If
your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
Matthew 5:29-30
Matthew 5 [23.] “If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.
Matthew 5 [27.] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
Matthew 5 [31.] “It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’ but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
Meaning:
Jesus has just said that “everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Sin begins inside, but it often enters through what we look at and what we do with our hands. In these two verses Jesus shows how seriously his disciples must deal with anything that leads them into sin.
- “If your right eye causes you to stumble”
To “stumble” means to be tripped up and fall into sin. The eye is the gateway of desire, and the right eye and right hand were considered the most valuable. Jesus is not commanding literal self-harm. Removing an eye would not cleanse the heart, since lust can live in a blind man’s imagination as well. He is using vivid, deliberately shocking language, as Jewish teachers often did, to say: be ruthless with sin. Whatever feeds temptation must be cut off, however precious it seems.
Job set an example long before: “I made a covenant with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?” (Job 31:1). Guarding the eyes is one of the first lines of defense against sin.
- “If your right hand causes you to stumble”
The hand stands for action. If the eye represents what we desire, the hand represents what we do to fulfill that desire. Jesus repeats the warning with a second picture to show that sin must be resisted both in thought and in deed. Mark records the same teaching with hand, foot and eye: “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” (Mark 9:43-48).
- “Cast into Gehenna”
Gehenna was the valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, where some kings of Judah had burned their children to idols. Through Jeremiah God condemned those who “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” (Jeremiah 7:31). The place became a symbol of God’s final judgment. Jesus speaks about it plainly because he does not want anyone to go there: “Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” (Matthew 10:28).
- “It is more profitable for you”
Jesus appeals to our true interest. Any loss in this life, however painful, is small compared with losing everything. Giving up a habit, a relationship, a source of entertainment or an opportunity that leads us into sin is a wise exchange.
The Significance of Matthew 5:29-30
- Radical but not self-reliant
The New Testament calls believers to the same decisive action, empowered by God’s Spirit. Paul writes, “Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness” (Colossians 3:5). Struggle against sin is not a lonely effort of willpower but a life lived in step with the Spirit.
- Practical wisdom today
Applying these verses may mean installing filters, changing routines, avoiding certain places, or asking a trusted friend for accountability. Hebrews urges us to “lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us” (Hebrews 12:1).
Cross-References:
Mark 9:47: "If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out." Mark’s parallel teaching.
Job 31:1: "I made a covenant with my eyes," Guarding the eyes against lust.
Colossians 3:5: "Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth:" Putting sin to death.
Conclusion: In Matthew 5:29-30 Jesus uses the shocking pictures of plucking out an eye and cutting off a hand to show how seriously his followers must take sin. He is not calling for self-harm but for decisive action against whatever leads us to stumble, because losing something precious in this life is far better than facing God’s judgment. Relying on the Spirit, disciples are to guard their eyes and hands and remove every stumbling block from their path.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible