Matthew 5:27-30
Dealing With Sexual Temptation

The Presuppositions of this Study

Before we can even begin to discuss this topic we have to ask ourselves some basic questions that will serve to illuminate our presuppositions. First, is there such a thing as sexual morality? Is there a moral law that should govern our sexual behavior (or any behavior for that matter!)?

If the answer to this question is "No" then there is no point in proceeding with this study except for the mild intellectual stimulation of finding out what traditional Christians believe regarding this topic.

If we answer this question, "Each person must determine their own morality as best suits them as an individual", we likewise have no reason to continue this study because we are committed to the path of moral relativism. Of course, if we are going to be honest moral relativists then we have to accept rape, incest, child molestation, and bestiality if the persons acting out these behaviors have determined that these are permitted in their own personal version of morality.

In reality, most of us, if pushed to think reasonably, will answer that there is such a thing as sexual morality, a moral law that governs sexual behavior. Further, if there is a moral law, there must be a source of that law, a moral lawgiver.

For traditional Christians that source of morality is Jesus Christ. His life and teaching, death and resurrection are the moral framework for all of life. Traditional Christians believe that the Bible authoritatively reveals this moral framework.

So the presupposition of this study is that the Bible is the very Word of God – God's own self-revelation – and is the infallible guide to faith and morals.

The Meaning of "Lust"

In Matthew 5:27-30 Jesus reveals that an inner attitude of lust is as much a type of sexual immorality as adultery. In order to understand this clearly we have to define what "lust" means in this text. Does it mean the initial physical attraction that comes when we look at someone with pleasant facial features or a physically attractive body? No. This initial reaction is the natural, God-given response to physical beauty in a person of the opposite sex.

I like to tell folks that the best response when experience this initial attraction is to silently pray, "Good job, God!". Although humor is intended in this response it is still a valid way of dealing with that initial attraction. It directs praise to God, keeping us mindful of God's presence and rightly attributing thanks to God for the goodness of His creation.

The real issue here is what one does with that first moment of desire, that initial sexual attraction. The Greek text shows that what is condemned by Jesus is the intentional look or thought that dwells on sexual desire in order to ignite and inflame sexual passion. The point is that the imagination must be guarded from this kind of lust because it sets the mind and will in opposition to God's desire for our sexuality. So Jesus teaches that it is not just the act of sexual intimacy with someone to whom we are not married, but fantasizing about someone other than one's spouse. Incidentally, it should go without saying that sexual thoughts and desires regarding one's spouse are a good thing. All one has to do is to read the Song of Solomon to see that this is a part of God's plan for married life. The mind is the primary sexual organ in humans.

So why is lust a bad thing? Why does Jesus forbid it? Is Jesus acting as the "Fun Police", just out to make sure nobody has a good time? Absolutely not! The reason is that sexual desire for a person other than one's husband or wife is a destructive force. It is destructive because, as stated above, such lust distances us from God by placing us in opposition to His expressed will in Scripture. Yet it also causes us to dehumanize the object of our lust. That person ceases to be a person to us and becomes a mere sexual object. Thus we no longer honor them as one who bears the image of God. By reducing that person to a sexual object we have made them a thing to be used. Lust that is acted out is a selfish drive to fulfill one's sexual appetite without really caring about the other person's greatest good. Bishop Kallistos Ware reminds us that, "Because she or he is an icon of God, each member of the human race, even the most sinful, is infinitely precious in God's sight." (The Orthodox Church, p. 221) To turn a person, through our lust, into a mere thing to be used denies and rejects the image of God in that person.

God has given us the covenant of marriage as the sole context for legitimate sexual expression because in this covenant we commit to affirming the personhood of the other. Marriage is about self-giving and not exploitation. Thus it is a safe environment in which to experience God's good gift of sexuality. I often compare the sexual component of marriage to fire in a fireplace. As long as a fire burns in a fireplace it is a good and wholesome thing. The fire provides the home warmth, security, beauty and comfort. Yet once the fire leaves the fireplace and begins to burn on the living room carpet, it becomes a destructive force that will destroy the home. Human sexuality expressed outside of the covenant of marriage is a destructive force. I have served as a United Methodist pastor for a dozen years now and I have NEVER seen a extramarital sexual relationship bring anything but heartache and ruin to the parties involved as well as their friends and family.

The Guiding Principle

In fact, when questioned about divorce, Jesus laid down the guiding principle for determining the propriety of any sexual expression. Instead of dealing with each specific contingency of sexuality, Jesus pointed to God's expressed intention in creation. Let me elaborate on why this is such an important point. I have friends who are actively engaged in homosexual relationships. One of the grounds they use to support their behavior is that Jesus never specifically forbade homosexual acts. My friends are absolutely right! Jesus never did offer a specific prohibition against homosexuality, but He also never specifically condemned incest or child-molesting either. So does this mean that Jesus supports incest? Or pedophilia? Of course not!

Instead, Jesus points to God's original plan for humanity as the authoritative guide for sexual behavior.

Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,'and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." Matthew 19:4-6

By pointing to creation for guidance Jesus is following a typical pattern used by rabbis: One appeals to the earliest tradition because the earliest is the most authoritative. The Expositor's Bible Commentary states: "Jesus essentially appealed to the principle, ‘The more original, the weightier,' an accepted form of argument in Jewish exegesis; and it is impossible to go further back than creation for the responsibilities of mankind." What could be more authoritative than God's design in creation?

It's Natural?

Any deviation from God's original intention in creation places us in opposition with God's expressed will. The power of the sexual appetite is so great and the consequences of the misuse of this appetite are so grave that Jesus insists that sexual sin must be dealt with radically:

If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Matthew 5:29-30

In this teaching Jesus makes an exaggerated statement to drive home a point. (He is NOT commending self-mutilation as some, such as Origen of Alexandria, have thought!) The point is this: There are some things intrinsic to human nature – things as natural to us as eyes and hands – that must not be indulged.

In other words, just because one has a natural inclination to do something it does NOT mean that one can legitimately act out that inclination. This is a vitally important point because so many people reason in just this way in regards to their sexuality. "If I feel the desire, the appetite to do something, it must be okay because this is how God made me." There are some serious problems with this type of reasoning.

First of all, as we have just seen Jesus says that some things that are a part of our sexual nature that must be DENIED.

Secondly, this type of thinking does not take into account the reality of the Fall and the sinful human nature. Ever since our first parents rebelled against God our appetites and affections have been warped, corrupted and distorted. Our rebellion against God has disordered God's original intention for us. So now our appetites and desires NATURALLY tend towards evil and not good. We are all broken because of the power of sin at work in the human race. This brokenness extends to our sexuality.

Thirdly, if we take the reasoning that our natural desires can lead us to appropriate actions to its logical conclusion we encounter serious problems. The natural inclination of most 16 year old males is to copulate with as many females as possible. Is this a good thing? Likewise many people reason that if one has homosexual desires, then obviously those desires should serve as an authoritative guide to how one expresses their sexuality. If we reason this way then we have to apply that same logic to all sexual desires. If a person has an appetite for sex with minor children and believes that they were "born that way" then, if we are consistent, we cannot condemn this behavior as immoral. Obviously we cannot rely on what we naturally want to do in order to determine how we will express our sexuality.

It is better for one part of our human nature to be cut off, than for us to indulge our sinful nature and be cast into hell.

An Appetite for Destruction

The Inuit, the Eskimo people of North America and Greenland, had a traditional means of hunting wolves. They would coat the blade of a razor-sharp knife in caribou blood and set the grip in the ice with the blade upwards. Once the wolf scented and found the knife it would begin to lick the blade. As a result the wolf's tongue would be cut, spilling more blood and inflaming its appetite all the more. The wolf, controlled by its desire for blood, would continue to lick the knife until it literally bled to death.

The only way the wolf could avoid this death would be to deny the natural desire for nourishment – in effect, to cut off that desire. This is the point of Jesus teaching in Matthew 5:28-30.

Practical Advice

So how does one overcome the power of sexual temptation? How does one avoid the snare of lust? The Scriptures offer one consistent word of advice: RUN AWAY. That's right, FLEE. Look at the example of Joseph in Genesis 39. This handsome young man had been sold into slavery by his brothers and became the chief servant in the household of the Egyptian official, Potiphar. When Potiphar's wife took Joseph by his cloak and insisted he have sex with her, he didn't engage her in polite discussion or try to get her to adopt his sexual mores. Instead, Joseph ran away!

One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. Genesis 39:11-12

The same theme is taken up by St Paul:

Flee from sexual immorality. 1 Corinthians 6:18a

The sexual appetite in full force is so powerful that it will overpower us nearly every time we try to fight it. One must avoid situations where sexual temptation will present itself and once we encounter that temptation we need to flee! The longer one entertains the arousal brought on by sexual temptation the more effort it takes to resist taking the next step that will lead to overt sin.

This means avoiding things that cause us to lust. Obviously that means that Christians cannot view pornography. There are a multitude of social and psychological factors that reveal the harmful nature of pornography. But beyond these factors, the only purpose of pornography is to create lust – something specifically forbidden by Jesus.

This also means that we need to be careful about the books, movies, and music we enjoy. Do these things lead us to the love and worship of God or do they arouse ungodly desires and passions? If the latter, then they should be avoided. Christian believers also need to be careful about placing themselves in situations where we are vulnerable to sexual temptation. This means avoiding situations where we spend extended periods of "alone time" with any person of the opposite sex who is not one's spouse.

In dealing with one's thought life it is good to remember the old adage, "nature abhors a vacuum". Lustful thoughts are not overcome by just "trying real hard" not to entertain those thoughts. Rather, the mind must be occupied with something wholesome. To drive out lustful thoughts the most effective strategy is to fill one's mind with Scripture, or hymns or songs of praise.

Paul's advice on the thought life is a good place to wrap up this study:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

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