If Your Hand or Foot Offends, Cut Them Off - Matthew 18:8

Matthew the apostle wrote how Jesus said, “Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!”, and in chapter eighteen and verse eight of his book, Matthew shared how Jesus proclaimed, “if your hand or your foot offend you, cut them off” where we read:

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.

The verse reads, “Wherefore if your hand or your foot offend you, cut them off, and cast them from you:”. Matthew began with the word, “wherefore” or “moreover and” “if your hand” which means “whether the hand upon the disciple's body”“or your foot” or “or the foot upon the disciple's body” “offend you” which means “traps, snares or stumbles the disciple”, “cut them off” or “hew and chop the hand or foot off”, “and cast them” which means “and throw and scatter the hand and foot” “from you” or “away and separate from the disciple”. Matthew shared this drastic measure presented by Jesus to “chop off” a “hand or foot” that “traps, snares or stumbles” a disciple.

The verse continues, “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.” Matthew added the words, “it is better” or “it would be more profitable and expedient” “for you” which means “for His 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” “halt or maimed” or “lame, deprived of a foot and crooked, injured, disabled and mutilated”, “rather than” which means “either and except” “having two hands” or “possessing two hands of the body” “or two feet” which means “or two feet of the body” “to be cast” or “to be thrown and scattered” “into everlasting fire” which refers to “without beginning and end, never to cease and eternal fiery fire”. Matthew shared how Jesus declared it to be a greater advantage to be without an offensive “hand or foot” than to be “thrown” into “never ceasing and eternal” burning fire.

When we meditate upon Matthew's words in this verse, we see one of the gravest verses in the Bible. Jesus warned people how serious “offensive” “hands and feet” can be for a person. Though they are wonderful tools, “hands and feet” that “trap, snare or stumble” a person can cause them to be “thrown” into “eternal fire”. Jesus said it would be better to be without them in this world than to suffer forever in the eternal judgment. God desires to save people from these things, and when they submit themselves to His Son Jesus as their personal “Savior and Lord”, they shall escape the eternal judgment that is destined for those who refuse to rid themselves of those things that “offend” in this world.

Next time Matthew shares how Jesus declares, “if your eye offend you, pluck it out”, 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.