1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went
into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds
followed him, and he healed them there. 3 Some Pharisees came to him to
test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and
every reason?” 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied,
“that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and
female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will
leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become
one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two,
but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
- Matthew 19:1-6, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House) 1984.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.”
- Exodus 20:14, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House) 1984.
"The Sixth Commandment"
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God that we lead a pure and decent life in words and actions, and that husband and wife love and honor each other.
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
Maybe it was because he knew from personal experience what life was like was on the other side. Maybe it was because he had taken a vow of celibacy in his early twenties. Maybe it was because his conscience tortured him on account of the impure thoughts that he could never rid himself of completely.
Maybe it was a combination of all of these things that led Martin Luther to write the following later in life, after he had broken his vow of celibacy, after he had been married to his wife Katie for five years: "Marriage is not merely to be placed on a level with other estates; it is to be put ahead and above them all, whether that be emperor, princes, bishops, or anyone else" (from Luther’s Large Catechism).
In Luther’s estimation, marriage was not merely a good thing, but the greatest and most important institution on earth. Why did Luther feel so strongly? Why was we willing to give marriage such high praise? Because the Lord had led him to understand that marriage was not something spiritual people avoid. Rather, God instituted marriage as a blessing for his people.
Perhaps Luther’s personal experiences also caused him to break from the pattern he followed in his explanations of the commandments. The explanations of commandments two through five begin with a prohibition. "We should fear and love God...that we do not use God’s name to curse, swear, lie, or deceive...that we do not despise preaching and God’s Word...that we do not dishonor or anger our parents and others in authority...that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body..."
In contrast, Luther’s explanation of the sixth commandment comes in the form of an exhortation: "We should fear and love God that we lead a pure and decent life in words and actions, and that husband and wife love and honor each other." Whereas the Lord’s command on Mt. Sinai tells us what we are NOT to do, "You shall not commit adultery" (Ex 20:14), Luther’s explanation focuses exclusively on the positive side, on what God WANTS us to do.
Luther’s words have obvious applications for couples in marriage. In fact, he specifically mentions husbands and wives. The scope of this commandment, however, is much broader than that. When Luther calls upon Christians to lead "pure and decent lives," he is talking to widows and widowers, to young adults and children, even to people who have never been married. Therefore, let every one of us ask the Holy Spirit to open our ears to hear and our hearts to believe as God speaks to us in...
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
It is logical to begin a discussion of the sixth commandment with a brief review of marriage. Unfortunately in our day and age, it is almost impossible to talk about marriage without talking about divorce. But this is nothing new. Two thousand years ago, people were doing the same thing.
On one occasion, some Pharisees came to Jesus with a question in order to test him. They wanted to know if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife "for any and every reason." Instead of immediately answering their question, Jesus used it as an opportunity to explain to them what marriage is. Jesus’ response will serve as a good review for us as well.
But before we examine Jesus’ reply, it is important to see where he went to get it. He didn’t go to the bookstore and pick up the latest marriage how-to manual. He didn’t quote any of Oprah’s highly esteemed talk show guests. Instead Jesus went back to Gods’ Word, the source all truth, to God’s institution of marriage in Genesis.
"Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate" (Matthew 19:4-6).
According to God’s blueprint in Genesis, marriage consists of three parts. It involves one man and one woman, "a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife." It is the intimate union between husband and wife, "the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one." This union requires a lifelong commitment, "Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
Because Christians believe that marriage is a divine institution and not merely a human invention, we also believe that God established marriage for our good. God gives many different blessings to husbands and wives, but for the most part these blessings can fit into three general categories.
God blesses marriage with loving companionship. Genesis 2:18 records the first thing in the Bible that was not good. God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." And God made good on his promise when he created Eve and gave her to Adam.
Matthew Henry described the intimate relationship between Adam and Eve this way (paraphrase): "Eve was not created out of Adam’s head to rule over him or out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be near him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him."
The first marriage is a model for all Christian marriages. Marriage was never designed to be a dictatorship. It is a partnership sealed with love in which husband and wife share a common faith and pursue common goals.
God also blesses marriage with sexual happiness. Discussions about sex often make catechism classes giggle and cause parents to blush. As a result, the subject is often avoided. But it doesn’t have to be that way as long as we remember that human sexuality is a gift from God, something God gives husbands and wives to enjoy. It can be compared to fire. When it is misused and abused, it becomes destructive and uncontrollable. But in its proper place, it is warm and delightful.
The third blessing in marriage is closely related to the second. God blesses marriage with children. Because terms like "unwanted pregnancy" and planned pregnancy" are common today, we need to be constantly reminded that children are not a couple’s inalienable right. They are a privilege, a blessing from God’s hand. King Solomon makes this very clear when he says: "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him" (Ps. 127:3).
God established marriage. God blesses marriage. That should be more than enough for Christians to do everything in their power to obey this commandment. But we don’t. Why not? Sometimes we think that we know better than God. Sometimes we let our sinful desires control us. And sometimes we break the sixth commandment.
God said to Moses: "You shall not commit adultery" (Ex 20:14). By definition, adultery is a sin in which a married person engages in sexual activity with someone other than his/her spouse. The word comes from the Latin root meaning "to pollute." Who or what becomes polluted in adultery? Unfaithfulness pollutes the vow of lifelong faithfulness. Adultery pollutes the other person involved. Adultery pollutes the adulterer’s own body.
Maybe you are thinking to yourself, "If this is all there is to the sixth commandment, then I’m doing OK. I haven’t been unfaithful to my spouse," or "I’m not even married yet." But it isn’t quite that simple. Taken as a whole, God’s Word has much more to say on this subject.
Because God reserves sex for couples in marriage, any and all sexual activity outside of marriage is a sin. Because God established marriage as the union of one man and one woman, homosexuality is wrong. I suppose the same arguments can be raised again. "I have not done these things either, so I must be doing something right." But God’s law goes even deeper.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that "anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). Jesus makes no distinction between sinful thoughts and sinful actions. Lust equals adultery. With this definition, the sixth commandment hits much closer to home.
The next time you go to the movies, remember that God is omnipresent. He is everywhere. That means he is in the theatre with you. Watch and listen carefully only for things that apply to the sixth commandment, the explicit scenes, the lewd comments and the sexual innuendo, and see how comfortable you feel. Then ask yourself what is more disturbing, the fact that the media is feeding us with a steady diet of ungodly garbage or that we have become so desensitized that we willingly eat it up.
The devil wants us to believe that God’s rules are old-fashioned and out of date. It is entirely unrealistic to make these kinds of demands of people living in the twenty-first century. Science demonstrates that is unreasonable to expect people to limit themselves to only one marriage partner. Besides God has no right to tell us what to do and what not to do. Our bodies are ours to do with as we please. The commandments are only shackles God tries to impose on us to keep us from having fun.
Let’s put that theory to the test. Let’s look at some of the "blessings" people enjoy when they break the sixth commandment. Because marriage is under attack, because marriage is not held in high regard, divorce has reached epidemic proportions.
The term "no-fault divorce" has become part of our vocabulary, making divorce even easier. In 1996 the Los Angeles Times reported that it in many states "it is easier to break the marriage contract than it is to fire an employee or back out of buying a car." It is also projected that 40% of young first time married couples will get a divorce. And this does not factor in the emotional damage caused to spouses and children.
Divorce is only one example, but you get the point. When people stray from God’s Word and God’s will, they don’t reap the benefits. Ultimately, they pay the consequences. But as bad as these things are, they are nothing compared to the greatest consequence of sin, death. Not the death of a marriage in divorce. Not even physical death from some kind of disease. Because we stand guilty before God, because we have broken the sixth commandment in our thoughts and our words and our actions, we deserve to die eternally.
It took a prophet from God to help King David come to this realization. David broke the sixth commandment. David committed adultery with another man’s wife. For a while he tried to hide it. But when God led him to see the ugliness of his sin in the mirror of the law, he cried out: "I have sinned against the Lord" (II Samuel 12:13).
The prophet Nathan responded with a few simple words, but they were the most beautiful words David ever heard: "The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die" (II Samuel 12:13).
God doesn’t send prophets to be our personal counselors, but he makes the same promises to us in his Word. The Lord has taken away our sin...through his Son. Jesus was tempted in every way just as we are, yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He piled the sins of the world, including our many sins against the sixth commandment, our shameful actions, our lustful thoughts, on his broad and loving shoulders and carried them to the cross. Because he died in our place, because he took away our sins, we are not going to die. We will live. We will live forever with Jesus in heaven.
And as forgiven sinners, we live right now. We live looking for ways to thank God for his underserved love, looking for opportunities to lead pure and decent lives in what we think and say and do. As a child of God, I recognize that my body is not my own. It is God’s temple. It is the place where the Holy Spirit lives. Therefore, I want to honor God with my body.
Teenagers honor God with their bodies when they ask, "How can I give glory to God on this date?" instead of asking "How far can I go without sinning?" A couple honors God with their bodies when they wait patiently for their wedding day before they act as husband and wife. A husband honors God with his body when he loves his wife the same way Christ loved the church. A wife honors God with her body when she treats her husband with love and respect. Christians honor God with their bodies when they flee from sexual temptation and run into his protecting arms.
For the sinner, God’s commandments are an unbearable burden. Through the eyes of faith, they become a wonderful blessing. May our study of the sixth commandment help us appreciate God’s blessings and renew in us the holy desire lead pure and decent lives to his glory. Amen.