What Does Matthew 5:28-31 Mean? Are We to Cut Off Our Offending Body Members?
1) Direct answer
Matthew 5:28–31 lifts the commandment to the heart level. Jesus says lust itself is adultery in the heart, and He tells us to deal ruthlessly with whatever causes us to stumble. He is not commanding literal mutilation, but a radical cutting off of the things and paths that feed sin. And in verse 31 He corrects the loose practice of divorce: marriage is holy; to put away a spouse without the one scriptural cause leads to adultery.
2) Scriptural explanation
- “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (v.28). The Bible also says, “Out of the heart proceed… adulteries” (Matthew 15:19). So the root is inside.
- “If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out… If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off” (vv.29–30). This is strong language showing the costliness of true repentance. Elsewhere the same warning is repeated (Mark 9:43–47).
- “It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement” (v.31). In the very next verse Jesus tightens this to God’s standard: “Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery…” (v.32). He points back to God’s original intention—one flesh, not to be broken at will.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Now notice: it isn’t the ball of the eye that sins; it’s the desire in the heart directing the eye. Pluck out one eye, can the other still lust? Cut off a hand, does that remove the thought that drives the hand? You see, the body is the instrument; the heart is the master. So Jesus calls us to “cut off” the causes and the channels—habits, places, screens, relationships, clothing, conversations, any path that feeds the fire. It’s better to lose a thing than to lose your soul.
- The true cure is an inside work: repent, believe the Gospel, and let God cleanse the heart. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Make a covenant with your eyes like Job did (Job 31:1), and walk in the Spirit so the flesh doesn’t rule you.
4) Reinforcing statement
Jesus magnified the law to the inward man. Not three steps of self-mutilation, but one decisive surrender: cut off the stumbling blocks, and let God change the heart. Guard the marriage covenant as God does, and treat sin so seriously that nothing is too costly to lay aside to keep your soul.
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Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
At Thy Word, Lord
54-0221 §43
Now, if I cut my hand here with that knife, now, there isn't enough medicine in the world can heal that hand. There isn't one thing that they got that'll heal a knife cut. No, sir. Well, if they got anything that'll heal a knife cut, it would heal the knife cut in this desk. It would heal the knife cut that was in my coat. Well, if it would heal a knife cut, it would heal it on anything. Is that right? Water, if it's wet in this building, it'll be wet outside, see. If He would heal a knife cut... "Oh," you say, "Br...
Perfect strength by perfect weakness
61-1119 §157
So let us be real Christians. Even we who try, the ones who try, we need to be cut down and boiled over. Yes, sir, we all need it. God, have mercy on me. God, take me and mold me. It's my intention, after this week, to go before God, to find out what to do next. God, take me. All's about me (and there's much) that's no good, God, cut it off, is my prayer this morning. Circumcise my heart, ears, my being. Make me, Lord, make me something that ... whatever He wants me to be. That's my prayer. "Whatever I need to be c...
Blasphemous Names
62-1104M §89
You never can join a church; you join a lodge. You're a member of a lodge, of a group of people just like a lodge is. "We believe in this; we have our orders, and we have our secrecy and so forth." You do the same way when you join a so-called church, but you cannot join church. You joined a lodge of members but not a church, for you are born into that church. And the vine itself now... Wait a minute. Watch! And I'll close, after while. Notice! Excuse me, I didn't mean to say that. Look. If God tempered this bride...
Israel and the Church: Israel at the Red Sea, part 2
53-0327 §15
You know that Christ has already took your place as a sinner. He died. God accepted Him. He rose again, sitting at the right hand of His Majesty. God said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye Him." And there He is the door, the gate, the way, the truth, the life. And how do we get into Him? He is the church. The church has everlasting life; it's already foreordained to appear without spot or blemish. God's done said it would be there; it's going to be there! Now, God done said so. So then how...
The god of this evil age
65-0801M §79
He said, "Cutting hair, what's that got to do?" Brother, let's stop here just a minute. I just feel somebody resented that. Might've been out on the wire somewhere. Listen. Hair to a woman is a Nazarite vow. Hair to Samson was a Nazarite vow. And when a woman cuts off her hair, she absolutely denies her Nazarite vow that she is a bride to Christ, because there, that one thing, she spoils the whole picture. Correctly. A Nazarite is "one that is consecrated for a purpose." Is that right? Samson was consecrated to a a...