Looking lustfully is an act. That is why it is sinful.
Christ was tempted by the devil, but never sinned.
The author, IMO, does a pretty good job differentiating the two, but fails to recognize that the lustful leer is itself an action taken voluntarily by the leerer.
“The author, IMO, does a pretty good job differentiating the two, but fails to recognize that the lustful leer is itself an action taken voluntarily by the leerer.”
I do actually believe that he did recognize that a lustful leer is a sinful action.
What he is talking about how a man might see a woman passing by and just feel an attraction for her.
When he decides that indulging in thinking about her would be a sin, so thinks godly thoughts, he hasn’t sinned. He’s been tempted but has stayed with God.
But if a man sees a woman, feels attraction, and indulgences in fantasy, then he is sinning, and eventually he is almost certain by him doing that to act on it because he didn’t turn his will back to God when it was easy for him to do so. Instead he allowed himself to go on, and he commits adultery in his spirit before he actually does so.