Marriage and Adultery

Matthew 5:27-32

Adultery in the Heart

27 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Marriage Is Sacred and Binding

31 "Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

Marriage and Adultery are addressed by Jesus in this long discourse on Mount Tabor as matters of the heart as much as of the flesh.  He may have chosen this place solely because it was easy to preach and be heard from on high or it might be because He was trying to bring them closer to a higher point up towards heaven to hear the real meaning and intent of the Law of Moses and of the Prophets (according to Jerome).  Either way He began teaching them more than just how to live for God’s blessings and to reveal the deeper meanings of adultery and marriage in these passages recorded in Matthew 5:27-30 and Matthew 5:31-32 for us as if we sat with the multitude on that mountain to hear from Him.  He began by first telling them that they had heard a traditional interpretation of scripture (“you have heard it was said”) but that He was giving them the divine meaning (“but I say to you”) out of heaven from God’s very word and intent of these things.  Regarding adultery, Jesus told them it was much more than physical intimacy with someone you are not married to, but that the thoughts and intents of the heart known by God as declared in Hebrews 4:12 are found and revealed in the scriptures illuminating the heart of man and woman.  The unbridled lust of desire unchecked in the heart and mulled over in the mind (James 1:14-14) was the real adultery according to our Lord.  The physical act was just the outworking of that sinful desire left unchecked and not refused to dwell on, or even worse, coddled and nurtured until the physical act is committed.  Jesus exposed our hearts and minds by the written word because He is the living Word (John 1:1) who reveals the truth to us.  The solution to stop this unchecked and misdirected desire was given as extreme examples of tearing out the eye or cutting off the hand before it could lead the rest of the body and soul into judgment, but it appears to be more of a hard warning to instead check our eyes (Job 31:1, 4, 9) for our wandering thoughts and restrain our hands from doing the evil (Isaiah 1:16) outwardly in the body as a result of not stopping the misplaced desire of further temptation.  He then moved to a related issue regarding marriage and divorce by pointing out the sanctity and binding permanence of that covenant made before God (Genesis 1:27, 2:24, Malachi 2:14, 15-16) between a man and woman.  He permanently joins us so that our children are sanctified as godly offspring to be fruitful and multiply righteousness instead of perpetuating sin opposed to God’s word and intent for us as designed and created for his glory, even if yoked in marriage with an unbeliever (1 Corinthians 7:14).  The only certain reason to dissolve this union according to the Lord is if the other is unfaithful.  This even causes the other to commit adultery if divorced for any other reason.  Divorce is not to be entered into lightly even in light of Paul’s further instructions in Corinthians 7:10-11, 12-13, 15.  The issues of marriage and adultery leading to divorce are therefore linked together in this teaching and are to be taken to heart lest immoral thoughts become illicit behavior and destroy what God has brought together.  We have been called to live at peace with the Lord and with each other.