Bible Study series: Matthew 18:7-9. A severe image is used, not to be taken literally.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 18:7-9
7 Woe to the world which causes stumbling! For stumbling blocks must come; however, woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes!
8 If your hand or foot causes you to stumble, cut it off from you and toss it from you. It is better for you to enter life deformed or lame than having two hands or two feet and be thrown into the everlasting fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, take it out and toss it from you. It is better to enter into life one-eyed than having two eyes and be thrown into fiery Gehenna.” (Matt. 18:7-9)
Comments:
Followers of Jesus must learn to read the Bible on its own terms, without their wearing monochrome glasses, in which every word appears the same literal color in different contexts. Yes, much of it can be taken literally, like the histories or the commands of the Torah and Epistles. But in significant sections of Scripture, the Bible is not a “flat,” one-dimensional book, on one simplistic level. It is multi-layered. And vv. 6-9 is a case in point. These verses are not to be interpreted literally and simplistically.
Judaism prohibited self-mutilation (Deut. 14:1; 1 Kings 18:28; Zech. 13:6), so Jesus is teaching us a different lesson (David E. Garland, Mark: NIV Application Bible [Zondervan, 1996], p. 369). It is to deal ruthlessly with sin.
6-7:
Verses 6 and 7 go together, so the commentary reflects this.
Then what does causing them to stumble mean (or it could be translated as “causing someone to sin”)?
“stumbling stones”: The Greek noun for the stumbling block or stone is skandalon (pronounced scan-dah-lon), and it is clear we get our word scandal from it, but the meaning back then is not quite the same. The noun means, depending on the context: (1) “trap (symbolically)”; (2) “temptation to sin, enticement”; (3) “that which gives offense or causes revulsion, that which causes opposition, an object of anger or disapproval.”
We are supposed to get angry at and feel revulsion for a skandalon.
“stumble”: some translations say, “causes to sin.” The Greek language adds the suffix –izō to a noun and changes it into a verb. We do that too: modern – modernize. So the noun becomes skandalizō (pronounced scan-dah-lee-zoh). And it means, depending on the context, (1) “cause to be caught … to fall, i.e. cause to sin” a. … Passive: “be led into sin … fall away”; b. “be led into sin or repelled by someone, take offense at someone”; (2) give offense to, anger, shock.”
Let’s apply the idea that Jesus is talking about literal children. Jesus does not specify what a skandalon or skandalizō are in this context, but it must be turning children away from believing in him. What would do that? Hypocrisy (talking one way but living another)? Dysfunction and fighting in the household? Meanness? What is your household like?
Parents beware!
“great millstone”: the Greek indicates that it is worked by a donkey. At first I translated the phrase as “a millstone worked by a donkey.” Or I could have written “a donkey millstone,” but either one of those seemed awkward. So I went with what Grammarian Olmstead suggested. In any case, the stone had to be big to be worked by a donkey (too big for an ordinary human).
“Execution by drowning was a frequent punishment and was terrifying because there could be no burial and therefore no peaceful afterlife (in a Hellenistic sense). Jesus’ point is that this would be preferable to the punishment God would render such a person” (Osborne, comment on 18:6).
In v. 7, “Jesus is saying that divine judgment will fall on the world because its system is the true source of the stumbling that will destroy the faith of too many ‘little ones.’ This also means that the false teachers and others who cause such spiritual catastrophes are truly of the world” (Osborne, comment on 18:7).
8-9:
“life”: Jesus is not talking about going into heaven but entering new life in Christ in the here and now. It is about entering his kingdom right now.
“everlasting”: It is used in the context of fire. The adjective “everlasting” is the translation of the Greek adjective, and the basic meaning is “age-long”; in some contexts it can mean “everlasting” or “eternal” (e.g. God is eternal), but the basic meaning is “age.” So why then did I translate it as “everlasting”? To be traditional, but if you wish to dig further into “an age,” and translate it like that, then go for it.
What Do Words ‘Eternity,’ ‘Eternal’ Fully Mean in the Bible?
“Gehenna”: Matthew uses it in 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15; 23:33. The term comes from the Valley of Sons of Hinnom (= Gehenna), a ravine south and west of Jerusalem that was a trash heap where refuse and dead criminals were discarded and burned. At this dump wicked kings of Israel / Judea worshipped Baal-Molech, including offering children in fiery sacrifices—they put children to the flames (2 Kings 16:3; 23:10; 2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6; Is. 66:24; Jer. 7:31-32; 19:4-6; 32:34-35). So it is apt to say that Gehenna is the place where people go who have done wicked deeds and are not saved, after final judgment.
Good news!
For the believers in Jesus, however, they immediately go into heaven after they die to await their rewards (or no rewards) at the judgment for Christians. At this judgment, no believer in Jesus will be thrown into hades, but will remain in heaven and be rewarded (or not) according to the deeds they did in their bodies or on earth.
What Happens between Your Death and Final Resurrection?
Chopping off and gouging out:
Finally, as I wrote at Matt. 5:29-30: It is a sad fact that even modern pastors have misinterpreted these verses. I heard one say something like: “I wish Jesus hadn’t said this! I know someone who cut off his hand!” Both the preacher and the guy who mutilated himself were wrong. The latter shouldn’t have done it, and the pastor should have explained it better. Seriously wishing that Jesus didn’t say key words is a defective idea. It’s a signal that someone is misinterpreting the Scriptures.
The Bible deploys all sorts of literary techniques to get its points across, and one of them is hyperbole (pronounced hy-PER-bo-lee), which is “extravagant exaggeration” (Webster’s). (Example: “Wow! He’s really generous with the ice cream! He piled it a mile high on my cone!”) The technique is designed to startle the listener with exaggerated imagery to compel him to act. In this case, the eye and hand do not literally cause someone to sin, and everyone in the first century knew this (Matt. 5:28 says a man commits adultery in his heart or inner being, first). Instead, Jesus intends his listeners to act brutally and swiftly against sin in the heart. Gouge out the right eye (and the right eye indicates the main channel of truth and reception of facts that turn into ideas in the mind), now! Cut off the hand (most people work with their hands, so it represents the man’s strength), now! Cut out and cut off the sin growing in your heart, now! Do it long before you turn your covetousness into action!
These two verses may clarify the practical theology here:
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death (Jas. 1:14-15, ESV)
Matthew 5 (scroll down to vv. 29-30)
GrowApp for Matt. 18:7-9
1. God calls us to sever sin from our lives. What is at least one way you can do this?
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1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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