Adultery Rightly Understood
Matthew 5:27-32
[27] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ [28] But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. [29] If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. [30] And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. [31] “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ [32] But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
DEEP SHEET: Sermon Study Questions
1. Why do we have a tendency to think of adultery as merely external? What does Jesus have to say about the heart?
2. How do Jesus’ words bring together the 7th and 10th Commandments (Exodus 20:14, 17)?|
3. Why should Jesus’ teaching on adultery humble us and draw us to the cross?
4. How do the eyes both follow and inform the heart? Discuss the examples of Job (31:1, 9) and David (2 Samuel 11:2-4).
5. What would it look like for you to make a “covenant with your eyes” (Job 31:1)? Discuss what it means to avoid repeating, gazing, dwelling, imagining, and pursuing.
6. Why do these verses represent such a serious indictment of pornography in particular? Discuss the negative effect of pornography on one’s marriage.
7. In response to vv. 29-30, what do you need to cut off or dig out of your life in order to protect yourself from the destructive power of sexual sin? How does Romans 8:13 encourage us to fight without relying on our own strength?


