Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 5:29

"And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell." — Matthew 5:29 (ASV)

If thy right eye offend thee — The Greek verb strictly means "to cause another to stumble or fall into a snare," and this was probably the sense in which the translators used the word "offend." It is doubtful, however, whether the word ever had this causative sense in English outside the Authorized Version, and its common use gives such a different meaning that it cannot be regarded as an effective translation. The difficulty of finding an equivalent is shown by the variations in successive English versions: "offend" in Tyndale's; "hinder thee" in Cranmer's; "cause thee to offend" in the Geneva; "scandalize" in the Rheims; and "offend" again in the Authorized Version. Of these, the Geneva is undoubtedly the best.

Pluck it out — The bold severity of the phrase excludes a literal interpretation. The seat of the evil lies in the will, not in the organ of sense or action, and removing the instrument might leave the inward impurity unaddressed. What is meant is that any sense, when it ministers to sin, is an evil and not a good, the loss of which would be the truest gain. Translated into modern language, we are warned that taste, culture, and aesthetic refinement may only make our guilt and our punishment more tremendous. It would be better to be without them than to:
“Propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.”
[“And for life’s sake to lose life’s noblest ends.”]

It is profitable — The element of prudential self-love, of a calculation of profit and loss, is not excluded from Christian motives. As addressed to a nation immersed in the pursuit of gain, it conveys the stern yet pertinent warning: “If you must think of profit, make your calculations wisely.”

Hell — This refers to Gehenna . The language is still symbolic. The horrid picture of a human body thrown into the foul, offal-fed flame of the Valley of Hinnom is again a parable of something more terrible than itself.