Mark 9 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 9:43-48 – The Offending Hand, Foot, or Eye

Mark 9:43-48 – The Offending Hand, Foot, or Eye

|| Matthew 18:6-9;[1] Luke 17:1, 2

MK9:43 “So if your hand causes you to stumble,[2] cut it off![3] It is better for you to enter into the Life maimed,[4] than having two hands to go off into Gehenna,[5] into that inextinguishable fire.[6] [[MK9:44]][7] MK9:45 Also, if your foot[8] makes you stumble, cut it off! It is better to enter crippled into the Life, than having two feet to be cast into Gehenna, [[into that inextinguishable fire]].[9] [[MK9:46]][10] MK9:47 Also, if your eye[11] stumbles you, pluck it out! It is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of the God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into Gehenna – MK9:48 where their maggots never ends and the fire is never extinguished.[12]

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[1] Matthew 18:6-9: For details see notes in Nazarene Commentary 2000 on Matthew.

[2] Hand causes you to stumble: It is the hand that reaches out to touch something it should not, or grasps something it should not. Compare the warning of “touch” in Genesis 3:1-5. The context is about stumbling others, and thus in the process, stumbling oneself. What is it a Christian could do with their hands that could lead to stumbling other ‘little ones’?

[3] Cut it off: Jesus’ analogy is an absurdum not to be taken literally. If what Jesus goes on to say is taken literally then we would expect to see many Christians walking about with one hand, one eye, or one foot.

[4] Enter into the Life maimed: Still part of the absurd hyperbole.

[5] Gehenna: For details see notes in Nazarene Commentary 2000 on Matthew where Gehenna is explained. Simply Gehenna was the city dump of Jerusalem where the dead bodies of criminals thought unworthy of either burial or resurrection were thrown. Fire and smoke occurred their continually and maggots devoured garbage constantly.

[6] Inextinguishable fire: Gehenna’s fire became a symbol of Second Death, or everlasting extinction. Se notes on Revelation 20:13, 14. For more details on hell-fire, Hades, or Gehenna see the book Where Are the Dead?

[7] Bracketed words are recognized as not adequately supported.

[8] Foot: The foot takes one to the place or thing one wants to go. The analogy is used often in the Psalms and Proverbs of conduct leading to harm or evil.

[9] Bracketed words are recognized as not adequately supported.

[10] Bracketed words are recognized as not adequately supported.

[11] Eye: It is the eye that covets or desires what it regularly sees. Compare notes on James 1:14, 15.

[12] Where their maggots never ends and the fire is never extinguished: Jesus borrows the language of Isaiah 66:24. Similar language is used of the destruction of Edom. [Isaiah 34:9, 10]

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Preceding

Mark 9 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 9:1-8 – The Transfiguration

Mark 9 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 9:9-13 – Elijah Has Come

Matthew 12:22-30 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: the Charge of Demonism

Mark 9 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 9:14-24 – Help Me Where I Need Faith

Mark 9 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 9:25-29 – Why Could We Not Expel It?

Mark 9 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 9:30-32 – Foretells Resurrection

Mark 9 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 9:33-37 – Who is Greater?

Mark 9 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Mark 9:38-42 – Those Not Against Us Are For Us

Nazarene Commentary Matthew 5:27-30 – 2. The Nazarene’s Commentary on Exodus 20:14

Matthew 13:36-43 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Parable of the Zizania in the Field Explained

Matthew 13:47-50 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Parable of the Dragnet

Matthew 18:1-6 Reborn and pliable as a child

Matthew 18:1-6 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Children and Stumbling

Matthew 18:7-11 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Danger of Stumbling-blocks

Matthew 25:31-46 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Judgment on the Realm of Heaven #4 Matthew 25:41-46

 

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Additional reading

1. Attitude of a Christian
2. Way of Life
3. Death & Dead
4. Soul, Spirit, and Death
5. Dead and after
6. Hell – Sheol or the Grave
7. Sheol or the Grave
8. Sheol, Sheool, Sjeool, Hades, Hell, Grave, Tomb, Sepulchre
9. Hell fire
10. Words Have Meaning: Devil, Diábolos, Slanderers, and False Accusers
11. Devil, Satan, Demons, Evil Spirits and Hell
12. Satan or the Devil
13. The Dead — Where Are They? 5 Sheol, Hades, Hell, Gehenna
14. Mortal Soul and Mortal Psyche #4 Psyche, According to the Holy Scriptures
15. Departed Souls Await Judgment
16. Is Hell-fire something to fear
17. I Can’t Believe That (1) … God would send anyone to hell
18. Today’s thought “The one who conquers will …” (July 1)
19. Looking forward for what is to come
20. Memorizing wonderfully 73: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Sleepers with hope
21. To will being present in us but to do it not always evident

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Related

1. Blunt Words from Jesus
2. Tribal Counsels
3. Sermon for 9/30/18 Mark 9:38-50
4. The Case of Wandering Eyes
5. Cut
6. Missing My Left Hand
7. Just Cut It Out
8. Cut It Off!
9. Cutting and Plucking
10. Apologetics & Hell
11. Hell is Endless
12. Eternal Life Verses Eternal Judgement