– Matthew 5.27-32 –

The Sermon on the Mount 6: Adultery and the Kingdom

Introduction

Jesus brings the law into the hearts of his disciples to make them children of the kingdom. He is not giving a theological lecture. He is going at the things they need most to repent of. Shockingly, he begins with murder and adultery.

Lesson

Why murder and adultery? Sin at base entails the desire to do violence to God and to our union with Him, or stated differently, to murder Him and commit spiritual adultery against Him (Jn 19.15). A byproduct of that violent desire is the desire to do violence to the image of God in man and the image of the union of Christ and the Church in marriage. Thus, there is an inextricable link between spiritual adultery and sexual adultery (Rm1.21-32). We should also observe that in god's world, marriage is primary, not sex. Marriage is not a function of human sexuality; human sexuality is a function of marriage.

Indulging ourselves – the true nature of fidelity. Applying these truths, we see that marital fidelity is not ultimately about denying ourselves of pleasure, but about indulging ourselves in greater pleasure (Ps 16.11). “Keeping to one woman is a small price for so much as seeing one woman. To complain that I could only be married once was like complaining that I had only been born once. . . . It showed, not an exaggerated sensibility to sex, but a curious insensibility to it. A man is a fool who complains that he cannot enter Eden by five gates at once.” (G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy.) Until we get this, we will never truly embrace fidelity. Indeed, we will never truly embrace God’s will in any area.

How can I attain the true pleasures of life, through God’s giving or my grabbing? This, not the existence of God, is the ultimate issue of life (Gn 3.4-6; Jm 4.1-3). (Atheists know God exists; they just don’t like Him.) If we believe the true pleasures of life are the gifts of God (Jm 1.17), we will believe he is good, we will trust him, and we will contentedly obey him, knowing that the greater the “denials,” the greater the gift. If we believe the true pleasures of life lie apart from God, we will suspect that he means to deny us, we will not trust him, we will not be content or obey him, but we will lust for whatever he forbids, and we will reach out and grab for ourselves. Jesus was the one man who never grabbed for himself, but always trusted his heavenly Father to give him not only what he needed, but also joy and glory (Hb 5.5-10; 12.2). Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith, the one who shows us what it means to be truly human (Hb 12.1).

“You have heard that it was said to those of old . . . (27, 32).” Jesus quotes the Scribes and Pharisees quoting the 7^th Commandment. He calls to mind the popular conservative application of the commandment, which focused on physical infidelity (27).

“But I say to you . . . (28).” Jesus is not superseding the commandment with his own, new, higher standard. His words are not in the imperative, but in the indicative. Jesus collates the 7^th Commandment forbidding adultery with the 10^th Commandment forbidding coveting (Ex 20.14, 17). Jesus corrects the superficial application of the Scribes and Pharisees (28) by pointing out that adultery is the final fruit of a plant that begins with roots and stems. Jesus wants to stop adultery from ever germinating, not just manage the fruit. Jesus identifies two stems which support the fruit – looking at a particular woman to lust (28), and unrighteously divorcing one’s wife (32). Before we grab with our hands, we grab with our hearts. The root of the adultery plant is, surprisingly, the same as murder: desire, covetousness, envy (Pr 27.20).

“If your right eye causes you to sin . . . (29-30).” Most commonly, the root is the desire of a man for a woman God has not given him. The man himself, and no one else, is responsible for what is in his heart (Pr 6.23-25). True, if it is sin for a man to allow himself to lust after a woman God has not given him, then it is sin for a woman to dress or act in such a way that is reasonably likely to provoke such lust. But if the man governs his heart in godliness, it won’t matter how the woman dresses or acts. Men are prone to make excuses and to point to contributing factors. But Jesus says that if there are contributing factors under your control, eliminate them. Regarding “surprise” contributing factors, remember what Martin Luther said: “You can’t keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair.”