If Your Eye Offends, Pluck It Out - Matthew 18:9

Matthew the apostle wrote how, “it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! Wherefore if your hand or your foot offend you, cut them off, and cast them from you: it is better for you to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire”, and in chapter eighteen and verse nine of his book, Matthew shares how Jesus proclaimed, “if your eye offend you, pluck it out” where we read:

And if your eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: it is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

The verse reads, “And if your eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you:”. Matthew began with the words, “and if your eye” or “and whether the disciple's eye used for seeing” “offend you” which means “traps, snares or stumbles the disciple”,“pluck it out” or “draw and actively tear the eye out from the root”, “cast it” which means “throw and scatter the eye” “from you” or “away and separate from the disciple”. Matthew shared how Jesus said if the disciple's “eye” “trapped, snared or stumbled” them, they were to “tear it out” and “throw it away”.

The verse goes on to say, “it is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.” Matthew continued with the words, “it is better” or “it would be more profitable and expedient” “for you” which means “for the disciple” “to enter” or “to make entrance and come” “into life” which means “into the absolute fullness of life, both essential and ethical which belongs to God and through Him both the hypostatic logos and to Christ in whom the logos put on human nature” “with one eye” or “having one single eye”, “rather than” which means “either and except” “having two eyes” or “possessing two eyes used for seeing” “to be cast” or “to be thrown and scattered” “into hell fire” which refers to “into Gehenna which is the place of future punishment fiery fire”. Matthew shared how Jesus said it would be better to only have “one eye” in this life than to have both eyes and later be thrown into “the place of future punishment” of “fiery fire”.

When we think through Matthew's words in this verse, we learn there is an “eternal judgment” that Jesus called “hell fire”. Although “Gehenna” was “originally the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned, it was a fit symbol of the wicked and their future destruction”, Jesus used it to refer to the place where all people who keep themselves from a relationship with God will be eternally, and this is why He came. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ out Lord” (Romans 6:23). However, “God so loved the world that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). God desires a relationship with every person through His Son Jesus, and those who are wise shall not let anything, whether hand, foot or eye, to keep them from “everlasting life” with God.

Next time Matthew shares how Jesus declares, “take heed that you despise not one of these little ones”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.