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“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’
Verse 27. Jesus Christ here perfects the old law, which makes no mention of the acts of the mind and will. Menochius.
TR adds “to the ancients”.
but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
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.
Verse 29. Whatever is an immediate occasion of sin, however near or dear it may be, must be abandoned ( Menochius.), though it prove as dear to us, or as necessary as a hand, or an eye, and without delay or demur. A.
or, Hell
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.
or, Hell
“It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
Verse 32. Excepting the cause of fornication. A divorce or separation as to bed and board, may be permitted for some weighty causes in Christian marriages; but even then, he that marrieth her that is dismissed, commits adultery. As to this, there is no exception. The bond of marriage is perpetual; and what God hath joined, no power on earth can separate. See again Matthew 19:9. Witham.—The knot of marriage is so sacred a tie, that the separation of the parties cannot loosen it, it being not lawful for either of the parties to marry again upon a divorce. Aug. de bon. conjug. c. vii. B.
“Again you have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’
but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
Verse 34. Swear not at all. We must not imagine that here are forbidden all oaths, where there is a just and necessary cause of calling God to witness. An oath on such an occasion is an act of justice and religion. Here are forbidden unnecessary oaths in common discourse, by which the sacred name of God, which never ought to be pronounced without reverence and respect, is so frequently and scandalously profaned. Witham.—’Tis not forbidden to swear in truth, justice and judgment; to the honour of God, or our own or neighbours’ just defence; but only to swear rashly, or profanely, in common discourse, and without necessity. Challoner.
nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Verse 35. The Anabaptists and other sectarists, following the letter, and not the spirit of the Scripture, and walking in the footsteps of their predecessors, the Waldenses, and the Pelagians, will allow of no oath to be lawful, not even before a judge. B.
Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black.
But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.