Can you look at a beautiful woman and not sin?

Question:

Is it possible to look at a beautiful woman, as the creature of God, to glorify Him and to marvel at the work of His hands without sinning?

The mind defines the eye

In the Epistle to Titus, the Apostle Paul wrote:

 

To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. (Titus 1:15-16)(NASB)

When a man has poisoned or poisons his mind with immoral things of any kind from pornographic movies, pornographic magazines, pornographic Web sites, or discussions with immoral people, it will poison his mind and it will mirror in all his activities.

Watch over your mind

God says in Scriptures:

Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23)(NASB)

The things you feed your mind with will define your concepts about life and the way you look at women. If you have fed your mind from sources which present the woman as “the doll to have sex with” you can not expect to see anything else in women and you will not be able to look at them as the creature of God made in His image and likeness.

Remember the flesh you live in

Because all of us live in a sinful flesh, it could happen sometimes, without feeding your mind with bad things, to realize that you look at a woman to lust her in your heart. In such case, follow the example of righteous Job, who was tempted in the same way and did so:

I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? (Job 31:1)(NASB)

By the same token to admire the creature of God in a woman, sometimes you should not gaze at her, so that you may not lust her in your heart.

Do not be deceived

But if you will begin to deceive yourself, by saying that you will only glaze at the creature of God, beware not to happen to you as Lord Jesus says:

 

You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)(NASB)

Above all, however, learn to be the man of one wife to keep all your love, passion and admiration for your wife throughout your life.

Translated by Felicia Rotaru