But if thy right eye be a snare to thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell.
Jesus has just said that a lustful look is already adultery in the heart, and now He says what to do about it. His words shock: does He want an eye torn out, and what loss is He weighing against what gain?
Would obeying this with a knife even work? One writer says no, and gives the reason.
The Lord is not calling for self-mutilation or asceticism in these words. The Creator will never demand that His creature mutilate the body he has received from Himself. Even if someone plucked out both his eyes, the lust would still remain in his heart. Rather, the Lord here extends the teaching to the question of self-judgment.
Refusing the literal reading does not soften the demand. The Lord blocks the excuse that sounds most reasonable — I can't do without this.
Better to sacrifice what might seem most necessary than to give oneself up to the sure penalty of sin... Men excuse on the plea of necessity what they find to be a constant provocation to sin. God's law admits no pretext of the kind.
Older translations say the eye "offends" you. The Greek word behind that comes from trapping.
The Greek word translated "scandal" literally means the stick in a trap that holds the bait, and so it came to mean the trap or snare itself. Most translations render it "stumbling-block," which means much the same thing.
Why the right eye, and not just any eye? The choice raises the cost of obeying.
In the Bible the right eye is often described as something very precious. The right eye and the right hand are symbols of attitudes and actions, but at the same time also of the precious and important things in human life. If they trap us — that is, if they cause sin or stumbling — then we should not spare even the most precious and important things in our lives. We should judge ourselves honestly and strictly, and separate from them if we must. Even if they are not bad in themselves, this does not mean that they are not dangerous!
The cutting reaches wider than the sin itself. It reaches whatever brings a person near it.
Anything in our walk, our ways, or our service that exposes a soul to the danger of yielding to these unholy feelings should never be spared. We must turn from it at any cost. There must be the cutting away of everything that is hurtful to the soul... Cutting off these parts pictures a heart thoroughly exercised in self-judgment. Such a heart does not excuse itself by saying it never committed the sin. Whatever exposed it to that sin must go.
One writer used this verse to counsel a man who could not master drink. Notice that he refuses to turn it into a rule for everybody.
If a man is in earnest, he will avoid the occasion of temptation where he feels he cannot overcome. I agree that we are not called upon to abstain as a law, and I object to vows or pledges. But if this man found it a means of avoiding sin, he would gladly act on the principle of total abstinence, so that he might not enter into temptation. We are to cut off a right hand or pluck out a right eye if it is a stumbling-block to us.
Jesus calls the loss better than the alternative. What is the alternative?
Hell is here "gehenna" or the lake of fire. The place where children were first offered to Moloch was called the valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna. People burned the city's rubbish there... It is "their worm" — a person's own conscience — that never dies. And the fire of God's judgment is never quenched. All this about the eye and the hand teaches us one thing: nothing, however valuable and useful, should keep us from self-judgment.
- Trap. The word behind "causes you to sin" is the bait-stick of a snare — the eye is not the enemy, it is the trigger.
- Precious. He names the right eye because the thing that traps you is usually valuable, useful, and not wrong in itself.
- Knife. He means no literal blade; blind eyes leave the lust untouched. Cut the occasion instead, by honest self-judgment.
- Pretext. The Lord removes the excuse "I need it." Necessity is no reason to keep a constant provocation to sin.
- Profit. Weigh one part lost against the whole body in gehenna, where the conscience does not die and the fire is not quenched. That sum turns the loss into gain.
And if thy right hand be a snare to thee, cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell.
Jesus has just said that a lustful look is already adultery in the heart. Now He makes the point a second time — first the eye, then the hand: lose a part, or lose everything.
The command sounds severe. But writers point out that the problem is not in the hand at all:
The Lord is not calling for self-mutilation or extreme self-denial in these words. The Creator will never demand that His creature mutilate the body he has received from Himself. Even if someone plucked out both his eyes, the lust would still remain in his heart. Rather, the Lord here extends the teaching to the question of self-judgment. The mention of the right hand points to this.
Matthew names the right eye and the right hand. One commentator explains why the foot is left out:
In Matthew 5 the Lord is stressing what lies behind the action. That is why He names the right eye and the right hand, but not the foot. The right side speaks of what is positive, the left of what is negative. So the right hand stands for positive works of faith. If a man's conscience convicts him of misusing it, let him cut off his hand — that is, judge the action without sparing himself. Refusing to judge yourself at all leads to the judgment of hell. The believer will judge himself; let him do it thoroughly.
A hand is not evil. The Lord names something useful and dear, not something plainly sinful:
The right eye and the right hand are symbols of attitudes and actions, but at the same time also of the precious and important things in human life. If they cause us to sin or stumble, we should not spare even the most precious and important things in our lives. We should judge ourselves honestly and strictly, and separate from them if we must. Even if they are not bad in themselves, this does not mean that they are not dangerous!
A heart that obeys here refuses the excuse that no sin has happened yet:
Anything in our walk, our ways, or our service that exposes a soul to the danger of yielding to these sinful desires should never be spared. We must leave it at any cost. Everything that harms the soul must be removed. Cutting off these members shows a heart deeply exercised in self-judgment. Such a heart does not excuse itself by saying it has not actually committed the sin. Whatever exposed it to sin must be given up.
"I can't manage without it" is the standard reply. One writer answers it plainly:
Better sacrifice what might seem most necessary than give oneself up to the sure penalty of sin. Such an instruction clearly does not call for extreme self-denial or self-mutilation. But men plead necessity to excuse what they know keeps provoking them to sin. God's law admits no pretext of the kind.
The whole calculation depends on what "hell" means here. The Greek word is Gehenna, taken from a valley outside Jerusalem — but the Lord is not talking about geography:
In Matthew 5 the statement is general. The danger is hell-fire — your whole body cast into hell. The point is to sacrifice one member rather than sin. It is clearly not the valley of Hinnom. "Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (chapter 10:28). They do not put souls there. It is used as a picture of the place of final judgment and punishment… It is a judgment, a judicial punishment, for which there is no relief, of which there is no cessation.
Applied to daily life, the principle is to stay away from the situation you know you cannot win — and to do it freely, not as a rule imposed on others:
If a man is in earnest, he will avoid the occasion of temptation where he feels he cannot overcome. I agree that we are not called to abstain as a law, and I object to vows or pledges. But if this man found total abstinence a means of avoiding sin, he would gladly act on it, so that he might not enter into temptation. We are to cut off a right hand or pluck out a right eye if it is a stumbling-block to us.
- Cut, not maim. The hand is a picture. The real surgery is self-judgment: cutting off the limb would leave the desire untouched.
- Cut the useful. The right hand stands for what is precious and effective — a thing may be good in itself and still be dangerous to you.
- Cut the excuse. "I need it" is the plea the Lord refuses; necessity is no cover for a constant provocation to sin.
- Cut early. Avoid the temptation you know you cannot beat — by choice, not by vow.
- Or be cut off. The alternative is hell — not a place on the map but final judgment, with no relief and no end.