⭐WEB · Matthew 5:27
What does Matthew 5:27 mean?
"“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’"
— Matthew 5:27 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.
Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’
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.
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.
Explanation
Matthew 5:27 reads simply: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'" On its own, this half-verse is a citation—Jesus is quoting the seventh commandment from Exodus 20:14 and Deuteronomy 5:18, one of the Ten Commandments given to Israel through Moses. It functions as a setup line, introducing a topic that Jesus then addresses in the verses that follow (Matthew 5:28), where he explains that anyone who looks at another person with lustful intent has already committed adultery in his heart.
The context is the Sermon on the Mount, a lengthy teaching Jesus delivered to his disciples and the surrounding crowds early in his public ministry, as recorded by Matthew. This verse falls within a series of six statements beginning with "You have heard that it was said... but I say to you," in which Jesus takes well-known commands from the Law of Moses—on murder, adultery, oaths, retaliation, and love of enemies—and reveals their deeper intent. He is not overturning the Law but fulfilling and intensifying it, pushing past mere outward compliance to address the condition of the heart. The phrase "you have heard" points to how the Law was read aloud and taught in the synagogues; his audience would have been thoroughly familiar with this command against adultery.
Theologically, this verse sets the stage for one of the sharpest illustrations of Jesus' teaching on righteousness. The Pharisees and other religious teachers of the day often measured obedience to God by external actions al
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