Mark, Chapter 9, verses 41-50
38 Dire Warnings41 For whoever gives you a cup of water to drinkybecause of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward. | |
42 “Whoever causes one of thesezlittle ones who believe to stumble, itaawould be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, heabhad been cast into the sea. 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 intoachell, into the unquenchable fire, 44 [adwhere THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] 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 intoaehell, 46 [afwhere THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] 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 intoaghell, 48 where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED. | |
49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will youahmake it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” |
Read more:Mark, Chapter 10
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9:41 For whosoever shall give you a cup - Having answered St. John, our Lord here resumes the discourse which was broken off at the 37th verse. Mar 9:37. Mat 10:42.
9:42 On the contrary, whosoever shall offend the very least Christian. Mat 18:6; Luk 17:1.
9:43 And if a person cause thee to offend - (The discourse passes from the case of offending, to that of being offended) if one who is as useful or dear to thee as a hand or eye, hinder or slacken thee in the ways of Cod, renounce all intercourse with him. This primarily relates to persons, secondarily to things. Mat 5:29; Mat 18:8.
9:44 Where their worm - That gnaweth the soul, (pride, self will, desire, malice, envy, shame, sorrow, despair,) dieth not - No more than the soul itself: and the fire (either material, or infinitely worse!) that tormenteth the body, is not quenched for ever. Isa 66:24.
9:49 Every one - Who does not cut off the offending member, and consequently is cast into hell, shall be, as it were, salted with fire, preserved, not consumed thereby whereas every acceptable sacrifice shall be salted with another kind of salt, even that of Divine grace, which purifies the soul, (though frequently with pain) and preserves it from corruption.
9:50 Such salt is good indeed; highly beneficial to the world, in respect of which I have termed you the salt of the earth.But if the salt which should season others, have lost its own saltness, wherewith will ye season it? - Beware of this; see that ye retain your savour; and as a proof of it, have peace one with another. More largely this obscure text might be paraphrased thus: - As every burnt offering was salted with salt, in order to itsbeing cast into the fire of the altar, so every one who will not part with his hand or eye, shall fall a sacrifice to Divine justice, and be cast into hell fire, which will not consume, but preserve him from a cessation of being. And on the other hand, every one, who, denying himself and taking up his cross, offers up himself as a living sacrifice to God, shall be seasoned with grace, which like salt will make him savoury, and preserve him from destruction for ever. As salt is good for preserving meats, and making them savoury,so it is good that ye be seasoned with grace, for the purifying your hearts and lives, and for spreading the savour of my knowledge, both in your own souls, and wherever ye go. But as salt if it loses its saltness is fit for nothing, so ye, if ye lose your faith and love, are fit for nothing but to be utterly destroyed. See therefore that grace abide in you, and that ye no more contend, Who shall be greatest. Mat 5:13; Luk 14:34.