"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Matthew 5:27-30
Next Jesus addresses how seriously we should be in our struggle against sin, whether sins committed physically, or in the secret recesses of our hearts: At all costs!
Jesus employs the literary device of hyperbole. Hyperbole is overstating a point to make the point dramatically. When Jesus bids us to pluck out sinful eyes and cut off sinful hands, He is clearly speaking hyperbolically. How do we know this?
There is nothing in the Bible that suggests that God receives delight in our self-disfigurement. Beyond that, since the point Jesus is making is about the connection between sins committed physically and sins committed in our hearts, why would He suggest a physical solution to a spiritual problem?
I remember reading Joni Eareckson Tada’s autobiography, “Joni.” In the book about her being paralyzed, she shared coming to the realization that she was capable of sinning even though she could do nothing physically. All sin is a heart problem before the body is involved.
Jesus’ point is not to get us to disfigure ourselves in our warring with our sin. It is to get us to see how radically we must be prepared to be in that war. Our desperation to turn from sin is to be so serious that it is as though we would be willing to disfigure ourselves. We must strive against sin at all costs. And though this striving includes denying ourselves physically, the battle is a spiritual battle.
This principle is true when it comes to sexual sin, but it is no less true regarding any and every kind of sin.