Ep 136 – Matthew 5:27-30

In today's episode, we'll be looking at Matthew 5, verses 27-30. I've entitled this lesson, "Purity of Life" because in it, Jesus is going to deal with the issue of adultery. But, like each of the topics He has covered in His message up to this point, Jesus is going to give His audience a slightly different perspective than that to which they were accustomed. They knew that, according to the Mosaic Law, adultery was wrong. But was NOT committing adultery the goal God had in mind when He gave this law to Moses? Jesus will go out of His way to point out that there is far more behind this law than a prohibition against marital unfaithfulness. In fact, He'll get to the literal heart of the matter – the heart of man. God was looking for purity of life, not some kind of performance-based, do-just-enough-to-keep-God-happy kind of lifestyle that focused on avoiding the major infractions, while failing to measure up to the inward transformation God was really interested in. Adultery was a symptom of something far more offensive to God: Unfaithfulness to Him.