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 what we do, but also not to sin in what we think. Lust leads the way to fornication and adultery. Anyone who wants to commit adultery is an adulterer, even if he does not succeed in committing adultery. Anyone who looks at a woman, even if he escapes the temptation, does not leave completely free of all lust. Among Christians, it is not lawful to enjoy a lustful look. These commands must be obeyed literally. We will give an account to God not only for our actions, but also for our thoughts. The mind is made unclean by desire, even if the desire is not carried out. It is better for a man to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to go into the fire with both eyes. We cannot take literally the passage in the Gospel where the right eye is said to cause someone to stumble. Hell is the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment. It is kept for the ungodly. It is a place where those who have lived wickedly will be punished. It is eternal fire. It is a storehouse of hidden fire under the earth, meant for punishment. It is a place of eternal punishment. Irenaeus: Also, this godless opinion of theirs, the heretics, about actions, namely, that it is required for them to experience all kinds of deeds, even the most horrible ones, is proven wrong by the teaching of the Lord. With the Lord, not only is the adulterer rejected, but also the man who wants 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 now I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman and lusts after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye injures you, take it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you that one of your body parts should perish than for your whole body to go into the fire of hell. And if your right hand injures you, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you that one of your body parts should perish than for your whole body to fall into Gehenna.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: A person with understanding will find the specific scripture that speaks to each heresy. At the right time, he will quote it to correct those who teach teachings that go against the commandments. From the very beginning, the law, as we have already said, gives this command: "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife." This was long before the Lord's very similar teaching in the New Testament. There, the same idea is spoken from His own mouth: "You have heard that the law commanded, 'You shall not commit adultery,' but I say, 'You shall not lust.'" It is clear that the law meant husbands to live with their wives with self-control and only for the purpose of having children. We can see this from the rule that forbids an unmarried man from having immediate sexual relations with a captive woman. If the man has desired her, he is told to mourn for thirty days, and she is to have her hair cut. If, after this, the desire has not gone away, then they may go on to have children. This is because the set time allows the strong impulse to be tested and to become a reasonable choice of the will.

THE DIDACHE: Do not be lustful, because lust leads the way to sexual sin. Do not be someone who talks in a dirty way. Do not have proud, arrogant eyes, because out of all these, adulteries are caused.

JUSTIN MARTYR: About chastity. He said things like this: "Whoever looks at a woman and wants her in a sinful way has already committed adultery with her in his heart before God." And, "If your right eye causes you to sin, cut it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of heaven with one eye than having two eyes to be thrown into everlasting fire."

IRENAEUS: He who has looked at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. All this is declared so that we may know that we will give an account to God, not only for deeds like slaves do, but also for words and thoughts. This is for those who have truly received the power of liberty. In that condition, a man is tested more severely to see whether he will honor, fear, and love the Lord.

THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH: And about chastity, the Holy Word teaches us not only not to sin in what we do, but not even in what we think. It teaches us not even in our hearts to think about any evil. It also teaches us not to look at another man's wife with our eyes and lust after her. Solomon, 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 even more strongly about chastity. It says, "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 sex that among us it is not lawful even to allow a lustful look. For, he says, he that looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already in his heart. So then, people like us are forbidden to look at anything more than what God formed the eyes for; the eyes were meant to be a light to us. For us, a wanton look is adultery, because the eyes were made for other purposes, and we will be called to account even for our thoughts. How can anyone doubt that such people practice self-control? Our accountability is not to human laws, which a bad man can evade, but we have a law that makes the standard of what is right to be this. We must deal with our neighbor as we deal with ourselves.

ATHENAGORAS: So, for those people we call brothers and sisters and others we speak of as family, we are very careful that their bodies stay pure and not corrupted. The Logos says to us again, "If anyone kisses a second time because it has given him pleasure, he sins." He adds, "Therefore the kiss, or rather the greeting, should be given with the greatest care. If even the smallest unclean thought is mixed with it, it keeps us out of eternal life."

HERMAS: The man who raised me sold me to a woman named Rhod in Rome. Many years later I recognized her, and I began to love her like a sister. Some time later I saw her bathing in the Tiber River. I reached out my hand and I pulled her out of the river. Seeing her beauty made me think to myself, I would be a happy man if I could get a wife as attractive and good as she is. This was the only thought that went through me. It was this, and nothing more. A short time after this, I was walking on my way to the villages. I was praising the creatures of God and thinking how magnificent, beautiful, and powerful they are. Then I fell asleep. The spirit carried me away. He took me through a place with no path, where a man could not travel. It was in the middle of rocks. It was rough and impossible to pass because of water. After I crossed this river, I came to a plain. Then I got down on my knees and began to pray to the Lord and confess my sins. As I prayed, the heavens were opened. I saw the woman I had desired. She greeted me from the sky and said, "Hail, Hermas." I looked up at her and said, "Lady, what are you doing here?" She answered me, "I have been taken up here to accuse you of your sins before the Lord." I said, "Lady, are you the one I am being accused about?" She said, "No, but listen to the words I am going to speak to you. God, who lives in the heavens and made the things that exist out of nothing, and who multiplied and increased them for His holy church, is angry with you because you have sinned against me." I answered her, "Lady, have I sinned against you? How? Or when did I speak an improper 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 for wickedness rose up in your heart. Do you not think that a righteous man commits sin when an evil desire rises in his heart? In that case, there is sin, and the sin is great," she said, "because the thoughts of a righteous man should be righteous. For by thinking in a righteous way, his character is established in the heavens, and he has the Lord merciful to him in every matter. But those who hold on to wicked thoughts in their minds are bringing on themselves death and captivity. This is especially true for those who set their love on this world and take pride in their riches and do not look forward to the blessings of the life to come. For they will have many regrets, because they have no hope. They have given up on themselves and on their life. But do pray to God, and He will heal your sins, and the sins of your whole household, and of all the saints."

HERMAS: I warn you, he said, guard your chastity. Do not let any thought enter your heart about another man's wife, or about fornication, or about similar sins. If you do this, you commit a great sin. But if you always remember your own wife, you will never sin. If this thought enters your heart, then you will sin. In the same way, if you think other wicked thoughts, you commit sin. This thought is a great sin in a servant of God. If anyone commits this wicked deed, he brings death on himself. Therefore, pay attention and hold back from this thought. Where purity lives, sin should not enter the heart of a righteous man.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Addressed to pagans: And what kind are your other images? They are diminutive Pans, naked girls, drunken satyrs, and phallic tokens. They are painted naked in pictures that are shameful and filthy. And more than this: you are not ashamed, in front of everyone, to look at pictures of every kind of sexual sin. These are shown in public places, but you set them up and guard them with careful attention. You even make these pillars of shamelessness holy in your homes, as if they were the images of your gods. Not only the use of these things, but also the sight of them, and even the hearing of them, we denounce as deserving the doom of being forgotten. Your ears are corrupted. Your eyes commit sexual sin. Your looks commit adultery before you even embrace.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: do not lust, because by lust alone you have committed adultery. Therefore, how much better it is for people, from the beginning, not to want to desire things that are forbidden than to get what they desire.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Even more, we must keep ourselves pure from shameful actions. On the one hand, we must not show or expose parts of the body that we should not; on the other hand, we must not look at what is forbidden.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Men, therefore, who give women a noble example of truth should be ashamed to strip in front of them. They should guard against these dangerous sights, for it is said, "He who has looked curiously has sinned already." At home, therefore, they should look on their parents and household servants with modesty.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Above all, it seems right that we turn away from looking at women, because it is sin not only to touch, but also to look. And the person who is trained the right way must especially avoid this: let your eyes look straight and your eyelids wink right. Even though it is possible for someone who looks to stay steady, you still must be careful not to fall. Because it is possible for someone who looks to slip, but it is impossible for someone who does not look to lust. It is not enough for chaste people to be pure; they must also work hard to be beyond criticism. They must shut out every reason for suspicion so that chastity is complete. Then we will not only be faithful, but also appear worthy of trust. This also must 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 want the reason, it will also tell you: for by the beauty of woman many have gone astray, and at it affection blazes up like fire. That affection rises from the fire we call love, and it leads to the fire that will never stop because of sin.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Therefore, the Christian will avoid errors in speech, thought, feeling, and action. This is because they have heard that he who looks in order to lust has committed adultery.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: "And the one who looks in order to lust is judged; therefore it is said, 'You shall not lust.'"

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: "Anyone who wants to commit adultery is an adulterer, even if they do not succeed in committing adultery."

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The Lord has said, "But I say to you, you shall not lust." So how can someone live according to God's will if He gives Himself over to every desire?

TERTULLIAN: A Christian husband has nothing to do with any woman except his own wife. Democritus put out his own eyes because he could not look at women without lusting after them. He was also upset if his desire was not satisfied. By the punishment he gave himself, he clearly admits his lack of self-control. But a Christian, whose eyes have been healed by grace, is blind in this matter. In his mind, he is blind to the attacks of passion.

TERTULLIAN: He defines adultery as including even lust: if someone has looked with lust and has stirred his soul with an immodest stirring.

TERTULLIAN: We were not given eyes to lust. We were not given the tongue to speak evil. We were not given ears to take in evil speech. We were not given the throat to serve the sin of gluttony. We were not given the belly to be gluttony's ally. We were not given the genitals for unchaste excesses. We were not given hands for acts of violence. We were not given feet for a life that goes off the right path.

TERTULLIAN: how does the Lord show that He is building on top of the law? He does it by forbidding sins of the will, as well as other sins. He says that not only the man who actually broke into another man's marriage is an adulterer, but also the man who has stained a woman by the lustful look of his eyes. So it is dangerous enough for the mind to put in front of itself what it is forbidden to do. It is also dangerous to rush through the will to carry it out. And since the power of the will is such that even without fully satisfying its desire, it still counts as a deed, it will be punished as a deed. It is completely useless to say, "I wanted to, but I did not do it." Instead, you should either carry it through because you want to, or else not want it because you do not carry it through. But by admitting what you know in your own conscience, you announce your own condemnation. Because if you strongly wanted a good thing, you would have been eager to carry it through. In the same way, since you do not carry an evil thing through, you should not have strongly wanted it. No matter where you stand, you are tightly bound by guilt, because you have either wanted evil, or else you have not completed good.

HIPPOLYTUS: anyone who looks at a woman, even if he escapes the temptation, does not walk away completely pure from all lust. So why should someone have trouble if he can be chaste and free from trouble? See what Job says: "I made a covenant with my eyes that I should not think of another's wife." In this way, he truly knows the power of misuse. And Paul, for this reason, kept under his body and brought it into subjection. And speaking in a picture, the person who lets an impure thought live in his heart keeps a fire in his chest, and the person who sins in action walks on coals because he destroys his own soul.

ORIGEN: the savior said, "Whoever looks at a woman and lusts after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." And when he gives certain other commands, he means this and nothing else. It is in our own power to obey what is commanded; therefore, we are rightly held responsible and deserve condemnation if we break those commandments that we are able to keep.

ORIGEN: and about the commands given in the Gospels, there is no doubt that many of them should be obeyed exactly as they are written. For example, when our Lord says, "Whoever looks at a woman and lusts after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

ORIGEN: Suppose chastity should begin in the inner person; it will certainly reach the outer person too. That is because it is impossible for someone who has not already committed adultery in his heart to be able to commit adultery with his body. But if chastity begins in the outer person, it does not immediately pass into inner self-control too. It is not as if someone who avoids committing adultery with the body will be free from adultery in his heart.

ORIGEN: Jewish boasting is excluded, not through the law of works, but through the law of faith. This faith is in Christ Jesus, in whose cross the apostle boasts. For who can rightly boast about their own chastity when they read 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 is also added to complete chastity: there should be an absence not only of the wrong act but even of the thought. It is clear that the mind is made unclean by desire, even if the desire is not carried out. So a just man should neither do nor even want to do what is unjust. Therefore, the conscience must be cleaned; God cannot be deceived, and He examines it. The heart must be cleared from every stain so that it may be a temple of God. This temple is not lit up by the shine 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 have you burned up by fire, since you despise the wild beasts, if you will not repent." But Polycarp said, "You threaten me with fire that burns for an hour, and after a little while it goes out, but you do not understand the fire of the coming judgment and the eternal punishment kept for the ungodly. So why do you wait? Bring out whatever you want."

2 CLEMENT: And, "Their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched, and they shall be for a spectacle to all flesh." He speaks of that day of judgment. On that day, they will see those among us who have been ungodly and who have acted deceitfully with the commandments of Jesus Christ. But the righteous have done well; they have endured torments; they have hated the enjoyments of the soul. When they see those who have gone astray and denied Jesus through their words or through their works, they will see how those people are punished with grievous torments in unquenchable fire. Then the righteous will give 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 will be punished who have lived wickedly and who do not believe that the things God has taught us through Christ will happen.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: You should use your eyes carefully and not too much. It is better to slip with your feet than with your eyes. So the Lord quickly cures this problem. He says, "If your eye offends you, cut it out," pulling lust up from the very root. But weak, lingering looks and ogling, that is, winking with the eyes, are nothing else than committing adultery with the eyes. Lust fights its way through them.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: you may even choose to go against wealth. You might say, "Certainly Christ does not keep me from owning property; the Lord does not envy." But do you see that you are being overcome and brought down by it? Then leave it, throw it away, hate it, renounce it, run from it. Even if your right eye causes you to sin, quickly cut it out. It is better for a man to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to go into the fire with his body whole. Whether it is your hand, or your foot, or your soul, hate it. For if it is destroyed here for Christ's sake, it will be brought back to life there.

TERTULLIAN: If we warn people about Gehenna, which is a place under the earth where hidden fire is kept for punishment, people mock us in the same way.

TERTULLIAN: think in your heart about Hell, Gehenna, and first picture how great the punishment is. Then you will not hesitate to accept the remedy. What should we think that storehouse of eternal fire is like? Even small openings of it stir up such blasts of flame that nearby cities either are already gone or every day expect the same fate. The proudest mountains split apart in the birth pains of the fire formed inside them. This shows us that the judgment lasts forever. Even though they split apart, and even though they are consumed, they still never come to an end.

ORIGEN: Now, since 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. We did this especially because the Jews also used the word. We found that, in the Hebrew text of Scripture, the place called the Valley of the Son of Hinnom was named, and instead of the word "valley," with basically the same meaning, it was called both the Valley of Hinnom and also Gehenna. As we continued our research, we found that what was called Gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom, was included in the land given to the tribe of Benjamin. Jerusalem was also located in that same area. We then tried to find out what we should conclude from this. The heavenly Jerusalem belongs to the Lot of Benjamin, and the Valley of Hinnom is there too. From this, we find a certain confirmation of what is said about the place of punishment. This punishment is meant to purify souls that need to be purified by torments. This agrees with the saying, "The Lord comes like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and of gold." So, it is in the area around Jerusalem that punishments will be given to those who go through this process of purification. These are people who have taken into the very substance of their soul the elements of wickedness. In one place, this wickedness is pictured with the word "lead." Because of that, sin is shown in Zechariah as sitting on a talent of lead. But the comments that could be made on this topic should not be made to everyone. They also should not be spoken on the present occasion. It is not without danger to put in writing the explanation of subjects like these. The crowd does not need any more teaching than what relates to the punishment of sinners, and it is not wise to go beyond this. Some people are only held back with difficulty, even by fear of eternal punishment, from throwing themselves into every kind of wickedness and into the flood of evils that come from sin.

ORIGEN: It is also possible to apply these words to our closest relatives; they are like our own body parts, as if they were our members. They are considered our members because of the close relationship, whether by birth or by a long-standing friendship, so to speak. We must not spare them if they are harming our soul, so let us cut off from ourselves, like a hand or a foot or an eye, a father or mother who wants us to do what is against piety. Also, cut off a son or daughter who, as much as they can, would have us turn away from the Church of Christ and from love for Him. But even if the wife who is closest to us, or a friend who is like family in soul, becomes a stumbling block to us, let us not spare them; let us cut them out from ourselves. Let us throw them outside of our soul as people who are not truly our family but enemies of our salvation. For whoever doesn't hate his father and mother, and the others that are added after that, when it is the right time to hate them as enemies and attackers so that he can win Christ, that person is not worthy of the Son of God. About these people, we may say this: from a dangerous situation, any lame person, so to speak, is saved when he has lost a foot, meaning a brother, and he alone receives the inheritance of the Kingdom of God; and a maimed person is saved when his father is not saved; they perish while he is separated from them so that he alone may receive the blessings. In the same way, anyone is saved with one eye who has cut out the eye of his own house, meaning his wife, if she commits fornication. This is so that, having two eyes, he will not go away into the hell of fire (Gehenna).

ORIGEN: We cannot take literally the passage in the Gospel where the right eye is said to cause someone to stumble. Even if we allow that seeing could make someone stumble, why, when both eyes see, should we blame the right eye? Would anyone, when he condemns himself for looking at a woman to lust after her, blame only the right eye and throw it away?

CYPRIAN: Cyprian, believe him who will bring down eternal punishment on those who do not believe in the fires of Gehenna. A Gehenna that burns forever will burn up the condemned. It will be a punishment that devours with living flames. There will never be any way out from there at any time so that they could have either relief or an end to their torments. Souls with their bodies will be kept in endless tortures for suffering, so the man will be seen by us forever, the one who here stared at us for a short time. And the brief joy of those cruel eyes in the persecutions they made for us will be paid back by a never-ending spectacle. This is 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 any benefit from repentance. Weeping will be useless, and prayer will not work. Too late they will believe in eternal punishment, those who would not believe in eternal life.

TREATISE ON THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM: There is a horrible place called Gehenna. It has an awful murmuring and groaning of souls who are crying out in sorrow. Flames burst out through the terrible darkness of a thick night. It is always breathing out raging fires, like a smoking furnace. The great mass of flames is held back or let loose for different purposes of punishment. Then there are many levels of how violent it is. It gathers into itself whatever tortures the consuming fire, with its burning heat. Can provide. It punishes with different sentences those who have rejected the voice of the Lord and have despised His rule. It uses its power in proportion to how much they deserve it, because they have lost salvation. And each part of the punishment gives the right and fitting difference for each crime.