Let us continue through all the uses of fire in Matthew, as listed here. Shrewd observers will note that I have skipped an instance of the word fire in Matthew 17:15, in this instance the phrase is being used to describe an epileptic who often falls into fire or water, who Jesus subsequently heals.  I am glossing over this use since my concern here is mostly with fire in the sense that we have been considering recently, in the context of judgment day or punishment for the wicked.  Fire’s appearance in Matthew 18:8-9 is a more interesting example in that sense. To get a fuller sense of the context, let’s look at vv. 1-9 below:

[1] In this hour, the disciples came to Jesus saying: who therefore is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven? [2] And summoning a child, he set it in the middle of them [3] and said: truly I say to you, lest you turn and become as the child, you will surely not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. [4] Whoever therefore humbles himself as this child, this man is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven. [5] And whoever would receive this one child upon my name, shall receive me. 

[6] But whoever would cause to stumble one of these little ones faith in me, it would be better for this man to hang a millstone turned by a donkey around his neck and to plunge into the depths of the sea. [7] Woe to the cosmos from the causes of stumbling: for it is necessary for the causes of stumbling to come, except woe to the person by whom the cause of stumbling comes. [8] But if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, chop it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life crooked or lame than while having two hands or two feet to be thrown into the aeonian fire . [9] And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you.  It is better to enter into life with one eye than while having two eyes to be cast into Gehenna of fire. 

There are a couple of related words that are repeated throughout this passage, σκανδαλίζω skandalizō and σκάνδαλον skandalon, which are used in multiple places in this passage and which I have translated as “caused to stumble” or “causes of stumbling.” It is apparently the case (I have learned just now while reviewing their definitions for this blog post) that they are both related to a word that describes the stick that supports or springs a trap.  The first, σκανδαλίζω skandalizō, is a verb that means to make stumble, to give offense, or to throw difficulties in someone’s way.  It is the root for our word “scandalize.” The second, σκάνδαλον skandalon, is a trap that has been laid, a stumbling block, offense, or scandal. 

These are both pretty common words in the New Testament and they tend to be used to describe worldly impediments that keep you from the Kingdom of God. Translating these consistently as caused to stumble/causes of stumbling is somewhat clunky, but I did want to highlight the consistency of the usage throughout the passage.  It is also interesting that these words for snare or impediment are used so often to describe sin or error, and it creates this strong sense that sin or error are stumbles that one makes on the (straight and narrow) path of righteousness. 

Verses 8-9 are also interesting because they closely resemble Matthew 5:29-30, which I will quote below (starting from vv. 27 so that you have the full context of the passage):

[27] You have heard that it was said Do not commit adultery. [28] But I say to you that everyone who seeing a woman comes to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. [29] If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you.  For it is better for you so that one of your members should be destroyed than that your whole body should be cast into Gehenna. [30] And if your right hand causes you to stumble, chop it off and cast it from you.  For it is better that one of your members should be destroyed than that the whole of your body should depart into Gehenna. 

In both of these passages, the word “Gehenna,” which refers to a valley that actually exists near Jerusalem, is commonly translated as “hell” (both the NIV and NRSV do so). But what is actually being referred to is the physical resurrection of the dead in the world, their judgment before God, and then assignment to Gehenna, this valley that exists in the world, for punishment.  Matthew 18:8 describes this punishment as what I have translated as “aeonian fire.” The actual Greek here is τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰωνιον to pyr to aeōnion. Remember, the Greek word αἰών aiōn is the root of our word aeon, which means an age, a long time, or an eternity.  So this Greek phrase could be translated as “the fire of the Age,” which is how Hart translates it, and pair neatly with the idea of the fulfillment of the age that we have seen in Matthew 13:39-40. But it could also be translated as “eternal fire,” which is how the NIV and NRSV translate it.  If you a regular reader of this blog, you should know by now that I am at least skeptical of this idea of a hell as a place of eternal punishment.  

But let’s take a look in the next couple posts at the parallel passages that appear in Mark and Luke, so that we can get a better sense of whether this is Matthew’s particular interpretation or whether it is more broadly shared among the Gospels.