---
title: Matthew 5:28
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-5-28/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-5-28.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 5:28
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 5:28

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): ""everyone that keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her""
- NWT (2013 revision): "But I say to you that everyone who keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

## JW Usage

JWs use Matthew 5:28 to anchor the gravity of pornography use as heart-level adultery, justifying judicial-committee escalation when a baptised brother confesses a struggle. The "keeps on looking" rendering is read as defining sustained, intentional lust as the threshold for porneia.

## Protestant Usage

Scripture treats sexual integrity with full seriousness — Jesus himself classifies sustained lust as adultery in the heart. The Protestant position fully agrees that pornography is a real spiritual issue. The disagreement with the JW system is not about the gravity of the sin but about HOW the church responds to the man fighting it. Matthew 5:28 names the disease; the rescue architecture is then 1 Corinthians 10:13 ("a way of escape"), Romans 7:15-25 (Paul's own war), James 5:16 (mutual confession aimed at healing), and Galatians 6:1 (restoration in gentleness). The Watchtower's tribunal-and-classification response inverts that architecture, training the brother to fight alone in shame because confession risks reproof. Same sin; opposite system response.

## NWT Issue

The NWT 2013 renders the present participle blepon as "keeps on looking" — emphasising continuous aspect. The rendering is defensible Greek, though most standard English translations (BSB: "looks at"; ESV: "looks at"; NASB: "looks at") use a simple present and let the heart-condition language carry the weight. The NWT's continuous aspect does not change the doctrinal weight of the verse but raises the threshold to "sustained" lust, which in pastoral practice can soften the bite of Jesus' warning.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Pornography and Judicial Escalation — From Tribunal to Throne](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/pornography-judicial-escalation.md) — 1 Corinthians 10:13 — A way of escape, not a way of removal [Sanctification]