Matthew 18:6 - 9
6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. How do we cause these little ones to stumble so that it would be better if we died?
2. What does it mean to cut off your hand or foot, or poke out your eye?
http://www.newtestamentchurch.org/opa/Articles/1986/09/a%20millstone.htm says:
ReplyDeleteThe form of capital punishment that he referred to was practiced, according to Barnes, by the Greeks, Syrians, and Romans. The sin he referred to was causing a young Christian to sin. This is a serious sin, and it cannot be taken lightly in the Church. Certainly the Lord is not prescribing the death penalty as punishment for this sin, but rather is showing how wicked this sin really is.
It is very clear that the sin Jesus describes is any action on the part of a Christian which would aid, encourage, influence, or cause a new Christian to sin. Causing a young Christian to sin is clearly a terrible sin that cannot be taken lightly.
There are many ways that the sin of Matt 18:6 can be committed. The obvious way is to directly expose a young Christian to temptations and enticements causing him or her to sin. Sin, of course, is not limited just to immorality. There are many other things one might be guilty of which would cause a young Christian to sin. Other sins that a young Christian might be influenced to commit are quitting the Church, forsaking the assembly, accepting false doctrines, or falling to grow.
http://www.newtestamentchurch.org/opa/Articles/1986/09/a%20millstone.htm (continued)
ReplyDeleteLet us consider three ways in which one might cause a new Christian to commit these sins.
NEGLECT: One of the reasons young Christians are spoken of as "babies" is that they must be cared for, they must be fed, and they must be protected from false doctrine. Just as a neglected human baby will die if not cared for, so a new Christian will fall away if not cared for by the other members. Phil 2:4 says, "not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others". This means that we Christian must take care of one another, it is commanded by God. This passage certainly applies to young Christians above all others.
EXAMPLE: 1 Cor 8:10-12 says, "For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ" (NIV). This principle has many applications. For example, a Christian who forsakes the assembly is by his example telling other young Christians that it is permissible to do so. In so doing he commits a double sin. He sins in forsaking the assembly, and he sins because he influences a brother to sin. If our example destroys our brother for whom Christ died, we would be better off drowned in the sea with a millstone pulling us down by our necks!
DISCOURAGEMENT: Disgruntled Christians sometimes "unload" their gripes and complaints on young Christians. Usually the disgruntled person is cowardly and selfish. He gives no thought to what sort of dreadful effect his complaining might have on the babe in Christ because his only desire is to vocalize his complaints, attack those he disagrees with, and gain the impressionable new convert to his side. The complainer normally talks about "they" as being guilty of displeasing him, but rarely will he name who "they" are. Never does the complainer encourage the new convert to listen to the other side of the story. (An honest person is happy for one to listen to both sides of the story.) Never does the disgruntled complainer separate his opinions from what is Bible teaching. He speaks of his own ideas and opinions as if they had been spoken by Christ himself. He leaves the impression that when the congregation goes against his opinions they have violated the Bible.
Of the offenses mentioned, the discouraging of a new Christian by a disgruntled complainer is the most inexcusable. It is the result of mindless selfishness and constitutes behavior of the worst sort. The leaders of every congregation are encouraged to take quick, direct, and forceful action against those who seek to so damage babes in Christ. Such behavior cannot be tolerated!
http://reversingverses.com/2015/08/25/matthew-186/ says:
ReplyDeleteIt must be noted that Jesus called a little child and had him stand among them in verse 2 as an example and a prelude to this passage. So whether this applies to the metaphorical children (young in faith and little in their own eyes) or not, we must surely assume it applies to normal children (by age).
How do we stumble people? It is easy, isn’t it? To hinder their faith, to withhold the faith and the gospel from them, to intentionally not teach them about the gospel, or to teach a misleading gospel. To discourage their ministry, to dispute their actions, to pick on their words, to pour water on their passion. To cause them to quit serving the Lord, to cause them to leave the fellowship of believers, to cause them to be bitter against God. It happens, whether we do it intentionally or not. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!
Have you stumbled anybody? It is not hard to stumble people – sometimes we don’t do it intentionally, but we end up doing it very seriously. Sometimes we don’t even realise we do it – many of us underestimate our spheres of influence and how much people around us get affected by us. Especially the little ones, who would not be able to hold an argument against adults and win, who would not be able to articulate – no, this is wrong. Who may not have sufficient knowledge about the Bible to not be led astray. Who will not know the word of the Lord if they are not taught. We need to teach the little ones the word of God. Even metaphorically – we need to encourage those who think little of themselves, and we need to nurture the spiritual growth of the young and new believers.
http://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/1951/what-does-matthew-188-9-say-about-eternity says:
ReplyDeleteGehenna:
(originally Ge bene Hinnom; i.e., "the valley of the sons of Hinnom"), a deep, narrow glen to the south of Jerusalem, where the idolatrous Jews offered their children in sacrifice to Molech (2Ch 28:3; 33:6; Jer 7:31; 19:2-6). This valley afterwards became the common receptacle for all the refuse of the city. Here the dead bodies of animals and of criminals, and all kinds of filth, were cast and consumed by fire kept always burning. It thus in process of time became the image of the place of everlasting destruction. In this sense it is used by our Lord in Mat 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luk 12:5. In these passages, and also in James 3:6, the word is uniformly rendered "hell," the Revised Version placing "Gehenna" in the margin. (See HELL; HINNOM.)
I think Jesus' point wasn't so much about Gehenna, but what can keep you from the Kingdom. His points about hands, feet, etc are things that are very valuable to us. When in our life - even if we see the objects as valuable as our hands, feet, etc - if they are preventing us from entering into the Kingdom then it would be better if we cut them off and get rid of them. Sometimes this may include friends, family, education, etc.
Basically, Jesus is saying do what ever it takes.
My 2 cents:
ReplyDeleteThis has already been covered in Matthew 5:27 - 30. Please look at the comments on this there.
http://hartmangroupdevotions.blogspot.com/2014/12/matthew-527-30-27-you-have-heard-that.html#comment-form