"Thou
shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s
wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor
anything that is thy neighbour’s" (Exodus 20:17).
That
which is here prohibited is concupiscence or an unlawful lusting after what is
another man’s. In our exposition of the previous Commandments we have pointed
out that while their actual terms are confined to the forbidding of outward
acts, yet the scope of each one takes in and reaches to
the condemnation of everything which has any tendency or occasion to lead to
the overt crime. Here in the final precept of the Decalogue we find clear
confirmation of the same, for in it God expressly imposes a law upon our
spirits, forbidding us to so much as lust after whatever He has forbidden us to
perpetrate. The best way to keep men from committing sin in act
is to keep them from desiring it in heart. Thus while the authority of each of
the first nine Commandments reaches to the mind and the most secret intents of
the soul, yet the Lord saw fit to plainly and literally state this in the
tenth, where He specifically reprehends the first motions of our hearts toward
any object He has fenced, and therefore it is the bond which strengthens the
whole.
Evil
concupiscence consists of those secret and internal sins that go before the
consent of the will and that are the seeds of all evil. Concupiscence or
lusting is the firstborn of indwelling depravity, the first risings and
expressions of our corrupt nature. It is a violent
propensity and inclination toward what is evil, toward that which is contrary
to the holy will and command of God. The soul of man is an operative and
vigorous creature, ever putting forth activities suitable to its nature. Before
the Fall, the soul of man was drawn forth to God as its supreme Object and the
End of all its exercise, but when man apostatized and turned from God as his only Good or satisfying Portion, his soul became enamored with
the creature. Thus the soul of fallen man, being destitute of Divine grace and
spiritual life, craves sinful objects to the slighting of God, and inordinately
lusts after things which in themselves are harmless, but become evil because he
neither receives them as from God nor uses them for His glory. Concupiscence,
then, is that irregular disposition of soul that is here
termed "covetousness."
The
Puritan Ezekiel Hopkins (to whom we are indebted for much in this chapter, as
also for many helpful points in the preceding ones) has pointed out that there
are four
degrees of this
sinful concupiscence or coveting. There is the first film
or shadow of an evil thought, the imperfect embryo of a sin before it is shaped
in us or has any lineaments or features. This is what the Scripture refers to
as "every imagination of the thoughts" of the human heart. Such
imaginations are expressly declared to be "evil" (Genesis 6:5). Such
are the first risings of our corrupt nature toward those
sins which are pleasing to our sensual inclinations. They are to be steadfastly
watched, hated, and resisted. They are to be stamped upon as the sparks of a
dangerous fire, for as soon as they begin to stir within us they pollute our
souls. Just as the breathing upon a mirror sullies it, leaving a dimness there,
so the very first breathings of an evil desire or thought within one’s breast defile the soul.
A
further degree of this concupiscence is reached when these evil motions of our
corrupt nature are entertained in the mind with some degree of complacency. When a sinful object
presents itself before a carnal heart there is an inward response that affects
that heart with delight and begets a sympathy between it
and the object. As in an instance of natural sympathy a man is often pleased
with an object before he knows the reason why he is, so in an instance of sinful sympathy or
response the heart is taken with the object before it has time to consider what
there is in that object which so moves and affects it. At the very first sight
of a person we many times find that we are more drawn to
him than to a whole crowd of others, though all may be equally unknown to us.
So the very first glimpse of a sinful thought in our minds reveals that there
is that in us which works a regard for the same before we have leisure to
examine why it is so. This second form or degree of concupiscence is harder to
eject than the former.
If
such evil motions are entertained by us, then an assent and an approbation to sin follow
in ones practical judgment, which, being blinded and carried away by the
strength of corrupt and carnal affections, commends the sin to the executive
faculty. The understanding is the trier of every
deliberate action so that nothing passes into action which has not first passed
trial there. Whether this or that action is to be done is the great question
canvassed in this court, and all the faculties of the soul await what definite
sentence will be here pronounced and thus carried out. Normally two witnesses
appear and put in their plea to the understanding or judgment about
sin: God’s Law and God’s vicegerent the conscience. The Law condemns and the
conscience cites the Law. But then the affections step in and bribe the judge
with promises of pleasure or profit, thereby corrupting the judgment to give
its vote and assent to sin. Note how all of this receives illustration in the colloquy
between Eve and the Serpent before she partook of the forbidden fruit.
When
any sinful motion has thus secured an allowance from the judgment, then it
betakes itself to the will for a decree. The understanding having approved it,
the will must now resolve to commit it; and then the sin is fully formed within
and lacks nothing but opportunity to bring it forth into
open action.
"But
every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed; then when
lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth (open) sin; and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:14, 15).
Thus
we have endeavored to show what concupiscence or coveting is, and the several
degrees of it: the first bubblings up of evil thoughts in our hearts; our
delighting in the same (and it is altogether against corrupt nature not to love
these firstborn of our own souls); the assent and allowance of our judgment;
and the resolution of our wills. Each of these is
expressly forbidden by the tenth commandment. And if the sin proceeds any
further, then it exceeds the bounds of this commandment and falls under the
prohibition of some of the former ones, which more specifically forbid the
outward acts of sin.
This
final precept, then, utters its solemn protest against sin
in the inner life. Herein we may behold and adore the boundless dominion or
sovereignty of the great God. He proclaims His rights over the hidden realm of
desires. His authority reaches to the soul and conscience and lays an
obligation upon our very thoughts and imaginations, which no human laws can do.
It would be vain for men to impose statutes upon that of
which they can take no cognizance, and therefore our desires and lustings are
free from their censure, except so far as they discover themselves by overt
acts. But though they escape the commands and notice of men, yet they escape
not the scrutiny and sentence of God, for He sees not as men see, neither
judges He as men judge. The secrets of all hearts are open and naked before His
eyes; not the least breath of a desire can stir in our
souls but it is more distinctly visible to Him than the shining of the midday
sun is to us.
God’s
Law, like His knowledge, reaches into the most secret recesses of your soul,
searches every corner of your heart, judges those lusts
which no human eye can espy, and if they be harbored and approved of, condemns
you as a guilty transgressor and worthy of eternal death, no matter how
pleasing your external deportment may be. Then how vain it is for us to content
ourselves with an outward conformity to God’s Law! How we should labor to approve our hearts in sincerity and purity before God; otherwise we are but pharisaical hypocrites who wash merely
the outside of the cup while within we are still full of unclean lusts. How
many there are who suppose that God’s Law reaches only to the outward man, and
that, though they entertain and cherish wicked desires and evil purposes in
their hearts, so long as these lusts break not forth into external crimes they
will not be charged to their account. But the Day of
Judgment will show it is far otherwise. How very few reflect upon heart sins!
How very few pray, "Cleanse Thou me from secret faults"! Be not deceived,
God is not mocked, and He cannot be duped by external shows.
See
here the wisdom of God in setting this commandment at the
close of the Decalogue, for it is a fence and guard to all the rest. It is from
inward defilements of the soul that all our
visible sins of word and deed have their rise. All Sabbath-breaking proceeds
from the restlessness which is born of unholy desire.
"Out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries" etc. (Matthew 15:19).
Observe
well that Christ places "evil thoughts" in the front, as the leader
of this vile regiment! "Thou shalt not covet." Thou shalt not set
thine heart upon, or have the least hankering after, what
belongs to another. An objector may say, "It is impossible to prevent the
desire for what we admire." Very true, yet in that fact is revealed the
fallen condition of man and the desperate wickedness of his heart. That such
desire is sinful and damning is only discovered in the light of this commandment. He who
honestly faces this final precept in the Decalogue must be convicted of his
sinfulness and brought to realize his helplessness, or
this is its ultimate design. God has given His Holy Law to us in order that we
might see the utter hopelessness of our case if we are left to ourselves. This He has done in order
to shut us up to Christ and the magnitude of His grace toward repentant sinners
who will believe on His beloved Son, Who perfectly obeyed the Law and in Whom
the Father is well pleased!