Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Matthew

[Headquarters]

I have a few questions, about this passage.

1) There is a mention of "your whole body" going to hell. So when does your body go to hell? Is it magically teleported out of the grave? How come we were never able to see this phenomenon?

2) If you eyes ARE causing you to lust after married women, should not you actually gouge them out, you know, so as not to be tempted?

[jimwalton]

Jesus isn't talking about the body vs. the soul, but the part vs. the whole. There's no teleporting going on. The point is: are you willing to sacrifice an offensive part to save the whole? Any surgeon knows that the answer should be yes. Tonsillectomy, amputation, and appendectomy all speak to the truth of what Jesus is teaching in vivid word pictures: If some part threatens the whole, severe action is the appropriate response.

His point in the "whole body...hell" portion is that it is better to go to heaven having made appropriate sacrifices than to enter eternity without God in a supposed state of self-preservation.

If your eyes are causing you to sin... Jesus uses a powerful word picture to argue for self-control. It is not physical mutilation that Jesus is talking about (the word picture is hyperbole), but control of the body pertaining to our morality and spirituality. The teaching is that if you are being tempted in a certain area of your life, take drastic measures if necessary to bring that part of your life under the Lordship of Christ, and put the sin away from you. Get rid of it; the relationship with Christ is more important than your libido, or anything else for that matter.

[Headquarters]

> His point in the "whole body...hell" portion is that it is better to go to heaven having made appropriate sacrifices than to enter eternity without God in a supposed state of self-preservation.

Then why use "whole body going to hell" AS A REFERNCE if that won't actuially happen? For example, you have now use doctor performing appendectomy as an analogy. But if doctors DID NOT ACTUALLY perform appendectomies, your analogy would fall flat. Same here. If the Entire body does not go to hell, Jesus' analogy would not work.

> if you are being tempted in a certain area of your life, take drastic measures if necessary

So if your eyes cause you to lust after women, should you rip them out so as not to be tempted?

[jimwalton]

> Then why use "whole body going to hell" AS A REFERNCE if that won't actuially happen?

Jesus often spoke in word pictures and made abundant use of literary and speaking techniques such as parable, simile, and hyperbole. He also often used common cultural understandings as a launch platform to make his point. Some Jewish thinkers of the day believed that a person would be resurrected in exactly the form in which one had died (such as limbs missing) before being made whole. Jesus employs this image to make his point: It is better to go to heaven having denied oneself and making the necessary sacrifices than to go to hell in a state of self-preservation.

According to the Bible, the entire body does go to hell at the final resurrection. Revelation 20.11-15 speaks of a general resurrection of all the dead, and 1 Corinthians 15.35-53 lets us know that it's a bodily resurrection. Our physical bodies will be resurrected, altered, and sent to their eternal destinies. So while it is a truth that one's entire body will go to heaven or hell, that is not Jesus' point here. Jesus' point is to sacrifice less important things for the most important things.

> So if your eyes cause you to lust after women, should you rip them out so as not to be tempted?

Jesus' uses the language of hyperbole (with no expectation of physical mutilation) to emphasize the urgency of taming harmful desires and to conform instead to what is necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven. Entering the kingdom of heaven is the paramount goal, and any trade is worth it (Matthew 14.44-46).

[Headquarters]

> So while it is a truth that one's entire body will go to heaven or hell

Ohh, all right. So the entire body WILL go to hell. Why did not you just say so? Can you explain mechanics of this? What about people whose bodies are completely decomposed?

> to emphasize the urgency of taming harmful desires Entering the kingdom of heaven is the paramount goal, and any trade is worth it

So, should I turn myself into a deaf and blind, castrated paraplegic? That will certainly tame most harmful desires. I know it is drastic, but avoiding hell seems worth it.

[jimwalton]

> Can you explain mechanics of this?

Not really. We are all obviously made up of cells and atoms, etc., and an all-knowing and all-powerful being could obviously reassemble most of those to restore out bodies, but that wouldn't truly be completely necessary. 1 Corinthians 15 says that our bodies will be transformed from earthly to spiritual, and from mortal to immortal, so complete restoration won't be necessary. Even one cell contains a total and unique set of DNA that would allow us to be reformed, given the adequate causal mechanism.

> So Should I turn myself into a deaf and blind, castrated paraplegic?

No. What Jesus expects is that we use our brains, the power of the will, submitted to God and under the power of the Holy Spirit, to effect change without having to engage in physical mutilation. For the third time, Jesus is speaking hyperbolically to make his point. Under the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, you have the means to self-control (Galatians 5.23-24; Titus 2.12). Avoid hell by good and godly choices, not by self-mutilation.