7th Commandment Flashcards
7th Commandment
- “You shall not commit adultery.” (Ex 20:14; Deut 5:18)
7th Commandment: Relationship to First Commandment
- The connection to the first commandment is not explicit as it is in other commandments; however, marital fidelity is used throughout the OT to represent faithfulness to God.
- Just as God expects his people to be faithful in their exclusive relationship with him, he also expects them to be faithful in their exclusive relationship in marriage.
7th Commandment: Theological Justification - Terminology 1
- נאף (n’p)—commit adultery
a. Technically refers to a sexual relationship between a man and a married woman
b. The impact of this term is that the adulterous man is committing an offense against the woman’s husband
c. One-third of the uses of this term are used metaphorically to refer to Israel’s unfaithfulness to God.
7th Commandment: Theological Justification - Terminology 2
- πορνεία (porneia) and μοιχάω (moichao)
a. In the NT, two terms are generally translated as adultery in English.
i. Πορνεία is typically seen as fornication or unlawful sexual intercourse. – Umbrella Term for adultery
ii. Μοιχάω/μοιχεία/μοιχευω/μοιάομαι is typically seen as adultery. – Specific and analogous to the Hebrew above
7th Commandment: Results
- No specific results given
- Faithfulness in marriage honors God as well as one’s spouse.
7th Commandment: Ethical Impact - Adultery
- Adultery is the unfaithfulness of one married partner to his/her spouse.
- Typically adultery is understood to be a sexual relationship consummated
- With the advent of internet chat rooms, online dating services, and other forms of electronic communication, adultery has become easier to initiate.
7th Commandment: Ethical Impact - Adultery - Scripture and Adultery 1
- Scripture clearly condemns adultery.
a. The Seventh Commandment (Ex 20:14; Deut 5:18) declares, “You shall not commit adultery.”
b. Leviticus 18:20 states, “You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, to be defiled with her.”
c. Leviticus 20:10 commands the death penalty for both parties involved in adultery.
d. Numbers 5:11–31 prescribes the method for bringing a dispute about adultery to the priest.
e. 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 states that adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of God.
7th Commandment: Ethical Impact - Adultery - Scripture and Adultery 2
- Scripture uses adultery as an analogy for worshiping false gods.
a. Jeremiah compares the false gods to harlots and the people of Jerusalem to adulterers for worshiping the false gods. (Jer 5)
b. Ezekiel reports that God promises to judge Israel as adulterers (i.e., the death penalty) for worshiping false gods. (Ezek 16)
7th Commandment: Ethical Impact - Adultery - Practical Implications
- Adultery is a distortion of God’s plan of fidelity in marriage.
- We can learn from Joseph’s interaction with Potiphar’s wife that we should flee adultery.
7th Commandment: Ethical Impact - Fornication
- Fornication is typically understood as a sexual relationship between two unmarried individuals
- This relationship is also consummated outside the bounds of marriage, but neither party is actually married at the time.
- This form of infidelity is unfaithfulness to one’s future spouse
7th Commandment: Ethical Impact - Fornication - Sripture and Fornication
- Hebrews 13:4 declares that God will judge fornicators and adulterers.
- In Matthew 15:19, Jesus proclaimed that fornications come from an evil heart.
- In John 8:31–44, the Pharisees take offense when Jesus tells them that they are not the children of Abraham (nor of God), and they declare that they are not children of fornication.
7th Commandment: Ethical Impact - Fornication - Practical Implications
The same truths regarding adultery fit for fornication as well.
7th Commandment: Ethical Impact - Lust
- Matthew 5:27–30
1. “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” - In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus extends the meaning of the Seventh Commandment to lust.
- Even though the man has not committed the physical act of adultery, his thoughts about the woman are equated to the action.
7th Commandment: Ethical Impact - Distorted Sexuality - Homosexuality
- By extension, the call for sexual purity in marriage in the seventh commandment also prohibits sexual relationships between people of the same gender
- Marriage in Genesis 2
a. God’s expectation for marriage in Gen 2:24 is for one man and one woman.
b. The heterosexual nature of marriage is key to understanding both the meaning marriage and the danger of adultery.
7th Commandment: Ethical Impact - Distorted Sexuality - Polygamy/Polyamory
- Polygamy occurs when a man enters into multiple bi-lateral relationships
- Polyamory occurs when more than two men or women enter into a multi-dimensional marriage
- By extension, the call for sexual purity in marriage in the seventh commandment also prohibits sexual relationships between multiple people.
- Monogamous marriage
a. God’s expectation for marriage is between one man and one woman.
b. Entering into a marriage-like relationship with two women (or multiple men and women) still violates the seventh commandment.
