“For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” -2 Timothy 1:7. Bold type added to emphasize.
It is vital that we commit ourselves to studying God's Word for understanding, because a lot of damage can been done through undirected enthusiasm for Jesus Christ. Not everything in the Bible should be taken literally, though many things can be. We must learn to read the entire passage of scripture for understanding, but also taking it in the context of the entire Bible. Special care should be taken not to add to the Word or diminish it, and we often do this by presuming a passage means or implies something it doesn't plainly say.
“And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." -Luke 4:4.
"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." -Proverbs 30:5,6.
One example of mishandling the actual words of God can even be found amongst the disciples in the book of John 21:20-23, where it is testified that some assumed Jesus was saying that John would not die, but this wasn't the case. Please read this short account for yourself.
But most believers are familiar with Jesus' words when He said that if a person's hand or foot is causing them to sin, it is better that they should cut it off; and not be cast into Hell with their body intact. While there is NO DOUBT that this is literally true, we don't take it as an instruction, and we don't see anyone actually doing it, do we? Frankly, it wouldn't be a common sense thing to do, and God does give His people the spirit of a sound mind, as our opening scripture tells us. Yet the passage referred to here is found 3X in the gospels; Matthew 5:29,30; 18:8,9; and Mark 9:43-48. For our purpose, we'll use the one from Matthew 5:29&30;
"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
The first reasons for not mutilating ourselves should be obvious; we need to take care of our bodies because we rely on them, and so do others. Cutting off body parts would be a poor witness, and no one would become a Christian! In addition to this, we'd become a burden to all those near to us, instead of a blessing. The Bible also provides other views CONTRARY to self-mutilation;
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." -I Corinthians 3:16,17.
"So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." -Ephesians 5:28-30.
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." -3 John 2.
Yet when we look at the passage from Matthew 5:29&30, Jesus calls the body parts members, and this well correlates to members of the body of Christ that are referred to later;
"For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many." -I Corinthians 12:12-14.
Now we begin to get a clearer picture, or at least another application of these passages. The Bible wouldn't advocate for anyone to literally cut off their limbs, but it could promote cutting off individuals from the BODY OF CHRIST, which is the true church. An entire chapter of the New Testament addresses one such hurtful situation, found in I Corinthians 5. Please read the complete chapter for yourself, it is only 13 verses, but it concludes with;
"Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person."
So we conclude that Jesus never meant for us literally to pluck out our eyes, or to cut off our hands and feet. We can conclude this from the sound mind God gave to us, as well as from a view of the entire Bible; in which we find examples of Jesus & the disciples healing, not inflicting hurt. And there is yet one more incident in the gospels that helps prove Jesus never literally meant us to physically hurt ourselves in our struggle against sin...
In John 5, Jesus mercifully heals an impotent man at the pool by the sheep market in Jerusalem;
"And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath." -John 5:5-9.
What had led to that man's pitiful state? When Jesus finds that man again later, the implication is clear-it had been caused by his sin;
"And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." -John 5:13,14.
Jesus HEALED the impotent man, despite the sin! I imagine that man wasn't sinning a great deal while he was lying at the pool, but the Lord didn't restrain him there to "help" him against sin; He had mercy, and gave him back health.
Infirmities aren't always caused by sin (John 9:1-3), but God meant for us to be healthy. I thank the Lord we can look forward to the day when infirmities will exist only in our memories.
"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." -Isaiah 53:5.
"And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." -Revelation 22:1-3.
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