THE sin of adultery is the second example which Jesus uses to show how faulty was the interpretation of the Law of God which was given by the Pharisees and teachers of the Law; and through this goes on to speak of the eternal welfare of the soul, and the sinfulness of sin.

Adultery is a sin which shows more clearly than perhaps any other sin the problem of sin in the human heart. We have only to look out on society today to observe the prevalence of this sin, and the unpleasant consequences of it. Today in our society adultery is almost felt to be acceptable, or at least understandable. Society hardly places any censure upon it, though the results which follow from it are so destructive. This illustrates the terrible condition of human nature, and of the corruption of sin within us all.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were at least firm about one thing, that it was wrong to commit adultery. In this respect they were better than much thought in our society today. But again they limited the command to the physical act of having sexual intercourse with someone with whom a person was not married. Whether they included fornication as wrong in their teaching I do not know. Probably they did because Jesus does not suggest otherwise, for the command not to commit adultery includes all sexual intercourse outside of marriage. Here I think of marriage in the widest sense of a monogamous relationship with one person for life, whether it is sanctioned by a religious and civil ceremony or not.

The Pharisees felt they had kept the 7th commandment perfectly if they did not actually physically commit adultery, and felt that they had nothing for which to be ashamed of before God in this sense. Jesus points out how wrong they were. He teaches us here that what we think and feel and desire within us must also be our concern, and purity must be here as well as outwardly. Jesus warns us that we commit adultery in our hearts when we think of another person of the opposite sex with desire and lust, because we are committing the act of adultery in our mind, even though there is no physical expression of it.

This opens up a real can of worms for us all. Who can say we are sinless when we face our inner thoughts and desires. It is a good thing that telepathy is not possible in any real sense. None of us could stand the exposure of our thoughts for all to see. However perhaps it would be good for us, because then we would have to face the reality of our thought life, which most of us do not, while our thoughts are secret to ourselves. I believe it to be true to say that under the searching eye of God who looks on the heart, there is not one of us who can claim we have not committed adultery in our hearts, so even if we have never done so outwardly, we can’t be complacent or claim to have kept the 7th commandment before God.

Then in verses 29 and 30 Jesus says some startling things. Does he really mean that we should mutilate our bodies in this way, to gauge out our right eye and cut off our right hand? Some have thought so and done this horrific thing. However the fact that Jesus speaks just of the right eye and hand would suggest that Jesus was seeking to bring a deeper thing to our minds and attention, which the problem of sexual lust raises. Even if the right eye and hand are removed, the problem of lust and all sin is not removed. There still remains the left eye and hand, which is just as much a problem in this respect as the right.

What Jesus seems to be doing is pointing out to us the terrible and awful destructive condition of our human nature. The world does not recognise this or admit it, but the Bible and Jesus here is speaking to a condition of human nature that causes all the troubles in the world. The problem is a disease of the soul, which is virulent and terribly powerful, which continually destroys us morally and spiritually, and often physically as well. This sickness is called in the Bible ‘sin’. Our sins our relatively unimportant in regard to this inner sickness. Sin is corruption within that effects every part of us. It effects our mind, our intellect, our feelings, our will. It turns the good natural desires of the body into destructive and corrupting forces. Sin is very powerful as we can see in the fact that human beings just can’t control this inner disease. There may be some success in one area, but in all of us it springs out in another, though each one of us demonstrate the fact that the evidence of sin within is seen differently from one person to another.

When Jesus speaks about cutting out the eye, and cutting off the hand, he is showing the urgency of this problem of sin. It destroys the soul. It is that within that causes us to go headlong into hell. It is something that destroys us everlastingly. Its destructive power is seen not least in the way it will cause people to be blind to their inner corruption, deny its existence, and hate any talk of Christ who can save us from sin, and heal this disease. It is an illness to which we cling, because we love the symptoms it produces, and so we deny the death it brings upon us.

When Jesus speaks of cutting out the right eye and cutting off the right hand, he is calling us, Christians specially, to realise this problem of sin, admit it, hate it, turn from is, and above all mortify our corrupt affections. There is no easy solution to the problem of sin within. It is not overcome by an act of faith in some work of God outside us. We are accounted righteous before God for Christ’s sake the moment we believe and so our sins are washed away. Indeed we receive new life which is created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness, which is in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit, and so we hate the sin within, and have grace to combat it and desire to combat it. However the sinful nature we had is not changed by conversion, and it is as sinful and corrupt as it always has been. For this reason Paul speaks of mortifying our corrupt affections through the Spirit. This is what Jesus is addressing by speaking of the cutting off of our right hand, etc. Mortification of the flesh and our corrupt affections is painful, but it must be done. It is not giving up chocolate in Lent or some other sort of temporary fasting. This is useless, and in the end only excites the flesh in pride and vain glory.

Mortification is cutting out of our lives all those things that we know excite our flesh, and positively thinking of good things, and above all living in the Spirit and walking close to Christ. It is only the love of Christ perceived and known and experienced which will cause us to walk in his light, and turn away from the works of darkness. This is a constant battle, and there is no rest from it in this life.