You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

                                                                                                               Matthew 5:27-28 

Actually committing physical adultery is not the only way in which we violate the seventh commandment. Just as with the sixth, Jesus expands the scope and purpose behind the seventh commandment and instructs us that even looking at a woman with lust means that we have already committed adultery with her in our heart. Jesus uses the masculine example but we should not interpret that to mean that women are exempt from this commandment. Lust works both ways therefore men and women can both be equally as guilty of breaking this commandment.

One of the greatest opportunities to violate this commandment in our culture today is the ever-increasing exposure that we have to pornography. Decades ago, there was access to this kind of material but it was limited. Today, with the expansion of online websites, this material is extremely easy to access. Pornography carries with it the capacity to become extremely addicting. Perhaps that is why Jesus uses such powerful words in describing ridding ourselves of such habits:

If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

                                                                                                            Matthew 5:29-30 

I have never met anyone who takes this passage literally (if that were the case, there would be a lot of people walking around without eyes or hands). Jesus is using strong language in an effort to point out that sexual sin, including lust, grieves God and can quench the power of the Spirit in our lives. He uses the same kind of language when talking about the priority that He is to have in our lives, even over that of our family (Luke 14:26). But just like all of the other commandments, the sin of sexual immortality can be forgiven. We are adequate in Christ because He has made us adequate (2 Corinthians 3:4-6). We should not allow failure in the area of sexual sin to derail us from the understanding that we are secure in Christ and that God has given us everything in which we need to defeat the enemy in our lives (1 Corinthians 10:13, Ephesians 6:16).

So when we find ourselves guilty of breaking the seventh commandment (or any other commandment for that matter), we should remember three things:

1. Forgiveness is but a prayer away (1 John 1:9)

When we confess our sins to God, He is faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When Jesus taught on forgiveness, He reminded us that we are to forgive others as often as is needed (Matthew 18). He will certainly do the same.

2. No temptation exists that can trap us unless we allow it to do so (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Every temptation that we might go through in our lives is common to all of mankind. This should be a comforting thought in that we should realize that we are not violating any commandments that everyone else around us is not also capable of violating. We all have fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) but, as believers in Jesus, He has justified us as a gift. This means that our right standing with God is never earned, only enjoyed, and is on the basis of the finished work of Jesus on the cross. This gives us the confidence required to defeat the schemes of the enemy that can come in the form of lust.

3. Our standing with God is on the basis of our faith in Christ, not as a result of works (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

As we have already stated, moving beyond failure requires knowing that we are still loved by God and that, in Christ, we are eternally secure. This knowledge actually draws us back to the Savior and gives us the ability to stand, even after moral failure.

We can violate the seventh commandment by committing adultery or just by looking at another person with lust in our hearts. The church should be ready to deal with the reality of these types of sins and do so in the grace and knowledge that the Gospel gives us.