If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It would be better for you to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go with two hands into hell, where the fire never goes out.
If your right eye causes you to sin, pull it out and throw it away. It’s better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
And, “It’s a stone that causes people to trip, a rock that makes them fall.” People who don’t obey the message trip and fall, just the way God planned it.
So if eating food sacrificed to idols would cause my brother or sister to fall into sin, I’ll never eat that food again. That way, I won’t ever cause them to fall.
It would be better for those people to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than for them to lead one of these little ones into sin.
But because they have no roots, they last only a short time. When trouble or suffering comes because of the message, they quickly fall away from the faith.
Let me tell you who you should be afraid of: the one who has the authority to throw you into hell after you’ve been killed. Yes, I tell you, be afraid of him.
Brothers and sisters, if I’m preaching that people have to be circumcised, then why am I getting so much resistance? If I were preaching that, then no one would be offended that they had to trust only in what Jesus did for them on the cross.
As it is written, “Look! I’m laying a stone in Zion that will cause people to trip. It’s a rock that will make them fall. The one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
Jesus told them, “You’re all going to abandon me this very night. It’s written that the Lord said, “ ‘I will strike the shepherd down, and then the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
“Then the king told his slaves, ‘Tie him up by his hands and feet and throw him outside into the darkness, where people will weep and grind their teeth.’
The man who’d received five bags of gold brought in the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you trusted me with five bags of gold. See, I’ve earned five more.’
Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You’re like a rock in my path to trip me. You’re not thinking about what God wants. You’re only thinking about what people want.”
But I tell you that anyone who loses their temper with a brother or sister will answer for it in court. Anyone who speaks scornfully to a brother or sister will face the council of elders. And anyone who dismisses someone as worthless will be in danger of the fire in hell.
“But let’s not put an obstacle in anyone’s way. Go to the lake and throw out your fishing line. Open the mouth of first fish you catch, and you’ll find a coin that’s the exact amount you need. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter life with only one hand or foot than to go with two hands or two feet into hell, where the fire burns forever.