You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not commit adultery:
All Commentaries on Matthew 5:27 Go To Matthew 5
John Chrysostom
AD 407
For he did not simply say “whoever shall desire,” since it is possible for one to desire even when sitting alone in the mountains. Rather, Jesus said, “whoever looks with lust,” that is, one who thinks about another solely for the purpose of lusting, who, under no compulsion, allows the wild beast to intrude upon his thoughts when they are calm. This intrusion no longer comes from nature but from selfindulgence. The ancient Scripture corrects this from the first, saying, “Don’t gaze upon another’s beauty.” And then, so that no one should say, if I gaze but am not taken captive, he punishes the look, lest through a false security you should some time fall into sin. “What then,” one may say, “if I should look, and desire indeed, but do no evil?” Even so you find your place among the adulterers. For the Lawgiver has pronounced it, and you must not question further. For when you look once, twice or three times, you will perhaps have power to refrain; but if you make this your habitual practice, kindling the furnace within you, you will assuredly be overcome. Your human nature is no different from that of other people. If we see a child holding a knife, though we don’t see him hurt, we spank him and forbid him to ever do so again. In the same way, God removes the licentious look even before the act, lest at any time you should fall in act also. For he who has once kindled the flame, even when the woman whom he has beheld is absent, is forming continually within himself images of shameful things. The images often lead even to the concrete act. Hence Christ takes away even that embrace which is in the heart only. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
