You Shall Not Commit Adultery (Exodus 20:14)

You Shall Not Commit Adultery

 

Exodus 20:14

 

Today’s word is the 7th of the Ten Commandments that God gave through Moses. God commands, “You shall not commit adultery.” We can find the narrow sense meaning of adultery in Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22. In Leviticus 20:10, God says, “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” And in Deuteronomy 22:22, God says, “If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.” In the Old Testament, adultery means that a man sleeps with another man’s wife. In the New Testament, Jesus expanded the definition of adultery, saying, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). Moreover, Jesus says that it is also committing adultery if a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, or a woman divorces her husband and marries another man without a good reason (Mark 10:11-12). The Bible also condemns various inappropriate adulterous practices, calling them “fornication.” Furthermore, the words adultery and fornication were often used as metaphorical expressions of idol worshipping by the people of Israel (Exodus 34:15, 2Chronicles 21:11). When unbelieving people were looking for miraculous signs, Jesus called them “a wicked and adulterous generation” (Matthew 16:4). I believe Jesus used the word “adulterous” as the best description of the people’s spiritual condition. Accordingly, we must obey God’s commandment “You shall not commit adultery” in the narrow sense, but going further, we need to think about its deeper and more fundamental meaning.

 

God commands “Do not commit adultery.” Considering that Jesus called the people “a wicked and adulterous generation,” this command may prick people’s hearts like “a sharp thorn.” When Jesus said, “Anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery,” his disciples complained, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry” (Matthew 19:9-10). Their response to Jesus’ word prohibiting divorce is quite shocking. They were saying that it’s better not to marry if they were not able to change their wives freely. It’s even more shocking that this was said by Jesus’ disciples. Their complaint is not so acceptable even today when divorce is relatively more common. Probably men in those days kept looking for women in adulterous eyes and hearts, and when they found one desirable, they divorced their wives with “a certificate of divorce” (Matthew 19:7) and received a new wife as if they were changing their clothes. According to Jesus’ definition of adultery,

people in those days were violating the 7th commandment every day. There is the famous actor, Jack Nicholson. Reflecting on his old age, he said, “Because you know, down deep in my heart, when all is said and done, I still live under the illusion that basically people think of me as an up-and-coming young actor. I can't hit on women in public anymore. I didn't decide this; it just doesn't feel right at my age. Almost everybody's happy to be a fool for love.” In my understanding, he is saying, “If you dare to do a foolish thing for love openly, it is showing that you are still young.” The youthfulness meant by him is energy or passion burning in people’s inner heart. And the passion is “love” and “the guts to hit on a woman on the street.” When people heard Nicholson’s saying, they might think, “This man is now really old.” On the other hand, they might be encouraged to commit their lives more to being a fool for love, hitting on women in every chance before getting older. If this is the world we are living, there would be little place for God’s commandment “You shall not commit adultery.”

 

In a sense, Jesus also became a fool for love. Of course, however, Jesus’ love is not something like hitting on a woman on the street. Jesus’ love is giving his life for sinners. Nobody would be happy to do such love. This is literally “a foolish thing.” Still Jesus did this happily with burning zeal. What difference is there between Jesus and “youthful” people in the world? Here is an air balloon floating in the sky. An air balloon is a giant air bag made of fabrics. When hot air is blown into the bag, the air fills its inside and inflates the balloon to the full. Then, the air balloon begins to float in the air. I think this air balloon is like the man created by God in the beginning. Genesis 2:7 says, “The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” God first formed a man from the dust. But the man was not completed yet. Just his outer container was prepared. The man made of the dust was like the air bag made of fabrics. Only when God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, the man became a living soul. This is like the air balloon fully inflated with hot air inside. When air is blown into the bag, the bag gradually turns into its real form. When it is fully inflated, the bag takes exactly the shape that was in the maker’s mind. And in order to remain in the beautiful shape and even to fly in the sky, the air balloon should keep supplied with hot air. If the air inside the bag gets cold or it leaks out, the balloon will be disfigured and fall to the ground. This is also the case for man. God designed him to be “God’s image” (Genesis 1:26-27). And this image is revealed when the man is full of God’s spirit. The body is nothing but a container for holding the spirit. And when the body is not filled with the spirit of God, it is disfigured like a deflated air balloon, losing its beautiful image and vital power. Only when man is full of God’s spirit, he becomes a living soul with God’s image. Jesus did such a holy love that looked foolish in people’s eyes because his inner heart was fueled with God’s spirit. Jesus had “zeal for God’s house that would consume him” (John 2:17). And this zeal is “the hot air” revealing and lifting Jesus over the world as the Son of God and Christ for the sinners.

 

It is God’s spirit that fills a man and shapes him into God’s image. In the Bible, however, we see the breaking point when God’s spirit leaves man. Genesis 6:1-3a says, “When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit will not remain with humans forever, for they are flesh.’” Here God said that humans became flesh. And the reason for saying so is that they saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful and married women who they liked. Now God announced that his spirit would not remain in humans who became flesh. In God’s eye, they were merely dead and empty skins. In man’s eye, however, it is not true. There is “burning fire” filling their flesh. It is their passion toward beautiful women. This is the love that we know. This is the “youthfulness” defined by Jack Nicholson. This is the evidence that we are still young and strong. In some English Bible versions, the word of verse 6:3 “My Spirit will not remain with humans forever” is translated “My Spirit will not contend (strive) with humans forever.” This suggests that there is a different power that is forcing out God’s Spirit. And God mentions it specifically, “the bewitching power of beautiful women.” Still people are talking about “love” or “pure and passionate love of a fool” but this is not the love inscribed in God’s image. And therefore, the love cannot shape a man into God’s image.

 

“Passion for women” may be regarded as evidence of my youthfulness and vitality, but in a spiritual sense, it is like a sharp knife cutting the air balloon and making a hole. In the Bible, there is a man easily associated with adultery. He is King David. David was a man of God spotless in every aspect. But he committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uria, one of David’s loyal warriors, and killed Uria. Considering that David murdered Uria in order to cover his affair with the man’s wife, adultery must be the most heinous sin that destroyed David’s life miserably. 2Samuel 11:2 says, “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful.” David saw a woman bathing, and she looked very beautiful. Until that time, David saw everything in God’s eye. He loved what God loved, and he hated what God hated. David put his life in God’s hand so that God might guide his way and fill him with God’s blessings. When God found that David had killed Uria and taken away his wife, God said to David, “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more ....” (2Samuel 12:7-8). God had never spared his blessings upon David. With all these blessings, God said, “If all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.” And there was one thing that David should have never done. It was seeing what is beautiful in his own eye, coveting it, and taking it. In order to make himself even happier and richer, David drew Uria’s wife into his bedroom. He might want to enjoy God’s holy blessings during daytime, and to fulfill the lust of flesh at night through a secret hole. But this sin pierced the bag of his life carrying God’s blessings and made a big hole that was hardly repairable. Through the hole, God’s blessings leaked out, and many sufferings came in. His beautiful life, which had been filled with God’s glorious blessings, began to be spotted with ugly pains. And the beginning of all these tragedies was that David saw another man’s wife very beautiful. In the original text of the Bible, this phrase uses the exact same words as Genesis 6:2 “The sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful.” Instead of asking God and seeking what is good in God’s eye, David judged “what is beautiful (good)” in his own eye and took it for himself. This is the meaning of “adultery.”

 

God gave us the best gifts, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. In Luke 11:13, Jesus says, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Jesus also says to his disciples, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:13-14). Only God knows fully what is blessing and what is beautiful. And the Father listens to our prayers and fills our empty bags with his blessings. This bag can be filled only by God, and only with what God gives to us, and only through our Lord Jesus and His Holy Spirit. If we add something that is beautiful in my eye, it will not fill the bag but tear it open. And through the hole, we will lose everything that God has given to us. There is only one opening in the air balloon. In the same way, our soul should have just one opening, which is open toward God and through which God’s Spirit blows into us. If we make another secret hole toward the world, it is adultery. With the hole, we lose the Holy Spirit and our deflated soul falls down to the ground. God says, “You shall not commit adultery.” We should obey this commandment toward our spouses, but all the more, we should obey it toward God. May the Lord guide us to see the beauty of God and seek it with all our hearts. May the Lord help us be found spotless and blameless in Jesus and His Holy Spirit! May the Lord keep us in peace with God day and night!