10-COMMANDMENTS-3

.Articles

A BASIC STUDY OF
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
x Last Part of Article:
x VII. "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" (Exodus 20:14).
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Even as human life made in the image of God is sacred, the union, bond, and relationship whereby this life is brought into being is sacred. Purity of family life is another pillar of a stable, enduring society. If we do not respect our sexuality by practicing fidelity in the marriage relationship, we will not respect what our sexuality produces (other human beings). This disregard will hasten the deterioration and disintegration of human society (and the bulwark of decency and dignity that holds it together). Men will be and act like animals.

God commanded (in no uncertain terms), "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14). Adultery was (and is) the sin committed by married people in being sexually promiscuous (Ezekiel 16:32; Hosea 4:13). This sin could be committed by a married man or woman (or one betrothed) and not by an unmarried or "unbetrothed" one or a harlot (Deuteronomy 22:22-29). Although later expanded to include other sexual offenses, they are not dealt with in the original command. Breaking this commandment was a capital offense, and the sentence was that both parties were to be put to death (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22). The sanctity of the fountain of life had been corrupted (as well as the holy bonds of matrimony broken). Certainly, in the sight of God, adultery is an awful sin.

Adultery Considered from Its Source
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The Lord Jesus Christ got right at the heart of the problem, giving us deeper insights and expanded concepts of what this commandment really meant (and especially as part of Christianity today). He said, "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. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell" (Matthew 5:27-30). The act of adultery, and everything leading up to it, is prohibited by this commandment (even the improper, unseemly thoughts of the heart). Lust is unlawful desire. To have strong sexual feelings toward someone not a person’s mate is called adultery by the Lord. The Law of Moses did not say that, nor would such a contention hold up in court today, but with God it does (for He knows all). With the lust of the heart, the right eye and right hand are mentioned. The eye sees and the hand symbolizes action, leading into adultery. The Lord does not literally mean the eye is to be plucked out, or the hand to be cut off, although that would be better than being cast into hell. We know the body as the receptacle of life is sacred and is not to be desecrated. Rather, something spiritual is involved. Anything that would be a stumbling block to us, leading into adultery (starting with adulterous thoughts inspired by what is seen), is to be gotten rid of---plucked out, cut off (even though it be as dear to us as the right eye or the right hand). Yes, the act of adultery, the very thought, and anything that would fuel thoughts of lust are prohibited. In our sex-oriented society today much is covered and prohibited by the Lord’s expanded treatment of this commandment (whether it be pornography, movies, much of TV, the Internet, or immodesty in dress). The wise person will realize how serious this commandment really is and take the Lord seriously (I Corinthians 6:9; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3-12).

Divorce, Remarriage and Adultery
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Adultery is sexual infidelity in marriage. Then to this definition the Lord Jesus added the deeper meaning of adultery in the heart (lust), and now divorce and remarriage (except for one cause) is called adultery. Let us listen to the Lord as he continued in Matthew 5:31 and 32, "It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery." Again he dealt with the same subject at another time when he said, "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for [literal] fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery" (Cf. Matthew 19:’3-12). Moses and the Jews allowed divorce and remarriage for many causes, but not so with Christ. Marriage is for life. If a marriage ends in divorce, except for the cause of sexual infidelity, and remarriage occurs as a result of it, adultery is committed by all involved (the divorced husband, the divorced wife, and whoever marries either of them). (Paul even made mention of what the Lord said here in I Corinthians 7:10,11).

Yes, in these Scriptures the Lord says that marriage again after divorce, except it be for "fornication," will result in adultery. The word translated "fornication" is the Greek word porneia. Moulton and Milligan in their Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament say that this word "originally meant ‘prostitution,’ ‘fornication,’ but came to he applied to unlawful sexual intercourse generally." In Hosea 2:2 (Septuagint Greek Old Testament), porneia ("whoredoms," fornication) and "adulteries" are applied to the same person. Obviously the term is used generally in I Thessalonians 4:1-7. So, the Lord is simply saying except for sexual immorality, generally speaking, when he said, "except it be for fornication."

In this day when divorce and remarriage are occurring in epidemic proportions, it seems that many preachers have tried to gloss over these Scriptures, but the Lord said such marriages are adulterous. All that we know is what the Bible says. We do not have answers to all the problems incurred by disregarding what the Bible says.

The Positive Side of This Commandment
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In giving this commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," a positive backside is implied. After God had finished creating everything, including man (as male and female), we read, "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:27,31). In particular, after telling of the creation of man and woman, Moses offered this commentary: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).

The book of Proverbs, which warns about the strange woman, also tells of the positive backside of this commandment. "Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings" (Proverbs 5:15-21).

The apostle Paul spoke of the intimate relationship involved in marriage and gave personal instructions about it (I Corinthians 7:2-5). And very fittingly Hebrews 13:4 reads, "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers [fornicators] and adulterers God will judge." God made man, and He knows what is best for man.

VIII. "Thou Shalt Not Steal" (Exodus 20:1 5).
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In this commandment the respect for a person is extended to his property. The right of the individual ownership of property is implied. Really, everything belongs to God (Deuteronomy 10:14; Psalms 24:1; 50:10). But fittingly (Genesis 1:26-28), "the earth hath he given to the children of men" (Psalms 115:16). In the possession and orderly control of this property, or objects of property, man is not to steal from another. It has been simply stated that theft, or stealing, is the taking or keeping of that which does not belong to us.

In Israel stealing was not a capital offense, unless it involved stealing (kidnapping) another human being for purposes of slavery (Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7). However, if a thief was killed in the act of stealing at night, the one who killed him would not he held accountable (Exodus 22-2,3). If a thief stole something and then had killed or sold it, the penalty was greater than if he still had it in hand. For larger livestock (oxen), if it had been killed or sold, he had to restore fivefold; for sheep, fourfold. If that which had been stolen was found in hand (and still alive), he had to restore double. Cf. Exodus 22:1- 4,7; etc. The New Testament makes it plain that thieves will not go to heaven (I Corinthians 6:10).

Multi-Application of This Commandment
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"The eighth commandment forbids theft and robbery, the surreptitiously and fraudulently taking of something." As someone has said, "All rapine and theft are forbidden by this precept; as well national and commercial wrongs; as petty larceny, highway robberies, and private stealing: even the taking advantage of a seller’s or buyer’s ignorance, to give the one less and make the other pay more for a commodity than its worth, is a breach of this sacred law." Strictly speaking, stealing involves that which is taken covertly on the sly, whereas robbery has to do with taking something violently and openly (with a high hand). However, robbery is a more aggravated form of the same offense.

Various applications occur in the Bible. Isaiah pictures the national leaders of his day as "thieves" (Isaiah 1:23). He speaks of social injustice, how that they "take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they rob the fatherless" (Isaiah 10:14). When Jesus cast the moneychangers out of the temple, he said that they had made the house of God "a den of thieves (robbers)" (Mark 11:15-17). Extortion, their mishandling of moneys, put them in the category of thieves. John in his gospel account called Judas a thief (John 12:4-6). In the closing book of the Old Testament, Malachi asked this shocking question, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation" (Malachi 3:8-10). How many are robbing God by withholding that which they should be giving today?

The Positive Backside of This Commandment
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This commandment does have a positive backside. Paul, admonishing the Thessalonian Christians, charged them "to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing" (I Thessalonians 4:llb,12). Then, more explicitly, the backside is brought out in Ephesians 4:28, "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." How plain and simple (and how good and noble)! And if we must suffer for any cause, let it not be "as a thief, or as an evildoer," but as a Christian (I Peter 4:15,16). Amen.

IX. "Thou Shalt Not Bear False
Witness Against Thy Neighbour" Exodus 20:16).
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A commandment involving the tongue is dealt with in both tables of the law, the first having to do with God in the third commandment, and now in this commandment, with man. Basically this commandment is clothed in legal language, but it has to do with more than testifying in court. The very character of the person speaking is involved "for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh" (Luke 6:45). The whole spectrum of the sins of the tongue, having to do with that which is false, is condemned by this commandment: lying, deception, gossip, slander, flattery, etc. Then by not even uttering a word, a person can actually act out a lie by being a hypocrite.

But in its basic Old Testament application, this commandment has reference to testifying as a witness (as in court). Deuteronomy 19:15-20 gives more information about this. In court, two or three witnesses were necessary before a verdict could be reached. In carrying out the sentence of the convicted person, the hands of the witnesses were the first upon him in its execution (Deuteronomy 17:7; Acts 7:58,59). However, they were instructed, "If the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; Then shall ye do unto him, as he thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put evil away from among you" (Cf. Deuteronomy 19:16-20). (In the New Testament Scriptures we find that it says "all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone," Revelation 21:8).

Satan and God in Sharp Contrast
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In this commandment Satan and God are vividly seen in sharp contrast (as they are represented by the lie and the truth). Jesus accused the Jews of his day, saying, "Ye are of your father the devil…He...abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44). To accomplish his evil designs the old devil lied to Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), and he has been lying ever since (Acts 5:3; I Timothy 4:1,2). He uses the lie to ensnare and enslave man, to disrupt the harmony of human relationships, and to corrupt the great truths of God. In contrast with the devil, God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). The Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of truth" (John 16:8-13). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Christianity is called "the way of truth" (11 Peter 2:2), and the truth is what sets men free (John 8:31,32).

The Backside of This Commandment
x That brings us to the backside of this commandment. From the Christian perspective, the apostle admonished the Ephesians, "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another" (Ephesians 4:25). A few verses before (4:14), he warned of false doctrine, and "the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Then the positive side of the admonition follows (4:15), "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." Anyway you choose to look at it, we need to speak the truth. Deception is of the devil.
x X. "Thou Shalt Not Covet"
Anything That Is Thy Neighbors (Exodus 20:17).
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There are several words in the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament that are translated "covet," "covetous," and "covetousness." Whether it be to fix the desire intensely upon for oneself, to lust after, to want more than one’s share, to love money and to be greedy of gain, to stretch out earnestly for, or to desire so strongly for something that the desire is implemented by irregular and dishonest behavior, all point to the same thing, covetousness. All of these shades of meaning show the overlapping and implementing facets (and factors) in this word and in this commandment.

The Root of All Kinds of Evil
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Although this sin basically is in the heart, it is the root from which all kinds of sins spring. Micah 2:2 verifies this, as the prophet said, "Woe unto them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage" (Cf. Joshua 7:21 also). The apostle Paul perceived this as he wrote in the New Testament, "For the love of money is the root of all [kinds of] evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (I Timothy 6:10). Paul spoke of the second table of the law being fulfilled by love (Romans 13:9,10). Selfishness is the opposite of love. Covetousness is the absorbing impulse of selfishness. Therefore, if love is the fulfilling of the second table of commandments, covetousness is its converse (the breaking of that table). Paul in Romans 7:7ff, it seems, looked upon this commandment as forbidding all improper appetites and desires (which are the beginning of all sin that is committed by us). To be such an awful sin, we hear so little spoken about it today!

Inclusive of Both Tables
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The apostle Paul in two different places called covetousness "idolatry" (Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5). He admonished the wealthy and well-to-do Christians not to "trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God" (I Timothy 6:17). The material things (riches) as idols are put in contrast with "the living God" (and Jesus said, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon," Matthew 6:24). This brings us back to the first table of the Law where God said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (followed by the prohibiting of making "any graven images"). The rest of the first table of commandments follows, directly involved with God, and the second, with man. Both tables, all of the commandments, have their foundation in God as stated in the first commandment. Breaking the last commandment about coveting also means that a person is breaking the first commandment. In fact, all of the commandments are interwoven and stand together. It is no wonder that James said, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (Cf. James 2:8-12).

Warnings About Covetousness
x In Luke 12:15ff, the Lord gives a warning about covetousness (and at the same time we see how that selfishness is basically involved in this sin). "And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth." Then he proceeds to illustrate with a parable. "And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." The personal pronouns "I" and "my" are found eleven times here. He was selfishly grasping for more for his own self-indulgent purposes. What a warning for us today! Paul says that a covetous person will not go to heaven (I Corinthians 6:10; Ephesians 5:5).
x The Backside: A Life without Worry
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There are different Scriptures that show the positive backside of this commandment (and the desirability of taking heed to it). We read this admonition in Hebrews 13:5ff, "Let your conversation [manner of life] be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The LORD is my helper..." The life of materialism is the opposite parallel to the one wherein God is trusted (as materialism is idolatry). Learning to trust God in a life divested of materialism brings contentment. In I Timothy Paul warns of those who suppose that "gain is godliness," then he said, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content" (I Timothy 6:5-8). Later in this chapter he admonished some not to "trust in uncertain riches, but the living God" (6:17).

That was the essence of what the Lord taught in the Sermon on the Mount when he warned about laying up treasures for ourselves on this earth in contrast with laying up treasures in heaven (i.e., using material things for good now). He then stated, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." The famous lesson about worrying follows. After all, mammon (the god of materialism) is not almighty, and riches are uncertain. Consequently, a life dominated by materialism will be dominated by worry. In contrast with that, Jesus said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Cf. Matthew 6:19-34). Therefore, he tells us not to worry about tomorrow.

And instead of coveting, laying up treasures on earth, and grasping for more and more, we are laying up treasures in heaven by putting our material things to good use now in good and benevolent causes. Proverbs 21:26 speaks of the one that "coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not."

Let us practice the backside of this commandment. "Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed" (Psalms 37:3). Contentment will be our fortunate lot in life.

((28-3-90)

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