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INTRODUCTION
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Some say that when Jesus talked about plucking out our eyes and cutting off parts of our bodies if they make us stumble, He was making a hyperbole expression, that is, Jesus was exaggerating for effect in order to grab the attention of His listeners. They say that Jesus’s instructions in those verses were not meant to be taken literally and all that “obvious exaggeration” was an intentional overstatement on His part. There were also some who said that Matt 23:24 (strain out a gnat and swallow a camel) and Matt 7:3 (speck in your brother’s eye and log in your own eye) are similar hyperbole expressions. Actually, we find it uncomfortable to call any of Jesus’ statements, hyperbolic expressions because hyperbolic expressions are exaggerations, and exaggerations can sometimes be viewed as being untruthful. It is our opinion that Jesus was not making hyperbolic expressions but comparative representations. We prefer to call them metaphors.
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We wish to highlight again that every article in this website, including this article, is written only for Christians. Readers are encouraged to use our sub-headings for each paragraph, and serial numbers that are provided on the left-hand column for better navigation. They are also encouraged to have their Bibles always opened to the relevant section for quick reference.
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ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY
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Matt 18:6-9 (NASB95) states:
(6) but whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. (7) “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling blocks comes! (8) If your hand or foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. (9) If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.
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Matt 18:6 Commentary: The “little ones” in verse 6 are not referring to children nor are they referring to new believers. They are referring to born-again Christians who follow Christ and hear His voice. Not convinced? In Matt 18:1-5, Jesus highlights the attitude of a child to His disciples, telling them to be humble. Seriously, we have not come across any young child, caring about rank and status in this world or the next. So, true Christians who will enter the kingdom of heaven will have an attitude of a young child – these are the true “little ones.” The “little ones” are referring to Christians. Still not convinced? Please compare Matt 26:31 and Zech 13:7. In these two verses, we see that the Shepherd is Christ, and His sheep scattering after He was struck down. And in Zech 13:7, we see an added statement towards the end that said, “…And I will turn My hand against the little ones.” Why did God turn against them? Zech 13:9 tells us that the purpose is to refine them as silver is refined so that they can be called His people. So, “the little ones” are actually Christians as they are His people. Silver is refined by fire – sounds dreadful, but that is for another discussion.
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Matt 18:7 Commentary: The word, “Woe” is often used in the Old Testament either describing God’s judgement or just before God’s judgement is pronounced. The word, “Woe” means misery, grief and great distress. If we could paraphrase the first part of verse 7, it would be, “Misery and distress to the world because of its stumbling blocks!” Jesus tells us that the stumbling blocks in the world are sure to be there. But woe to the man who put those stumbling blocks there or worse, that they themselves are the stumbling blocks especially to “the little ones.” An example of a stumbling block can be found in Matt 16:23 (to be read in NASB, NASB95 or YLT).
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Matt 18:8-9 Commentary: A hyperbole is an exaggerated expression, like making something or someone sound bigger or worse than they are. Some common examples can be, “My wallet weighs a ton,” or “I am drowning in paperwork.” Whereas a metaphor is a comparative representation that describes something or someone by referring to something that have similar characteristics to that object or person. Common examples of metaphors can be, “My son, Bruce was a fish out of water at his new job,” or “Jesus is the apple of my eye.” One is making a comparative representation, the other is exaggerating to make a point. For the hyperbolic example, the exact truth is that my wallet does not really weigh a ton, it is just very heavy and similarly, I am not drowning in paperwork, I just have a lot of paperwork to do. Whereas, for the metaphoric examples, Bruce was being compared to a fish that is out of its environment and Jesus is like a red shiny apple to me because I am very fond of Him. As a literary device, using hyperbole is fine. But to some who may be very particular about precision, a hyperbole can be considered a lie or even deception. But a metaphor is mostly acceptable because it is a comparative device – because instinctively, people will immediately know that Bruce is not a fish and Jesus is certainly not an apple.
Is it possible for a person’s eye to cause him to stumble? Arguably, it is possible. But then again, it is his mind that decides whether to stop sinning or not. For the person’s hand and foot, it is even harder to imagine how they can cause a person to sin. So even if that person cuts off both hands and feet, including removing both eyes and ears, it still does not mean he will stop sinning completely. This is because his head is still on his body, unless of course, he proceeds to cut off his own head as well, which is ridiculous. All this does not make any sense to us or to a lot of people. So just because some commentators found it difficult to accept Jesus’ statement, they labelled His statements as hyperbolic expressions. They explained that Jesus used a hyperbole in order to tell His followers to take sin so seriously that they must do everything they can to avoid giving in to temptation. While we totally agree that, we believe that His statements are not an exaggeration, not hyperbolic, but they are comparative. Additionally, Jesus was actually referring to something else, not actual body parts.
In Matt 16:23, Jesus told Peter that he was a stumbling block to Him. That stumbling block was a human person, a man. In Matt 6:1-2, Jesus talked about the problem of being noticed and honored by men, then one verse after, in Matt 6:3, Jesus instructed that we should give to the poor and that we should not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. What Jesus said in Matt 6:3 is important for us to take note. Can our hands know anything, think about anything or understand anything? Obviously, Jesus was not talking about our actual physical hands. Clearly, the left and right hands are referring to men, rather than our actual left or right hands. And because they are “our left and right hands,” they are very likely human persons that are close to us. Now, if we look back at Matt 18:7, Jesus said, “Woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” Notice in that verse, Jesus was again talking about men. Then immediately after that verse comes Matt 18:8-9, where Jesus talks about a person’s hand, foot or eye that causes that person to stumble. It is plain as day that when Jesus talked about a person’s hand, foot or eye in these verses, He was referring to any person who are close to the little ones. Therefore, those body parts that causes stumbling as read in verses: Matt 16:23, Matt 6:3 and Matt 18:8-9, are all referring to people who may be close to us.
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Hence, if there are sinful people who are close to the little ones (Christians), who repeatedly tempts or tries to cause them to sin, they would need to cut off their ties with them. For example, it could be an employer trying to seduce a married little one, or a family member who is trying to convert the little one to another faith, or some BFFs trying to influence the little one into carrying out vice activities. What have we to do with such people? Even if they are close to us, better to chop off that arm or leg, or gouge out the eye, than to continue having them in our lives. Who knows if they will succeed, resulting in us being cast into fiery hell? Completely not worth it. However, we wish to emphasize that although these stumbling blocks can refer to anyone close to the little ones, even their own spouses, they are not to divorce their spouses apart from the two allowable reasons for divorce and remarriage, as discussed in our earlier article. A spouse is not to be viewed as an eye or hand or foot, but a married couple is always to be viewed as a one-flesh unit. Once again, this metaphor of severing limbs and organs can apply to anyone except their own spouses.
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CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY
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The “little ones” in Matt 18:6-9 are not referring to little children but to Christians who will have the right humble attitude like that of a young child. Christ told His disciples that there are bound to be stumbling blocks, that is, things that would try to make them sin. But more significantly, some of these stumbling blocks are humans, men and women who may be close to the little ones, who do not share their faith in Christ. They could be close friends, working colleagues, or relatives. Christ taught that if these people are causing them to sin, then it is better to cut them out of their lives completely, like chopping off an arm or gouging out an eye metaphorically. In any event, Christians should not be bound together with them or fellowship with them (2 Cor 6:14-15). Better to enter life without these people than to have them in their lives and be cast into fiery hell together with them. It is certain that Christ is not teaching us to cut off our actual physical limbs and organs because most of the time, it is the mind that makes the decision whether to sin or not to sin. Do we then, cut off our own heads in our struggle against sin? Anyone that destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him (1 Cor 3:17). So obviously not. Therefore when Christ tells us about cutting off our hands, our feet or plucking out our eyes, He was referring to the person close to us. But we need to emphasize again that spouses are not included – the two allowable reasons for divorce and remarriage as explained in the previous article, applies.