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This month's article may, indeed, seem a little strange!  It was prompted by reviews of President Jimmy Carter's life upon the occasion of his death earlier this year. 

 

Many may recall that this openly-honest man was once questioned regarding his faithfulness to his Christian standards. The questioner quoted the verse above (Matthew 5:28):

 

            "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman

            with lust for her has already committed adultery with

            her in his heart."

 

Jimmy Carter was stunned by the question, but, in his invariably honest way, admitted that his glances had at times gone astray.  It is our thinking that his comprehension of this text was perhaps not as exacting as was Jesus' intent in his uttering it.Mr. Carter may well not yet have had the opportunity to give the text its due in-depth consideration. And this Scripture may also cause concern among many others who have also felt that they had already been condemned by a "wandering eye."

 

It is quite important that sincere disciples (1) DO what the Lord wants to the best of their abilities and, (2) NOT CONDEMN themselves into hopelessness because they feel they cannot overcome the weaknesses of their flesh. As the Apostle Paul expressed it in Romans 7, (when he was thankful that he was NOT responsible for the fleshly perfections required by the Jewish Law) --

        

        (7:14)  "For we know that the Law is spiritual --  [demanding of the perfections of the spiritual world] --            but I am of [fallen] flesh , sold into

        bondage to sin. 

        (7:15)  For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing

        what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate:

        (7:17)  So, now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

        (7:18)  For I know that nothing good dwells in me -- that is, in my flesh --

        for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

        (7:19)  For the good that I want, I do not do; but I practice the very evil

        that I do not want.

        (7:20)  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer

        the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

        (7:21)  I find, then, the principle that evil is present in me -- the one who

        wants to do good.

        (7:22)  For I joyfully concur with the Law of God in the inner man,

        (7:23)  but I see a different law in the members of my body -- waging war

        against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin

        which is in my members.

        (7:24)  Wretched man that I am!  Who will set me free from this body [which can only, by itself, lead to          the sentence] of death?  

        

        (7:25)  THANKS BE TO GOD through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, on the one hand, I, myself, with            my mind, am serving the Law of God, but on the other hand, with my flesh, I am serving the law of               sin."

 

These words of Paul are SO DOCTRINALLY REVEALING!  Paul is actually explaining the way out of the problem which Jesus had enunciated. When Jesus made his point in Matthew 5, there were no spirit-begotten Christians -- there was no "inner man." There weren't any (except Jesus) until Pentecost.  Only after Pentecost could anyone be considered to have the "New Creature" (the new nature -- "the inner man") striving against the "old man" (the fallen flesh of our humanity).  Jesus was speaking to Jews because they needed to know of their own INCAPABILITIES in keeping the Mosaic Law.  They were being told that they NEEDED HIM to get them out of their problem. Jesus knew that his own sacrifice would open the WAY OUT of the problem for his disciples. And the Apostle Paul is teaching us about that way out -- how we can live the spirit of the Law even though we cannot live the letter of the Law.

 

What is the point?  The point is that we who are not now under the Jewish Law Covenant ARE NOT COMMITTING ADULTERY IN OUR HEARTS if our eyes stray but our hearts DO NOT!

 

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A little analysis of Jesus' words can be helpful.  He said, "Everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her..."  The word "LOOKS" can, but does not always, mean just "look."  But, as Strong's Concordance clarifies, it is "frequently implying special contemplation."  We believe that is Jesus' point.  We cannot help that a thought flies through our minds.  But we CAN help that it not lodge itself there, gaining "special contemplation."  That may have been true even under the Jewish Law.  Dismissing something we do not wish to consider means that it has not become a sin.  That is     why Jesus was virtually saying that if someone CONTEMPLATES a woman with lust (seriously entertains the thought), his HEART has already committed adultery.  The "heart" is the seat of affections -- the indicator of what our actual INTENTIONS are.

 

President Carter was brutally honest with himself (and with us) -- not giving leeway for his fleshly imperfections.  But Paul "gets him off the hook" -- UNLESS Mr. Carter really WANTED to contemplate such an illicit consideration -- which seems unlikely.  But even there, Paul wants us all to understand that the things we cannot control ARE SIN WITHIN US, but are NOT sin IN OUR HEARTS (are not given serious contemplation by us -- the inner man -- because we reject their validity).  In THAT case, Jesus' words are not applicable to us.  We will NOT have already committed adultery in our hearts if we abhor the idea.

 

A Christian disciple MUST realize and accept the forgiveness for the sin that dwells within, and he MUST NOT attribute that sin to the "New Creature" within him if he realizes that all of his good "inner self" is actively fighting and repelling the things that his old nature continues to lean toward.  That is the NECESSARY FAITH we must have when we accept the doctrine of forgiveness in Christ.  It is "the way out" during the Gospel Age for the consecrated Christian until actual perfection is attained later.

 

 

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