IVP New Testament Commentary Series – Avoiding Hell Is Worth Any Price (18:8-9)
Resources chevron-right IVP New Testament Commentary Series chevron-right Matthew chevron-right RELATIONSHIPS IN THE KINGDOM (18:1-35) chevron-right Serving the Little Ones (18:1-14) chevron-right Causing a Little One to Stumble (18:6-9) chevron-right Avoiding Hell Is Worth Any Price (18:8-9)
Avoiding Hell Is Worth Any Price (18:8-9)

To paraphrase Malcolm X out of context (which is unfortunately how he is usually quoted), we must avoid hell "by any means necessary." Here the image shifts from others as the cause of stumbling to personal responsibility. Because Judaism abhorred self-mutilation (Dalman 1929:227), this is an especially stark image of the cost one must be willing to pay to avoid spiritual death. Enter life was standard shorthand for "enter the life of the coming age" (compare 19:17). The language of losing limbs was reminiscent of the price martyrs paid for their devotion to God (2 Macc 7:11; 4 Macc 10:20). According to a common Jewish belief (as in 2 Baruch 50:2-4; compare 2 Macc 7:11; 14:46), a person with missing members would be resurrected in that form before being restored.

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