A question on lustful thought by a (relatively) new Christian

[ViaCrucis]

I am relatively new to Christianity and have been spending a lot of time reading and studying to catch up. I have a question regarding lustfuk thoughts, namely, when Jesus says that if one so much as looks at a woman with lust in his heart, he has already committed adultery.

First of all, what counts as lust? Any kind of arousal at all? Or the kind that is accompanied by at least some rational assent, so to speak..or as the Catholics would put it.

Also, does this apply only to married people or also those of us who are still single? Is it even possible to commit adultery if I am single?

I hope this is not too silly. Thank you in advance for any answer.

Being attracted to a person, experiencing sexual desire, these aren't sinful. It is precisely this biological impulse that pushes us, as a species, to procreate. It is a necessary function of life on this planet.

Lust, however, is different. Lust does not merely feel attraction toward a person, but so desires that person in a way that they cease to be a person and become merely an object to be taken possession of. It denies the Divine Image of the other person, it de-humanizes them, they are objectified and so become objects to be possessed or disposed of.

Seeing someone and finding them attractive--that's okay.
Seeing someone and thinking you simply MUST have them, simply to satisfy YOUR desires--that's not okay.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ViaCrucis]

Thanks. Does it count as adultery if I’m single though?

In the Lord's Sermon the word used for "woman" is the one that also means "wife". And seeing as the context is adultery the meaning is probably specifically to look upon a married woman.

But the larger and more general principle to be learned from here is that it isn't simply sinful acts which are a problem, but sinful thoughts, sinful feelings. So even if we do not act in such-and-such a way, we rightly recognize the sin that is in us by the thoughts and feelings we have. What theologians in the West call concupiscence, the in-born and inwardly directed desires of the flesh. Lutherans refer to this condition as homo incurvatus in se, Latin for "man bent/curved inward upon himself". God wants us to look outward, to Him and to our neighbor, with love, hence The Great Commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ... You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

There's a word found throughout the New Testament, it is usually translated as repentance, the word is metanoia. In its most literal sense it refers to a change of mind. A change in one's thoughts, one's attitudes, a shift in our paradigm. Jesus says, "The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the good news." That call "repent" is a call to come and look at things Jesus' way, to come and be transformed by what Jesus is saying and doing, "the kingdom of God is at hand" "believe the good news". In Philippians 2 St. Paul instructs the Church, "Have this same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus" and goes on to speak of Christ's humility, and that we should imitate Christ and be humble. St. Paul elsewhere says, "Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2).

Recognizing this, the call to regular repentance is not merely a momentary sorrow for what we've done, but is about a deep recognition of our own sinfulness, and a confessing of this. Because even the very seat of our wills is polluted with the stain of sin, we must always be vigilant of our own thoughts and feelings, and place them before God and His mercy.

As such, as we grow in the faith, hopefully we begin to realize just how sinful we really are. That might seem strange, but if we are burying ourselves in God's word, and letting God's word read us, we don't start thinking how holy and righteous we are--but rather, we come to recognize more and more the depths of our brokenness and, then, all the more how desperately we need the grace of God which is given us freely in Christ. And ever more beautiful the Gospel is.

And so Christ invites us to understand how deep the problem of sin is by reorienting the way we look at things, not by "What can I get away with?" But "What does it mean to love my neighbor?"

-CryptoLutheran

 

[tturt]

We may not be responsible for that first thought as shown in both Matt 5:28 and Gen 3 ,Details:
'But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her..." So he looks and goes beyond that in his imagination In Gen 3, if Eve had just stayed with what God said but after a couple of exchanges with the enemy by v 6 "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, ..."

We're to take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ. II Chron 10:5