“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a
woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his
heart. If your right eye causes you to
sin, tear it out and throw it away. For
it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be
thrown into hell. And if your right hand
causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your
members than that your whole body go into hell.” –Matthew 5:27-30 (ESV).
When
Jesus begins a subject for consideration with the words ‘you have heard that it was said’ as an introduction, He is
discoursing about the common misinterpretations of Old Testament Law held by
religious teachers of His day. He is not
correcting the Old Testament Law (he came to fulfill—to make clearer and fuller
the law), but rather to clarify misconceptions about it. Adultery was considered an extremely serious
offense. It was the seventh of the ten
commandments: “You shall not commit
adultery” (Exodus 20:14). In Malachi
2:13-16 the prophet gives a strong teaching against divorce and why God is not
pleased with sacrifices brought to the altar by those who have taken their
marriage vows lightly. He admonishes in
verse 15: “Did He (God) not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their
union? And what was the one God
seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let
none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.”The earthly marriage
relationship is like the covenant between God and the individual. It should be held in honor and deepest
respect. Lust begins in the heart,
the center of one’s identity and will.
It is not enough to maintain physical purity alone, but the Christian
must guard mentally against acts of lust and unfaithfulness. Jesus is not adding to the Old Testament law
here but rather is interpreting it correctly.
Even in the Ten Commandments, God had required purity of heart (“Thou shalt not covet,” [Exodus 20:17]
God said, and within that commandment he includes “your neighbor’s wife” as forbidden to lustful, covetous thoughts.
Jesus
uses deliberate overstatement to emphasize the importance of refraining from
lust. In using “Pluck out the right
eye” “cut off the right hand,” Jesus is
using a commonly stated metaphor to illustrate how important his teaching on marriage
is. The “right” eye and hand were
considered to be the more powerful of the two.
Lust begins by seeing; and with the hand the act of unfaithfulness is
perpetrated. By using these commonly
expressed figures of speech (overstatement), Jesus is emphasizing the
importance of faithfulness in the marriage relationship.
How
do we gain victory over lustful looks that lead to the act of
unfaithfulness? Jesus is talking about
Christian discipline here. The eye and
the hand are usually the culprits when it comes to sexual sins. The lustful look, when followed, can lead to
fulfillment of lustful desires. This is
what Jesus is saying to “cut off.” Stop
it in mid-track. Not the physical
surgery of plucking out the eye or cutting off the hand, but spiritual surgery
that will stop the thought and thus prevent the action of a sinful
relationship. The sins of the body can
lead to eternal judgment. Paul also
warned us about the dangers of pursuing such thoughts and actions: “Put to
death therefore what is earthly in you:
sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness,
which is idolatry. On account of these
the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5-6).
No comments:
Post a Comment