陈终道著 <<天国君王 - 马太福音讲义>> 1993.
Page 166: 论姦淫. On Adultery
Chan mentioned that they have been unjust by only presenting the woman to Jesus and not her counterpart as well. Thereby, sinned. This is a good point. Many of us have been shielded by even the smallest desire that we cannot see through certain simple matters.
However, Chan was wrong when he accused the jews of spying at the adulterous affair. It can only be probable. Not absolute. Although such act is sinful.
Further in the same passage showed the author's lack of coherent mentality. As he emphasised how lustful thoughts and lustful acts are not the same, in order to prevent the two possible outcomes:
1. Those committed lustful acts would not take things seriously as they are no more sinful than those having lustful thoughts which are many.
2. Those committed adulterous thoughts would think that adulterous acts are not so bad after all since they had done more of such thoughts as opposed to this one single act.
Wrong! Apparently, Chan failed to see that all sins fall short of the glory of God here, eventhough he may very well know Romans 3:23.
He failed at this interpretation because he had considered sinful thoughts as less serious case of sins. Which is very common among humans' fallible minds. Therefore, we must be careful when we use our minds, so that we do not submit to our own way. What he should realize is that unlike earthly courts, a sinful thought is as heavy and serious as the act in the sight of God.
This does not mean that we should not read books that are in errors. But it is our interpretation that matters.
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For 陈终道 was a follower of Watchman Nee (倪柝声)