April 2026: Pluck Out the Sinning Eye

Published on 04/01/2026 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

How good a doctor would you be? Would you just alleviate the symptoms or get to the root cause of a disease to try to uproot it?

What kind of doctor is Jesus? After all, he is our great physician. Let us find out!

After having exhorted his disciples to be more righteous than the Pharisees and scribes and to obey the Torah, Lord Jesus began clarifying the specific ordinances of the Torah so they could immediately start to please God and serve humanity as the salt and light of the world. He commenced with the big one: the ordinance regarding murder.

Clarifying Teaching on Murder and Hatred

"You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever shall murder shall be in danger of the judgment.’" (Matthew 5:21, WEB)

To clarify the teaching regarding murder, Jesus first indicated that his disciples had heard, or had been told, that it was said to their forefathers, "You shall not murder" and "Whoever shall murder shall be in danger of the judgment." Note that Jesus didn't say that "It's written," but "It's said." Jesus was being specific with his wording. He was pointing out the fact that what he was about to correct was what's "told" to them by human teachers rather than "written" in the Torah by God. This is the formula or wording he used to preface any correction or clarification in order to indicate plainly that he was not correcting the Torah itself but man's interpretation of it.

Teachers taught Israel that "you shall not murder" and "whoever shall murder shall be in danger of the judgment." While "you shall not murder" is found in the Decalogue (what we call the ten commandments), the teachers were wrong to focus merely on murder without teaching people a root sin that leads to murder: unrighteous anger. We cannot prevent murder if we do not correct our root sins.

Jesus thus made this correction: "But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of the fire of Gehenna." (Matthew 5:22)

It's not just murderers who will face God's judgment but also those who are angry at their brethren without a cause. If we call our brethren, "You fool" or "Raca" (a derogatory term that means an empty-headed person) and despise them with no reason, then we'd be answerable to God.

People who hate others without a cause are considered murderers in the sight of Yahweh, as the apostle John wrote, "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn't love his brother remains in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him." (1 John 3:14-15)

The love we show to one another proves that we have passed from spiritual death to life. As we know, the Bible calls those who live in sin "dead" (e.g., Matthew 8:22). But as soon as we put our trust in Jesus Christ, we are made alive (Ephesians 2:1; John 5:24).

But those who lack love for their brethren still remain dead in their sin; they have not passed out of death into life. Their hatred for others is spiritual murder. Hatred is a sin of the heart that is the ingredient of murder, just as lust is the sin of the heart that is the ingredient of adultery. Lusting after someone is spiritual adultery (Matthew 5:28). Likewise, if you hate someone without a cause, you would not need to physically commit murder to be considered a murderer.

God judges our inner condition, such as our thoughts and motives, not just our outward deeds. If we hate others or get angry at them unjustly, then we'd be judged as spiritual murderers. No such murderers have eternal life, as haters are incompatible with life. Rather, such "murderers" are in danger of being thrown into the fire of Gehenna.

"Gehenna" is Greek for the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem. Idolatrous Israelites prior to Jesus' day sacrificed their children to the false gods, Molech and Baal, in this valley. In Jesus' day, Gehenna was used as a refuse dump where people burned garbage. It was kept constantly burning, so Jesus used it as a symbol of eternal, total destruction. Some translators incorrectly translate it as "hell."

Reconciliation Before Worship

Jesus taught his disciples, "If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23-24)

The principle that Jesus taught is: we must first be reconciled to our brethren before God accepts our worship. God disapproves of our unreasonable animosity toward others, so He won't accept our worship of Him. Therefore, we must make things right with our brethren in order to make things right with Yahweh.

When we've offended others, it's up to us to make amends. We should swallow our pride to do what is right. Then our repentance and humility will be divinely smiled upon.

A modern application of Jesus' principle is: Before we go to church, we must apologize or make recompense to the person for a sin we committed against them. Then we can go to church and worship God and be accepted by Him.

Jesus next exhorted his disciples, "Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him in the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny." (Matthew 5:25-26)

Reconciling with those whom we have wronged not only sets our relationship with God right but is also good for our own earthly life. If we fail to make amends, we may be reported to the authorities who may send us into prison or force us to pay a hefty fine. We could avoid earthly prosecution if we first compensate those we have sinned against.

Clarifying Teaching on Adultery

Regarding adultery, Jesus taught: "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28)

When teachers of the Torah taught adultery, they focused only on the physical aspect of the sin without speaking about the root sin of adultery: lust. Jesus got to the heart of the matter. People don't need to physically commit adultery in order to be seen as adulterers in God's sight. Simply lusting after someone else's spouse or lusting after someone whose not one's spouse when oneself is already married is adultery in the sight of God.

In this regard, fantasizing about a co-worker's spouse or watching porn would be adultery. So even if a married man never physically slept with a woman other than his wife, he would still be an adulterer if he watched porn or "undressed" his neighbor's wife in his mind. We call this emotional infidelity; the Bible is more blunt: it is adultery.

Our society likes to sugarcoat adultery and call it a "love affair" instead. Now, if it actually involved true love, there wouldn't be adultery in the first place. This is because genuine love does not hurt our neighbor. Love puts other people first. Adultery, on the other hand, puts yourself first. The only "love" there may be is self-love, but even with this "love," the adulterer commits this sin to their own hurt, as it results only in divine wrath against them.

Plucking Out All Causes of Sin

Many Christians focus on treating merely the symptoms, rather than the root cause of a sin, like a doctor who prescribes medicine to treat your hypertension, without telling you to lose weight when obesity is the cause of your hypertension. Jesus is not such a doctor.

Jesus said to his disciples, "If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna." (Matthew 5:29-30)

Using hyperbole, Jesus taught us that we must uproot anything that causes us to sin. If there's anything in our life that tempts or leads us to sin, we must cast it away, no matter how valuable or how much we treasure it. It's better to lose something than to lose our own life. It's better to cast away a stumbling stone than to have our own selves cast away into Gehenna.

In the context of adultery, the things we should cut out of our lives could be certain opportunities to sin. For example, if a married man is attracted to a young woman, he should not spend alone time with her. Prevention of adultery is a reason why many pastors do not visit a woman's home alone--they wisely take a ministry partner who helps them stay accountable to God.

Generally, what factors cause or contribute to our sin, other than our own sin nature? They can include various forms of entertainment, such as video games, novels, music and movies we watch. Violent video games can desensitize some kids to violence, potentially leading them to commit violent acts. Movies with sexual scenes between unmarried couples tell young people it is cool to sleep with anyone we want prior to marriage. In short, our environment shapes our worldview, and when we do not filter out ungodly influences, we will adopt and cultivate an ungodly worldview, which in turn affects our course of life.

This also applies to our associates--the people with whom we keep company. The wrong kind of company we keep can and does ruin our good character. We must choose our friends wisely. Friends have a major influence on our lives, for better or worse.

Bad friends can introduce us to bad behavior and turn us away from God. To help us stay motivated to walk on the right path, we need to surround ourselves with wise, God-fearing people who put God first in their lives. They will encourage us and keep us accountable to our Creator.

Of course, this doesn't mean we should avoid "bad people." The fact is that we've all started out as "bad people," but are given the grace and love of God to be forgiven through Jesus Christ. If God's people had all avoided us, then we might still be lost. So we must show God's love to all people, no matter who they are, so that they, too, can come to God, turn from their sinful ways to embrace God and His righteousness.

Clarifying Teaching on Divorce and Remarriage

Regarding divorce and remarriage, Jesus clarified, "It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’ but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery." (Matthew 5:31-32)

In the Torah, Yahweh permitted men to divorce their wives, but people had abused His permission to divorce their wives for any reason they so chose. All that the men had to do was to put their wives away with a certificate of divorce, and they themselves went away to take other wives.

But Jesus pointed out that the only legal reason for divorce in the sight of God is sexual immorality, such as adultery. "Sexual immorality" is translated from the Greek word "porneia," from which we get the word "porn." It is from the word "pernaō," meaning "to sell off"--a selling off of one's sexual purity, hence it refers to any sexual sin. Adultery is included. So a married person who commits any sexual sin breaks the marriage covenant, and such a sin is commonly adultery.

Jesus didn't say specifically "moichaó" ("to commit adultery"), so he was speaking of any sexual vice. A person who divorces their spouse, other than for porneia (not just moichaó), results in moichaó.

Simply put, only on the ground of sexual sin could a man or woman divorce their spouse. If a man's wife did not commit any sexual sin and he divorced her, then he would be committing adultery if he married another woman, and would cause his ex-wife to commit adultery also if she married another man. This is because God doesn't consider the divorce to have ever taken place.

This principle is taught in the Torah, but people didn't understand it or chose to ignore it, so Jesus brought it to light. This principle is taught in Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which says, "When a man takes a wife, and marries her, then it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. When she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. If the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Yahweh: and you shall not cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance."

This passage is about remarriage. If a man divorces his wife and she marries another man but then gets divorced again or her second husband dies, her first husband must not remarry her. This is because her second marriage amounts to adultery, for her first marriage was not considered abolished in God's sight. For her first husband to remarry her would be defiling or spiritually unclean. People missed the principle of this passage, so Jesus brought it out and explained it in his sermon on the mount.

How well have you been obeying the Torah? If Jesus' clarifying teaching has corrected your misunderstanding, then it is time for you to mend your ways and live according to God's Word properly, starting today!


~*~ Q&A with Dr. Shirley ~*~

Question: What shows that someone is filled with the Holy Spirit?

Answer: The evidence of a Spirit-filled person is threefold: it's shown by one's sincere confession, fruit of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gift one exercises.

As the apostle Paul said, "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' but by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:3, WEB)

A sincere confession that "Jesus is Lord" is possible only by the Spirit's guidance. Someone who does not have the Spirit will not make such a true confession. They may claim that "Jesus is Lord," but it wouldn't be sincere. They may fool people or even themselves, but they won't be able to fool God.

Someone with the Spirit will not curse Jesus. Someone without the Spirit, on the other hand, can and often does curse the Christ. When anyone speaks against Jesus, even when they claim to believe in him, then it tells us that they do not have the Spirit in them.

From this, we see that a sincere embrace of Jesus as the Lord is aided by the Spirit. Our faith is not solely of our own doing! The Spirit helps us to sincerely and whole-heartedly embrace Jesus as the Lord!

Second, Jesus noted that we know someone by the fruit (their words and actions) they produce, as a good tree wouldn't produce bad fruit. Paul contrasted the works of the flesh (sin nature) with the fruit (traits) that the Holy Spirit produces: "Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love ["agape" in Greek, self-sacrificial love], joy, peace, patience [longsuffering or patient endurance], kindness, goodness, faith [loyalty], gentleness, and self-control [temperance]. Against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:19-23)

The flesh produces all kinds of sinful attitudes and works in people, such as strife, jealousy, hatred, sexual immorality, and drunkenness. Those who live by the flesh in practice of such sins will not inherit the Kingdom of God. They will be forever condemned. Paul warned the Galatians of this while he was with them and now he warned them again lest they think they can please God without the Spirit's enablement. Without God, our works cannot please Him, as our flesh will inevitably lead us to sin.

But when we walk by or obey the Spirit, we'll produce a beautiful fruit for the glory of God. The fruit spoken here is the spiritual characteristics that Yahweh wants to develop in each Christian. Note the nine traits of the fruit. All these qualities together make up a complete fruit. Without even one element, the fruit is incomplete.

A Christian strives to live a life that honors God. The Spirit produces in them the fruit that Paul spoke of here. They have repented of their sins and continue to do so whenever they sin. Steadily, they become a better person in Christ. Only the Spirit is able to lead them thus.

Finally, each Christian is given a spiritual gift by the Holy Spirit to serve the body of Christ, and Paul mentioned some of these gifts in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. For example, my spiritual gift is teaching, and by divine illumination, I am able to teach the Bible to edify the body of Christ. The Spirit illuminates my mind to divine truths and my ministry has thus been fruitful in helping people gain a better understanding of the Scriptures. All glory be to God!


~*~ Dr. Shirley's News Flash ~*~

I've released an e-study guide for the book of Genesis titled, "Study of Genesis of the Holy Scriptures: The Beginning of Sin and Dawn of Redemption." It is suitable for both personal and group study. Grab a copy for yourself or a friend at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXY6M18Z

Proceeds will go to Unite in Love to support our brethren.

Unite in Love - Hope and Healing for Families:
https://gofundme.com/f/uniteinlove37

Do you have Bible questions and want answers? Contact Dr. Shirley and she'll be happy to answer your questions by the grace of God.

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