Cut It Off

There are some verses in the Bible that are, let's face it, just startling. Like when Jesus said, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). Really? Wow! And these typically need some thought and explanation.

One of those is this one from the lips of Jesus: "If your hand or your 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" (Matt 18:8). What? "Cut it off"? Really?? And for those who suggest that something has to be repeated in Scripture in order to be valid, it turns out that Jesus said this repeatedly (see, for instance, Matt 5:29). This is a stunning statement from our Savior. Not so sweet and cuddly now, is He? But, is this an actual command for Christians to dismember themselves? Or not?

As it turns out, I can't find a single commentary that says, "Why, yes, this is intended as woodenly literal as it sounds. Indeed, I'm writing this with my left hand since I had to cut off my right one years ago." No, they're all pretty much in agreement. "It doesn't mean you need to cut off body parts; it is an expression of how serious sin is and how very deeply concerned we should be about avoiding it."

You know, we humans tend to have a funny reaction to that (more gratifying) response. Strangely, instead of concluding, "Well, I need to be more serious about sin", we tend to say, "Whew! I don't have to do anything!" It's like when people read Rom 3:12 where it says, "No one does good, not even one." They say, "Well, I'm pretty sure that's an overstatement, hyperbole. In fact, I know a lot of people who do good. In fact, everyone does some good." And while they admit to an overstatement for a point on one side, they end up nullifying any point on the other. Now, I'm pretty sure that when Jesus said, "If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you", He did not mean to literally start cutting off body parts. On the other hand, I'm absolutely certain that He didn't mean, "Don't even give it another thought." Whatever He meant, He certainly meant, "This is serious!" And we ought to take it that way.

So, we're not going to cut off body parts, but we are going to take it seriously. Maintaining the "cut it off" imagery, what might we conclude? I would suspect that we might come to some very difficult and painful outcomes. It might, for instance, be necessary to cut off your TV power cord if, indeed, your television is causing you to sin. It very well could be for a lot of guys that cutting off the Internet from the house would be a very reasonable excision to avoid sin. It isn't the least bit outlandish that you might need to cut out certain close friendships (1 Cor 15:33). Indeed, it is very conceivable that someone would need to terminate an engagement if it is a believer engaged to marry a non-believer (2 Cor 6:14). And it might be very wise for the serious and believing husband to cut out things like sports if they are detracting from his obligations to loving his wife and caring for his family. You see, now it starts to get painful. Now it becomes serious.

Cut off your hand? Probably not. But tearing out at the roots those things you've let into your life that lead you astray is not a suggestion; it's a warning from Christ. Pluck out your eye? Probably not necessary. But allowing free access to all that your eyes should not be looking at is certainly not wise, is it? I don't believe Jesus meant to literally lop off body parts. Conversely, I am sure that He was saying we need to be deadly serious about avoiding sin. And I'm absolutely certain that all of us are far too lax in that area of our lives. And, trust me, this is going to hurt, even if you do get to keep your hands. I suspect that if it doesn't hurt, you're not doing it right.