Dennis L. Finnan Commentator
"The World, the Word & You! Broadcast"

AN EYE FOR AN EYE?

“WHENEVER CRITICISM COMES AGAINST CHRISTIANITY AND ITS BIBLE, IT INVARIABLY TOUCHES ON THE HARD SAYINGS OF SCRIPTURE. IN PARTICULAR, THE HARSH STATEMENTS FOUND IN THE LAW OF MOSES & THE WORDS OF JESUS…”

 I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about one of the hardest sayings found in the Bible, “an eye for an eye” Stay tuned…

…Moses the Law Giver, sent from God, wrote in the Book of Exodus,

Exo 21:23-25 (NASB)  “But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

From this lesson of Old Testament law, many nations of people have followed this in a much-perverted manner, not to mention rejecting the God of Moses and His Word, for such a harsh statement as this. Why even the Lord Jesus Christ gave a similar hard saying when before the multitudes He said,

Mat 5:29 (NKJV)  “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.

Muhammad, the founder of Islam read these Scriptures like many of his day, and chose to follow it to the letter of the text in which these thoughts are found. In many Muslim controlled lands, a thief caught, publicly gets his actual hand cut off.

Now is this what the Bible teaches and Christianity is to uphold and say is inspired writings and teachings? Well today we’ll explore this, and find the real story and truth God wants you to know, and its further implications on how it affects even you today in this modern age in which we live. But let’s pause one more time to listen to this…

…Moses’ teaching on the Law of retaliation seems so harsh when one reads the text in our modern society. We cannot imagine demanding as a penalty for breaking laws “eye for an eye.” If someone causes another to lose his eye, must we submit that individual to have his eye plucked out? Many believe this is the law of the Bible or the “law of the tooth.” Well let’s examine God’s Word and find out what we are to know about it, and can learn from it.

To begin, we must NEVER read or make a judgment about a biblical text without learning of its CONTEXT. If we do, all we create is a PRETEXT. In this passage of an “eye of an eye,” we read the prior words to its setting,

Exo 21:22-27 (NASB)  “And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. 23 “But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. 26 “And if a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye. 27 “And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.”

Now within that passage lies the infamous statements that for many, calls for what some think is a vigilante approval of getting even for crimes committed against individuals in society. However, in the context, these legislations as you can see, were NOT given to individuals in society. It was “law” legislation given to “judges,” appointed to rule and care for the peace and keeping of a lawful society. It was never intended to allow individuals to avenge their own injuries or losses as they saw fit. These laws were given for administering fair justice when wrongs, serious or minor, were perpetrated against members of society. Simply stated, the LEX TALIONIS, “law of the tooth” or law of retaliation was exclusively given to society to deal with sinful wrongdoing committed against it and individuals. 

Now if we compare it to today’s law of Western society, which is built on a biblical basis, it is regulation of law for assigning just penalty, compensation and restitution for damages done. In criminal law there is to be punishment, in civil law there is to be compensation. But how does a justice administer it? Is punishment to be the same for stealing an apple from a grocery store, as looting a corporation of its assets, thus ruining the retirement funds of tens of thousands such as the ENRON case before America now? The answer obviously is NO! The expression an “eye for an eye,” simply meant any punishments must “FIT THE CRIME,” no more and no less. The greatest penalty for wrongdoing in society was found in the preceding verse I just read. Listen again,

Exo 21:22-23 (NASB)  “And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. 23 “But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life,

You see, if a woman accidentally is injured but her personal life was spared, the justices were to monetarily compensate the loss of the unborn baby to the mother and her family. But even if she was accidentally killed by two men fighting, the loss of her life was serious enough to warrant even the death penalty. The phrase an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and a life for a life was simply a call to administer proper and fair justice and not to go overboard, or fail to properly order a just punishment and or compensation for crimes committed.

Religiously based societies today such as Islam, who cut off the hands of thieves caught, is a gross perversion of God’s Word, and a cruel and uncalled for law in their societies among many other.

But what about Jesus’ statement? His too reflect son this eye statement. Jesus said in ,

Mat 5:29 (KJV)  And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

It is again unfortunate; that some translators erred in bringing to the public a proper rendering of the text I quoted for you. Particularly, the King James and New King James translations, “missed the boat” here and has led to erroneous conclusions. The English verb “offend” used here, is an old English word that has totally lost its meaning to us today. It means “to trip up, to cause one to stumble and fall down”

In effect the text should be rendered: “Don’t let your eye(s) lead you into sin!” that is what Jesus actually said! The context of Jesus’ words, were talking about, is the sin of adultery and sexual promiscuity. Jesus was saying, if you are allowing your eyes to be the source of leading you to this sin, do what is necessary to stop it! The Phrase “cut it out,” was to say take drastic action to stop sinning in this manner, for the consequences are enormous. Amazingly enough, the people of biblical times understood the difference between literal teachings and figurative. This was an effective figurative statement that meant, you are to do whatever it takes to stop sinning in the particular manner described. Why? For adultery or any premarital or extra marital sexual relationships are sinful, and anyone who continues in this sin, will ultimately face the judgment of an eternal Hell fire! That’s pretty serious, and should be impetuous enough to STOP committing or to even think of sexually sinning!

Now, there is no record of anyone self-mutilating himself in this manner of say cutting off his hand(s) or plucking out his eye(s), for such sins as theft or adultery. So remember, we must not take the Bible’s teachings out of the context it is written in, when we read it. Both these Old and New Testament texts simply affirm there are degrees of punishment and societal justices alone are the ones to adjudicate violations of the law and study each case individually to be sure fairness of punishment and compensation is decreed. As to personal sins, we are the judge and we must carefully manage our own lives. 

Now this leads me to a more important matter to discuss and understand. All this teaches that the God of the Bible, our Creator is a just and holy God, who will by no means tolerate nor clear the habitual guilty. Yet, all the human race we are told by God is guilty of breaking His eternal law of the Universe. Who’s to judge? Not you or me. God alone is the judge, and He has promised to render a just and fair sentence for lawbreakers living in his borrowed world. This is the story of the Bible, the warnings and call for us all to take heed. You see my friend, we have already broken God’s law and are under the sentence passed for such crimes. What is the crime? What is the sentence?

The crime is we have failed to live according to God’s strict requirement for life in His world and universe. We are told plainly in the Bible, God only permits His highest creation of angels and men to live here with His blessings, “if” we live a perfect and sinless life as judged by His rules found in the Bible. Ah the truth is, the whole human race has failed already and now stands condemned. Listen to the Bible’s call,

James 2:10 (NLT)  And the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as the person who has broken all of God’s laws.

First of all, it is not good enough to obey a majority of God’s law. We must obey ALL, none excepted or we are guilty of all, so says God. He doesn’t judge on a curve or scale of weighing the good verses the evil. Moreover God’s Word says,

Rom 2:12 (NASB)  For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law; and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law;

Rom 2:15-16 (NASB)  in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

Secondly, God says no one is innocent of breaking His laws, for whether they had a copy of the Bible or not, God wrote them in our hearts. From the pagan in the jungle to the most righteous in our sophisticated Western society – all know it is wrong to steal, cheat, to murder another human being, to commit adultery, to abuse or injure another and so on. Yet, we do these very things, even if just in our thoughts. The Bible covers this and says,

Prov 23:7 (NNAS)  “For as he thinks within himself, so he is…”

The result is, if we are to live freely in God’s universe and not be under the penalty of God’s Law we must be absolutely perfect and sinless before God. For the universe and the world are His and He require absolute perfection just as He is. Now where does that put you and me? The Bible says,

Rom 3:23 (NASB)  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Rom 6:23 (NASB)  For the wages of sin is death…”

This is a terrible state to be in, yet the whole world is, and is under this judgment. The death spoken of here is we’ll all end up in a place called HELL, that is the second death, which is a judgment for failing to live up to God’s perfect standard. Now that’s the “bad news,” but thanks be to God, here is the “good news!”

Because God loves the human race, He has provided a way for all sinners and law-breakers, from the least to the worst, to be spared of the penalty coming. Now, in order to do this and still be just, God had to still carry out the sentence He decreed on the world before He even created it. How was He going to be able to do this? Mankind sinned and only mankind could pay the penalty. The answer?

God chose even before he created the world, knowing all humanity would be sinners, The Triune God decided to save the world of lost sinners, by becoming a MAN HIMSELF! This is the story of Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second Person of the Triune God of Creation. We read of this in,

John 3:16-17 (NASB)  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.

Rom 5:8 (NASB)  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

I’ve often quoted these verses, only because they in the simplest terms tell us the GOOD NEWS of the Bible. Yes, God is just, but God is also love. God is fair and God is merciful too. It doesn’t matter how deep your sin, or how long you’ve sinned, God wants to rescue you because He loves you. He died on that cross at Calvary so as a human being, the infinite GOD/MAN Jesus paid for your sins and mine. All of them, none excluded! Now He offers to all humanity, this legal transaction, because God accepted it, as the great Judge of the Universe. But the question is, is it applied to any human being? The answer is not until they come and personally receive this substitutionary sacrifice transaction, by recognizing Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord of their lives. Now the cost is free to all who will come, but to all who ignore and avoid it – there remains only the fearful future of an eternal everlasting punishment in the fires of Hell. You can believe it or not, but the day is coming when you die, you will awake either in the presence of God’s love and companionship, or in the presence of fire, darkness and aloneness forever and ever in Hell. Now where the justice? Let me quickly share it with you.

Those who are perishing in Hell, that is all who have not turned to Christ, for them there will be DEGREES OF PUNISHMENT in eternity, just as there will be DEGREES OF REWARD in Heaven! We read in the Bible,

Rev 20:15 (NASB)  And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

There is no exception to this. You can be a good kind person, a faithful religionist, even a church goer, but none of that can save us. Sin is a unique absolute force of evil, from the least to the greatest and must be judged. Christ is the only payment acceptable to God the Father for sin. So if your name is not found written down in the Lamb’s Book of life as one who trusted in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation and forgiveness of sins, you will be cast forever into the burning Lake of Fire, period! But in God’s justice, know this ¾  all in the eternal Hell fire will not suffer the same depth of punishment. Here again is God’s fairness and justice.

Mat 11:20-24 (NASB)  Then He [Jesus] began to reproach the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent… 22 “Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. 23 “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. 24 “Nevertheless I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

These and other passages of Scripture (Mat. 23:14; Mark 3:28-29; John 19:11) all reflect the Lord’s fairness, in saying the amount of spiritual knowledge and light a person had, and how he or she sinned against it, will ultimately determine the depth of punishment in Hell. Hell will be awful and terrible for all who enter forever, but those who sinned more greatly against the light of God’s love and law will suffer the greatest. The Terrorist bombers of the World Trade Center and other great crimes of humanity, these perpertrators will suffer the greatest as compared to the one who simply rejected Christ and lived for self while here on the earth. All this points to the fact that God is truly just and He is love.

The Old Testament Law of Retaliation, one day will be carried out against all humanity but in fairness and truth. The question is today ¾ “why will you die when you do not have to?” Why will you aimlessly march on to a Christless eternity, blindly ignoring the signposts along life’s way calling you to receive God’s free gift of forgiveness? My friend, it costs you nothing to be saved, but it cost God everything, for He gave us His Son Jesus Christ who died for you in order for you to live!

Look up into the heavens and right now cry out ...

“Oh God, I’ve never really understood this love you have for me. I know I am a sinner and I’ve done wrong. My conscience convicts me. But now I know you loved me so much, that you died for my sins, and offer to me now the forgiveness of them all. Best of all, you offer Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. I accept Him now , and yield myself to His rule and purpose for my life. Grant me now the ability to love Him and live for Him, and your promised gift of eternal life so I may never perish. I ask this in Jesus’ precious Name. Amen.”

If you prayed this prayer for the first time or anew, listen to Jesus’ response to you,

John 6:47 (NASB)  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

John 10:27-28 (NASB)   “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish…”

May the knowledge of God’s love ever keep you, and may His Law of Retaliation for sin never be judged upon you, because of Jesus Christ…

…An “eye for an eye,” is certainly ominous and difficult to understand apart from the context God gives it. But its only meaning in Scripture is, God designed human life after His own justice. Fair and just compensation and punishments must be adjudicated for crimes committed. Nothing less will do. May God grant you a clear understanding of the justice system of God that begins here on earth and is carried out throughout all eternity.

·         Radio talk #1002

·         Broadcast date: March 10, 2002

·         Speaker: Dennis L. Finnan, Commentator

·         Program: The World, the Word & You! Radio Broadcast

·         Address: P.O. Box 40133 Grand Junction, CO 81504

The World, the Word & You! Broadcast is a non-denominational ministry based on the historic fundamental evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures. A copy of our doctrinal statement is available upon request. These weekly radio commentaries are not exhaustive studies of any particular subject due to the time limit of broadcasting. Actual broadcasts can be heard in selected areas around the nation, as funding provides. Dennis Finnan has been the speaker for over 22 years, and serves as General Director.

These transcripts are available free of charge to all who desire them. Also available are actual radio cassette tapes and printed booklets of each message. A free listing of recent messages is available upon request also.