Biblical question?

Question

In the beginning of the new testament Jesus talks about the fullfillment of the laws. and if you do not surpass that of the Pharisees you will certainly not go to heaven. Thats a bit of a shocker. Were the Pharisees good, or bad. Is this simple or hard. If you do your best will you get to heaven? And aside from that He said something about if you look at someone (a woman), you have commited adultery, so you should gouge out your eye. Should I really do that?

when i say do my best I mean love Him with all i have and do everything I can to live by his word. And of course ask Jesus into my heart.

Answer 1

This was said to make a person think seriously before he acted apon what is bad. Yes looking apon a woman or a man as to have lust or sex ual fantasys with her or him and is a sin. You are to trust that God will help you when these thoughts come to mind....
Romans 7:1-25 . This is a very good example for us all.
Romans 7:1-25

1 Can it be that YOU do not know, brothers, (for I am speaking to those who know law,) that the Law is master over a man as long as he lives? 2 For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is alive; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law of her husband. 3 So, then, while her husband is living, she would be styled an adulteress if she became another man’s. But if her husband dies, she is free from his law, so that she is not an adulteress if she becomes another man’s.

4 So, my brothers, YOU also were made dead to the Law through the body of the Christ, that YOU might become another’s, the one’s who was raised up from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in accord with the flesh, the sinful passions that were excited by the Law were at work in our members that we should bring forth fruit to death. 6 But now we have been discharged from the Law, because we have died to that by which we were being held fast, that we might be slaves in a new sense by the spirit, and not in the old sense by the written code.

7 What, then, shall we say? Is the Law sin? Never may that become so! Really I would not have come to know sin if it had not been for the Law; and, for example, I would not have known covetousness if the Law had not said: “You must not covet.” 8 But sin, receiving an inducement through the commandment, worked out in me covetousness of every sort, for apart from law sin was dead. 9 In fact, I was once alive apart from law; but when the commandment arrived, sin came to life again, but I died. 10 And the commandment which was to life, this I found to be to death. 11 For sin, receiving an inducement through the commandment, seduced me and killed me through it. 12 Wherefore, on its part, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Did, then, what is good become death to me? Never may that happen! But sin did, that it might be shown as sin working out death for me through that which is good; that sin might become far more sinful through the commandment. 14 For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am fleshly, sold under sin. 15 For what I am working out I do not know. For what I wish, this I do not practice; but what I hate is what I do. 16 However, if what I do not wish is what I do, I agree that the Law is fine. 17 But now the one working it out is no longer I, but sin that resides in me. 18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, there dwells nothing good; for ability to wish is present with me, but ability to work out what is fine is not [present]. 19 For the good that I wish I do not do, but the bad that I do not wish is what I practice. 20 If, now, what I do not wish is what I do, the one working it out is no longer I, but the sin dwelling in me.

21 I find, then, this law in my case: that when I wish to do what is right, what is bad is present with me. 22 I really delight in the law of God according to the man I am within, 23 but I behold in my members another law warring against the law of my mind and leading me captive to sin’s law that is in my members. 24 Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me from the body undergoing this death? 25 Thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So, then, with [my] mind I myself am a slave to God’s law, but with [my] flesh to sin’s law.

Answer 2

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior then you are on the right path. We can never be good enough to get to heaven unless we are born again and follow Jesus. And no we are not to physically gouge out our eyes or tongues. But we are to guard against the sin that would break God's commandments. The Pharisees and Sagisees were sticklers for the law, they took it to the extreme. So we are not to act as the Parisees and Sagisees acted. It was an act with them and Jesus did not like what He saw in their hearts. Their mouths were talking of God but their hearts were far away.

Answer 3

The Pharisees turned out to be bad, because they were more concerned with laws and regulations then they were with God. When Jesus(God in the flesh) came to them, they hated Him because He didn't do things how they thought they should be done. You don't get to heaven by doing. God won't look at your credentials and say "Oh well, you did this and this and this, you're fit to enter." It's not like that. He wants to know you and He wants you to know Him. It's about having a relationship and love, not marking off a checklist. The Pharisees lost their focus.

Jesus said that if your eye causes you to sin, you should gouge it out because it is better to live without an eye than to go to hell. Obviously He didn't mean to actually gouge it out. He's trying to stress how important it is remain faultless in the eyes of God. He's saying that you are putting spending eternity in heaven in such jeopardy that you should do whatever possible to make sure you don't sin.

Answer 4

The text you are refering to is
"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matt5:20

Jesus goes on to explain what he meant. The Pharisees kept all the laws of God. But they only kept the letter of the law. Their actions were right according to what the law said, they did not kill they did not steal etc. but they did not keep the spirit of the law.

The spirit of the law deals with your heart and thoughts, that is why Jesus says if you lust after a woman you have commited adultery in your heart. Or if you are angry with your brother you have commited murder.

The Pharisees kept the letter of the law but not the spirit, but anyone who follows the spirit of the law will keep the letter of the law.

The 10 commandments are about love. Love God and love your brother. God doesn't want people to follow just the letter of the law (like the Pharisees) he wants people to follow the spirit of the law,(love).

Answer 5

The Pharisees were extremely religious people who followed the commandments to the letter of the law. They were self-righteous leaders but they were greedy, selfish and oppressed people with the law. Jesus was opposed to them. (Read Luke 11:37-54)

The purpose of the law is to show us that we can't keep it. No one can perfectly keep the law. Only Jesus was perfect. That's what Jesus was trying to say. If you want to go to heaven by your own deeds, then you will have to do much better than the Pharisees. You must not have any sin if you want to go to heaven.

But because God loves you and us so much, he had a dilemma that only He could solve. Only by his perfection covering us, can we enter into heaven. That's why He came down to us as a man offered himself to satisfy the requirement of the law. So now, if anyone would believe, receive and accept what he did for us, we will be saved.

For man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

The thing about gouging out your eye should not be taken literally. He was just saying that we should do what it takes to avoid getting trapped into sinning. (habitual sinning)

I hope this helps. God Bless.

Answer 6

The main point here is that you can not get to heaven on your own. Everyone has sinned. Just looking at a woman with lustful thoughts is adultery.Every man in the world is guilty of that. And Jesus is the only one who can forgive your sins because he took the punishment for them on the cross. The pharisees made more rules and laws for the jews to follow but they couldn't follow the laws of God either. They were a do as i say not as I do thing.
God made the laws so we would realize we need a savior and turn to Jesus.Have you?

Answer 7

The Pharisees were hypocrites and liars. Jesus knew this. Just as the verse talks about He would not come out, for He knew the heart of the people.
No, not literally gouge your eyes out, but not to look at a woman or man with lust.

Answer 8

The Pharisees were bad. They made is hard for a Jew to worship God and added all kinds of rules and regulations to the Law that God didn't intend.

Doing your best will not get you to heaven, only faith in Christ will. Faith that He will save you despite that fact that you don't deserve it and can do nothing to earn it.

Jesus said if you look at a woman with lust it is the same as committing adultery. Not just looking at her, but looking at her with lust. And the gouging out your eyes statement was a reference to the lengths we should go to avoid sining. You don't have to really gouge your eyes out.

Answer 9

Romans 13:7-10
7 Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Colossians 3:5-7
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
Matthew 5:17-20
17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
New International Version

Answer 10

The Pharisees were self-righteous people who often created loopholes so they wouldn't have to obey God's law. The Pharisees were therefore "bad", as you called them. Doing good deeds will not get you into heaven, but believing in God, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, and repenting probably will. But not all people who do this follow God's law or are sincerely sorry for their actions, and therefore do not truly live for God. The good news is that Jesus died for our sins, so we don't have to gouge out our eyes or anything like that :). That verse that you speak of is really sort of symbolic. For example, if hanging out with certain people make you want to do drugs, then you should stop hanging out with them.

Answer 11

The Pharisees were bad. They did not want to accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Jesus talked a lot about them using many illustrations. If you read the 4 gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) you'll definately notice that they were bad. They're the ones that turned Jesus to the Roman emperor for his trial and later his execution.

Jesus said if you look at a woman with a heart full of lust, then it's a sin. Not what you said. And he doesn't literally mean take your eye ball out. It means to simply STOP looking with lustful intentions.