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Did Jesus teach that we should pluck out our eyes?


Question: Did Jesus literally mean to pluck out our eyes if they cause us to stumble? He said, "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" (Matt. 18:9)

Answer: Jesus did not mean to literally cut off your hand or pluck out your eye if they cause you to sin (Matt. 18:9-10). Our hands and eyes don't actually cause us to stumble, but our hearts cause us to sin. Jesus said, "I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:28)

Hands and eyes are merely instruments of the heart. Jesus said, "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries . . ." (Mark 7:21). Christ often shocked His listeners by using extreme examples to illustrate the seriousness of sin. When we get our hearts right, then they way we use our eyes and hands will also be right.

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