"Thou
shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14).
The
virtues of purity are the basis of the domestic relations, and as the family is
the foundation of human society, the class of duties here involved is second
only to those which preserve man’s existence. Hence it is
that, immediately following the commandment which declares the sacredness of
human life, there is that precept that is a hedge about the highest
relationship of creaturehood, thus safeguarding the holy function of the
procreation of life. Nothing is more essential for the social order than that
the relationship upon which all others are subsequently based should be jealously protected against every form of attack. The
commandment is a simple, unqualified, irrevocable negative: "thou shalt
not." No argument is used, no reason is given, because none is required.
This sin is so destructive and damning that the mere mention of its name is, in
itself, sufficient cause for this stern forbidding.
This
commandment plainly intimates that God claims the body as well as the soul for His
service.
"I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1).
"Let
not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the
lusts thereof.... if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye
shall live" (Romans 6:12; 8:13).
"The
body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body....
Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the
members of Christ, and make them the
members
of a harlot? God forbid.... glorify God in your body, and
in your spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:13, 15, 20).
For a
Christian, this foul sin is sacrilege.
"Know
ye not that your body is the temple of the holy Spirit
which is in you...?" (1 Corinthians 6:19).
If Christ
was indignant when He saw the house of God turned into a den of thieves, how
much more heinous in His sight must be that wickedness which debases the temple
of the Holy Spirit into a filthy sty! "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
This prohibition is designed to guard the sanctity of the home, for strictly
speaking "adultery" is a crime which none but a married person can
commit—"fornication" being the name of it when done by one who is
single. As the One with whom we have to do is ineffably pure and holy,
therefore does He require us to depart from all
uncleanness. This commandment respects more especially the government of the
affections and passions, the keeping of our minds and bodies in such a chaste
frame that nothing impure or immodest may defile us. It requires the proper
discipline of those inclinations which God has implanted for the increase of
the human species. Therefore we are to avoid everything that may be an occasion of this sin, using all proper means and methods to
prevent all temptations thereto.
How God regards sins of uncleanness has
been made clear by many passages in His Word. This sin, even on the part of an
unmarried man, is called "great wickedness against God" (Genesis 39:9). Then how much more inexcusable and intolerable
is it on the part of a married person! The temporal punishment meted out to it
under the civil law of Israel was no less than death, the same that was meted
out to murder. Job calls it
"a
heinous crime, a fire that consumeth to destruction"
(31:11, 12).
Much
of this wickedness is practiced in secret, but though its perpetrators may
escape the judgment of man, they shall not escape the judgment of Heaven, for
it is written,
"whoremongers
and adulterers God shall judge" (Hebrews 13:4).
"Be
not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers... shall
inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10).
"The
sin of adultery is scarcely less enormous than that of murder. The latter
destroys man’s temporal existence, the former destroys all that makes existence
a boon. Were all to take the license of the adulterer men would in due time be
reduced to the degradation of wild beasts" (R. L. Dabney).
To
prevent this sin, God has instituted the ordinance of marriage.
"To
avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have
her own husband" (1 Corinthians 7:2).
The
sin of adultery is therefore the violation of the marriage covenant and vow,
and so adds perjury to infidelity. Immorality is a sin against the body (1
Corinthians 6:18). God’s displeasure against this sin is seen in the fact that
He has so ordered things that nature itself visits the same with heavy
penalties in every part of man’s complex being.
"Be
not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap
corruption" (Galatians 6:7, 8).
Though
marriage is the Divinely appointed remedy for the sin of sexual uncleanness,
that does not grant man the license to make a beast of himself.
"Let
it not be supposed by married persons that all things are lawful to them. Every
man should observe sobriety towards his wife, and every
wife, reciprocally, towards her husband; conducting themselves in such a manner
as to do nothing unbecoming the decorum and temperance of marriage. For thus
ought marriage contracted in the Lord to be regulated by moderation and
modesty, and not to break out into the vilest lasciviousness. Such sensuality
has been stigmatized by Ambrose with a severe but not unmerited
censure, when he calls those who in their conjugal intercourse have no regard
to modesty, the adulterers of their
own wives" (Calvin).
Let no
man flatter himself with the idea that he cannot be charged with unchastity
because he has abstained from the actual deed while his
heart is a cesspool of defiling imaginations and desires. Because God’s Law is
"spiritual" (Romans 7:14), it not only forbids the gross outward acts
of filthiness, but it prohibits and condemns unchastity of heart as well—all
unlawful imaginations and contemplations. As there is such a thing as heart murder, so there is heart adultery, and he who commits
speculative uncleanness and prostitutes his thoughts and imaginations to the
impure embraces of lust is guilty of transgressing this commandment.
"Whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already
in his heart" (Matthew 5:28).
Therefore
we find the Apostle did not content himself with saying that it is better for a
man to marry than to pollute himself with a harlot, but "it is better to
marry than to burn" (1 Corinthians 7:9) —harbor consuming passion.
Although
the sin of "adultery" is alone specifically mentioned in this
precept, the rules by which these Commandments are to be interpreted (see
earlier chapters) oblige us to understand that all other kinds of uncleanness
are prohibited under that of this one gross sin. Everything that defiles the
body is here forbidden; adultery is expressly mentioned
because all other moral pollutions tend thereto. By the wickedness of that
which all men know to be wrong, we are exhorted to abominate every unlawful passion. As all manner of chastity in our thoughts,
speeches, and actions is enjoined by the perfect rule of God, so whatever is in
the least contrary and prejudicial to spotless chastity and modesty is here
prohibited. Every other sexual union save that of marriage
is accursed in God’s sight.
This
commandment forbids all degrees or approaches to the sin prohibited, as looking
in order to lust. Its force is, Thou shalt in no way injure thy neighbor’s
chastity or tempt to uncleanness. It requires that we abstain from immodest
apparel, indelicate speech, intemperance in food and drink
which excites the passions, and everything that has any tendency to induce
unchastity in ourselves or others. Let young people especially fix it in mind
that all unclean conduct before marriage on the part of man or woman is a wrong done against the marriage to be. Though this
commandment is expressed in the form of a negative prohibition, yet positively
it enjoins all the opposite duties, such as cleanliness of
the body, filling the mind with holy objects, setting our affection on things
above, and spending our time in profitable occupations.
RULES AND HELPS FOR AVOIDING SUCH SINS
(1) Cultivate a habitual sense of the Divine presence, realizing that
"The
eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:3).
(2) Keep a strict watch over the senses, for these are the avenues
which instead of letting in pleasant streams to refresh, only too often let in
mud and mire to pollute the soul. Make a covenant with your eyes (Job 31:1).
Stop your ears against all filthy conversation. Read nothing which defiles.
Watch your thoughts, and labor promptly to expel evil ones
(3) Practice sobriety and temperance (1 Corinthians 9:27). Those who
indulge in gluttony and drunkenness generally find that their excesses froth
and foam into lust.
(4) Exercise yourself in honest and lawful employment; idleness proves
as fatal to many as intemperance to others. Avoid the company of the wicked.
(5) Be much in earnest prayer, begging God to cleanse your heart
(Psalm 119:37).
"Ye
adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God?" (Jas. 4:4).
This
refers to the sin of spiritual adultery: it is love of the world estranging the heart from God, carnal
lusts enticing the soul and drawing it away from Him.
There is more than enough in God Himself to satisfy, but there is still that in
the believer which desires to find his happiness in the creature. There are degrees of this sin, as of the natural.
As there may be physical adultery in thought and longing that terminates not in
the overt act, so the Christian may secretly hanker after the world though he
become not an utter worldling. We must check such
inclinations when our hearts are unduly drawn forth to material comforts and
contentments. God is a jealous God, and nothing provokes Him more than that we
should prefer base things before Himself, or give to others that affection or
esteem which belongs alone to Him. Leave not your "first love"
(Revelation 2:4), nor forsake Him to whom you are
"espoused" (2 Corinthians 11:2).