What did Jesus mean when he said this?

Question

In Matthew 5:28-30, Jesus says:

"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Answer 1

Jesus was confused, and mad at god at the time

Answer 2

It means that God even knows our thoughts and intentions! If we look with lust it is the same as committing the deed since we would if we could. We will be accountable to God for our thoughtlife as well as for what we do!

This illuminates and underscores why we need the blood of Christ to wash away our sins! Without it we would have no choice but to go to hell!

Answer 3

Jesus was speaking to the religious leadership who concentrated on obeying numerous pedantic laws. Yet their hearts were hard. They did not love God and did not love other people. They were proud and arrogant, thinking that they were more important than less religious people, and that by doing lots of religious things they were pleasing God.

Jesus cut right through their shallowness and addressed their heart problem. Our actions do not save us. God looks at our hearts. At the extreme, it is more important to consider your eternal life than our earthly life. If we are missing an eye or a limb in this life, what is that in eternity?

Similar message to storing up treasure in heaven rather than on earth.

Answer 4

He is upping the standards for Christians. Jews had only to worry mainly with form--sacrifices, obedience, faithful service. Christians had to control thoughts which led to actions. That is why the Bible says, "Bad associations spoil useful habits." (1Corinthians 15:33) Not only the actions themselves but the thoughts behind them.

We today might liken this scripture with chocolate. Some of us REALLY like chocolate in all its forms. What if we were diabetic? To remain in comparatively good health, our eating chocolate would have to be severely limited as would an increase in proper medications.

Jesus is saying here, if there is something we are truly fond of that is blocking our pure worship to God, we must get rid of it or put it in its proper limited place.

Answer 5

Jesus was not advocating self-mutilation, for even a blind man can lust. He is telling us that sin is abhorrent to God and that we must deal with it - even drastically.

In Matthew 5 Jesus is speaking out against hypocrisy and legalism. In his day the Pharisees were careful to be seen to keep the laws, to gain merit before God, while breaking them inwardly. But God knows our hearts. He cannot be fooled by the outward appearance. So, we need to examine our motives and be honest with God.

Answer 6

Some people have terrible excuses about what makes them sin. These verses are supposed to deal with that. The person hearing this is supposed to think about themselves - how they do wrong, and consider that it's a part of themselves - not themselves as being the problem. When you think about it in this way - it's ridiculous. Of course we are the cause of our problems. So taking a part of ourselves and throwing it away would be stupid- as Origen the church father found out when he took these verses literally and masticated the entire private part of himself! He found that the desire for sex did not go away. Too late!

Much of what Jesus said was supposed to cause someone who is guilty to go to God for salvation, because they realize that they are sinners. One of the best things to do is to admit to the problems you have. You can deal with them from there - because you took your problems from behind the cloak of denial.

And that's what these verses were meant to do - wake people up and make them consider themselves as obviously in need of God's help.

Answer 7

I believe that he is speaking figuratively here, to gouge out your eye and throw it away could mean to stop torturing yourself by continuously checking this woman out. If you focus on something, or someone long enough, you lust after them. By lusting, you are setting yourself up for a fall, because the longer you think about something tempting, the more likely you are to indulge in it. By stopping contact with the object of your temptation, or "throw it away", you are saving yourself trouble later on down the road. Just a thought.

Answer 8

It means that it isn't the act of doing something that damns us, but the impurity in our hearts. The rest of it is just an extreme way of saying, "wouldn't it be better to suffer awhile here on Earth, than to spend eternity in the pits of Hell for the sins that you committed?"

Answer 9

well, he was quoted as having said that 2000 years ago and we can't ask until we stand before him. Probably best to make an assumption and go with it.

Also, remember that there is no written copy of things that Jesus said until 200+ years after he was on earth.

Answer 10

If you plot out sexual acts in your mind when you see women that are not your wife then you could have a sexual addiction. These thoughts are bad because they can lead to actions. It is like in murder trials. Unless you have motive or probable cause it is hard to prove that a person committed the act or murder.

Answer 11

sounds pretty simple to me... if ur like "dang shes got a nice booty id tap that all night son!! even if im married" it spiritually is the same sinfully as if you auctally did..