A Really Bad One

As Christians, we know that all sin is ultimately against God (Psalms 51:4), and that breaking the law in any part is equivalent to breaking the law in whole (James 2:10).  However, the Bible would indicate that there are different degrees of sins and punishments for those sins.  In John 19: 11, Jesus talks about the greater sin committed by those who delivered him to Pilate, and in Matthew ll:24 He indicates that things will be worse on the day of judgment for Bethsaida and Chorazin than for Tyre and Sidon, and worse for Capernaum than for Sodom.  We  learn in I John 5:16-17 that all wrongdoing is sin, but that there are sins that lead to death and others that do not. 

When we look at the Ten Commandments, these were not given as the Ten Advisories or the Ten Suggestions for Good Behavior.  These were the rules spoken directly by God to Moses, not to be debated or discussed as theory.  There were very specific punishments listed in the Old Testament for breaking these laws.  Our current legal system is a combination of common law, chiefly derived from the English, from where we get our courts, and statutory law, of Roman heritage, from where we get our system of legislative acts.  And although we have a Judeo-Christian heritage in this country, we no longer look upon violations of each of the Ten Commandments with the same legal view.  Today, blaspheming God, working on the Sabbath, taking the Lord's name in vain, or even lying will not result in any legal repercussions.  Murder is still a serious crime; stealing a lesser crime; and dishonoring your parents is not a crime at all. 

There is currently a high-profile case of adultery being discussed today involving one of our government officials.  We will not take time here to throw stones at those involved--plenty of others will do that in the weeks to come.  I would, however, like to take a moment to look at that particular sin.

Decades ago, divorce was difficult to obtain and one had to prove grounds for it; adultery was one of those offenses that could be charged against a spouse in order to have a judge grant a divorce.  Today, with "no-fault" divorce, one spouse can divorce another with no grounds at all.  So there are really few legal consequences of adultery today.  In fact, looking at the Hollywood crowd, adultery seems downright glamorous.  But I think it is one of the worst of sins short of murder that one could commit, and simply committing adultery violates many of the other commandments. 

When you commit adultery, clearly you are coveting that which does not belong to you, someone else's spouse ("thy neighbor's wife").  The secret nature of the affair means that people are bearing false witness, or lying to their mates.  Having an illicit relationship with someone who is married is stealing the affections and loyalties owed to their spouse.  And once discovered, it will usually "kill" the love and trust that existed between two people who pledged a lifelong commitment to each other.  As sins go, it is a really bad one.

God designed a man and a woman to cleave to one another, to become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).  An adulterous relationship is a traumatic separation of that one flesh, leaving both parts wounded and broken.  God, in his mercy, can heal this, but the parts will not be the same, and nor will the relationship.  The marriage covenant has been broken as well, violated, and we must remember that there are three components to that covenant-- the man, the woman, and God.  The covenant with the spouse is broken, but so is the covenant with God.  This is not a trivial matter, as we are so often led to think looking at today's news and entertainment.

I sit here typing this on a computer, in my study, at night, while my wife is elsewhere.  It would be a simple matter to enter a few keystrokes and leave this screen to go and look upon another woman  in a situation that would arouse lust.  Christ tells us that is adultery as well (Matthew 5:28).  With today's modern technology, to view such material does not require sneaking out of the house to a store or movie house as it did before.  We can do it in the privacy of our homes and no one will know the wiser, except God.  He knows that this is committing adultery in our hearts, coveting and lying and stealing and killing.  Cheating on a spouse can be done with the mind, the heart, and the eyes just as much as with the rest of our bodies.  Let us not let the desires of our flesh wound the one flesh.