Matthew 12:29
12:29 How 1 else can someone enter a strong man’s 2 house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can thoroughly plunder the house. 3
Matthew 18:9
18:9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to have 4 two eyes and be thrown into fiery hell. 5
Matthew 19:17
19:17 He said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Matthew 19:24
19:24 Again I say, 6 it is easier for a camel 7 to go through the eye of a needle 8 than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 25:21
25:21 His master answered, 9 ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Matthew 25:23
25:23 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’
1 tn Grk “Or how can.”
2 sn The strong man here pictures Satan.
3 sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.
4 tn Grk “than having.”
5 tn Grk “the Gehenna of fire.”
sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.
6 tn Grk “I say to you.”
7 tc A few late witnesses (579 1424 pc) read κάμιλον (kamilon, “rope”) for κάμηλον (kamhlon, “camel”), either through accidental misreading of the text or intentionally so as to soften Jesus’ words.
8 sn The eye of a needle refers to a sewing needle. (The gate in Jerusalem known as “The Needle’s Eye” was built during the middle ages and was not in existence in Jesus’ day.) Jesus was saying rhetorically that it is impossible for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom, unless God (v. 26) intervenes.
9 tn Grk “His master said to him.”