- Matthew 5:27–28
-
Matthew 5:27 and Matthew 5:28 are the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth verses of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. These verses begins the second antithesis: while since Matthew 5:21 the discussion has been on murder, it now moves to adultery.
In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:
- 27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of
- old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
- 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh
- on a woman to lust after her hath committed
- adultery with her already in his heart.
The World English Bible translates the passage as:
- 27 "You have heard that it was said,
- 'You shall not commit adultery;'
- 28 but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a
- woman to lust after her has committed
- adultery with her already in his heart.
For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 5:27-BibRef 5:28
5:27 opens in a very similar manner to Matthew 5:21, but it omits "to the ancient ones," though Gundry believes that this is implied. "To the ancient ones" was added to this verse in the Textus Receptus, and from there it was added to the KJV.[1]
This verse references the commandment against adultery stated in Exodus 20:14. This verse follows immediately after the prohibition against murder, and the Sermon follows this same pattern.
The equation of lust with adultery is very similar to the earlier equation of anger and murder in Matthew 5:22. Like the previous verse this is often interpreted as Jesus expanding on the requirements of Mosaic law, but not rejecting it. This sentiment was not original to Jesus being discussed in the Old Testament and in contemporary Jewish literature. Kittle notes that similar ideas are expressed in T. Issachar and Tractate Kalla.[2]
The word translated as woman is gyne in general this term means wife rather than just any woman. Most scholars thus feel that Jesus is only talking about lusting after another's wife, not the attraction of a man to his own wife. Nolland notes that sexual desire is not condemned in Matthew or in the contemporary literature, only misdirected desire.[3]
According to the laws of the time it was not adultery for a married man to sleep with an unmarried woman. Adultery was interpreted as a form of theft, and the harm came from stealing another man's wife. In Matthew 5:32 some feel Jesus will challenge this view. France states that lust is more precisely understood as "in order to do the forbidden with her."[4] Schweizer notes that looking lustfully at a woman is specifically condemned, implying that it is possible for a man to look at a woman without lust. Important in that it rejects the need for absolute segregation of the sexes.[5]
References
- ^ Gundry, Robert H. Matthew: a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.
- ^ Kissinger, Warren S. The Sermon on the Mount: A History of Interpretation and Bibliography. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1975.
- ^ Nolland, John. The Gospel of Matthew: a commentary on the Greek text. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005 pg. 237
- ^ France, R.T. The Gospel According to Matthew: an Introduction and Commentary. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1985.
- ^ Schweizer, Eduard. The Good News According to Matthew. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975
Gospel of Matthew Preceded by:
Matthew 5:26Chapter 5 Followed by:
Matthew 5:29Categories:- Gospel of Matthew verses
- Sermon on the Mount
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
