Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 18:8-9

"And if thy hand or thy foot causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee: it is good for thee to enter into life maimed or halt, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. And if thine eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is good for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire." — Matthew 18:8-9 (ASV)

Here our Lord repeats a passage from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:29–30). Why should He not? Great lessons need to be taught often, especially lessons that involve painful self-denial. It is well when at the close of a man’s ministry he can preach the same sermon as at the beginning. Some in these days change continually. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Temptations and incitements to sin are so dangerous that, if we find them in ourselves, we must at any cost be rid of their causes. If escaping from these temptations should cause us to be like men who are lame or maimed or have only one eye, the loss will be of small consequence as long as we enter into life. Better to miss culture through a rigid Puritanism than to gain all the polish and accomplishments of the age at the expense of our spiritual health.

Though at our entrance into the divine life we should seem to have been largely losers by renouncing habits or possessions which we felt bound to quit, yet we shall be real gainers. Our main concern should be to enter into life; and if this should cost us skill of hand, nimbleness of foot, and refinement of vision, as it may, we must cheerfully deny ourselves that we may possess eternal life. To remain in sin and retain all our advantages and capacities will be an awful loss when we are cast into hell fire, which is the sure portion of all who persevere in sinning. A lame, maimed, half-blinded saint is, even on earth, better than a sinner with every faculty fully developed. It is not necessary that hand, or foot, or eye should make us stumble, but if they do, the surgical process is short, sharp, decisive—Cut them off; and cast them from thee, or, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.

The half-educated, timid, simpleminded believer, who, to escape the snares of false science, worldly cunning, and courtly pride, has cut himself off from what men call “advantages,” will, in the end, prove to have been far wiser than those who risk their souls for the sake of what worldly people imagine to be necessary to human perfection. The man who believes God and so is regarded as losing his critical eye is a wiser person than he who by double acumen doubts himself into hell. Two hands, two feet, and two eyes will be of small advantage if cast into everlasting fire. Let the reader note that the terrible terms here employed are not the creation of the dark dreams of medieval times, but are the words of the loving Jesus.

Here our Lord repeats a passage from the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5:29–30.) Why should He not? Great lessons need to be often taught, especially lessons which involve painful self-denial. It is well when at the close of a man’s ministry he can preach the same sermon as at the beginning. Some in these days change continually. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Temptations and incitements to sin are so dangerous that, if we find them in ourselves, we must at any cost be rid of their causes. If escape from these temptations should cause us to be like men who are lame or maimed or have only one eye, the loss will be of small consequence as long as we enter into life. Better to miss culture through a rigid Puritanism than to gain all the polish and accomplishments of the age at the expense of our spiritual health.

Though at our entrance into the divine life we should seem to have been largely losers by renouncing habits or possessions which we felt bound to quit, yet we shall be real gainers. Our main concern should be to enter into life, and if this should cost us skill of hand, nimbleness of foot, and refinement of vision, as it may, we must cheerfully deny ourselves that we may possess eternal life.

To remain in sin and retain all our advantages and capacities will be an awful loss when we are cast into hell fire, which is the sure portion of all who persevere in sinning. A lame, maimed, half-blinded saint is, even on earth, better than a sinner with every faculty fully developed. It is not necessary that hand, or foot, or eye should make us stumble, but if they do, the surgical process is short, sharp, decisive—Cut them off; and cast them from thee, or, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.

The half-educated, timid, simpleminded believer, who, to escape the snares of false science, worldly cunning, and courtly pride, has cut himself off from what men call “advantages,” will, in the end, prove to have been far wiser than those who risk their souls for the sake of what worldly people imagine to be necessary to human perfecting. The man who believes God and so is regarded as losing his critical eye is a wiser person than he who by double acumen doubts himself into hell. Two hands, two feet, and two eyes will be of small advantage if cast into everlasting fire. Let the reader note that the terrible terms employed here are not the creation of the dark dreams of medieval times, but are the words of the loving Jesus.