Matthew 5:27-30

[Mikaele]

27"You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[e] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Can someone please explain to me why we’re not supposed to take this literally? Someone asked me, didn’t have an answer.

 

[Cachonga]

Mikaele:

Can someone please explain to me why we’re not supposed to take this literally? Someone asked me, didn’t have an answer.

Here is something I have personal experience with. Many years ago (beginning in Jr. High), I used to have a very lustful eye. I thought that as long as I didn’t act on my thoughts, it was OK. Then, a year before I graduated, I read through my Bible, and felt like I had been hit between the eyes with a 2X4 when I got to this passage. I knew I was guilty. I thought about putting out an eye, but realized that the problem was in my heart (as was confirmed in Mark 7:1-23). I confessed before God and asked that He would forgive me and remove this from me. I didn’t confess to a priest since I felt it needed to be done immediately, and I experienced an immediate change in the way I looked at women. To be sure, lustful thoughts still try to break in now and then, but God has taught me how to recognize and cast out those wicked thoughts. I would suggest that if this was taken literally, we would have a lot of blind, handless people wandering around.

 

[zarthan]

27"You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[e] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Can someone please explain to me why we’re not supposed to take this literally? Someone asked me, didn’t have an answer.

We are to take this scripture literally with regard to the sins of lust, but not with regard to maiming ourselves. I think hyperbole is used here in order for us to take this admonition very seriously. Who can keep this commandment? No one, apart from the overcoming grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but in Christ and through Christ all things are possible.

 

[mcrow]

I guess if it’s true lust then it’s a sin.

However, I think just noticing that a woman is attractive isn’t a sin.

Some people may be confusing the two. If you look at a woman and imagine having intercorse or intimacy with her, that is lust.

I often see a woman on the street or elsewhere that is very attractive and say “Wow, she’s beautiful” to myself.

That’s not lust, that’s just observing someone’s appearance. I believe there are several examples of this in the bible an never was it called a sin unless it went further.

 

[Hiskid1973]

Here is something I have personal experience with. Many years ago (beginning in Jr. High), I used to have a very lustful eye. I thought that as long as I didn’t act on my thoughts, it was OK. Then, a year before I graduated, I read through my Bible, and felt like I had been hit between the eyes with a 2X4 when I got to this passage. I knew I was guilty. I thought about putting out an eye, but realized that the problem was in my heart (as was confirmed in Mark 7:1-23). I confessed before God and asked that He would forgive me and remove this from me. I didn’t confess to a priest since I felt it needed to be done immediately, and I experienced an immediate change in the way I looked at women. To be sure, lustful thoughts still try to break in now and then, but God has taught me how to recognize and cast out those wicked thoughts. I would suggest that if this was taken literally, we would have a lot of blind, handless people wandering around.

Amen Bro…Good example and teaching…Bringing our thought life captive to Christ, we need to daily keep pure thought life in our thoughts and attitudes of the heart…Reading scripture in context and in the light of other scriptures can provide a lot of insight to the situation…Cool thing confessing our sin…He is there 24-7 ready to forgive…He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness…

 

[JM3]

27"You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[e] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Can someone please explain to me why we’re not supposed to take this literally? Someone asked me, didn’t have an answer.

1 Corinthians 6:19 - “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own;”

 

[Bookcat]

27"You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[e] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Can someone please explain to me why we’re not supposed to take this literally? Someone asked me, didn’t have an answer.

Jesus is using the way of speaking of Rabbi’s and those of his period and place…exaggerating to make a point. …It is a semetic way of speaking.

 

[diggerdomer]

27"You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[e] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Can someone please explain to me why we’re not supposed to take this literally? Someone asked me, didn’t have an answer.

Because no one in the Christian tradition has taken it literally. Have they?

 

[rcjones]

27"You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[e] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Can someone please explain to me why we’re not supposed to take this literally? Someone asked me, didn’t have an answer.

We are to take it literally. The problem is that it is never your hand or eye that causes you to sin. It is your heart. So yes, you are to have your heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh by Jesus.

 

[diggerdomer]

We are to take it literally. The problem is that it is never your hand or eye that causes you to sin. It is your heart. So yes, you are to have your heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh by Jesus.

But our hearts are not stone, literally. Right?

 

[rcjones]

But our hearts are not stone, literally. Right?

When a figure of speech is used, the literal interpretation recognizes it as a figure of speech.

And the passage didn’t use the word stony heart, I did. I know what it means, and you do too, so I have effectively communicated my intention.

 

[diggerdomer]

When a figure of speech is used, the literal interpretation recognizes it as a figure of speech.

And the passage didn’t use the word stony heart, I did. I know what it means, and you do too, so I have effectively communicated my intention.

Wait…you mean a “literal interpretation” is equivalent to “a figure of speech”?

 

[rcjones]

When a figure of speech is used, the literal interpretation recognizes it as a figure of speech.

And the passage didn’t use the word stony heart, I did. I know what it means, and you do too, so I have effectively communicated my intention.

Stony \Ston"y, adjective [Compar. {Stonier}; superl. {Stoniest}.] [AS. st[=a]nig. See {Stone}.]

1. Of or pertaining to stone, consisting of, or abounding in, stone or stones; resembling stone; hard; as, a stony tower; a stony cave; stony ground; a stony crust.

1. Converting into stone; petrifying; petrific.

The stony dart of senseless cold. --Spenser.

1. Inflexible; cruel; unrelenting; pitiless; obdurate; perverse; cold; morally hard; appearing as if petrified; as, a stony heart; a stony gaze.

{Stony coral}. (Zo"o]l.) Same as {Stone coral}, under {Stone}.

Even the dictionary recognizes my intended meaning as a literal definition (3).

 

[diggerdomer]

Even the dictionary recognizes my intended meaning as a literal definition (3).

The dictionary may recognize it, but those who insist on a “literal” interpretation of Scripture likely won’t.

 

[rcjones]

Wait…you mean a “literal interpretation” is equivalent to “a figure of speech”?

I might suggest you look up riddles and early childhood education. Google it a bit and read some literature on it. Riddles are important to learning the function of words in language usage in recognizing that a word may mean many things, not a single meaning.

Your usage of the words tends to indicate that you may have missed these important steps in learning. The reason that there are numbered definitions in a dictionary is to help you understand that there are multiple meanings.

literal ˈlɪtərəl]
adj

1. in exact accordance with or limited to the primary or explicit meaning of a word or text
2. word for word
3. dull, factual, or prosaic
4. consisting of, concerning, or indicated by letters
5. true; actual
6. (Mathematics) Maths containing or using coefficients and constants represented by letters: ax2 + b is a literal expression Compare numerical [3a]

See number 5. True or actual.

When Jesus called Herod a fox, a literal interpretation must be true, hence it must recognize the figurative nature of the word fox. Welcome to English 101.

Since I suspect that you did not miss kindergarten, you already know this and are being intentionally obtuse in order to make some point. So I shall not play any longer. Ciao.

 

[diggerdomer]

I might suggest you look up riddles and early childhood education. Google it a bit and read some literature on it. Riddles are important to learning the function of words in language usage in recognizing that a word may mean many things, not a single meaning.

Your usage of the words tends to indicate that you may have missed these important steps in learning. The reason that there are numbered definitions in a dictionary is to help you understand that there are multiple meanings.

literal ˈlɪtərəl]
adj

1. in exact accordance with or limited to the primary or explicit meaning of a word or text
2. word for word
3. dull, factual, or prosaic
4. consisting of, concerning, or indicated by letters
5. true; actual
6. (Mathematics) Maths containing or using coefficients and constants represented by letters: ax2 + b is a literal expression Compare numerical [3a]

See number 5. True or actual.

When Jesus called Herod a fox, a literal interpretation must be true, hence it must recognize the figurative nature of the word fox. Welcome to English 101.

Since I suspect that you did not miss kindergarten, you already know this and are being intentionally obtuse in order to make some point. So I shall not play any longer. Ciao.

See my previous post.

 

[JM3]

Because no one in the Christian tradition has taken it literally. Have they?

Origen did. That’s why he is not a saint.

 

[diggerdomer]

Origen did. That’s why he is not a saint.

Where did Origen take this literally? Thanks for the reference.

Also, whether he did or not has no bearing in and of itself on why he’s not a Saint.

 

[Bookcat]

Origen did. That’s why he is not a saint.

He may or may not…it seems from a recent Jimmy Akin show that w that such may have just be just said by his “enemies”

 

[PJM]

=Mikaele;7182291]27"You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[e] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Can someone please explain to me why we’re not supposed to take this literally? Someone asked me, didn’t have an answer.

Here is what Christ has to say about it:

1 Cor. 6: 13-20

“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” – and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two shall become one flesh.” **But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. **[18] **Shun immorality. **Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. ***Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; ***[20] **you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. **

To preseume a “right” to by intent to disfigure ones body except for undert the guidence of competent Spiritual Direction; is to assume a right NOT oermitted us. Our Bodies are not ONLY Temples of the Holy Spirit; but of Jesus Christ Himself.