Anchor My Faith

The Seriousness of Sin

Scripture: Mark 9:43-49

In our previous lesson, we considered the severity of God’s judgment of those who tempt others to sin and for the importance of each one of us to be careful that we don’t in some way become a hinderance in the spiritual growth of others. In this lesson we will look at the seriousness of our sin.

^{Mk 9:43} “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. ⁴⁵ And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷ And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸ ‘where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 49 For everyone will be salted with fire.”

In these verses, Jesus uses an intentional overstatement (hyperbole) to show that the seriousness of sin is of greater importance to God than is the value of a hand, a foot, or an eye is to us. These body parts may have been used to suggest the kind of sin (metonymy) each is associated with. Thinking back to previous lessons, the hand could be associated with the sin of murder, the foot in taking someone to a place where sin is committed, and the eye in seeing things that one might covet, or lust after, or commit adultery with.

In using these body parts, Jesus is not suggesting that we remove them to prevent sin as they are not the root of sin. In Mark 7:20 – 23 (Lesson H319), Jesus said, ²⁰ “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” The problem lies in the heart of man, not in the body parts that are used in the sin.

These words of Jesus serve as a serious warning that our sin, if not dealt with, can lead us to hell where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. For the context of “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched,” one must look back to Isaiah 66:24 ESV: “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” The enemies of God would be slain, and their bodies placed in heaps and then infested by worms that would live as long as there were bodies. These piles bodies would be cleaned up by building fires over them, which would burn as long as there were bodies to burn. This is not to say that there will be worms and fire in hell. These terms may simple suggest the severe misery and suffering that will take place there for an eternity.

The statement: “For everyone will be salted with fire.” is a puzzling statement, that occurs only in Mark, and has many proposed interpretations. A description of three of these interpretations can be found in the footnotes of the ESV Study Bible for Mark 9:49.

Conclusion

Sin is serious but there is a solution. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God saw our bondage and sent Jesus to provide our deliverance. Let us take care not to miss our opportunity.