Question:

Matthew 18:9 reads, “It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”  Does this mean life on earth or eternal life in heaven?

Matthew 18:9: “And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee; it is good for thee to enter into life one-eyed, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire.”

Certainly no one will enter heaven crippled or maimed, but this passage most likely means entering eternal life having been crippled or maimed in this present life.

What about the second part of this verse?  Can a saved person be lost again and then be sent to hell?  In John 10:27-29, the Lord Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.  My Father, who gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.”

To whom was the Lord Jesus speaking in Matthew 18, and what is “the kingdom of heaven” (verse 1)?  Jesus was speaking to His disciples and the kingdom of heaven includes all who outwardly own the King.  People may become part of this kingdom by baptism or by profession of faith in Christ, but these are not necessarily saved.  Those who profess to be Christians but who continually allow their hand or foot or eye to lead them into sin are in danger of “hell fire.” True believers who have these sinful tendencies can only get the victory through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (by the fruit of “temperance” or self-control, Galatians 5:23).  Cutting off body parts (as suggested in Matthew 18:8,9) without living in the power of the Holy Spirit would not help.