Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 5:30
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee – The right hand is selected for the same reason as the right eye, because it is one of the most important members of the human body. The idea is, that the dearest earthly objects are to be sacrificed rather than that we should commit sin; that the most rigid self-denial should be practiced, and that the most absolute self-government should be maintained at any sacrifice, rather than that we should suffer the mind to be polluted by unholy thoughts and impure desires.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 5:30
Thy right hand offend.
I. Rather than anything, though ever so dear and precious to thee, should hinder thee in thy Christian progress, or prove a means of snaring thy soul and body, absolutely and totally forego it.
1. Whatsoever opposes God in the heart, or keeps Him out of it, must be abhored and east out;
2. All sin and temptation must be resisted, and the outward act of any sin must be avoided.
3. For some temptations are against my retirement, against my prayers, against my possession and enjoyment of Christ, against peace in life, comfort in death, against time, eternity, and all my hopes. (Thomas Adam.)
Strange conduct of a Land-Crab
One of the most useful pioneer evangelists of the Samoan mission was Teava, who, after many years of active services returned to Rarotonga. Though very feeble and bent with age, his place in the sanctuary was never vacant; and he was ever ready with a word of exhortation. On one occasion he said, I have been meditating this morning upon our Lords words: If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and east it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. When I laboured at Tutuila I often felt rebuked by the strange conduct of a large species of land-crab, called there the malio, here the tupa. It bores deep into the soil, the holes sometimes extending a considerable distance. At night this crab loves to make its way to the sea, for the purpose of laving itself in the salt water and drinking it. Now it sometimes happens that, when hurrying through the tall grass and fern, some of its legs become defiled by contact with filth. So great is the vexation of this crab at its mishap, that it delays its march to the sea in order to wrench off the offending legs! One may sometimes meet a mutilated individual hobbling along without two or three of its legs-a self-inflicted punishment! In some rare instances it has been known to wrench off all its eight legs to escape defilement. It is then content to drag itself over the ground with considerable difficulty by means of its nippers, until it reaches its hole, where it hides until the legs partially develop themselves again, though not of their original length and beauty. Were we, added Teava, as willing to part with our favourite sins as this malio crab is with its defiled limbs, there would be little doubt of our reaching heaven! This is what our Lord means by our cutting off our right hand, and casting it from us.
How may beloved lusts be discovered and mortified?-
I. Explication.
1. That we ourselves must engage in the mortifying of our lusts. It is not enough to cry to God, and be idle.
2. That we must be willing in this as in other duties.
3. It is not said, If thine eye offend thee, observe it more than ordinarily, but pluck it out.
4. It must be renounced for ever-cast it from thee.
II. Observations.
1. That the eye and hand are useful parts of the body of man.
2. That offences are from ourselves.
3. That sin is to all intents and purposes our own.
I. Why sin is expressed in scripture by pants and members of our body.
1. The whole mass of corruption in Scripture is called the old man, and the body of sin (Rom 6:6).
2. As the natural body makes use of its several parts in work, so corruption makes use of several lusts.
3. Sin is, according to some, conveyed into the soul by means of the body.
4. Corruption shews itself by the sinful actions of the body, and therefore may have its denomination by the parts of it.
II. That every man hath his particular iniquity.
III. How it comes to pass that particular persons have their particular sins.
1. Men have particular temperaments, and therefore sins suitable to their constitutions.
2. There are distinct and peculiar periods of times and ages that incline to peculiar sins.
3. Men have distinct and particular callings that incline to particular sins.
4. Men have distinct and particular ways of breeding and education, and upon that account have particular sins.
IV. The use and application.
1. Examination: how this sin may be discovered-
(1) By the love the sinner bears it;
(2) The sin which distracts us in holy worship is our beloved sin;
(3) It may be known by its commanding power over other sins;
(4) The sin that conscience doth most chide for;
(5) It may be known by being impatient of reproof;
(6) It makes a man notoriously partial in his own case;
(7) it may be known by the fair pretences that the sinner hath for it;
(8) The sin which a man wishes were no sin;
(9) The sin we think of first in the morning and latest at evening;
(10) The sin which most infests us in our solitudes;
(11) The sin we are willing to endure greatest hardship for.
2. Press upon you the mortification of your beloved sin;
(1) Seek holy courage and resolution against it;
(2) Let your repentance be against it;
(3) Beware of those things that occasion it;
(4) Pray to God that thou mayest not fall into that condition favourable to it;
(5) Learn to suspect things that are delightful;
(6) Labour to act that grace that is contrary to thy beloved sin;
(7) Keep watch over thy heart;
(8) Get respect to all Gods laws;
(9) Lay hold on Gods strength.
V. Motives.
1. Bight-eye sins are the greatest hindrances to the souls closing with Christ.
2. They are a great trouble to the soul afterwards.
3. It is a choice evidence of regeneration. (B. Needler, B. C. L.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
30. And if thy right handtheorgan of action, to which the eye excites.
offend thee, cut it off, andcast it from thee; for it is profitable, &c.See on Mt5:29. The repetition, in identical terms, of such stern truthsand awful lessons seems characteristic of our Lord’s manner ofteaching. Compare Mr9:43-48.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And if thy right hand offend thee,…. Or “cause thee to offend”; that is, is the means of ensnaring thine heart; and of drawing thee into either mental, or actual adultery; for, as before, all unchaste looks, so here, all unchaste touches, embraces, c. are condemned. As adultery may be committed in the heart, and by the eye, so with the hand:
“says R. Eliezer a what is the meaning of that Scripture, “your hands are full of blood”, Isa 1:15? It is replied, , “these are they, that commit adultery with the hand”. It is a tradition of the house of R. Ishmael, that the sense of that command, “thou shalt not commit adultery”, is, there shall be none that commits adultery in thee, whether “with the hand”, or “with the foot”.”
Like orders are given as before,
cut it off, and cast it from thee as a man would choose to do, or have it done for him, when such a part of the body is mortified, and endangers all the rest. The Jews enjoined cutting off of the hand, on several accounts; if in a morning, before a man had washed his hands, he put his hand to his eye, nose, mouth, ear, c. , it was to be “cut off” b particularly, the handling of the “membrum virile”, was punishable with cutting off of the hand.
“Says R. c Tarphon, if the hand is moved to the privy parts, , “let his hand be cut off to his navel”.”
That is, that it may reach no further; for below that part of the body the hand might not be put d; lest unclean thoughts, and desires, should be excited. In the above e place it is added,
“what if a thorn should be in his belly, must he not take it away? It is replied, no: it is further asked, must not his belly be ripped up then? It is answered, it is better that his belly be ripped up, , “than that he should go down to the pit of corruption.””
A way of speaking, much like what our Lord here uses; and to the above orders and canons, he may be very well thought to allude: but he is not to be understood literally, as enjoining the cutting off of the right hand, as they did; but of men’s refraining from all such impure practices, either with themselves, or women, which are of a defiling nature; and endanger the salvation of them, body and soul; the same reason is given as before.
a T. Bab. Nidda, fol. 13. 2. Vid. Maimon. Issure Bia, c. 21. sect. 18. b T. Bab. Sabbat. fol. 108. 2. Massechet Callah, fol. 17. 1. c T. Bab. Nidda, fol. 13. 2. d Maimon. lssure Bia, c. 21. sect. 23. e T. Bab. Nidda, fol. 13. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “And if thy right hand offend thee,” (kai he deksia sou cheir skandalizei se) “And if your right hand should cause you to stumble,” your hand of strength should cause you to offend, in stealing, fighting or other specific wrong that involves the whole man, because you belong to Christ, 1Co 6:19-20.
2) “Cut it off, and cast it from thee:” (ekkopson auten kai bale apo sou) “Cut it out or away and cast it from you,” withdraw it from, cut it off, or cut out the wrong it is doing. It is not just the hand that steals or hits someone, but malice; But the whole body is involved in the guilt and the entire body influence may be destroyed, if the hand is not withdrawn from the wrong, 1Co 12:14-27.
3) “For it is profitable for thee,” (sumpherei gar soi) “Because it is expedient for you,” advantageous to you morally and ethically; more profitable or beneficial, Mr 9:43-48.
4) “That one of thy members should perish,” (hina apoletai en to melon sou) “In order that one of your body-members should perish,” be lost for lustful pleasure and profit, which would deprive you of divine sanction for rewards for such bad works of the hand, must be held back, cut off or put away from offence, 1Co 9:27.
5) “And not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. (kai me holon to soma sou eis geennan apelthe) “And not (to have) your whole body to go away into hell,” the place called Gehenna, your whole body of service, everything that you do in service should be burned up, when your body works are tried by fire, 1Co 3:14-15; 2Jn 1:8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(30) If thy right hand offend thee.The repetition of the same form of warning has, in part, the emphasis of iteration, but it points also to a distinct danger. Not the senses only, through which we receive impressions, but the gifts and energies which issue in action, may become temptations to evil; and in that case, if the choice must be made, it were better to forfeit them. The true remedy is, of course, found in so directing the will that eye and hand may each do its work in obedience to the law of righteousness.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Ver. 30. And if thy right hand offend thee, &c. ] By wanton touches, by unclean dalliance; a further degree of this sin, and a greater incentive to lust; as we see in Joseph’s mistress; when she not only cast her eyes, but proceeded to lay hand upon him, she became much more inflamed towards him; and had not his heart been seasoned with the true fear of God, there was so much the greater danger of his being drawn thereby to commit, not that trick of youth, as the world excuseth it, but that great wickedness, as he there counts and calls it. a Visas, colloquium, contactus, osculum, concubitus, They see, they talk, they touch, they kiss, they lie together, are the whoremonger’s five descents into the chambers of death. Off therefore with such a hand by all means; cry out of it, as Cranmer did of his unworthy right hand wherewith he had subscribed; and as John Stubbes of Lincoln’s Inn, having his right hand cut off in Queen Elizabeth’s time with a cleaver driven through the wrist with the force of a beetle (for writing a book against the marriage with the Duke of Anjou, entitled, The gulf wherein England will be swallowed by the French match, &c.), he put off his hat with his left hand, and said with a loud voice, God save the Queen. So when God strikes a parting blow between us and our dilecta delicta, our right hand sins, let us see a mercy in it, and be thankful: let us say to these idols, Get thee hence, what have I to do any more with idols? Isa 30:22 ; that God may say, as there, “I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found,” Hos 14:8 ; when he shall see thee pollute those idols that thou wast wont to perfume, Isa 30:22 .
And not that thy whole body be cast into hell ] Our Saviour is much in speaking of hell. And it were much to be wished (saith St Chrysostom) that men’s thoughts and tongues would run much upon this subject, there being no likelier way of escaping hell than by taking ever and anon a turn or two in hell by our meditations. b A certain hermit is said to have learned three leaves, a black, red, and white one; that is, he daily meditated upon the horror of hell, the passion of Christ, the happiness of heaven.
” Mors tua, mors Christi, flos mundi, gloria coeli,
Et dolor inferni sunt meditanda tibi.
a Principiam dulce est, at finis amoris amarus.
Laeta venire Venus, tristis abire solet.
b Utinam ubique de gehenna disseretur. Non enim sinit iam gehennam incidere gehennae miminisse
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thy right. See note on Mat 5:29.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 5:30. , hand) The matter proceeds from sight to act.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
offend: Mat 11:6, Mat 13:21, Mat 16:23, Mat 18:6, Mat 18:7, Mat 26:31, Luk 17:2, Rom 9:33, Rom 14:20, Rom 14:21, 1Co 8:13, Gal 5:11, 1Pe 2:8
cast: Mat 22:13, Mat 25:20, Luk 12:5
Reciprocal: Job 20:13 – spare it Job 36:21 – regard Psa 18:23 – I kept Psa 144:8 – their right hand Mat 5:22 – hell Mat 18:8 – if Mar 8:34 – Whosoever Mar 9:43 – if Act 19:19 – and burned 2Co 4:16 – though 2Co 7:11 – revenge
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5:30
The lesson in this verse is exactly the same as that in the preceding one, using the hand instead of the eye for the illustration. A full definition of the word hell will be given here and may not be repeated in full again. The reader should mark the place for convenient reference when needed. The word comes from three different Greek words in the New Testament. I shall give Thayer’s definition, based upon his knowledge of history and of the language: “GEHENNA, the name of a valley on the S. and E. of Jerusalem . . . which was so called from the cries of the little children who were thrown into the fiery arms of Moloch, i. e. of an idol having the form of a bull. The Jews so abhorred the place after these horrible sacrifices had been abolished by King Josiah (2Ki 23:10), that they cast into it not only all manner of refuse, but even the dead bodies of animals and of unburied criminals who had been executed. And since fires were always needed to consume the dead bodies, that the air might not become tainted by their putrefaction, it came to pass that the place was called GEHENNA PUROS [Gehenna fire].” The following are all the places in the New Testament where the word hell comes from GEHENNA. Mat 5:22; Mat 5:29-30; Mat 10:28; Mat 18:9; Mat 23:15; Mat 23:33; Mar 9:43; Mar 9:45; Mar 9:47; Luk 12:5; Jas 3:6.
HADES is defined by Thayer as fol-lows: “1, a proper name, Hades, Pluto, the god of the lower regions, the nether world, the realm of the dead . . . it denotes, therefore, in Biblical Greek, Orcus, the infernal regions, a dark and dismal place . . . the common receptacle of disembodied spirits.” Following are all the places in the New Testament where the word hell comes from HADES: Mat 11:23; Mat 16:18, Luk 10:15; Luk 16:23; Act 2:27; Act 2:31; Rev 1:18; Rev 6:8; Revelation 20; Revelation 13, 14. The word hell comes from TARTAROO in one place only which is 2Pe 2:4, and the definition is not very different from that of hades. To sum up, HADES is the place where all disembodied spirits go at death regardless of whether they are good or bad. TARTAROO is that part of HADES where the spirits of the wicked go at death. GEHENNA is the lake of unquenchable fire into which the whole being of the wicked (body soul and spirit) will be cast after the judgment.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
[If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off.] See here Babylonian Niddah, folio 13, quite through. Among other things, R. Tarphon saith, “Whosoever brings his hand to his modest parts, let his hand be cut off unto his navel.” And a little after; “It is better that his belly should be cleft in two, than that he should descend into the well of corruption.” The discourse is of moving the hand to the privy member, that, by the handling it, it might be known whether the party had the gonorrhea, or no: and yet they adjudge never so little handling it to cutting off the hand. Read the place, if you have leisure.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Verse 30
Offend thee; entice thee to sin.