ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Tokonaki ‘Epeleli 24, 2021 

And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off…

Pea ka ‘oku fakatūkia koe ‘e ho nima, pe ko ho va‘e, tu‘usi…

Matiu 18 (Matthew 18)

(v. 8-9) 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

(v. 8-9) 8 Pea ka ‘oku fakatūkia koe ‘e ho nima, pe ko ho va‘e, tu‘usi, pea li‘aki atu: ‘oku ngutuhua ange ke ke a‘u ki he mo‘ui nima taha pe ve‘e taha, ‘i he lī koe nima ua pe ve‘e ua ki he afi ta‘engata. 9 Pea ka ‘oku fakatūkia koe ‘e ho mata, kape‘i ia, ‘o li‘aki atu: ‘oku ngutuhua ange ha‘o a‘u mata taha ki he mo‘ui, ‘I ho lī mata ua ki he afi ‘o Heli.

 

*Commentary: The Reformation Bible Study*

18:8, 9 Repeating His point from the Sermon on the Mount (5:29), Jesus insists that temptation to sin be resisted at all costs. Yet He has shown that the causes of sin are found not in the body's members (hand, foot, eye) but in the hidden treasury of one's heart (12:33-37; 15:17-20).

Mat 12:33-37  “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad,  for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

(15:17-20)17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”