Jesus' Teaching on Adultery

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Text: Matt 5:27-30
Matthew 5:27–30 AV
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 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. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, 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.
Here again, Jesus is talking to the multitude (disciples, possible disciples, inquisitive ones, and doubters). Jesus continues to build upon the law.
Exodus 20:14 AV
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
This is the 6th commandment of the Law (10 commandments). Jesus says you have heard it was said by them of old time “thou shalt not commit adultery”. Jesus now says “But I say unto you”.....from an authoritative stand point. Jesus had authority because He was the LOGOS. Jesus says “Whoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
Okay so let’s break this down:
Whoever looks upon, beholds, gazes.....then to lust.
Lust- to desire, to covet after, long for absolutely.
Thought:
Was Jesus only referring to men in this scripture? I mean it does say “whoever looketh upon a woman” which is gender exclusive. No, not exactly because what applies to the man applied to the woman to throughout scripture. What is happening here is that in the Jewish culture, the woman was considered to be the caretaker of the home. It was the man that went out and worked and it was also the man that often time received the education. Yet, make no mistake that Jesus also had female disciples too. What does that have to do with this....nothing really. You just need to know that what applied to the man often times applied to the woman too. Women can also see and lust in their heart. Case in point: EVE!!!
Genesis 3:6 AV
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
So yes Sisters before you go man bashing consider the fact that we are in the position because Eve....a woman put us in this position.
Another point:
Jesus says whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery in his heart. Whosoever refers not only to married men, it also refers to unmarried men as well. Well preacher, what if the person that is lusting is unmarried and the person he is lusting after is unmarried. Well, scripturally that is called fornication when you have to people who engage in sexual intercourse who is unmarried. The fact of the matter is not so much the linguistics of the scripture it is the heart of the scripture. What Jesus is doing here is addressing the root cause of adultery. Since fornication and adultery are grouped together I strongly believe that the same principles can apply for fornication to. Because lust will lead to fornication the same as lust leading to adultery.
We said that a woman can lust too right? Well in the times that we live in, in 2020 you have men that just don’t lust after other women.....you have some men that lust after other men. You have some women, that lust after other women
Jesus in his dealing with adultery doesn’t just deal with the manifestation of adultery, He gets down to the heart, He address what leads to adultery. So in a nutshell Jesus says that adultery enters through the eyes and then the heart or the mind. Once it gets into your mind and it is conceived in the mind it is a done deal. So how do we keep from getting there.....by guarding your eyes. By not allowing it to get into your heart your mind.
2 Samuel 11:1–5 AV
And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
What is first wrong with this picture? David is not in place, He is not doing what He is suppose to be doing. He’s idle.
He sees a beautiful woman taking a bath. He sees, it enters his mind that she is beautiful, He is the king after all and what the king sees he gets.
He inquires about her and finds out that she is the daughter of Eliam (a Israelite noble) but she is married. She is married to a Hittite. So in David’s mind he’s thinking “ahhh so she is married to a foreigner. She is a good looking fine woman that is married to a foreigner, he doesn’t deserve to be married to her, after all Israelites are not suppose to be married to foreigners. I’m just suggesting a possible process that could have played out in David’s mind.
David saw her, made up in his mind that he was going to get her. Now that this lust (covet) has conceded in his mind this sin causes him to commit two additional sins. The two additional sins is adultery and the final sin is murder. Thought: When lust is conceived other sins can also accompany it.
Thought 1:
The eye and the heart are two of the gate ways to sin. There are others, such as the ears, but tonight we are dealing with the eyes and the heart.
I want to go back and grab Genesis 3:6 again:
Genesis 3:6 AV
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
James 1:14–15 NLT
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
Thought 2:
Lust in the bible is a bit broader than just sexual desire. The word lust is synonymous with the word covet. In the law of Moses (Ten Commandments) there are other things you can lust after:
Exodus 20:17 NLT
“You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”
You can lust after someones house, their wife, their workers, their possessions. Let’s expand, you can lust after someones position or status, their money, their friends......even church members.
Thought 3:
There are two lusts that the Bible (in particular John the Apostle) speaks of:
Lust of the eye- what you see, desiring what you see from a sinful standpoint.
Lust of the flesh- desiring what you crave from a physical or mental standpoint.
1 John 2:16 NLT
For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
Lust of the flesh, flesh is the part of you that is apart from divine influence. It is the part of you that is not subject to the will of God. It is the part of you that is prone to sin. So when the lust of the flesh is conceived it is the part of you that desires to do what is opposite of the will of God. It is the part of you that longs for physical pleasure even if it knows you’ll be outside of the will of God. It is the part of you the seeks gratification, it is the part of you that wants to seek revenge, it is the part of you that is subject to forbidden cravings, it is the part of you that counters the will of God.
Lust of the eye is craving or coveting what we see, even though what we see may not be good for us.
Counter for covetness:
Matthew 5:29–30 AV
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. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, 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.
Okay, if your right eye offend thee....
The word offend is skandalizo in the greek. Therefore the word offend means to set a trap or to trip you up. At this point Jesus says something shocking but deep to his listeners. He tells them well, if your eye offends, trips you up, sets a trap for you then it would do you good to cut it off. WHAT!?!? That sounds a little brutal but you have to understand that Jesus was not talking literally from a standpoint of plucking your eye out, or sawing your hand off. What Jesus is really referring to is mastering those things that will trap you or trip you up. This illustration is just like taking someone who has a bad body part and removing that body part to save them from dying. If you have a bad appendix then you need to remove it or you’ll die. Don’t just not do anything about it, let Dr. Jesus work on it and fix it! Jesus here is addressing the root cause of the outward manifestation of sin. Whether it is lust, anger, hatred, rebellion, disobedience, etc. we have to get to the root of it.
The words scandal and slander are derived from the word skandalizo. Slander is damage to ones reputation. So if your eye trips you up, if your eye sets a trap for you or sets you up for failure, if your eye damages your reputation, if it causes you to get into a scandal or becomes a stumbling block or snare, then cut it off. This cut-off is signaling dying, if a body part has a disease and it is removed from the body, not only does the body part die but the disease that is within the body-part dies as well. In other-words what ever is trapping us, whatever is tripping us up, whatever is entrapping us, whatever is producing a scandal in our lives, whatever is messing up our reputation not only with one another but with God has to die!
Now I need for you to know that this type of prevention goes across the board. This is just not restricted to lust, it is restricted to anything that may trip us up.
Okay so how do I kill this thing that is tripping me up? Let’s look at scripture:
Romans 13:9 AV
For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Romans 8:5–11 NLT
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
Take home Review:
The law states “Thou shalt not commit adultery”.
Jesus says whosoever looketh on a woman (married and unmarried) and covets her, lusts after her, desires to have her, desires to be with her hath committed adultery with her in his heart.
The scripture seems to be gender-exclusive because Jesus uses male pronouns, however when we consider the application of this scripture it can refer to female too.
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