If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Was Jesus being serious, speaking figuratively or speaking in some sort of parable? Why would he say such a thing?
In context as you read that chapter, Jesus goes back and forth in some places citing the law and then something greater than the law which concerns the inside of the person.
Matthew 5:[SUP]27 [/SUP]Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:[SUP]28 [/SUP]But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.[SUP]29 [/SUP]And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, 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.[SUP]30 [/SUP]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.
I believe Jesus was citing the law in context and the futility of keeping that law as to why sinners need God as their Saviour as only He can change the inside of the sinner to set them free from their bondage to sin and to death.
We look at another example of this below;
Matthew 5:[SUP]33 [/SUP]Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:[SUP]34 [/SUP]But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:[SUP]35 [/SUP]Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.[SUP]36 [/SUP]Neither shalt thou swear by thy head,
because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Once again, Jesus refers to the law in how the Jews were supposed to perform it & finish it whereas now, under the New Covenant, believers were only to live by faith that Jesus Christ will finish His work in them because no believer can promise to do that which is covered under His New Covenant to us for Him to do. That means no promises nor commitments to follow Him or to do good works or to make yourself good because we are to trust Him in His Covenant to us that He will do it.
To make any promise which is His to keep is to deny your faith in Him as being able and resorting to your own power under the law to accomplish that which many under the Old Covenant could not do by their will power.
So that is why I see Jesus going back and forth to the hearers of the futility of trying to keep the law under the Old Covenant to where now, we can rest in Him per the New Covenant that He will be our Good Shepherd to help us be good and to do good and not just rest in Him as our Savior that we are saved for simply believing in Him.
