The significance of the Greek participle in Matthew 5:27-28

Matthew 5:27-28, Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Some translations of the Bible are better than others.  Of course, there are a few translations I wouldn’t recommend but, among mainstream translations, each has its pros and cons.  One strength of the King James Version is that its translators had the very clever idea of identifying participles with the ending in “eth.”  Examples would be believeth, thinketh, or, as in the verse above, looketh.  

In English, many people mistake participles for verbs.  They usually have a verb root and end in “ing.”  So, words like jumping, swimming, running, and looking are all participles even though they’re describing an action.  They don’t act like verbs; instead, they act like adjectives, adverbs, or even nouns (when a verb is used as a noun in English, it’s technically called a gerund).  

If I said, “Do you see the man standing by the door?,” I’m using the word “standing” as an adjective to describe which man I’m talking about.  I’m not necessarily concerned with what he’s doing - I’m pointing out who he is.  He’s the man standing by the door.  Get it?

In Greek, participles act in ways very similar to how they act in English.  In the subject verse, the word looketh is the Greek word blepōn (βλέπων, present participle of βλέπω, Strong’s Word 991).  It means “looking” but it is used with an article so a literal translation would be “The one looking.”  Just as in my English example, the participle is used here to point out  who this person is.  He’s the person who looks at women in order to lust after them.

Later in Matthew (Matthew 7:16), Jesus said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”  In other words, a person isn’t defined by his actions; rather, his actions reveal who he is. A person who looks at women to lust after them, is an adulterer.  It's not “looking” at women that makes a man an adulterer because an adulterer already. When he looks at a woman to lust for her, he is only doing what adulterers do.

By way of analogy, consider dogs: dogs aren't dogs because they bark; they bark because they're dogs.  I remember hearing a pastor tell a story about a mean dog who always tried to bite people.  Whenever anyone visited, he would have to muzzle the dog so it couldn’t bite people.  The dog never bit anyone again but the muzzle didn’t make it a good dog, did it?

In that same way, adulterers look at women in order to lust for them.  It doesn’t matter if they never commit the act - they’re still adulterers.   They’re like the bad dog who wears a muzzle.  Maybe they don’t commit adultery because of social pressures.  Maybe they’re afraid they’ll get caught.  It could be that they think the object of their lusts doesn’t feel the same way - otherwise they would!  Whatever the reason he doesn’t commit the act, Jesus made it clear that he’s already an adulterer.   

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”  Who we are on the inside is revealed by what we do. In other words, adulterers lust, murderers hate, thieves envy, liars tell lies, etc. We’re not sinners because of the sins we commit. We commit sins because we’re sinners!

Some people think of themselves as basically “good” because they haven't committed any “major” sins. That's because they don't consider their lusts, envy, or hate to be major sins.  What they don't understand is that these are symptoms of who they really are. It doesn't matter how good these people think they are – the Bible makes it clear we are all adulterous, thieving, lying  murderers who need a Savior.