NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER FIVE

Part VII

Jesus was not introducing something new here, but he was transposing it from only being sinful when carried out to being sinful when thought about. Job made this confession: “I made an agreement with my eyes not to look at a young woman in a way that would make me want her.”¹ And in a document that Jews with an education had easy access to, we find this verse: “Turn away your eyes from a shapely woman, and do not gaze at beauty belonging to another; many have been seduced by a woman’s beauty, and by it passion is kindled like a fire.”² So what Jesus was saying here did not come as a shock to His listeners.

On another occasion Rabbis were discussing about when someone who sees a beautiful creature should say: “Blessed is He who has created such creatures in His universe.” But another Rabbi questions: “…is even merely looking permitted?” To this one Rabbi responds: “The following can surely be raised as an objection: ‘You should keep yourself from every evil thing,³ which implies that one should not look intently at a beautiful woman, even if she is unmarried, or at a married woman even if she is ugly, nor at a woman’s flashy garments.”⁴ As a matter of fact, the Rabbis go way beyond what Jesus was saying here, by claiming that: “if a man gazes at the little finger of a woman with obvious lust, it is as if he gazed at her private parts.”⁵ Not only that, but the Rabbis also taught: “If a man counts out money from his hand into the hand of a woman so as to have the opportunity of leering at her, even if he competes keeping the law and good deeds with Moses our teacher, he will not escape the punishment of Gehinnom, as it says ‘You can depend on it, he will not escape the punishment of Gehinnom,⁶.”⁷ Furthermore, teachers add: “…do not converse much with women, as this will ultimately lead you to unchastity. They also said: ‘He who gazes at a woman eventually comes to sin, and he who looks even at a woman’s heel will father illegitimate children.”⁸ The Rabbis, quoted in the earliest written version of verbal teachings, become more graphic, and one Rabbi named Samuel said: “Even hearing a woman’s voice is prohibited as indecent.”⁹

So as we can see, Jesus was not introducing something groundbreaking here, but He was emphasizing the sins committed in the heart with those committed in the flesh. The Jews only forbid the external looking at a woman so as not to lead them into temptation. As long as they did not give in they were safe. This is the same mindset of many Christians today. However, it does not excuse someone who does commit adultery and then says, “Well, I already did it in my heart so I might as well go ahead and do it in the flesh.” Even the Jews would not accept this premise, one Rabbi taught:¹⁰ “Even if one considers performing some act but is forcibly prevented from doing so, the Scriptures indicts him with doing it even though he was unable. Evil intention need not be combined with deed,¹¹ for it is said: ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear me.¹² Then how do I interpret, behold, I will punish this people, even their impure thoughts?¹³ Intention which that brings about desire¹⁴ the Holy One, blessed be He, considers the same as the deed;¹⁵ Intention which does not bring about desire, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not consider as having been done.” But in the Jewish Commentary on Leviticus it states very clearly: “Adultery can be committed with the eyes.”¹⁶ At first glance it might appear that Jesus is focusing on intent as being equal to commission, but what He has to say next puts it more in context.

Verses 29-30: “If your right eye makes you sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into Gehenna.”

Now Jesus touches on one of the most debated and perhaps misunderstood subjects in His teaching. First and foremost, this teaching is connected with the subject of being tempted to commit adultery. Jesus warned that what is conceived in the mind is only one step away from being actualized in the body. However, what is only a sinful thought can become a sinful intent if it is not immediately rejected as sinful. So once that is recognized, then the person involved should do all they can to prevent it from happening. To show how serious this matter is, Jesus uses figurative language to point out the extremities to which a person should do to forestall or preclude it from taking place. The parts of the body He talks about, the eye and the hand, are all faculties that can be employed for sin to be committed, especially adultery. Jesus certainly spoke in harmony with what Solomon said: “Now, another man’s wife might be very charming, and the words from her lips so sweet and inviting. But in the end, she will bring only bitterness and pain. It will be like bitter poison and a sharp sword. She is on a path leading to death, and she will lead you straight to the grave. Don’t follow her. She has lost her way and does not even know it. Be careful. Stay on the road that leads to life.”¹⁷

Therefore, Jesus hit on a point that most Jewish teachers standing in the crowd would have agreed with, and that is, the eye can be the gateway for either good or bad to enter the mind and heart. In fact, one Rabbi notes that this can happen when a man stares at his own wife during her monthly period.¹⁸ And another Rabbi adds that when they speak of gazing at a woman’s heel, they are actually inferring that while the eye is focused on the heel, the mind leads the man’s thoughts to the opposite end of the heel on a woman’s leg.¹⁹ What Jesus is pointing out is that a person cannot afford to let their eyes fasten on to any bait that might lead the whole person into committing sin. But our Lord is not finished, he applies the same principle to the hand which can translate an unchaste look into an unchaste touch or embrace. Here again Jesus points to what His Jewish listeners would be well acquainted with. But to most western minds the use of the hand to commit evil infers stealing or murder, but to the eastern mind the subject has not changed from that of lust after a woman, especially one who is another man’s wife. However, as it relates to Jesus teaching here, most Christian scholars do not take Jesus’ words of gouging out the eye or amputation of the hand to be taken literally. Rather, He was setting the bar at a high level for His disciples to understand how important it was to keep a lustful eye from becoming the gateway for temptation and an uncontrolled hand from facilitating temptation that could lead to adultery. In other words, this was the act of last resort to prevent sin from occurring.

The Jews had a greater tendency to lean toward harsh punitive measures. For instance, we read where it states that an unwashed hand to the eye, the nose, the mouth, the ear, etc., including one’s private parts, should be cut off.²⁰ I’m sure Jesus had no intention of prescribing such measures, but the Jews had strong feelings about this.²¹ We reach a critical point here in this narrative. Jesus began in verse 27 speaking about adultery and that letting one’s eye be the gateway to temptation, thereby committing adultery in ones heart. He then speaks about one’s hand being involved in shameful activity, and that it would be better to pluck out the eye and cut off the hand and go through life handicapped than to allow these bodily members to lead one astray and be in danger of Gehenna’s fire. What our Lord says next, will help establish whether or not He is still talking about adultery or has switched to some other subject. If he continues on His warning against the role of adultery, then the mention of the hand must be seen as taking part in that activity, and not an obscure reference to stealing or mischievous behavior. Theologian John Gill sees it this way: “A way of speaking, much like what our Lord here uses; and to the above orders and canons, he may be very well thought to allude: but he is not to be understood literally, as enjoining the cutting off of the right hand, as they did; but of men’s refraining from all such impure practices, either with themselves, or women, which are of a defiling nature; and endanger the salvation of them, body and soul.”²²

Although Jesus is talking about a subject that the Jews were very familiar with and on which Rabbis had established many ethical standards, our Master is reminding them of a principle that can be applied to any temptation to do what is wrong in the eyes of God. That is, as soon as you recognize it as wrong, reject it. Don’t see how far you can go before you finally say, No! The Master is pointing out that sin is a matter of the heart and mind, that’s where it begins. If it is not stopped there it will then surely be carried out by the body. So in that sense, it does not become sin only after it’s done, but it is sin if it is allowed to be considered as a possible act for the body to perform or engage in. The intent here of Jesus then becomes clearer, in that He wants His disciples to know that while forgiveness is available for sins committed, by keeping them from being committed it not only saves the sinner from punishment, it also saves them from all the guilt and pain that comes after committing sin.