Jesus on Adultery: It’s More Controversial Than You Think
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- Published Feb 23, 2023
We’ve all seen the image of Jesus on stained-glass windows and in children’s picture books. Jesus stands in serene pastures looking content, spiritual, and happy.
He is surrounded by children or lambs, one of which is lovingly held in his arms. “Gentle Jesus meek and mild” sings the famous hymn. For many, this is the predominant image of our Savior.
Notwithstanding the grace and love foundational to Christ’s identity, but we often forget that Jesus of Nazareth was a vagabond, a radical who often put people on edge.
Jesus’ teachings were not always the quaint moral lessons we believe them to be. Rather, he twisted contemporary logic and told stories that captivated, appalled, and even angered his audience.
A prime example of this is his words on adultery, found in Sermon on the Mount. At first glance, Christ’s teaching appears to be what one would expect: adultery and lust are bad. Yet Jesus’ words are far more challenging than this.
Jesus contravened what the people of the day thought about intimacy, marriage, and the relationship between men and women. For the hearers of his day, Christ’s words were both unsettling and controversial.
In fact, Christ’s words about adultery are equally unsettling and controversial in our day. In an age of moral relativism, Jesus’ words flow against the tide of culture. This makes his teaching, even on something as seemingly straightforward as adultery, deeply challenging to hear.
Yet hear them we must, for it is only in embracing his words that we are transformed by them. In fact, Jesus challenges us to be transformed by his words in three ways.
1. Transforming the Law
When Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said ‘Do not commit adultery,’” Jesus quotes the Ten Commandments. The prohibition against adultery wasn’t simply one that the Israelite people made up on the spot; it was a divine law given to them on Sinai (Exodus 20:14).
Effectively, Jesus quotes Scripture. Furthermore, the moral requirement of keeping the Law was foundational to Israel’s understanding of God, themselves, and the way of faith.
Jesus, however, adds his voice to the voice of God. To the hearers of the day, “…but I say to you…” (Matthew 528) would have been incredibly controversial and close to outright blasphemy.
After all, the Law of God was divine, received through revelation. No human person had the right to transcend it. But Jesus does. Jesus said, “I didn’t come to abolish the Law — but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).
Jesus came to bring the law to its fullness and to get the intent of the Law into the hearts of the people. In doing so, Jesus makes the demand on righteous living harder. No longer is the prohibition against adultery simply about external actions.
Being a follower of Jesus means abiding by his voice above all others. Jesus is the one who reveals the way of righteous faith. This way of faith, however, is not simply the do’s and don’ts of moral requirements. Jesus demands a deeper transformation, one only found through abiding in his presence.
2. Transforming the Heart
Jesus takes the conversation about adultery away from external actions and places it within the intentions of the human heart.
Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows himself to be more concerned about one’s inward transformation rather than some minimal requirement needed to obtain religious righteousness. After all, external actions can be done without any faithful dedication to God.
Think about it as a standard of righteousness; not committing adultery is a low standard to meet. For most, abstaining from such an action is relatively easy.
The same goes for the other moral actions Jesus mentions in Matthew 5. If all we needed to do to ensure our place before God is not murder someone (Matthew 5:21), then the life of faith is simple. Jesus, however, makes the demands of moral purity more restrictive, not less.
Jesus speaks to the transformation of the heart that is necessary for true and authentic discipleship. “But I say to you,” he continues, “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Adultery is rooted not in the external sexual act but in the lustful intent that lies within.
To make his point, Jesus moves the discussion to the absurd. If the life of faith was simply a matter of avoiding certain sinful activities, then let’s all lop off a hand, and pluck out an eye! It’s better to get to heaven missing limbs than to risk eternal torment, right? (5:29).
After all, those with no eyes clearly have no opportunity to lust because they can’t “look at a woman lustfully.” Is this really what Jesus advocates?
No. The call of faith is deeper than systems of sin avoidance. Do’s and don’ts don’t matter when our hearts are far from the Lord. Adultery begins when a person gives into sinful desires and allows those desires to dictate his or her action.
Being faithful in our intimate relationships, therefore, pertains to the transformation of our spirits. It demands dedication and intentionality. As it is sometimes said, “The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.”
To live as a disciple, therefore, is to live from a heart filled with Christ’s spirit. This demands that we look at others differently. Jesus transformed not just what we do with each other but also how we view each other. The prohibition against lust is rooted in recognizing the sacredness of the other person.
3. Transforming Our Relationships
We do a disservice to Jesus’ words on adultery when we assume his words are simply about a sexual act. In fact, Jesus’ words go much deeper. The fact is, in biblical times, women were the property of either their father or their husband. Women had no legal or moral rights.
Thus, the Old Testament prohibition against adultery was connected to the prohibition against theft. Adultery amounted to taking another man’s possession for oneself.
Committing adultery with another man’s wife, therefore, was an act of violence done to one’s neighbor. It was a sin against the man with whom one must retain a good relationship (Expositor Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke).
Jesus, however, flips everything around. In his talk about adultery, Jesus gives agency to women in the marriage relationship. Adultery is not merely a sin against one’s neighbor; it is a sin against the woman.
Lust and adultery aren’t something done to a woman but done with a woman (Matthew 5:29). Adultery and the lustful intent to commit adultery destroys the intimate relationship between a husband and wife.
Furthermore, to commit adultery was to be an agent in the destruction of another person’s righteous connection with God.
Jesus challenges his disciples to view women as equal members in marriage. Women were not to be viewed as the property of the man nor as sexual objects to be used for male gratification.
Jesus says, “you have heard that it was said whoever divorces his wife, let him give her certificate of divorce, but I say to you, that anyone who divorces his wife except on the ground of unchastity causes her to commit adultery” (5:31-322).
Again, Jesus contravenes the wisdom of the day. Because women were viewed as property, wives could be discarded for any reason. Jesus, however, speaks to a marriage relationship rooted in equality, respect, and, most of all, love.
Disciples have a moral duty beyond a mere limitation of the sexual relationship; the entire framework of intimate relationships is transformed. Jesus’ statement against adultery actually advocates for equality between men and women.
Whether we hear Jesus’ words about adultery, murder, oath-keeping, or revenge, Jesus speaks about the demands of discipleship in the same way. In the end, discipleship is not just about ascribing to do’s and don’ts.
The life of faith isn’t about ticking moral boxes which testify to our spiritual purity. The life of a disciple is about being so inwardly transformed that we can live our lives in some way the way Jesus lived his.
For further reading:
Why Does the Lust of the Eyes Come from the World?
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