These teachings on personal relationships illustrate how your righteousness can grow. Obviously the examples don't cover every situation. Therefore they are only models by which you can pattern your own behavior. They are not a new set of laws to follow. If they were then they would have legal status and would be taken literally. Accordingly Matthew 5:32 is another example and is radicalized. The ideal is there and reflects God's will. But if the word 'adultery' is taken literally then that legal connotation would nowadays accuse many people. However, if the word is used figuratively then it would be merely instructional. The figurative approach makes more sense when you consider verses 29-30. They direct to take out your right eye or cut off your right hand. These are just overstatements to get attention and make a point. Jesus' use of the word "adultery" in Matthew 19:9 was so exaggerated that the disciples responded in shock in verse 10 with "it is better not to marry." Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration to add emphasis. It conveys the literal meaning but, in itself, is improbable to a degree because the figurative description is overstated. However, the reader understands the emphasis because the thought is conveyed. So if the statement can be taken literally and not as a figure of speech then it should be. In context here it is clear that the main subject is an adulterous attitude rather than acts per se.

There are situations provided in these groups to illustrate how you would fulfill certain obligations. For instance, a person is directed to leave his gift at the altar and be reconciled to his brother (Mt 5:24). Your conscience convicts you and you respond spiritually. You don't do it just to complete a requirement. "You are not under law, but under grace" (Ro 6:14). Jesus points this out by saying "'Woe to you . . . Pharisees . . . [who] have neglected the weighter provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others" (Mt 23:23). Grace is defined as unmerited favor and divine enablement. Jesus enables you to accomplish what you should do. He came to fulfill the law (Mt 5:17) and this is one of the ways he does it. Also "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Ro 10:4). He, himself, is the goal (i.e. end) to be appropriated. By depending upon this grace you no longer have to prove yourself through works every step of the way. So if we are bound by the law then the literal interpretation of the use of "adultery" could apply. However, since we have become alive to the Spirit and dead to the law a figurative interpretation to "adultery" would be more logical.