Cut Off Your Hand or Pluck Out Your Eye Rather Than Be Cast Into Hell

To whom was Jesus addressing these comments, and why?
Matthew 5:
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast
into hell.
30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast
into hell.

Dkh587 said:

He was teaching the crowds who were seeking him. His disciples were also there

Matthew 5:1-2
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: and he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying

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It seems that he went up the mountain to temporarily escape the crowds to teach His disciples.
He directed teachings to the crowds in the form of parables.

Matthew 13:
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, Why do You speak to them in parables?
11 He answered and said to them, Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

Dkh587 said:

He wasn’t escaping them - he was teaching them.

Matthew 7:28-29 summarizes that he was indeed teaching the multitudes.

the “sermon on the mount” starts in Matthew 5 and is done at the end of Matthew 7


Matthew 7:28-29


Notice that the multitudes were astonished at how he was teaching THEM.

Them in Matthew 7:29 = the multitudes.

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I should be more clear. The sermon on the mount is "directed to" His disciples. As compared to
teachings that involved parables. They were astonished, but was their hearts in a place to
apply it to their life? He said this to His disciples:
John 15:3. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
Herein lies the difference. If I told an unbeliever, "you have to get the plank out of your
own eye, before you can help a friend get a splinter out of his eye" [from the sermon].
They may get the point, but they may not apply it to their life. To be a disciple, these
teachings are not optional. Now apply that to the topic.

Minister Monardo said:

To whom was Jesus addressing these comments, and why?
Matthew 5:
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast
into hell.
30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast
into hell.

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Compare a beginning discipleship class for new converts, to a class for mature Christians training
to be Pastors.

Saint Steven said:

What an interesting topic. Thanks.
I had been thinking about this on and off.

He is addressing believers. Unless we believe we can be saved by our own works.
And seriously, how many hands and eyes do we have?

He is saying believers can go to hell. And in this verse he says everyone will. (on some level)

Mark 9:49
Everyone will be salted with fire.

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Minister Monardo said:

Compare a beginning discipleship class for new converts, to a class for mature Christians training
to be Pastors

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The reason why I proposed this comparison is to make this point. The Lord was not simply training
disciples to be good Christians. He was preparing Shepherds(Pastors) to tend His Flock. For that reason,
this teaching is a hard one for a beginner initiation into discipleship. What The Lord is teaching makes a direct reference to being a good shepherd, and what is a curse upon a worthless shepherd.
Zechariah 11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock!
A sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye;
His arm shall completely wither, and his right eye shall be totally blinded.

That is the punchline of the thread, so my work may be done here. Hope this was a light.

Dkh587 said:

He wasn’t escaping them - he was teaching them.

Matthew 7:28-29 summarizes that he was indeed teaching the multitudes.

the “sermon on the mount” starts in Matthew 5 and is done at the end of Matthew 7


Matthew 7:28-29


Notice that the multitudes were astonished at how he was teaching THEM.

Them in Matthew 7:29 = the multitudes.

Click to expand...

Here is the passage that I was directing the thread towards. The teaching on this topic
is in direct reference to this word in Zechariah 11:
Prophecy of the Shepherds
4 Thus says the Lord my God, Feed the flock for slaughter,
5 whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt; those who sell them say, Blessed be the Lord,
for I am rich; and their shepherds do not pity them.
6 For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. But indeed I will give everyone
into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.
7 So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs:
the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds; and I fed the flock.
8 I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also
abhorred me.
9 Then I said, I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that
are left eat each other’s flesh.
10 And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made
with all the peoples.
11 So it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that
it was the word of the Lord.
12 Then I said to them, If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.
So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, Throw it to the potter, that princely price they set on me.
So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.
14 Then I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between
Judah and Israel.
The Curse Upon a Worthless Shepherd
15 And the Lord said to me, Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd.
16 For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off,
nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand.
But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.
17 Woe to the worthless shepherd,
Who leaves the flock!
A sword shall be against his arm
And against his right eye;
His arm shall completely wither,
And his right eye shall be totally blinded.