The Seventh Commandment
by Jim Murriner
Ex 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
This is a commandment not to violate the marriage union.
God's initial creation of humanity set them in a marriage relationship. After Adam had been created God took the time to let Adam see that all the rest of creation was created male and female, and that there was nothing within the rest of creation that could even remotely compare with what he was like. Adam then saw that he was incomplete. God placed Adam in a deep sleep and brought his helper out of his own flesh.
Genesis 2:23-24
" And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
Matthew 19:3-8
" The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so."
This basic of all relationships the marriage union is comprehended in this simple statement "Thou shall not commit Adultery.
I say that this is the basic of all relationships because the one who will not be faithful unto their marriage covenant will not be faithful in other agreements and relationships. Just like those who will not show honor unto their parents will not show honor unto teachers or others in society, the one who will not respect their own spouse and the relationship there will not respect other relationships, and will only look out for their own interests.
This commandment not only requires sexual fidelity but carries with it the awesome demand by The All Sovereign God for punishment for those who violate this commandment.
We live in a very permissive age. An age when we are more and more permissive about the ways we talk and the ways in which we dress and act. In this age is in not at all popular to speak of the death penalty. Yet God demands the terrible punishment of putting the Adulterer to death.
Leviticus 20:10-17
" And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them. If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you. And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity."
Men and even religious men have become very accustomed to Adultery, and to even taking pleasure in those who commit Adultery, but God specifies again and again that this kind of activity is a stench to Him.
Violators of this basic commandment were to be put to death, their reasoning for doing so was not to be considered, their childhood was not to be examined to see if they violated this commandment because they had been abused, they were to be put to death.
When you begin to trace out the concepts of this commandment though the Old Testament, and the New Testament, you find that it extends its prohibitions physically to the concept of prostitution. This makes sense, but we live in an age when there are constant pressures upon our legislators to legalize prostitution to make it an accepted thing, or so that our government might gain tax revenue from such an abominable thing.
God tells us that such a thing profanes the land and makes it filthy in His sight.
Leviticus 18:24-25
" Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants."
Leviticus 21:9
" And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire."
God forbids all from participating in any premarital or extramarital sexual acts.
There is an attitude today that says, "it is ok to enjoy yourself no matter how you want to enjoy yourself. If it feels good do it, if it love it ok". This is not so! Not only does God condemn these sorts of thing, but He demands the death penalty for those who participate in such activities.
When Our Lord was repeating this commandment in the New Testament He used a general word for Adultery, however in the Old Testament the Hebrew word for Adultery specifies that those doing this sin are married, and having extramarital sexual relationships.
In the New Testament the Greek word used by Christ gives a much broader term, which we would translate, just general promiscuity or free and open sex, indicating that the extension of this idea goes beyond simply the marriage itself, to any improper relationship.
When you trace out the whole idea of the marriage bond you find that God not only sanctifies and promotes the enjoyment of partners in the marriage relationship, but on the other hand condemns those who would violate that relationship either before or after marriage.
This is the bottom line of Christian commitment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery".
Because of our environmental conditioning we have grown to not only accept the existence of such a society, but we have begun to broaden out our own tolerance of this sin.
When we begin to notice all sorts of sin, we are bothered by it, but when we stay around it and do not speak out against it, our conscience becomes seared and we get used to whatever that sin is, and as we begin to enjoy this sort of thing in our society we let it become part of our way of life. Then when someone sheds the light of the Word of God on our actions and the actions of those around us, we like the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai do not want to hear what God has to say.
Adultery is not just a physical act is is also a mental act.
Matthew 5:27-28
" Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
Mental lust, mental desire, mental passion is the same thing as committing adultery. We have several scriptures which tell us so.
Proverbs 6:25
" Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids."
Romans 13:14
" But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."
2 Timothy 2:22
" Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
1 Peter 2:11
" Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;"
We are to make a conscience effort to resist and stop this thing, because God sees it as a filthy evil thing.
Job declared that he would not participate in this mental adultery.
Job 31:1
" I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?"
There are three words in the Word of God that relate to this mental adultery.
1 " lasciviousness " Strongs concordance describes Greek word that lasciviousness comes from as the unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence
We might say that it is rotten thinking oriented unto a life style that is committed to something dirty. This could be one who enjoys X rated and R rated movies or pornography.
Mark 7:22
" Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:"
2 Corinthians 12:21
" And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed."
2 "uncleanness"
Romans 1:24
" Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:"
Romans 6:19
" I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness."
3. "nakedness"
Leviticus 20:19
" And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister, nor of thy father’s sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity." (Leviticus 20:19 AV)
Nakedness is a beautiful majestic lovely thing within the marriage union. Within that union, it is to be promoted, enjoyed and benefited from, because that is what God gave to the marriage union. The husband is to revere the body of his wife, and the wife is to revere the body of her husband. There is to be an awe and a splendor to that kind of nakedness, within the confines and relationship of the marriage union.
In contrast, every other situation where nudity or nakedness appears is always condemned in the Word of God. The words used for nakedness are such words as expose, embarrass, uncover, and it always is identified with a provocative nature that tries to stimulate adultery through the appearance of fleshly exposure.
Here is an area that really needs some evaluation on the part of Christian people today. We have become so used to this dark world in which we live that we permit our own ladies to look like and act like those who are exposing and embarrassing themselves in front of lascivious and unclean people. We permit our own people to wear clothes that would embarrass a ballerina. We permit ourselves the luxury of exposing each others bodies on the beaches, and we excuse ourselves by saying, "well after all we have got to have a good time". We permit exposure consistently to the point that we become accustomed to less and less clothing, and more and more tolerant or nakedness.
1 John 2:15-17
" Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
James 4:4
" Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
If you dress like the world, and talk like the world, and behave like the world, and go where the world does for entertainment you become the enemy of God.
If you concern yourself with promoting what you feel is right you become God's enemy. Sexual sins and the promoting of sexual sins through the stimulation or lust on the part of others, whether it is physically or mentally committed is such an evil thing.
1 Corinthians 6:11
" And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
1 Corinthians 6:13
" Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body."
Yet none of us are guiltless.
God demands a fidelity to each other, fidelity in our minds and fidelity to Him.
But God can and does save adulterers.
1 Corinthians 6:11
" And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
