10C's #7 Adultery part b
Exodus 20:14 says "You shall not commit adultery."
Why is marital fidelity important to God? He spills much ink on the topic. Proverbs warns against it repeatedly. See Proverbs 5-7 with its compelling poetic imagery.
For example 6:25-29
As Job pleads his innocence to his accusing comforters he says, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman." Job 31:1 (NLT)
It's clear that Jesus had precedent in claiming that "window shopping" was not better than actual extra-marital intercourse. In our current age we think that pornography is the new tar baby for men but people have always desired a fantasy. Photographic pornography is recent, but that's just a technology advancement. Our high brow art museums are full of erotic paintings and sculptures. Technology allows new variations on the theme too. Boilerplate romance novels offer fantasy affairs. But books are old technology. In the previous post I mentioned Second Life bigamy. Wired Magazine has a recent article about an Instant Messenger affair based on misrepresentation that led to snail mail, virtual affairs, and, eventually, a murder. [Caution, this article's language is not for the religiously sensitive.]
But why is fidelity so important to God? One key is found in Ephesians 5: 22-33
Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, 23 for the husband is head of the wife as also Christ is head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as also Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 to make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word. 27 He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh, but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 since we are members of His body. 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 32 This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband. (HCSB)
Jesus will not be unfaithful to his bride the church. In 2 Timothy 2:13 we learn If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (NKJV)
Adultery gives a false representation to the world of the faithfulness of Christ.
Why is marital fidelity important to God? He spills much ink on the topic. Proverbs warns against it repeatedly. See Proverbs 5-7 with its compelling poetic imagery.
For example 6:25-29
Do not desire her beauty in your heart,and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes; 26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,but a married womanhunts down a precious life. 27 Can a man carry fire next to his chestand his clothes not be burned? 28 Or can one walk on hot coalsand his feet not be scorched? 29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;none who touches her will go unpunished. (ESV)
As Job pleads his innocence to his accusing comforters he says, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman." Job 31:1 (NLT)
It's clear that Jesus had precedent in claiming that "window shopping" was not better than actual extra-marital intercourse. In our current age we think that pornography is the new tar baby for men but people have always desired a fantasy. Photographic pornography is recent, but that's just a technology advancement. Our high brow art museums are full of erotic paintings and sculptures. Technology allows new variations on the theme too. Boilerplate romance novels offer fantasy affairs. But books are old technology. In the previous post I mentioned Second Life bigamy. Wired Magazine has a recent article about an Instant Messenger affair based on misrepresentation that led to snail mail, virtual affairs, and, eventually, a murder. [Caution, this article's language is not for the religiously sensitive.]
But why is fidelity so important to God? One key is found in Ephesians 5: 22-33
Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, 23 for the husband is head of the wife as also Christ is head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as also Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 to make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word. 27 He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh, but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 since we are members of His body. 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 32 This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband. (HCSB)
Jesus will not be unfaithful to his bride the church. In 2 Timothy 2:13 we learn If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (NKJV)
Adultery gives a false representation to the world of the faithfulness of Christ.
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