5:27-28 Jesus proceeded to clarify God's intended meaning in the seventh commandment (Exod. 20:14; Deut. 5:18). The rabbis in Jesus' day tended to look at adultery as wrong because it involved stealing another man's wife. They viewed it as an external act.277Jesus, on the other hand, saw it as wrong because it made the lustful individual impure morally, an internal condition. The Greek word gyncan mean either wife of woman. Certainly the spirit of the command would prohibit lusting after any woman, not just a married woman. Fantisized immorality is just as sinful to God as physical immorality. The fact that fornication that takes place in the brain has fewer bad consequences than fornication that takes place on a bed does not mitigate this truth.
5:29-30 As before (vv. 23-26), two illustrations aid our understanding. The eye is the member of the body initially responsible for luring us into an immoral thought or deed (cf. Num. 15:39; Prov. 21:4; Ezek. 6:9; 18:12; 20:8). The right eye is the best eye, the common metaphorical use of the "right"anything. A literal interpretation of this verse would have Jesus crippling every member of the human race. Should not one pluck out his left eye as well? Furthermore disposing of the eye would not remove the real cause of the offense, a lustful heart. Clearly this is a hyperbolic statement designed to make a point by overstatement.278Jesus' point was that His disciples must deal radically with sin. We must avoid temptation at all costs.279
The reference to cutting off the "right hand"(v. 30) is also metaphorical, but how symbolic is it? Some take the "right hand"as a euphemism for the penis (cf. Isa. 57:8).280This view has the context in its favor. Others take the right hand literally and view it as the instrument of stealing another man's wife. "Hell"is Gehenna, the final place of punishment for all the wicked.281Its mention here does not imply that believers can go there. It represents the worst possible destiny.
"Imagination is a God-given gift; but if it is fed dirt by the eye, it will be dirty. All sin, not least sexual sin, begins with the imagination. Therefore what feeds the imagination is of maximum importance in the pursuit of kingdom righteousness (compare Phil 4:8). Not everyone reacts the same way to all objects. But if (vv. 28-29) your eye is causing you to sin, gouge it out; or at very least, don't look . . .!"282
