THE GOSPELS
In this section:
MATTHEW 18:1-5, MARK 10:15, LUKE 18:17
MATTHEW 18:7-11, MARK 9:43-48, MATTHEW 5:27-30
MATTHEW 18:1-5, MARK 10:15, LUKE 18:17
The next passages we will explore come from Matthew 18, Mark 10:15, and Luke 18:17, starting with the teaching of Jesus in response to a question from His students,
"1 At that time the students came to Jesus and said, 'Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, 'Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;'" (Matthew 18:1-5)
"15 Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all." (Mark 10:15, cf. Luke 18:17)
There are two primary views of this passage that are according to the NEST that we will explore. One is that Christ's students are already in the New Covenant, in the kingdom of heaven, which equates to being saved, and so according to this NEST interpretation, though in the kingdom of heaven at this time, the students can be kicked out of it by not becoming like children. By not becoming like children, they lose their salvation. The other NEST view of this verse asserts that this verse means that some kind of sin, other than humbly receiving Messiah Jesus as Lord and Savior, can keep one from entering the kingdom of heaven, therefore, not entering into salvation.
The NEST is wrong, and it is easy to understand why, in that the NEST is making the same mistake that the students of Jesus made in asking their question. Christ's students asked, as Young's Literal Translation so precisely words their question, and makes it come to life in clear words that pinpoint the concern;
"Who, now, is greater in the reign of the heavens?" (Matthew 18:1 YLT)
Notice that Jesus did not answer this question by saying that any of them are there in the reign of the heavens to begin with, and then go on to expound on what that means, and so forth. One huge reason why Jesus did not give such an answer, is because such an answer is not the point that Jesus wants to make. Of course Jesus is the great King, as He declared to Pontius Pilate in John 18:37, but Jesus also declared to Pilate that His kingdom was not of that world or else His servants would be fighting so that He would not be handed over to the Jews, (cf. John 18:36), but in point of fact, Jesus was handed over to the Jews according to God's predetermined, mysterious plan. Jesus goes on to tell Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this realm." Certainly many of these students are sincerely following the true Messiah, who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, so in that respect, they are serving their King in some kind of realm. He is, after all, the great God, as the second person of The trinity that He is, (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Further, He is the Davidic King who fulfills, as the sinless One, the throne of David, thus breaking the curse on Solomon's descendants; culminating in the halting of the Davidic kings in 604 BC. Nevertheless, Jesus does not answer His students with any of that either. Jesus does not give any of those answers because that is not what His students are wondering about. His students are wondering about themselves. They want to know what their own ruling position, and status is. They want to know "who, now, is greater." In His answer, Jesus simply tells them what it takes to enter into the kingdom of heaven. They must be "converted" which is a work of God that is wrought in the heart in regeneration. Additionally, they must become like children, and Jesus set a child in their midst to illustrate. So, Jesus is explaining the great necessity of being converted and becoming like children before they can even enter the soon coming, yet everlasting, spiritual aspect of the New Covenant kingdom of heaven. Jesus is talking about a necessity of the New Covenant, but the students are only getting the basic principles. Jesus is not giving them the vast details of the mystery of His soon coming rejection which brings blessing to the world. Further, Jesus explains that whoever humbles himself as the child that Jesus has there before them; it is that one who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, we recognize that these passages do not remotely suggest that one can lose one's eternal spiritual salvation, gain eternal spiritual salvation, or keep it secure through humanistic self effort.
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MATTHEW 18:7-11 MARK 9:43-48, MATTHEW 5:27-30
Jesus is continuing with various points as He teaches in Matthew 18, and says, starting in verse 7,
"7 Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. 9 If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. 10 See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 18:7-10)
We read the same teaching in Mark 9,
"43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, ... 45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, ... 47 If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell," (Mark 9:43-47)
Jesus used similar hyperbole in His great sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, in speaking of what it takes to keep from having thoughts of adultery, (Matthew 5:27-30)
According to typical NEST assertions concerning these passages, what Jesus is teaching is that a truly saved person can lose salvation by sinning too much, or by sinning certain NEST defined sins, called "stumbling" sins. The remedy, then, is to not sin, and in keeping with the language of the parable, is for saved people to remove that part of themselves that causes them to stumble, and in so doing, they will guarantee that they will remain saved from eternal doom in hell. There may be someone who holds to the NEST who actually believes that saved people should cut off hands, and cut out eyes to keep from sinning, but such are rare indeed, if such NEST devotees exist at all. As a certainty, there are some who say that this is an illustration of the fact that something serious needs to be done to one's self so as to guarantee that one does not sin one's way out of salvation. To the detriment of the foundation of the NEST, those who believe in the NEST can not give a fitting parallel to self mutilation, that accurately, consistently, and clearly follows Christ's teaching from point to point.
The NEST is wrong about asserting that this parable means that a saved person can lose salvation because of sinning, and as a primary consideration, we must recognize that Jesus is speaking in exaggerated terms to make His true point, (rather than the fictional point that the NEST suggests). To demonstrate the hyperbole that Jesus uses here, we can have a little fun by going through a hypothetical analyzation of the physical structure of the common Christian. Since typically, militant NEST proponents posit themselves as experts in these matters, we specifically want to look at their own bodies.
First, lets look at their hands. If they are missing one, or both, then we must ask if they cut off their hands to keep from stumbling out of salvation. Next, look at their feet. If they are missing one, or even both, then ask them if they cut off their feet to keep from stumbling. Now notice their eyes. Do they have their eyes?--or did they pluck out those wretched Satanic windows of the soul that are thought to be what causes them to stumble out of the clutches of the Savior and into the bottomlessness of the bottomless pit? The answer, we rightly suspect, is that they have not actually mutilated their bodies in such a fashion. Now, if a Christian has indeed mutilated the body in such a fashion, then really, what is left to cut off? After all, they are daily confronted with their sinful hearts, and their sinful minds. The heart and the mind, of the old nature in fallen Adam, causes Christians to stumble each and every day. What is left to do then? Shall the desperate, sinning Christian, cut out their insides? Since the heart, or bowels, of the inner man aspect of us, is generally agreed to be equated with the mind, then what is there left to do but cut the head off at the throat? "Absurd!" someone may declare, but is this not the plain and obvious meaning of the text? Is this not the grammatical literal method of interpretation? Or, as one NEST philosopher felt compelled to ask with words, "Don't words have meaning?" Answering with words that have meaning, let us put all such silliness aside, as we go on to ask the real question. The real question we are concerned with is whether NEST interpretations of Biblical passages have meritorious meaning. The point that is being made here in this illustration of the hypothetical mutilating self sacrificer who is working hard to sacrifice himself to earn, gain, or keep salvation, is that Christians generally operate in the practical sense like they understand that Jesus is using exaggerated, and metaphoric language. The reason why Christians typically act that way, is not solely because they are afraid of mutilating their bodies, but rather, it is because using exaggerated and metaphoric language is exactly what Jesus is doing here. But, even after we recognize that this is Christ's way of making an illustration for magnified effect, we still must consider that Jesus says that if your body parts, themselves, cause you to stumble, then cut them off. Again, this must be more poetic language about the causes of sin, because, after all, it is, in fact, you, the person--it is you the self, which is you in your sin nature who causes yourself to stumble. James explains this well in putting the blame where it is due. Using more colorful and poetic language, he gets the point across clearly, saying,
"13 Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." (James 1:13-15)
The main point is that each of us saved people is completely responsible for our sin, in that we saved people are the ones who want to sin when we sin, and so we choose to sin, and then we do sin. We must ask then, if such be the case--that it is really you who causes you to sin, then does that mean that you should cut your whole self off by cutting yourself into a million pieces? No. So we recognize that Jesus, in using those body parts for His illustration, is purposely expressing that the cause of stumbling is something else. Realizing this, we need to get at what Christ means. To further understand this, we must recognize, that in the context, Christ starts out identifying what causes this stumbling, and where. Jesus previously gave warning to anyone, (as in any person), who would cause a little one who believes, to stumble. Again, we can surmise that Jesus is not saying that little ones who believe, should cut up the people who cause them to stumble. Nevertheless, Jesus is talking about anyone who causes His people to stumble. Further, Jesus is talking about specific people. In Matthew 18:7, which is the key verse; we read that Jesus says,
"woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!" (Matthew 18:7
We see then, that Jesus makes it clear in the outset of His illustrations, that it is the whole person in these two examples--it is "the man" that is the cause of stumbling. In the context, Messiah rejecting Old Covenant Israelites, particularly those Scribes and Pharisees, are those who cause those little ones of "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" who are turning to Messiah, to stumble. This is exactly why Jesus condemned them in Matthew 23:13, saying,
"13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." (Matthew 23:13)
It is with all that said, and based upon the context, that this is easy to understand to be Jesus expressing the seriousness of the sin of not believing in Him as the promised Messiah sent to Israel, and further, of causing other Israelites to stumble by trying to convince them that Jesus is not the promised Messiah. An Israelite of the promise can stumble by not humbling himself as a little child to follow His Messiah who was pledged to come according to the ancient prophecies. To follow Messiah is radically different from most of the Jews who are rejecting Jesus as the promised Messiah King that He is. The overarching subject of Jesus pronouncement of woes, and the great need to recognize and eliminate stumbling blocks in receiving Him as the promised Messiah is expressed in the context. The context itself expresses the necessity of believing that He is the Messiah, and so Jesus is showing how serious it is to not believe in Him. It is not merely some small trifle. In reiteration, notice the context; directly before going into one's own personal stumbling block causes, Jesus says this,
"6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." (Matthew 18:6)
Those little ones of Israel are already humbly believing in Jesus as their Messiah. The stumbling block, then, is in the first respect--to make an Israelite little one, who is believing in Messiah in the salvific manner, to stumble and waver in respect to humbly following Jesus while Jesus is ministering and announcing His kingdom to Israel. The cause of stumbling was primarily coming from the religious leadership, who were the scribes and Pharisees. This is why Jesus warns one of His followers, in that key verse, saying, woe to the man who brings stumbling blocks,
"7 Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!" (Matthew 18:7)
Further, the accountability, and consequence, of each individual Israelite in personal stumbling, and not believing in Messiah, is still the issue. It is so grave to stumble and reject Messiah, that in comparison it would be better for Israelites to maim themselves than to reject their Messiah. This is why Jesus says over and over again that "it would be better for you" to be crippled through self mutilation (cf. Matthew 5:29), than to reject Him. In like manner, it is so grave to cause stumbling, that it would be better to have a giant rock tied to one's neck and dropped in the sea.
Therefore, this passage does not remotely suggest that someone under the New Covenant who is saved spiritually, can either lose their eternal spiritual salvation, maintain keeping spiritual salvation secure, or gain eternal spiritual salvation through humanistic self effort.
