I would say there is a difference between:
1) had a thought about it
and
2) looking upon . . . . to lust after

I mean, I have thought about [driving a fancy car] occasionally. But I don't find myself driving by luxury dealerships just to leer and fantasize. Or, maybe I do.

The backdrop to this, of course, would be that in previous dispensations, one interpretation of the Jewish law was that adultery pre-supposed 'someone else's wife' -- under that interpretation, married man + single woman was not adultery, while married woman with single man was.

If that interpretation is to be accepted, then Jesus' teaching extended culpability not merely from outright actions to some types of thoughts, but also from 'married women' as objects to 'any women.' Maybe our classicists can help with the Greek here, i.e. whether 'woman' in this context meant 'married woman' or just 'woman.'

On that view of the law, looking at an eligible car might not be the best analogy, after all. I'd have to be coveting someone else's car.

My question:

Is the teaching really saying, "you have sinned the minute you thought about it," or is it saying, "be careful, because you win commit the sin if you think about it?"

I understand Tex's point of having no intention to sin, so avoid those thoughts, but I'm more focusing upon the intent of the scriptural teaching.

I'm a lesbian stuck in a man's body, so her and I have at least one thing in common.