What Jesus Teaches About Lust

Sermon on the Mount E12 - In Matthew 5:27-30, Jesus references the Torah’s command to not commit adultery (Exod. 20:14), going on to say that any man who lusts (or “goes on looking”) at a woman commits adultery with her in his heart. So what is his solution to avoid lust? Cut off a hand and gouge out an eye! Whoa-what is Jesus talking about? In this episode, Jon, Tim, and special guest Lucy Peppiatt discuss the meaning and impact of lust, the Bible’s original ideal for men and women, and Jesus’ countercultural vision for sex and marriage in the Kingdom of the skies.
Show Music:
Original Sermon on the Mount music by Richie Kohen
BibleProject theme song by TENTS
Show Credits:
Jon Collins is the creative producer for today’s show, and Tim Mackie is the lead scholar. Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer; Cooper Peltz, managing producer; Colin Wilson, producer; and Stephanie Tam, consultant and editor. Tyler Bailey and Frank Garza are our audio editors, and Tyler Bailey also provided our sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Special thanks to Lucy Peppiatt. Today’s hosts are Jon Collins and Michelle Jones.

[@kyletucker6508]

i think a lot of people secretly believe that they won’t find the ideal. the deeply gratifying relationship that marriage and sex should be. they believe there is not something so full in this world. we go on in disbelief that God has really good things in store for us. we let go of that vision and instead latch onto lesser visions. we turn to our own imaginations. seizing our own “apple”. we must truly believe!

[@ThePanopticon-fp3lu]

21:03 nobody catch that joke 🤣

[@TheMetaAnalyst]

i did😂😂😂😂

[@prophet2nations]

Definitely missed that

[@houseontherock8345]

Really struggle with this. I have it saved to watch later. Kind of avoiding it…but I should definitely watch it.

[@Un_kn0wn_]

Hey, I wanna help you. Just reminding if you haven't. God Bless.

[@hellefreude5086]

What a blessing your teachings are! Thankyou 💛

[@JadDragon]

Love this podcast. Thanks for unpacking all this so that well.

[@mr.g1244]

I'd argue that there are most definitely women, especially in today's culture that DO seek the attention. Though not every woman , it's definitely prevalent, from skimpy clothing, bikini photos online, etc. While I am not arguing that this justifies the man's gaze, we absolutely cannot exclude the sinfulness of women who exacerbate the temptation of men to stare. This should not be a license for either sex to dress and act how they want, and blame any type of unwanted attention in the opposite sex. That would be disingenuous.

[@ortizlydia22]

Even then, Jesus still said what He said.

[@jayceemindeman270]

That is a fair point. There are people who want to seek attention through what they wear. Men and women alike. No one can control that except for them. I think that is one of the points of the message. That you cannot control what others do, but keep you and your own heart accountable in spite of what’s around you. I used to be really bothered by what my friend would wear at one time. It felt like she would wear things that were too short or too tight for the exact attention that you mentioned earlier. Weirdly though, I ended up having a shift of mindset. It felt like an answered prayer, because I was so focused on what I thought were my friend’s intentions through what she was wearing that this thought came to mind, “If God had it His way right now, everyone would be naked”. From the time of Eden where everything was new and innocent and good. Clearly that doesn’t mean we should all be nudest. I just realized that I needed to get the log out of my own eye before judging the spec in my friend’s. Either way, you made a good point. Hope my own personal experience helps. God bless!

[@ebonyrepia2622]

Is it a sin to dress a certain way now? Or is the lusting the sin? Men should control their own flesh, they have this ability to undress women in their own minds, even if she’s fully covered, that’s where the sin lies, in the intention of a man’s heart and mind, it’s not accidental and can definitely not be attributed to a woman dressing a certain way, the innate urge a woman has to want to dress pleasing to a man is what drives her to dress how she does, supplying to a demand, men should be teaching woman they prefer modesty then that would be what they will do, but nope men like filth so that’s what women give or think that’s what they should

[@SeanRhoadesChristopher]

30:33 Matthew 15.18 (KJV) 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

[@SeanRhoadesChristopher]

How much more so is the heart of a woman defiled, by her speech?

[@SeanRhoadesChristopher]

The Wife of Bath's Tale

[@SeanRhoadesChristopher]

How men can do something about it: 1 Corinthians 11:6 (KJV) 6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.

[@jarrettperdue3328]

That's exactly the opposite conclusion. 13:16

[@SeanRhoadesChristopher]

I wonder if this shorn head tradition is connected to the Torah. There’s the captive woman ritual in Deu 21; and the Nazirite Vow in Num 6. There must be a connection to one of these.

[@SeanRhoadesChristopher]

@@jarrettperdue3328 trust and obey! “God sends meat, the Devil his cooks!” As happened in the garden, the serpent was the Devil’s first cook, the second cook became ishshah (Adam’s wife). The problem the Bible Project is having now, is an attempt to keep with truth while simultaneously offending as few as possible in the current milieu. Jesus did the same thing, he could not outright tell the authorities that he was the Messiah, because he would’ve been instantly killed, before getting his message out, in the way he wanted. In the same way, the Bible project would lose most of its members if they came out and said “Women are property”, (see the tenth Commandment) and said The Sermon on the Mount was given to men, as instructions with which to rule over their immediate families, and congregations and thus the chief keepers and enforcers of these instructions. Just as the Ten Commandments where not given directly to women, so too the Sermon on the Mount! Men are the assigned keepers and enforcers of the Word of God. There have been so many cooks, that we are in a situation where one must tiptoe on eggshells. I’m not afraid to point this out! I am more afraid of what the Almighty can and will do to our souls on that great day of judgment for not telling it on the rooftops. The current milieu is poisoned with humanism, egalitarianism, and feminism, all man made ideologies that will end up in the trash heap with the others that have come and failed.

[@ciattathompson7461]

So powerful! So Jesus spoke about male privilege and called it out then before it was popular. I'm so grateful for God's heart for humanity. Ty Jesus!

[@michelleprull4105]

Whenever I read that in Genesis i thought it meant that their desire would no longer be for God and for Him to rule with them but that the woman would now desire the man instead of being with God and that the man would rule over her. Don’t marriage vows say “do you TAKE this woman to be your”? In some ways though aren’t we suppose to see the analogy of man over woman as Jesus over his bride? I’m confusing myself so I’ll stop and think.

[@lucasdewitartist7406]

I'm really enjoying the podcast and I do think that understanding God's original plan for the relationship between a man and a woman is key to conquer lust. But there is something that she has said: "So there's no reference to the husband having authority over his wife". I'm thinking of passages like 1 Cor 11:3 "the head of the wife is her husband", even the passage she quotes from - Eph 5:3 "the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church". If the term "head" and "submit" does not imply authority, then I think we are moving away from New Testament thought, and maybe from the meaning of basic English. I think we are ashamed of misused authority and now we want to throw away the concept all together. Proper authority is described in terms of how Jesus relates to His church, and we are to mimic that in our marriages by the husband lovingly caring for his wife and laying his life down for her, and the wife lovingly submits to her husbands authority/headship since he exercises his authority by serving her. I think this hesitation comes from husbands treating their wives badly and using (out of context) passages like these to justify their sin and calling it virtue. But you don't correct one error with an opposite error. What we need to do is teach Biblical headship as loving servant leadership and refute these tyrants and expose their loveless behaviour.

[@lucasdewitartist7406]

I mean *the hesitation comes from a reaction against husbands treating their wives badly*

[@armandvanniekerk4580]

Amen

[@jasonpauldegraaf]

I disagree with Lucy's idea that this is soley a male issue. Her theological stance is massively disempowering to women. She makes them out to be 1) passive in this issue and 2) wholey the victim of male sexual desires. In essence, she's saying that there is absolutely nothing that women can do in regard to male lust. But there is. A woman's beauty is a powerful thing, and can easily garnish attention from men. How will she use her beauty? How will she present herself? Of course, this doesn't take away any agency of the male. He is still responsible for how he looks and how long he looks. But to say that women have no agency regarding lust robs women of their both their power and role regarding this issue. It's a patriarchal stance reminiscent of 1950's thinking that should not have a place in modern thinking. Woman are powerful. Their actions, like men, affect others.

[@jenniferwatson7118]

She did say that women have to live out the command too.

[@squawker9346]

the lust in the heart of the man is solely the man's sin. blaming the woman is simply wrong. is the woman dressing provocatively being a stumbling block to others, maybe but that is not the sin of lust being discussed here. any man can simply turn away from looking at a provocatively dressed woman and avoid lust. lets not pass the blame for the sin in anybody's heart.

[@mr.g1244]

Excellent point, that they unfortunately did not represent well. It was a bit one sided. I'd argue the sin of adultery on this matter could go both ways. How could it not be seen as adultery if the woman dresses and acts a certain way because she WANTS the lustful gaze? Is she not committing some type of adultery in her own heart, for wanting to be "taken" by the gaze of men? It's important to have context here too. During this time, clothing for both men and women in this region was long garbs or robes. I'm sure there were rules for dress then, whether written or unspoken. Most certainly was nothing like the clothing of modern culture, so perhaps there was no need of Jesus mentioning the dress of women here, bc it would have been foreign and unheard of for women to dress even remotely sexual, unless of course, they were a harlot.

[@TheMetaAnalyst]

Was this reuploaded

[@contactATashleygriffin]

I was just thinking the same, i am sure i heard this before, but cant find it in the history

[@booon-booon]

It was from last week, they re-uploaded that and this week's episode but I don't know why

[@cheekyfella4771]

I definitely listened to this last week but I'm thankful for the reupload because it meant that I listened to it and thought about this again

[@martinrivera3060]

Jetuses'

[@eanobin9394]

Lust is only something men can do? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm..... Yeah, don't know about that one.

[@jenniferwatson7118]

She did say that women have to live out the command too.

[@eanobin9394]

@@jenniferwatson7118 Sounded like she was trying to genderize sin, laying emphasis on men, as if female lust is less of a threat, harmless; but i have seen female lust destroy families and create chaos in the community.

[@jenniferwatson7118]

@@eanobin9394 Yes, our whole world is in a mess.