Adultery in the Heart

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

SUMMARY: Instead of that commandment, “Do not commit adultery,” the Lord forbids even lust. The Lord teaches us not only not to sin in act, but even in thought. Lust leads the way to fornication and adultery. He who wishes to commit adultery is an adulterer, although he does not succeed in committing adultery. He who looks upon a woman, even though he escapes the temptation, does not come away pure of all lust. It is not lawful among Christians to indulge in a lustful look. These precepts are to be literally observed. We shall give account to God not of deeds only, but even of our thoughts. The mind is polluted by the desire, though unaccomplished. Better is the kingdom of God to a man with one eye, than the fire to one who is unmutilated. We cannot take literally the passage in the Gospel in which the right eye is said to cause one to stumble. Hell is the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly, a place where those are to be punished who have lived wickedly, eternal fire, a reservoir of secret fire under the earth for purposes of punishment, a place of eternal punishment. Irenaeus: Moreover, this impious opinion of theirs, the heretics, with respect to actions—namely, that it is incumbent on them to have experience of all kinds of deeds, even the most abominable—is refuted by the teaching of the Lord, with whom not only is the adulterer rejected, but also the man who desires to commit adultery.

IRENAEUS: The Lord, instead of that commandment, “Do not commit adultery,” forbids even lust.

TATIAN: You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit adultery:” but I now say to you, that everyone that looks at a woman lusting after her has forthwith already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye injure you, put it out and cast it from you; for it is preferable for you that one of your members should perish, and not your whole body go into the fire of hell. And if your right hand injure you, cut it off and cast it from you; and it is better for you that one of your members should perish, and not your whole body fall into Gehenna.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The man of understanding will find out the particular Scripture which deals with each individual heresy, and at the right time will quote it to refute those who teach doctrines contrary to the commandments. Right from the beginning the law, as we have already said, lays down the command, “You shall not covet your neighbor's wife,” long before the Lord's closely similar utterance in the New Testament, where the same idea is expressed in his own mouth: “You have heard that the law commanded, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say, you shall not lust.” That the law intended husbands to live with their wives with self-control and only for the purpose of having children is evident from the prohibition which forbids the unmarried man from having immediate sexual relations with a captive woman. If the man has conceived a desire for her, he is directed to mourn for thirty days while she is to have her hair cut; if after this the desire has not passed off, then they may proceed to have children, because the appointed period enables the overwhelming impulse to be tested and to become a rational act of will.

THE DIDACHE: Do not be lustful; for lust leads the way to fornication; neither a filthy talker, nor of lofty eye; for out of all these adulteries are caused.

JUSTIN MARTYR: Concerning chastity, He uttered such sentiments as these: “Whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart before God.” And, “If your right eye offends you, cut it out; for it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of heaven with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into everlasting fire.”

IRENAEUS: “He who has looked upon a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart;” ... All this is declared, that we may know that we shall give account to God not of deeds only, as slaves, but even of words and thoughts, as those who have truly received the power of liberty, in which condition a man is more severely tested, whether he will reverence, and fear, and love the Lord.”

THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH: And concerning chastity, the holy word teaches us not only not to sin in act, but not even in thought, not even in the heart to think of any evil, nor look on another man’s wife with our eyes to lust after her. Solomon, accordingly, who was a king and a prophet, said: “Let your eyes look right on, and let your eyelids look straight before you: make straight paths for your feet.” And the voice of the Gospel teaches still more urgently concerning chastity, saying: “Whosoever looks on a woman who is not his own wife, to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

ATHENAGORAS: We are so far from practicing promiscuous intercourse, that it is not lawful among us to indulge even a lustful look. “For,” He says, “he that looks on a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery already in his heart.” Those, then, who are forbidden to look at anything more than that for which God formed the eyes, which were intended to be a light to us, and to whom a wanton look is adultery, the eyes being made for other purposes, and who are to be called to account for their very thoughts, how can any one doubt that such persons practice self-control? For our account lies not with human laws, which a bad man can evade, . . . but we have a law which makes the measure of rectitude to consist in dealing with our neighbor as ourselves.

ATHENAGORAS: On behalf of those, then, to whom we apply the names of brothers and sisters, and other designations of relationship, we exercise the greatest care that their bodies should remain undefiled and uncorrupted; for the Logos again says to us, “If any one kiss a second time because it has given him pleasure, he sins;” adding, “Therefore the kiss, or rather the salutation, should be given with the greatest care, since, if there be mixed with it the least defilement of thought, it excludes us from eternal life.”

HERMAS: He who had brought me up, sold me to one Rhode in Rome. Many years after this I recognized her, and I began to love her as a sister. Some time after, I saw her bathe in the river Tiber; and I gave her my hand, and drew her out of the river. The sight of her beauty made me think with myself, “I should be a happy man if I could but get a wife as attractive and good as she is.” This was the only thought that passed through me: this and nothing more. A short time after this, as I was walking on my road to the villages, and magnifying the creatures of God, and thinking how magnificent, and beautiful, and powerful they are, I fell asleep. And the Spirit carried me away, and took me through a pathless place, through which a man could not travel, for it was situated in the midst of rocks; it was rugged and impassible on account of water. Having passed over this river, I came to a plain. I then bent down on my knees, and began to pray to the Lord, and to confess my sins. And as I prayed, the heavens were opened, and I see the woman whom I had desired saluting me from the sky, and saying, “Hail, Hermas!” And looking up to her, I said, “Lady, what are you doing here?” And she answered me, “I have been taken up here to accuse you of your sins before the Lord.” “Lady,” I said, “are you to be the subject of my accusation?” “No,” she said, “but hear the words which I am going to speak to you. God, who dwells in the heavens, and made out of nothing the things that exist, and multiplied and increased them on account of His holy Church, is angry with you for having sinned against me.” I answered her, “Lady, have I sinned against you? How? Or when did I speak an unseemly word to you? Did I not always think of you as a lady? Did I not always respect you as a sister? Why do you falsely accuse me of this wickedness and impurity?” With a smile she replied to me, “The desire of wickedness arose within your heart. Is it not your opinion that a righteous man commits sin when an evil desire arises in his heart? There is sin in such a case, and the sin is great,” she said, “for the thoughts of a righteous man should be righteous. For by thinking righteously his character is established in the heavens, and he has the Lord merciful to him in every business. But such as entertain wicked thoughts in their minds are bringing upon themselves death and captivity; and especially is this the case with those who set their affections on this world, and glory in their riches, and do not look forward to the blessings of the life to come. For many will their regrets be; for they have no hope, but have despaired of themselves and their life. But do pray to God, and He will heal your sins, and the sins of your whole house, and of all the saints.”

HERMAS: “I charge you,” said he, “to guard your chastity, and let no thought enter your heart of another man’s wife, or of fornication, or of similar iniquities; for by doing this you commit a great sin. But if you always remember your own wife, you will never sin. For if this thought enters your heart, then you will sin; and if, in like manner, you think other wicked thoughts, you commit sin. For this thought is great sin in a servant of God. But if anyone commits this wicked deed, he works death for himself. Attend, therefore, and refrain from this thought; for where purity dwells, there iniquity ought not to enter the heart of a righteous man.”

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Addressed to pagans: And of what kind, on the other hand, are your other images? Diminutive Pans, and naked girls, and drunken Satyrs, and phallic tokens, painted naked in pictures disgraceful for filthiness. And more than this: you are not ashamed in the eyes of all to look at representations of all forms of licentiousness which are portrayed in public places, but set them up and guard them with scrupulous care, consecrating these pillars of shamelessness at home, as if, indeed, they were the images of your gods. . . . Not only the use of these, but the sight of them, and the very hearing of them, we denounce as deserving the doom of oblivion. Your ears are debauched, your eyes commit fornication, your looks commit adultery before you embrace.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: “Do not lust, for by lust alone you have committed adultery.” How much better, therefore, is it for men from the beginning not to wish to desire things forbidden, than to obtain their desires!

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Much more must we keep pure from shameful deeds: on the one hand, from exhibiting and exposing parts of the body which we ought not; and on the other, from beholding what is forbidden.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Men, therefore, affording to women a noble example of truth, ought to be ashamed at their stripping before them, and guard against these dangerous sights; “for he who has looked curiously,” it is said, “has sinned already.” At home, therefore, they ought to regard with modesty parents and domestics.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Above all, it seems right that we turn away from the sight of women. For it is sin not only to touch, but to look; and he who is rightly trained must especially avoid them. “Let your eyes look straight, and your eyelids wink right.” For while it is possible for one who looks to remain steadfast; yet care must be taken against falling. For it is possible for one who looks to slip; but it is impossible for one who does not look to lust. For it is not enough for the chaste to be pure; but they must give all diligence, to be beyond the range of criticism, shutting out all ground of suspicion, in order to the consummation of chastity; so that we may not only be faithful, but appear worthy of trust. For this is also consequently to be guarded against, as the apostle says, “that no man should blame us; providing things honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.” “But turn away your eyes from a graceful woman, and contemplate not another’s beauty,” says the Scripture. And if you require the reason, it will further tell you, “For by the beauty of woman many have gone astray, and at it affection blazes up like fire;” the affection which arises from the fire which we call love, leading to the fire which will never cease in consequence of sin.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The Christian, therefore, will abstain from errors in speech, and thought, and sensation, and action, having heard “that he that looks so as to lust has committed adultery.”

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: “And he that looks so as to lust” is judged. Therefore it is said, “You shall not lust.”

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: He who wishes to commit adultery is an adulterer, although he does not succeed in committing adultery.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The Lord has said: “But I say unto you, you shall not lust.” How then can he live according to God's will who surrenders himself to every desire?

TERTULLIAN: The Christian husband has nothing to do with any but his own wife. Democritus, in putting out his eyes, because he could not look on women without lusting after them, and was pained if his passion was not satisfied, owns plainly, by the punishment he inflicts, his lack of self-restraint. But a Christian with grace-healed eyes is sightless in this matter; he is mentally blind against the assaults of passion.

TERTULLIAN: He defines adultery to consist even in lust, “if one shall have cast an eye lustfully on,” and stirred his soul with immodest commotion.

TERTULLIAN: We were not given eyes to lust, and the tongue for speaking evil, and ears to be the receptacle of evil speech, and the throat to serve the vice of gluttony, and the belly to be gluttony’s ally, and the genitals for unchaste excesses, and hands for deeds of violence, and the feet for an erring life.

TERTULLIAN: How does the Lord demonstrate Himself as adding a superstructure to the law, except by prohibiting sins of the will as well as other sins; while He defines not only the man who had actually invaded another’s wedlock to be an adulterer, but likewise him who had contaminated a woman by the lust of his gaze? Accordingly it is dangerous enough for the mind to set before itself what it is forbidden to perform, and rashly through the will to perfect its execution. And since the power of this will is such that, even without fully satisfying its self-gratification, it stands for a deed; as a deed, therefore, it shall be punished. It is utterly vain to say, “I willed, but yet I did not do.” Rather you ought to carry the thing through, because you will; or else not to will, because you do not carry it through. But, by the confession of your consciousness, you pronounce your own condemnation. For if you eagerly desired a good thing, you would have been anxious to carry it through; in like manner, as you do not carry an evil thing through, you ought not to have eagerly desired it. Wherever you take your stand, you are fast bound by guilt; because you have either willed evil, or else have not fulfilled good.

HIPPOLYTUS: For he who looks upon a woman, even though he escapes the temptation, does not come away pure of all lust. And why should one have trouble, if he can be chaste and free of trouble? See what Job says: “I made a covenant with my eyes, that I should not think of another’s wife.” Thus well does he know the power of abuse. And Paul for this reason kept “under his body, and brought it into subjection.” And, figuratively speaking, he keeps a fire in his breast who permits an impure thought to dwell in his heart. And he walks upon coals who, by sinning in act, destroys his own soul.

ORIGEN: The Savior said, “Whoever shall look upon a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart;” and in issuing certain other commands, conveys no other meaning than this, that it is in our own power to observe what is commanded. And therefore we are rightly rendered liable to condemnation if we transgress those commandments which we are able to keep.

ORIGEN: And with respect to the precepts enjoined in the Gospels, no doubt can be entertained that very many of these are to be literally observed, for example, when our Lord says, “Whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

ORIGEN: Suppose chastity should begin with the inner man. It will undoubtedly extend to the outer, for it is impossible for someone who does not previously commit adultery in his heart to be able to commit adultery with his body. But if chastity begins in the outer man, it does not immediately pass as well into inner self control, as if the one who avoids committing adultery in the body will be free from adultery in his heart.

ORIGEN: Judaic boasting is excluded, not through the law of works but through the law of faith, which is in Christ Jesus, in whose cross the Apostle boasts. For who will legitimately boast about his own chastity when he reads what is written, “anyone who has looked at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” ?

LACTANTIUS: This also is added for the completion of chastity, that there should be an absence not only of the offense, but even of the thought. For it is evident that the mind is polluted by the desire, though unaccomplished; and so that a just man ought neither to do, nor to wish to do, that which is unjust. Therefore the conscience must be cleansed; for God, who cannot be deceived, inspects it. The breast must be cleared from every stain, that it may be a temple of God, which is enlightened not by the gleam of gold or ivory, but by the brightness of faith and purity.

THE MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP: But again the proconsul said to him, “I will cause you to be consumed by fire, seeing that you despise the wild beasts, if you will not repent.” But Polycarp said, “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. But why do you tarry? Bring forth what you will.”

SECOND CLEMENT: And “their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched, and they shall be for a spectacle unto all flesh.” He speaks of that day of judgment, when they shall see those among us that have been ungodly and acted deceitfully with the commandments of Jesus Christ. But the righteous who have done well and endured torments and hated the enjoyments of the soul, when they shall behold those that have gone astray and denied Jesus through their words or through their works, how that they are punished with grievous torments in unquenchable fire, shall be giving glory to God, saying, “There will be hope for him that has served God with his whole heart.”

JUSTIN MARTYR: And hell, Gehenna, is a place where those are to be punished who have lived wickedly, and who do not believe that those things which God has taught us by Christ will come to pass.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The eyes especially are to be sparingly used, since it is better to slip with the feet than with the eyes. Accordingly, the Lord very summarily cures this malady: “If your eye offends you, cut it out,” he says, dragging lust up from the foundation. But languishing looks, and ogling, which is to wink with the eyes, is nothing else than to commit adultery with the eyes, lust skirmishing through them.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: You may even go against wealth. Say, “Certainly Christ does not debar me from property. The Lord does not envy.” But do you see yourself overcome and overthrown by it? Leave it, throw it away, hate, renounce, flee. “Even if your right eye offends you,” quickly “cut it out.” Better is the kingdom of God to a man with one eye, than the fire to one who is unmutilated. Whether hand, or foot, or soul, hate it. For if it is destroyed here for Christ’s sake, it will be restored to life yonder.

TERTULLIAN: If we threaten Gehenna, which is a reservoir of secret fire under the earth for purposes of punishment, we have in the same way derision heaped on us.

TERTULLIAN: Consider in your heart the hell, Gehenna, and imagine first the magnitude of the penalty, that you may not hesitate about the adoption of the remedy. What do we esteem that treasure-house of eternal fire to be, when small vent-holes of it rouse such blasts of flames that neighboring cities either are already no more, or are in daily expectation of the same fate? The haughtiest mountains start asunder in the birth-throes of their inwardly gendered fire; and which proves to us the perpetuity of the judgment, though they start asunder, though they are devoured, yet they never come to an end.

ORIGEN: Now as we found that Gehenna was mentioned in the Gospel as a place of punishment, we searched to see whether it is mentioned anywhere in the ancient Scriptures, and especially because the Jews too use the word. And we ascertained that where the valley of the son of Hinnom was named in Scripture in the Hebrew, instead of “valley,” with fundamentally the same meaning, it was termed both the valley of Hinnom and also Geenna. And continuing our researches, we find that what was termed “Geenna,” or “the valley of Hinnom,” was included in the lot of the tribe of Benjamin, in which Jerusalem also was situated. And seeking to ascertain what might be the inference from the heavenly Jerusalem belonging to the lot of Benjamin and the valley of Hinnom, we find a certain confirmation of what is said regarding the place of punishment, intended for the purification of such souls as are to be purified by torments, agreeably to the saying: “The Lord comes like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and of gold.” It is in the precincts of Jerusalem, then, that punishments will be inflicted upon those who undergo the process of purification, who have received into the substance of their soul the elements of wickedness, which in a certain place is figuratively termed “lead,” and on that account iniquity is represented in Zechariah as sitting upon a “talent of lead.” But the remarks which might be made on this topic are neither to be made to all, nor to be uttered on the present occasion; for it is not unattended with danger to commit to writing the explanation of such subjects, seeing the multitude need no further instruction than that which relates to the punishment of sinners; while to ascend beyond this is not expedient, for the sake of those who are with difficulty restrained, even by fear of eternal punishment, from plunging into any degree of wickedness, and into the flood of evils which result from sin.

ORIGEN: And it is possible to apply these words also to our nearest relatives, who are our members, as it were; being considered to be our members, because of the close relationship; whether by birth, or from any habitual friendship, so to speak; whom we must not spare if they are injuring our soul. For let us cut off from ourselves as a hand or a foot or an eye, a father or mother who wishes us to do that which is contrary to piety, and a son or daughter who, as far as in them lies, would have us revolt from the church of Christ and the love of Him. But even if the wife of our bosom, or a friend who is kindred in soul, become stumbling-blocks to us, let us not spare them, but let us cut them out from ourselves, and cast them outside of our soul, as not being truly our kindred but enemies of our salvation; for “whoever does not hate his father, and mother,” and the others subjoined, when it is the fitting season to hate them as enemies and assailants, that he may be able to win Christ, this man is not worthy of the Son of God. And in respect of these we may say, that from a critical position any lame one, so to speak, is saved, when he has lost a foot—say a brother—and alone obtains the inheritance of the kingdom of God; and a maimed one is saved, when his father is not saved, but they perish, while he is separated from them, that he alone may obtain the benedictions. And so also any one is saved with one eye, who has cut out the eye of his own house, his wife, if she commit fornication, lest having two eyes he may go away into the hell of fire, Gehenna.

ORIGEN: We cannot take literally the passage in the Gospel in which the right eye is said to cause one to stumble. For even granting the possibility of sight making any one to stumble, why, when the two eyes see, should we put the blame on the right eye. Would any man when he condemns himself for looking on a woman to lust after her, put the blame on the right eye only, and cast it from him?

CYPRIAN: Believe Him who will call down on them that do not believe, eternal punishments in the fires of Gehenna. . . . An ever-burning Gehenna will burn up the condemned, and a punishment devouring with living flames; nor will there be any source from there at any time that they may have either respite or end to their torments. Souls with their bodies will be reserved in infinite tortures for suffering. Thus the man will be forever seen by us who here gazed upon us for a season; and the short joy of those cruel eyes in the persecutions that they made for us will be compensated by a perpetual spectacle, according to the truth of Holy Scripture, which says, “Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be for a vision to all flesh” . . . . The pain of punishment will then be without the fruit of penitence; weeping will be useless, and prayer ineffectual. Too late they will believe in eternal punishment who would not believe in eternal life.

TREATISE ON THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM: A horrible place, of which the name is Gehenna, with an awful murmuring and groaning of souls bewailing, and with flames belching forth through the horrid darkness of thick night, is always breathing out the raging fires of a smoking furnace, while the confined mass of flames is restrained or relaxed for the various purposes of punishment. Then there are very many degrees of its violence, as it gathers into itself whatever tortures the consuming fire of the emitted heat can supply. Those by whom the voice of the Lord has been rejected, and His control contemned, it punishes with different dooms; and in proportion to the different degree of deserving of the forfeited salvation it applies its power, while a portion assigns its due distinction to crime.