What the Bible says
“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
Matthew 5:28 (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.”
Matthew 5:29 (KJV)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10 (KJV)
Part of the Sermon on the Mount
These words come right after Jesus teaches that lust in the heart is already adultery. He was moving his listeners beyond the outward rule to the inner life. If sin starts in the heart, removing an eye would not cure it — a one-eyed person can still lust. That is the clue that he is speaking in vivid picture language.
Radical seriousness
Jesus often used overstatement to wake people up: a beam in your own eye, a camel through a needle. Here the point is urgency. Whatever regularly leads you into sin — a habit, a place, a screen, a relationship — deal with it decisively, even if it feels like losing a part of yourself.
The real cure
Jesus did not leave us only with a warning. The Sermon begins with blessing for the poor in spirit, and the gospel promises a new heart. The answer to a sinful heart is not self-harm but a heart made clean by God.
Common questions
Should Matthew 5:29 be taken literally?
No. Christians have always read it as deliberate overstatement. Sin comes from the heart (Mark 7:21), so the point is to cut off what leads us into sin, not to harm the body.
What does 'if thy right eye offend thee' mean?
'Offend' in the KJV means cause you to stumble into sin. Jesus is saying: remove whatever makes you stumble, however valuable it seems.