27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 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. 30 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.
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Section Overview
Matthew 5:27–32 comprises Jesus’ second and third antitheses, contrasting “You have heard” with “I say to you.” Both explore the seventh command and the need for sexual and marital fidelity. The language is graphic, the demands austere. The prohibition of lust (v. 28) continues the theme, introduced in verses 20–26, of doing the right things for the right reasons, from the heart. If no murder means no rage, then no adultery means no lust. But when Jesus forbids heedless divorce in verse 32, he is noting that literal or technical obedience to the law can permit, even facilitate, violation of God’s purposes. One may give a “certificate of divorce” (v. 31), as the law says, and in so doing effect a wicked divorce.
At a literary level, verses 29–30 are graphic, memorable, poetic, confrontational. A similar statement appears in 18:8–9. As an itinerant preacher, Jesus made many statements on several occasions, in various contexts.
Section Outline
III.B. Jesus Explores True Righteousness (5:17–48) . . .
3. Lust and Purity (5:27–30)
4. Divorce and Remarriage (5:31–32)
Verses 27–30 and 31–32 exhibit the same structure: “You have heard,” followed by a quotation. When Jesus adds “But I say,” he rebukes abuses of the law. He also states the consequences of that abuse. In verses 29–30, those who indulge lust imperil their soul. In verse 32, those who divorce without reason cause subsequent adultery.
Response
Adultery begins in the eye and the heart. Knowing this, Job “made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” He also refused to be “enticed toward a woman” (Job 31:1–9). It is no sin to experience temptation. Jesus was tempted, yet he did not sin (Heb. 4:15). When tempted, the righteous turn away instead of indulging sinful thoughts or acting on them.
Western society is no friend of sexual purity. Society assumes that young adults are sexually active and expects fornication and cohabitation. It aims not to promote sexual purity but to control the results of impurity. Provocative entertainments, advertisements, and clothing provoke lust. It is no sin to notice that someone is attractive; it is a sin to fantasize about evil. It is good to dress attractively, but sinful to dress seductively. Jesus forbids the flirting that rouses lustful desires. Against popular opinion, “casual sex” and “recreational sex” are misnomers. Lewis Smedes said, “When two bodies are united in sex, two persons are united. . . . The soul is in the act.”82 Intimacy of body entails intimacy of soul (1 Cor. 6:16–17).
The cure for lust is contentment, which Scripture often commends (Eccles. 5:10–12; Phil. 4:11–12). A married man should be content with his wife. He should think, “This is the woman God has appointed and given to me” and should treasure all that is good and blessed in her. Following Genesis 2:24–25, he will put family and friends in second place and show lifelong loyalty to his wife. Husband and wife seal the union of wills, hearts, and minds with union of bodies.
The loyalty of husband and wife also points beyond itself to the loving union of Christ and his church (Eph. 5:25–32). God’s love for Israel is both source and paradigm for husband and wife. Speaking for God, Hosea tells God’s bride, Israel, “I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice. . . . And you shall know the Lord” (Hos. 2:19–20). As believers experience the faithful love of God, it both inspires and empowers faithful love in us.