Purity Exam Series

Matthew 5:27-30 [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. (ESV)

A common back to school ritual is the wardrobe selection. For some it means the latest fashions and for others it means the school uniform. Ironically, the latest fashions are the uniform. Now some schools have eliminated a uniform staple, the tartan skirt. Meant to be a standard in modest attire, many parents and school boards have gotten tired with the ever rising hem line of the skirts. The tool first envisioned for modesty, had been abandoned for its use in over sexualizing attire.

Although sexual temptations have been strong since humanity’s fall, our day of permissiveness and perversion has brought an increase in those destructive influences that no society in history has had before (cf. 2 Tim. 3:13). Ours is a day of unbridled indulgence in sexual passion. People propagate, promote, and exploit it through the most powerful and pervasive media ever known. It seems to be the almost uninterrupted theme of our society’s entertainment. Mass media uses sex to sell its products and to glamorize its programs. Sex crimes are at all-time highs, while infidelity, divorce, and perversion are justified. Marriage, sexual fidelity, and moral purity are scorned, ridiculed, and laughed at. We are preoccupied with sex to a degree perhaps never before seen in a civilized culture.

In Matthew 5, Jesus continues to unmask the self-righteous externalism typified by the scribes and Pharisees by showing that the only righteousness acceptable to God is purity of heart. Without that purity, the outward life makes no difference. God’s divine evaluation takes place in the heart. He judges the source and origin of sin, not its manifestation or lack of manifestation. “As [a person] thinks within themselves, so are they” (Prov. 23:7).

Just as what we saw last week with anger, compared with sexual lust, these are two of the most powerful influences on humanity. The person who gives them reign will soon find that they are more controlled than in control. Every person has experienced temptation to anger and to sexual sin, and every person has at some time and to some degree given in to those temptations. Because of that fact, every person is guilty before God of murder and of adultery. In its many forms, sexual license is destroying lives physically, morally, mentally, and spiritually. It is destroying marriages, families, and even whole communities.

Jesus’ second illustration of heart righteousness in Matthew 5:27-30, has to do with adultery and sexual sin in general. In order to be pure in heart we must understand: 1) The deed of adultery (Matthew 5:27), 2) The desire behind It (Matthew 5:28), and thereby achieve: 3) The deliverance from it (Matthew 5:29-30).

In order to be pure in heart we must understand:

1) The Deed of Adultery. (Matthew 5:27)

Matthew 5:27 [27]"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' (ESV)

Just as Jesus dealt with the sin of murder (vv. 21–26), this illustration in verse 27 begins with a quotation of one of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:14). In both of those cases, Jewish tradition was based on the law of Moses, at least superficially. In its most technical sense, committing adultery (from moichao) refers to sexual intercourse between a man and woman when one or both of them is married. In both the Old and New Testaments the word relates to any sexual intercourse with anyone other than one’s marriage partner. That Jesus here implies that the principle of sexual purity can be seen in a wider sense than adultery (though adultery is His point here) seems clear from the fact that both everyone and a woman are comprehensive terms that could also apply to the unmarried. The Mosaic law portrays adultery as one of the most despicable and heinous of sins, punishable by death (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22). In strongly opposing adultery, Jewish tradition appeared to be entirely scriptural. When the scribes and Pharisees told Jesus that Moses commanded them to stone the woman caught in the act of adultery, they were correct (John 8:4–5). Had not Jesus forgiven her of her sin she would have deserved stoning. The sixth commandment protects the sanctity of life and the seventh the sanctity of marriage. Those who rely on external righteousness break both of those commandments, because in their hearts they attack the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage, whether they do so outwardly or not. When they are angry or hate, they commit murder. When they lust sexually, they commit adultery. And when they do either of those things, they choose to despise God’s law and God’s name (see Ex. 20:14; Lev. 20:10; Deut. 5:18). If someone has committed a sexual sin, God offers forgiveness if he or she repents. Whatever the sin may be, Scripture says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Once someone is forgiven, he seeks each day to be faithful and obedient. Further, if God is willing to forgive all those who genuinely repent, then those who suffer adultery should also forgive them, forgo vengeful anger, and, if possible, trust their spouse again (Doriani, D. M. (2008). Matthew & 2. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.) (Vol. 1, p. 152). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.).