Adultery of the Eyes: Matthew 5:27-30

You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'

The seventh commandment. Clear physical boundaries. Stay out of beds that aren't yours.

"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Again, Jesus traced the sin to its source. The act begins with the gaze. The betrayal starts with imagination. Before bodies entangle, minds have already wandered.

Has already committed adultery. Not "is tempted toward" but "has already committed." The internal sin is real sin.

"If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.

The language was violent. Hyperbolic, certainly—Jesus was not advocating literal self-mutilation. But the intensity communicated priority. Better to lose an eye than to lose your soul.

"It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

The stakes were eternal. Sin that seems manageable now leads somewhere devastating. Better radical surgery than gradual decay.

"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.

Eyes look. Hands act. Both could lead to destruction. Both might require drastic measures.

The point was not literal amputation but serious attention. Whatever leads you to sin, deal with it ruthlessly. Don't negotiate with it. Don't manage it. Kill it.

The men on that hillside had thought they kept the seventh commandment. They had not slept with their neighbors' wives. But Jesus revealed that their eyes had wandered, their imaginations had strayed, their hearts had committed what their bodies had avoided.

Purity was not just external restraint but internal transformation. The command reached deeper than they had ever imagined.