If
your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire, ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the fire that will never be quenched— ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into God’s Kingdom with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire, ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’
Mark 9:43-48
Mark 9 [38.] John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.”
Mark 9 [39.] But Jesus said, “Don’t forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me. For whoever is not against us is on our side. For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are Christ’s, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward. Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire, ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’
Mark 9 [45.] If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the fire that will never be quenched— ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into God’s Kingdom with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire, ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Mark 10 [1.] He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them. Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Meaning:
These are among the most severe words Jesus ever spoke. Having warned against causing “one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble” (Mark 9:42), he turns to the danger of causing ourselves to stumble. Three times he names a part of the body, the hand, the foot and the eye, and three times he says it would be better to lose it than to be thrown into Gehenna. The language is deliberately shocking, to show how seriously sin must be taken.
- “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off”
To “stumble” means to fall into sin and away from God. The hand, the foot and the eye stand for what we do, where we go and what we look at and desire. Jesus is not commanding literal self-harm; the problem lies in the heart, and removing a hand cannot cure a sinful heart. He is using a vivid figure of speech: whatever leads us into sin, however precious or natural it seems, must be dealt with decisively. Paul expresses the same idea: “Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).
- “It is better for you to enter into life maimed”
Jesus compares two outcomes. Entering “into life,” also called entering “into God’s Kingdom,” is worth any sacrifice. Losing something dear in this life is nothing compared with losing eternal life. Jesus had already asked, “For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?” (Mark 8:36).
- “Gehenna”
Gehenna is the Greek form of the Hebrew name for the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem. There, in the days of Judah’s kings, people had burned their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices, something God said “I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind” (Jeremiah 7:31-32). Jeremiah warned that the valley would become a place of slaughter and burial. In Jesus’ day the name had become a picture of final judgment, and the footnotes of the World English Bible translate it as “Hell.”
- “Where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched”
Jesus quotes the last verse of Isaiah, which describes the fate of those who rebelled against God: “for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched” (Isaiah 66:24). The worm and the fire picture a judgment that does not end. Jesus spoke these words not to frighten people for no reason, but out of love, to warn them while there is still time to turn back.
The Significance of Mark 9:43-48
- Radical seriousness about sin
It is easy to make excuses for habits, relationships or desires that pull us away from God. Jesus calls his followers to deal with them radically, whatever the cost, and to “lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us” (Hebrews 12:1).
- The way of life is open
Jesus’ warning is also an invitation. No one needs to go to Gehenna, because “God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Cross-References:
Isaiah 66:24: "They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind." The verse Jesus quotes three times.
Jeremiah 7:31: "They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind." The valley of Hinnom gave its name to Gehenna.
Colossians 3:5: "Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;" Dealing decisively with sin in daily life.
Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The alternative to judgment is God’s free gift of life.
Conclusion: Jesus warned that if a hand, a foot or an eye causes us to stumble, it is better to cut it off than to be cast into Gehenna, “where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.” Using shocking images drawn from the valley of Hinnom and from Isaiah, he taught that sin must be dealt with radically because eternal life is worth any sacrifice. His warning comes with an invitation to receive God’s free gift of life in him.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible