Rachel Workman: 27 “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit
adultery.’[j] 28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has
already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your eye—even your
good eye[k]—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better
for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown
into hell. 30 And if your hand—even your stronger hand[l]—causes you to sin,
cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your
body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
31 “You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’[m] 32 But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.
31 “You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’[m] 32 But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.
There's a lot in these verses. But what speaks
the loudest to me here is Jesus is concerned about what's in your heart. The
first act in committing a crime is thinking about doing it. Nothing ever
happens until we think about it happening.
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John
Burnett: 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 lust for her has already
committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye
makes you [a]stumble, tear it out and
throw it from you; for it is better for you [b]to lose one of the parts of
your body, [c]than for your whole body to
be thrown into [d]hell. 30 If
your right hand makes you [e]stumble, cut it off and
throw it from you; for it is better for you [f]to lose one of the parts of
your body, [g]than for your whole body to
go into [h]hell. There is not a more damning verse for men in the Bible than
this passage. Jesus, by including a man’s thought life as sin and that he
violates one of the ten commandments is setting the bar so high (perfection)
that He is the only one that achieves it. Hell will be full of men
because of the lust of the eyes. What is amazing is that Jesus died for
these sins and Romans 1 makes me think that sexual sin was the majority of sins
that put Him on the cross. It is with great thanks that I don’t have to
cut off a hand or pluck out an eye because Jesus took two nails to His hands,
one in His feet and a spear in His side to wash these sins away.
31 “It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of
divorce’; 32 but I say to you that everyone who [i]divorces his wife, except
for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever
marries a [j]divorced woman commits
adultery. Another area where God’s grace is
amazing.
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Allen Michaels: 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not
commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a
woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. The Old Testament law said that it is wrong for a
person to have sex with someone other than his or her spouse (Exodus 20:14) But
Jesus said that the desire to have sex with someone other than your
spouses is mental adultery and thus sin. Jesus emphasized that if the act
is wrong, than so is the intention. To be faithful to your spouse with
your body but not your mind is to break the trust so vital to a strong
marriage. Jesus is not condemning natural interest in the opposite sex or even
healthy sexual desire, but the deliberate and repeated filling of one’s mind
with fantasies that would be evil if acted out.
Acting out sinful desires is harmful
in several ways: (1) it causes people to excuse sin rather than to stop
sinning; (2) it destroys marriages (verses 31-32); (3) it is deliberate
rebellion against God’s Word; (4) it always hurts someone else in addition to
the sinner. Sinful action is more dangerous than sinful desire, and that is why
desires should not be acted out. Left unchecked, wrong desires will result in
wrong actions and turn people away from God.
29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it
out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than
for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your
right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better
for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Jesus was speaking figuratively. He
didn’t mean literally to gouge out your eye, because even a blind person can
lust. But if that were the only choice, it would be better to go into heaven
with one eye or hand than to go to hell with two. We sometimes tolerate sins in
our lives that left, unchecked, could eventually destroy us. It is better to
experience the pain of removal (getting rid of a bad habit or something we
treasure, for instance) than to allow the sin to bring judgment and
condemnation. We must examine our lives for anything that causes us to sin, and
take every necessary action to remove it.
When you look at the sexual sins
listed in Deuteronomy 22 it says that if a married man is illicitly involved
with another woman, then they are both to be stoned. That is the end of it!
Adultery is a grave sin that requires capital punishment.
Divorce
31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife
must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that
anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the
victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Divorce is as hurtful and
destructive today as in Jesus’ day. God intends marriage to be a lifetime
commitment (Genesis 2:24). When entering into marriage, people should never
consider divorce an option for solving problems or a way out of a relationship
that seems dead. In these verses Jesus is also attacking those who purposefully
abuse the marriage contract, using divorce to satisfy their lustful desire to
marry someone else. Are our actions today helping our marriage grow stronger,
or are we tearing it apart?
Jesus said that divorce is not
permissible except for unfaithfulness. This does not mean that divorce should
automatically occur when a spouse commits adultery. The word translated
“unfaithfulness” implies a sexual immoral life-style, not a confessed and repented
act of adultery. Those who discover that their partner has been unfaithful
should first make every effort to forgive, reconcile, and restore their
relationship. We are always to look for reasons to restore the marriage
relationship rather than for excuses to leave it.
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