Passage

Matthew 5.28

Book: Matthew · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Verse

ASV:

"28. but I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:28, ASV)

WEB:

"28. but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:28, WEB)

KJV:

"28. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:28, KJV)

YLT:

"28. but I, I say to you, that every one who is looking on a woman to desire her, did already commit adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28, YLT)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV:

"26. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the last farthing. 27. Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28. but I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29. And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell. 30. And if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body go into hell." (Matthew 5:26-30, ASV)

WEB:

"26. Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny. 27. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ 28. but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29. If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. 30. If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna." (Matthew 5:26-30, WEB)

KJV:

"26. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. 27. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29. 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. 30. 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." (Matthew 5:26-30, KJV)

YLT:

"26. verily I say to thee, thou mayest not come forth thence till that thou mayest pay the last farthing. 27. 'Ye heard that it was said to the ancients: Thou shalt not commit adultery; 28. but I, I say to you, that every one who is looking on a woman to desire her, did already commit adultery with her in his heart. 29. 'But, if thy right eye doth cause thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast from thee, for it is good to thee that one of thy members may perish, and not thy whole body be cast to gehenna. 30. 'And, if thy right hand doth cause thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast from thee, for it is good to thee that one of thy members may perish, and not thy whole body be cast to gehenna." (Matthew 5:26-30, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)
Audience: the disciples + the broader crowd (per Matt 5:1-2, "his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them"; with the crowds present per 7:28)
Location: a mountain in Galilee, possibly the slope above the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum ("the Mount of Beatitudes" by traditional identification)
Time period: events c. AD 28 (early-to-mid Galilean ministry); composed c. AD 60-80
Narrative context: the sixth antithesis of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has been working through a series of "Ye have heard that it was said... but I say unto you" contrasts (the antitheses of Matt 5:21-48). Each antithesis takes an OT commandment understood superficially and deepens it to the internal-heart-level. The sixth antithesis: the OT commandment "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Ex 20:14; Deut 5:18) is internalized to "whosoever looketh on a woman to lust... hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." The same intensification pattern applies to murder (5:21-26, extends to anger and contempt), divorce (5:31-32), oaths (5:33-37), retaliation (5:38-42), and love-of-enemies (5:43-48). Verses 29-30 immediately follow with the radical-eye-and-hand-amputation hyperbole, establishing the seriousness of the internal-sin condition.

Theological reading

Matthew 5:28 is the principal NT text on the internalization of moral law. The Sermon-on-the-Mount antitheses establish the Christian-ethical principle that sin is not merely external action but internal disposition, and that the external-action prohibitions of the OT moral law are floor, not ceiling. The verse compresses three theologically loaded claims: (a) the moral law applies to internal-disposition as well as external-action; (b) lustful-looking IS adultery-in-the-heart (theologically equivalent to the external act); (c) the internal-sin is therefore subject to the same condemnation as the external-sin.

The "ye have heard... but I say" structure

Jesus's "but I say unto you" (egō de legō hymin) is theologically loaded. Jesus does not say "Moses got it wrong" (which would deny the OT's authority); He says "the surface-reading is correct but incomplete; the deeper meaning extends further." He is positioning Himself as the authoritative interpreter of the law, claiming the right to definitively unfold what God's law really requires.

The Christological implication: only the lawgiver can definitively interpret the law. Jesus's "but I say" implicitly claims a divine-interpretive authority. The Sermon-on-the-Mount Christology is implicit deity: Jesus speaks with the authority of the OT lawgiver Himself.

The internalization principle

The internalization principle has several aspects:

The moral law concerns the heart, not just behavior. The OT itself sometimes makes this explicit (e.g., Deut 6:5, love God with all your heart; Ex 20:17, don't covet, an internal disposition). Jesus is not introducing a new principle but making fully-explicit what the OT-law's heart-concern always was.
External-behavior-only righteousness is insufficient. The Pharisees' meticulous external-observance of the law was not sufficient (cf. Matt 5:20, "except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven"). Internal sin makes the external behavior hollow.
All humans stand guilty before the internal-standard. This is the deepest theological implication: if lustful-looking IS adultery (and angry-thoughts ARE murder, per 5:21-22), then no one can claim moral-righteousness. Every human falls short. The Sermon-on-the-Mount's internal-standard becomes one of the principal NT bases for the universal-sinfulness doctrine that grounds the need for salvation by grace.

The "look... to lust"

The Greek is ho blepōn gynaika pros to epithymēsai autēn, "the [one] looking at a woman to / toward lusting after her." The grammar is precise: the verse does NOT condemn:

Noticing a woman exists
Seeing that a woman is attractive (a perceptual fact, not a moral fault)
Initial involuntary attraction (which is part of natural physical response)

The verse DOES condemn:

Looking with the deliberate intent of feeding lust
Cultivating lustful imagination by sustained looking
Treating the woman as an object for personal sexual gratification rather than a person in her own right

The distinction matters pastorally. Christian sexual ethics has sometimes overshot Jesus's meaning by condemning all noticing of attractiveness; Jesus's verse is more precise: the intent and direction of the look matters, not the bare-fact of looking.

The "in his heart", kardia

The Greek kardia (καρδία) in biblical usage is broader than the modern English "heart." It encompasses the whole inner life, thinking, feeling, willing. To say something is in the heart is to say it has been internalized as a disposition / orientation. The lustful-look has produced an internal-disposition of de facto adultery, regardless of whether the external action follows.

Hyperbolic urgency (vv. 29-30)

The immediate follow-up, "if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out... if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off", is Semitic hyperbole. Jesus is NOT commanding self-mutilation (the early church understood this; the literal-self-mutilation by Origen and others was viewed as misguided extremism). The hyperbole establishes:

The seriousness of internal sin (it is worth supreme cost to address)
The Christological warning (better to lose body parts than to be cast into Gehenna whole, the eternal-stakes are real)
The radical-discipline call (Christians should take whatever drastic measures necessary to deal with sin patterns)

The hyperbole expects readers to apply the principle (radical-action-against-sin) without applying the literal-form (actual mutilation).

Patristic and Reformed reading

Augustine (De Sermone Domini in Monte 1.12-16, c. AD 393): the antitheses internalize the law to the heart-level. Augustine reads the Sermon-on-the-Mount as establishing the higher righteousness of the kingdom of God, surpassing the external-observance of Pharisaic Judaism. The verse establishes that concupiscence (disordered desire) itself is sin.

John Chrysostom (Homilies on Matthew 17, c. AD 390): Jesus's teaching here is protective of women, not merely-restrictive of men. The verse establishes the woman's dignity by prohibiting her objectification in the male mind.

John Calvin (Harmony of the Evangelists on Matt 5:28): the verse establishes that the seventh commandment forbids not only the outward act, but every species of impurity, whether it lies hidden in the soul or breaks out in any other form.

Apologetic and pastoral deployment

The verse is foundational for:

Christian sexual ethics. The verse + companion teaching grounds the Christian sexual-purity ethic. Pornography, lustful fantasy, sexualized media consumption, etc. all fall under the verse's scope. The Christian framework rejects the modern claim that "private mental sexual activity" is morally neutral; the verse treats it as morally serious.
Defense of universal-sinfulness doctrine. If the moral standard reaches to internal-disposition, then no human can claim moral-perfection. Every human is convicted. The Sermon-on-the-Mount becomes one of the principal law-as-mirror texts that drives the sinner to Christ (cf. Gal 3:24, "the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ").
Defense against the "Christianity is anti-body / anti-sex" misreading. Counter: Christianity affirms sexuality as God-created-good (Gen 1:27-28; 2:24-25; Song of Songs; 1 Cor 7); the verse does not condemn sexuality but its misuse / disordered use. The Christian framework integrates positive-sexuality (within God-ordained covenant) with disciplined-restraint (against disordered patterns).
Pastoral counseling on sexual struggle. The verse is foundational for Christian counseling addressing pornography addiction, sexual sin patterns, and lust-cycle struggles. The pastoral message: the struggle is real moral struggle, not merely-medical-or-psychological; but the gospel offers genuine cleansing (cf. 1 John 1:9; the rich hub Isaiah 1.18).

Defense against the prosperity-gospel / cheap-grace reading

The verse is incompatible with cheap-grace readings of Christianity. Jesus takes sin so seriously that internal-disposition is treated as morally equivalent to external-action. The kingdom-of-God ethic is radical, not minimalist. Christians are not called to bare-conformity but to character-transformation.

Christological-Christian deployment

The internal-standard establishes the need for the cross. No human can meet the Sermon-on-the-Mount's standard. The Sermon convicts; the cross saves; the Spirit-empowered new life enables progressive obedience. The Sermon-on-the-Mount is not a salvation-by-works program but a standard-revealing program that drives the convicted soul to Christ's saving work and then back to Christ's empowering presence for sanctified-living.

Canonical-theological connections

Exodus 20:14 / Deut 5:18, the OT seventh commandment
Exodus 20:17, "thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife" (OT internal-desire prohibition)
Matthew 15:18-19, "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries" (heart as source of sin)
Mark 7:21-23, Markan parallel internal-pollution teaching
Romans 7:7-13, Pauline conviction by the commandment-against-coveting
James 1:14-15, "every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed"
Job 31:1, "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" (OT internal-purity model)
1 Corinthians 6:18-20, sexual purity grounded in body-as-temple-of-Spirit
Ephesians 4:17-24, putting off the old man + putting on the new
2 Peter 2:14, "having eyes full of adultery" (echoes the Sermon-on-the-Mount language)

Key words

G2588 - kardia, kardia (Strong's G2588). Also appears in: Matthew 6.21, Matthew 9.4, Matthew 15.
G3956 - pas, pas (Strong's G3956). Also appears in: Matthew 1, Matthew 2.1-6, Matthew 2.16.
G4314 - pros, pros (Strong's G4314). Also appears in: Matthew 3.13, Matthew 11.28, Matthew 14.22-33.