Question 109: In this commandment, does God only forbid such heinous sins as adultery?

 

Question 109: In this commandment, does God only forbid such heinous sins as adultery?

Answer: Since our bodies and souls are holy temples where the Holy Spirit dwells, God desires that they be pure and holy. Therefore, God forbids all illicit acts, including looks, words, thoughts, desires, and anything else that might lead others to such acts.

Adultery can be physical or spiritual. Regarding physical adultery, Jesus clearly states, "Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery." However, while Jesus was addressing the Pharisees' question about physical adultery, he was also addressing spiritual adultery.

Spiritual adultery is like believing in both God and Baal. The Israelites were people who believed in both God and the world, and it's rampant in the church today. The primary cause of this is false prophets within the church. They confuse the congregation with humanism, legalism, and gnosticism.

Christ and the saints are likened to a married couple. The parable of the ten virgins is similar. Christ and the saints are united by the Holy Spirit, but those who claim to be in Christ but still believe they must keep the law are committing spiritual adultery. The Pharisees, though claiming to be God's people, believed they must keep the law.

Deuteronomy 17:2-7 “If there is a man or a woman among you in any of your gates that the LORD your God is giving you, and they do what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God and transgress His covenant and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, or to the sun, moon, and all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded you, and it is told you, and you hear of it, then search carefully. If the thing is certain, and the word is true—if this abominable thing has been done in Israel—then you shall bring out to your gates the man or the woman who has done this evil thing and stone them to death. On the testimony of two or three witnesses, the one who is to be put to death shall be put to death; but the hand of one witness shall be against him, and afterward the hand of all the people shall be against him. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst.”

The man and woman who committed evil were those who committed adultery while worshipping idols. The Bible, for the sake of caution, states, "A person shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses." This means stoning an evildoer to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses. This is because even a single witness can be erroneous, whether intentional or accidental. The reason for this thorough eradication of evil is that, just as a small amount of leaven spreads throughout a loaf of bread, the evil deeds of one person can affect the whole.

On the surface, they speak of adultery, but those who practice idolatry are actually committing spiritual adultery.

God regenerates those whose old self died with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Sinners who were subject to the law are now treated under the law of the Holy Spirit. However, those who claim to follow the Holy Spirit in the church community while also keeping the law are committing spiritual adultery. For those born of the Holy Spirit, their husbands have been the law their entire lives, but when they die to the law, their husbands, the law, set them free. Thus, they can go to the resurrected Jesus. Their husbands are changed. Their new husbands are the resurrected Jesus. This is rebirth. Many people, while under the law, believe they have accepted Jesus and have him within them. However, those who claim to follow the Holy Spirit while keeping the law are not those who died with Jesus.

Romans 7:6 says, "But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit, not in the old letter."

Salvation is achieved only by serving in newness of the Spirit. The law is a husband who never lets go. However, there comes a stage where the law refuses to let us go, and then comes the stage where we think, "The law is good."

We find ourselves unable to escape because of the law, and we continue to think about the law until we die. The more a believer strives, the more bound he becomes by the law. He becomes obsessed with legalistic thinking until he thinks, "I can't do it." Therefore, through the law, he realizes this and sees it as good to turn to the One who has risen from the dead.

Unless a saint has died to the law, he has never gone to the resurrected Jesus. He must lay down all his efforts, his righteousness, and his goodness, for everything is legalistic.

Only by repenting, "I am not a being who can go on my own righteousness; I am a being who must die," can he be freed from the law. Unless he realizes that he is a being of total depravity, he cannot enter the path of self-denial. Until he realizes his own total depravity, he cannot even know that his husband is the law. A being of total depravity cannot be freed from the law, his husband, until death. Therefore, he must repent and deny himself. Denying himself is the path to freedom from the law. Denying himself through repentance is the path to entering the cross of Jesus. It is the path to dying to the law, to sin, and with Jesus.

All who do not repent and enter the path of self-denial are under God's judgment. This is because the husband is the law. Until one dies to the law, one cannot escape its shackles. Therefore, those who do not enter the path of self-denial cannot say that the resurrected Jesus is their husband. If the resurrected Jesus does not become their husband, they cannot but go to Hades. Those who do not die to the law are committing adultery and are prostitutes.