that places his members into the willing service of sin, is everlasting fire, the fire of hell, where their worm will not die, neither will their fire be quenched, Mar 9:43-48. Only he who, through the power of the Holy Ghost within him, keeps his body in subjection, does not permit sin to gain the ascendancy, only he will retain faith and a good conscience, only he will save body and soul unto everlasting life.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 18:8. Wherefore, if thy hand or foot offend thee Insnare thee. Campbell, and so Mat 18:9. Our Lord here renews the exhortation which he formerly gave, Ch. Mat 5:29-30 rather to submit to the severest mortifications, than to indulge our sinful inclinations, to the scandal of others, and our own ruin. We may observe, that St. Matthew, who has so largely recorded the sermon on the mount, gives us again this passage of it on the present occasion; which is one proof among others, that our Lord did not think it improper or unnecessary sometimes to repeat what he had then said; and considering the importance of these maxims, and how little many of his hearers were disposed to receive and retain them, it was a valuable instance of his compassion and wisdom. See Doddridge.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 18:8 f. Comp. Mar 9:43 ff. A passing direction, suggested by Mat 18:7 , for avoiding certain specified offences, and substantially the same as in Mat 5:29 . A repetition depending here, no doubt, on Mark (Weiss), yet not to be regarded as out of place, because the proverbial saying refers to one’s own temptations as coming through the senses, while here the point in question is the temptation of others (de Wette, Kuinoel, Strauss, Holtzmann, Hilgenfeld), but on the contrary as quite appropriate, inasmuch as the occasioned from without operate through the senses, and thereby seduce into evil.
] a mixture, by attraction, of two constructions: It is good to enter into the life (of the Messiah’s kingdom at the second coming) maimed (and better) than , etc. See Fritzsche’s note on this passage, and Dissert. II. ad 2 Cor. p. 85; Winer, p. 226 [E. T. 302]; Buttmann, p. 309 [E. T. 360]. For examples from classical writers, see Kypke, Obss. I. p. 89; Bos, Ellips. , ed. Schaefer, p. 769 ff. See besides, the note on Mat 5:29-30 . But in the present passage the material representation of mortification as the condition of eternal life is somewhat more circumstantial and graphic.
] refers to the feet , one of which, indeed, is supposed to be awanting (comp. Hom. Il. ii. 217: ); while, according to the context, here (more general in Mat 25:30 ) refers to mutilation of the arm , from which the hand is supposed to be cut off. Hence: limping ( ) or maimed ( ). But the circumstance of being put first is due to the fact that the cutting off of the foot ( , see critical notes) had been specified, although at the same time an identical proceeding in regard to the hand is, of course, to be understood.
.] Herod. III. 116, IV. 27; Strabo, II. p. 70. According to the grammarians, we should have had . in contradistinction to ., which denotes the condition of one born with one eye. See Lobeck, ad Phryn . p. 136 f.; Becker, Anecd. I. p. 280.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
Ver. 8. If thy hand or foot offend thee, &c. ] Mat 5:29-30 , our Saviour forbids all his to defile themselves with the filth of sin; here, to offend others thereby. See Trapp on “ Mat 5:29 “ See Trapp on “ Mat 5:30 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8. ] The connexion is ‘ Wilt thou avoid being the man on whom this woe is pronounced? then cut off all occasion of offence in thyself first .’ The cautions following are used in a wider sense than in ch. Mat 5:29-30 . In Mark, the ‘ foot ’ is expanded into a separate iteration of the command.
, , a mixture of the two constructions, . , and See reff. , which here first occurs, is more fully in Mark , .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 18:8-9 . These verses are one of Mt.’s dualities, being found with some variations in the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 18:29-30 ). Repetition perhaps due to use of two sources, but in sympathy with the connection of thought in both places. Since the offender is the greater loser in the end, it is worth his while to take precautions against being an offender.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 18:8 . , : mentioned together as instruments of violence. : the positive for the comparative, or used in sense of magis quam . Raphel and Kypke cite instances of this use from classics. It may be an imitation of Hebrew usage, in which the comparative is expressed by the positive, followed by the preposition min . “A rare classical usage tends to become frequent in Hellenistic Greek if it be found to correspond to a common Hebrew idiom” (Carr, in Camb. N. T.). : with reference to hand, mutilated; wanting one or both hands. : in a similar condition regarding the feet ( cf. Mat 11:5 ; Mat 15:30 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
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.
SPECIAL TOPIC: ETERNAL
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 SPECIAL TOPIC: Where Are the Dead? 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).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
if thy hand, &c. Assuming the condition. See App-118.
offend = keepeth on causing thee to offend.
better = good. Figure of speech Heterosis (of Degree). App-6.
life = the life: i.e. resurrection life, or life eternal. Greek. zoe. App-170. See note on Mat 9:18 and Lev 18:5. Compare Mat 7:14.
hell fire = Gehenna of fire. See note on Mat 5:22. Occurs elsewhere only in Mar 9:47. App-131.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8.] The connexion is-Wilt thou avoid being the man on whom this woe is pronounced?-then cut off all occasion of offence in thyself first. The cautions following are used in a wider sense than in ch. Mat 5:29-30. In Mark, the foot is expanded into a separate iteration of the command.
, , a mixture of the two constructions, . , and See reff. , which here first occurs, is more fully in Mark , .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 18:8. , …, but if, etc.) He who is not careful to avoid offence to himself, will cause offence to others, and vice versa.-, , hand-foot) In the impulse of sinning, acting ill, going where we ought not, the hands or other members are urged on by the animal spirits rushing together into them: and there is great propriety in the expressions employed by our Lord: for the imperative (cut off), holds good with regard to the hand, in as far as it is thus affected, and so on with the rest.-, life) opposed to eternal fire.-, …, lame, etc.) The godly, forsooth, in this world are lame, deaf, dumb, etc., both to themselves and others;[812] see Psa 38:14. This must be taken of the time of mortification, not that of glorification; for those members which have been most mortified will shine the most in glory; see Gal 6:17.-, eternal) The word, eternal, signifies sometimes in the Old Testament a finite eternity more clearly than it does in the New.
[812] Comp. Rev 3:17; 1Co 4:8-13.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
everlasting
The Greek has “the” before “everlasting.”
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
if: Mat 5:29, Mat 5:30, Mat 14:3, Mat 14:4, Deu 13:6-8, Mar 9:43-48, Luk 14:26, Luk 14:27, Luk 14:33, Luk 18:22, Luk 18:23
and cast: Isa 2:20, Isa 2:21, Isa 30:22, Eze 18:31, Rom 13:12, Phi 3:8, Phi 3:9
maimed: Mat 15:30, Mat 15:31
everlasting: Mat 25:41, Mat 25:46, Isa 33:14, Mar 9:48, Mar 9:49, Luk 16:24, 2Th 1:8, 2Th 1:9, Rev 14:10, Rev 20:15, Rev 21:8
Reciprocal: Psa 18:23 – I kept Pro 23:2 – General Isa 30:33 – Tophet Mat 5:22 – hell
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:8-9
Since each man is responsible for his own conduct, he should overcome the cause of stumbling whatever it may be in his particular case. The lesson taught by the discarding of the hand and eye is explained at chapter 5:29, 30. Everlasting is from AIONIOS which Thayer defines, “without end, never to cease, everlasting.” Hell is from GEHENNA and is explained at chapter Mat 5:30.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 18:8. And. The connection is: In view of this woe, remove all causes of offence in thyself! Comp. chap. Mat 5:29-30. Here the reference is more general, namely, to whatever in us, however dear or necessary, which would lead us astray, sever our fellowship with Christ. Special application (not to be pressed): the hand denotes aptitude for government, the foot for exertion, the eye for knowledge, all in ecclesiastical matters. The context suggests that all these members (representing talents, etc.) should be used, not for purposes of pride, but to the edification of the little ones.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
This command of Christ is not to be understood literally, as if it were our duty to maim our bodily members; but the exhortation is to cut off all occasions that may betray us into sin; and to mortify our darling and beloved lust, though as dear to us as our right eye.
Learn, 1. That sin may be avoided. It is our duty to avoid whatever leads unto it, or may be the instrument or occasion of it.
2. That the best way to be kept from the outward acts of sin, is to mortify our inward affection and love to sin. If our love and affection to sin be mortified, our bodily members may be preserved, for they will no longer be weapons of sin, but instruments of holiness.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
DOOM OF THE WICKED
Mat 18:8-9; Mar 9:45-48. And if thy foot may offend thee, cut it off; it is good for thee to go into life lame, rather than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire which can not be quenched, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. This awful deliverance of our Savior, relative to the doom of the wicked, follows as a normal sequence from the innumerable and egregious sins committed in giving offense to spiritual and natural infants. Consequently He goes out into a clear, straight, and unequivocal affirmation, relative to the endless punishment of the wicked, which is simply irrefutable by all the sophistry of Universalism, all the chicanery of infidelity, and all the diabolical effrontery of the Pandemonium. Here, Jesus says that the wicked go into the fire which can not be quenched, where the worm [i.e., the conscious living] dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. The word for die is teleutao, from telos, the end; consequently, it means never have an end, the strongest and most inevasible word in the Greek language. These words and phrases, uttered by the Savior, can never be modified, evaded, weakened, or explained away. The sophistry that would have the audacity to tinker with these plain and unmistakable words of Jesus, could upset every truth in the Bible, completely take Gods Book of Truth out of our hands, leaving us groping in the utter bewilderment of rayless night. O that the preachers would preach like Jesus! If they do not, they have no right to preach at all. You have no right to deliver a message for another, unless you deliver it as he gave it to you. The reason why so many preachers have lost their power, is because Jesus does not send them. The reason why He does not send them, is because they have failed to deliver His message as He gave it to them. If you were to send a man with a most important message, and he should materially change it, either by additions or subtractions, or both, you would never again trust your business in his hands. Preachers stand in the pulpit, empty as the shell of a dead oyster, because of the delinquency in the faithful deliverance of the Lords message. The wicked are going to hell by millions. The most successful method of stopping them is faithfully, persistently, importunately fearlessly, and tearfully telling them precisely what they are doing, without mollification or modification, but persistently warning them night and day. One of the saddest concomitants of the awful apostasy in the Churches is the elimination of endless punishment out of the pulpit. Just as heaven should be the constant theme preached to the Christian pilgrim for glory bound, so hell should be the incessant theme roaring from every pulpit in the ears of all the hellward bound. If this is not faithfully adhered to, conviction will not only go out of a Church, but evanesce from a community, leaving all the gospel timber-gum logs, which will neither rive nor split.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 8
Offend thee; lead thee to sin. The meaning is, that every enjoyment or indulgence which acts as an allurement to sin, must be resolutely rejected, at whatever sacrifice.–To enter into life halt or maimed; to be saved at last, after having endured suffering and privation here.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
18:8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot {d} offend thee, cut them off, and cast [them] from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
(d) See Geneva Mt “5:29”
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus next warned His disciples about the possibility of their doing what the world does, namely, making it difficult for another disciple to fulfill his or her mission for Jesus. In the context, one’s competitive pride of position might cause another disciple to stumble (Mat 18:1). The illustrations Jesus used recall Mat 5:29-30, where He also urged His disciples to discipline their thoughts and motives.
The point of this section was the seriousness of rejecting or opposing Jesus’ disciples in their work of carrying out His will. It is as serious as child abuse.