29“If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.”

On first reading, this section seems somewhat bizarre. As He often does in the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord speaks in binary terms, presenting truth as either one way or the other, black and white terms—no shades of gray. Such hyperbole is common when laying down foundational principles of any kind. The rest of Jesus’ ministry and the rest of the NT fills in the gray areas. His point here is that if a person wants to follow Christ, he needs to settle once and for all his ultimate priorities. The stakes involve heaven or hell. Popular Christianity seems to down play these other-worldly “intangibles” in deference to “down to earth” tangibles. The pendulum of emphasis has rightly moved to counter years of “hellfire and damnation” preaching that seemed to be not much more than scare tactics. Pendulums, however, often swing too far. Jesus speaks of heaven and hell as relevant and tangible—the reality of which ought to affect our life priorities and behavior here and now.

The argument is very simple: If a physical part of your body is the instrument used in causing you to merit God’s condemnation in hell, then get rid of that body part! When the extent of eternity is considered, the logic of this argument is irrefutable. He refers to the eye first, a natural follow up from verse 28 about lusting. Then He further illustrates with a hand indicating He is not only talking about lust.

Does this mean our salvation is in question? For those who are still seeking Christ, these words should lead to repentance, which was the summary message of Jesus from the beginning of His ministry. In fact, by the terms of the whole Sermon on the Mount, no one can be justified before God. We all fall short. For the one who has already become a follower of Christ, who has already been justified, salvation is not in question—but the words are sobering. We ought to endeavor to remove all hindrances to holy living.

Lord, I consider myself “to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Further, I present myself to You as “alive from the dead” and my “members as instruments of righteousness to God.” (Rom 6:12-13)