Matthew 18:8

8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw [it] from you! It is better for you to enter into life crippled or lame than, having two hands or two feet, to be thrown into the eternal fire!

Matthew 18:8 Meaning and Commentary

Ver. 8, 9. Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot
The same words are repeated here on occasion of offences, as are spoken by Christ, ( Matthew 5:29 Matthew 5:30 ) on account of unchaste looks, desires and lusts: giving offence to Christ's disciples, or endeavouring, by any means whatever, to cause them to stumble and fall, is equally gratifying the flesh, and no more to be indulged, than the other, on pain of eternal damnation. (See Gill on Matthew 5:29) (See Gill on Matthew 5:30)

Matthew 18:8 In-Context

6 But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him that {a large millstone} be hung on his neck and he be drowned in the depths of the sea.

7 Woe to the world because of causes for stumbling, for [it is] a necessity [that] causes for stumbling come; nevertheless, woe to the person through whom the cause for stumbling comes.

8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw [it] from you! It is better for you to enter into life crippled or lame than, having two hands or two feet, to be thrown into the eternal fire!

9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw [it] from you! It is better for you to enter into life one-eyed than, having two eyes, to be thrown into fiery hell!

10 "See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven constantly see the face of my Father [who is] in heaven.

Footnotes

• [a] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation