Matthew 5:27-32
What's on your mind?27 You have heard that in the old days people were told, Do not commit adultery.
28 But I tell you, Whoever looks with lust at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 So, if your right eye offends you, pluck it out and throw it away. You are better off losing a body part than having your entire body thrown into hell.
30 And if your right hand offends you, cut it off and throw it away. You are better off losing a body part than having your entire body thrown into hell.
31 You have heard that anyone who wants to divorce his wife must put it in writing.
32 But here is what I say: Anyone who divorces his wife – other than for infidelity – causes her to commit adultery. Anyone who marries the divorced woman also commits adultery.
The Sermon's composer places Jesus' rather tough saying of 29 and 30 immediately after the counsel on adultery of the heart and immediately before Jesus' strong words against divorce, which he regards as likely to lead to adultery. So one might at first think Jesus is urging those who cast a lustful eye on a woman to gouge it out. Or maybe to chop off a hand before filing for divorce, Very possibly the Sermon's composer placed verse 29 where it is because it seemed to fit with these seemingly draconian teachings.
But Jesus, as quoted in verses 29 and 30, is using traditional hyperbolic metaphor to get across a point: If you have a behavioral defect that you can't stand, DO something about it. Get radical, man! Go to any lengths to rid yourself of a character flaw that could drag you down to hell.
Notice that the metaphor covers eye and hand. In other words, something drastic must be done about your mind and your behavior.
Well, excellent advice – except that if people could do that, many would! So I again suggest that we read Jesus' words to mean, Don't say you don't sin. In God's eyes, you do. So you need to do something drastic to be delivered out of your bondage and peril. That something is: Trust Jesus.
Sure, we know that the full impact of Jesus' teachings would not become evident until after his resurrection. His teachings were time bombs set to go off once he had risen. But now that he is risen, let's get the grace that is implied in these teachings. Let's get a closer walk with him.
All through the gospel accounts, Jesus is imploring people to turn away from sin and sorrow and toward him, so that they may be saved. That could be a costly move. In fact, Jesus says, expect persecution. The world will hate you. Satan will sift you. Yet, verses 29 and 30 say to us:
Isn't it worthwhile to take the injury and lose something precious ("eye or hand") but stay out of hell? Isn't it worthwhile to trade anything in order to gain the pearl of great price: a free pass out of hell and a ticket to eternal life by putting your trust in Jesus?
When your being lusts for a woman, your being in that period is what you think. In other words, if you would if you could, then, really, you did.
In God's eyes, your being is doing the deed, regardless of the fact that you are physically and psychologically restrained. God sees you as doing and being what you desire to be: an adulterer.
The basic point is not about what kind of sex is not OK. The Lord is talking about you following through in your heart with someone you believe is off limits, something you have been taught is wrong. This doesn't mean there might not be exceptions to the rule against infidelity such as occur during war and natural catastrophes. The point is that you are what you think. As a man thinks, so is he. (Paraphrase of Proverb 23:7.)
So, don't think you don't need forgiveness. Haven't you sullied your spirit by aching to do something sexually illicit? If not, what about angry outbursts? Those stem from fear, which is to say, sin (Matthew 5:22-24).
We know from examples in the Old Testament that God can forgive improper sexual behavior and can even make something right that began wrong. Surely Rahab the prostitute received her prophet's reward for turning to the Lord's people; her faith brought forgiveness for her sexual immorality (Joshua 2:1-22).
And once David greatly mourned before God the murder of his paramour's husband, God forgave him and regularized his relationship with the woman, Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1-26; 12:1-25).
We see again that God's standard of purity of heart is high. Divorcing your wife, except perhaps for adultery, is a breach of faith – both with her and with God. Your soul has been knit with hers, so that you are one person with two sides. She is not meant to share her body with anyone but you. And in those days, when women had few rights, you gave her no choice but to defile herself by marrying another. And her new husband is partaking in your soul through her – which is a defilement.
We note that Deuteronomy 24:1-4 permits divorce if a man has found "some uncleanness" in his wife but requires him to safeguard her status by giving her a written notice of divorce.
The scholar Bruce M. Metzger [1*] observes that neither Mark nor Luke includes the exception of adultery, meaning that Jesus probably did not give that exemption. The addition of the exemption in Matthew "reflects an attempt of the early church to adjust the high ideal of Jesus' interpretation of the indissolubility of marriage to suit the exigencies of those whose hearts, like men's hearts in the days of Moses, were still hard!" One could, after all, separate from Runaround Sue without remarrying – but clearly that possibility is too much for many men, especially those who are still "wet behind the ears" in Christ's service.
Metzger does not see this modification as improper, on ground that "such an adjustment of Jesus' teaching fell within the power to bind and loose given to the apostles – that is, the power to adapt laws and make exceptions." (Matthew 16:19; 18:18)
In any case, a saying such as this points to the need for human beings for grace, the unmerited favor and forgiveness of God.
Luke 16:18
Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
Mark 10: 1-9
[Verse 12 was undoubtedly added in order to cover those Gentiles for whom divorce by the woman was permitted. Jesus, addressing Jews of his time, would of course have known that Jewish women had no right of divorce. [2*] Possibly the verse was also aimed at Jews residing outside Judea after the abolishment of the Jewish state sometime around the year 135. In any case, there is little room to doubt that Jesus would have included the woman who initiates divorce had she had that right.
Hence, some early editor of Matthew, trying to assure proper teaching, was right to include that expansion of a saying of Jesus.]10 And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.
2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?
4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.
11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Jesus did not subscribe to the modern notion of non-interacting souls.
Concerning soul
The belief among the Jews of the immortality of the human soul seems to have been imparted by the Greeks. Jesus alludes to such a concept during the Sermon, particularly in the verses above, and mentions it elsewhere in Matthew.
Yet, Matthew often uses soul in the generic sense of self.Matthew 10:28So here soul implies essential inner being, something that transcends the physical self – not that the Jews had the specific concept of physical self. But in any case, from the viewpoint of one's essential inner being, it doesn't matter much whether the physical, material body is reconstituted clone-like, or whether that inner man is transmigrated to a new destiny in which it is able to discern pleasure and-or pain.And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.Matthew 16:26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
An important observation is that in ancient Judea, a man who divorced his wife generally gave her no choice but to marry, or cohabit, with a man who would support her. She had few rights.
In any case, Jesus is saying that no one should think he or she has no sin and needs no forgiveness. So often we are so very blind to the impact of our misdeeds on others! Who among you had considered the possibility of obscene mingling of souls?
At this point, we remark that a born-again person is not only infused by the Spirit of Jesus but also cloaked in that Spirit. The spouse's soul – even if not born-again and even if not present under ideal circumstances – is made right, at least for the time being.
In any case, surely Jesus is far from saying that ancient Near Eastern marital custom was the ideal. In fact, he says God's standard is high, with no divorce at all permitted, other than for adultery by the woman. (Stoning was the punishment prescribed for adulterers.) If that seems a superhuman goal, it is. Only with supernatural, divine power can anyone begin to walk the path down which Jesus walks ahead of us.
In fact, Jesus points out that though people are better off not marrying, not everyone can handle that idea.
Matthew 19:3-11
One would think that Jesus is urging you to be severely austere with
yourself in order to avoid hellfire. Yet, though the Sermon's composer may have had
such an idea in mind when he set down the Sermon, the import of the
saying is that people should face the fact that, no matter how
scrupulous they try to be, they have sinned and continue to sin.
3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
That's why they need the Savior! No one can possibly meet God's perfect standard of purity – except Jesus who, after uttering these words, would go on to pay the penalty of our sin with his death on the cross.
Now that doesn't mean that the Law is void. Far from it! The Old Testament law is inferior to God's perfect, pure-hearted, sinless standard. Even if someone could keep the Jewish law in all its details, the Old Testament Scripture that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" would still hold – because God's standard is perfect love, not rough social "justice."
Psalms 14:3
Paul pointed out that we need the grace of God, provided through Jesus
to those who trust him, because no one, in this fallen world, can
possibly live up to the Jewish law, let alone God's high standard.
They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.Romans 3:10
as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE..."Romans 3:23
...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Please see
APPENDIX D: Jesus' purity vs. original sin
https://zioncallingyou.blogspot.com/2020/06/appendix-d-jesus-purity-vs-original-sin.html
APPENDIX D: Jesus' purity vs. original sin
https://zioncallingyou.blogspot.com/2020/06/appendix-d-jesus-purity-vs-original-sin.html
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