Believers must maintain their faithfulness to God in order to remain pure for his purpose.
Believers must maintain their faithfulness to God in order to remain pure for his purpose.
1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7 – For this is God’s will, your sanctification: … For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness.
As Paul is writing to the Thessalonian congregation, he is reminding them of their high calling to purity.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-2 – Additionally then, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Master Yeshua, that as you have received instruction from us on how you should live and please God – as you are doing – do this even more. For you know what commands we gave you through the Master Yeshua.
Paul’s objective is that the Thessalonians would live and walk in a way that pleases God. Even though they had been doing so, he is encouraging them further to refrain from the impurity of the accepted culture around them and specifically the “lustful passions” of those who didn’t know God.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 – For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from immorality of idolatry, that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passions, like those of the nations, who don’t know God. This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother in this manner, because Yahweh is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness.
We can learn from this that some of the cultural permissiveness may have begun seeping into the congregation, as Paul warns them not to conduct these types of offenses between themselves as members of the assembly. Many Bible versions will relate this offense as some type of sexual promiscuity; however, the word can also mean whoredom, in the sense of immoral idolatrous practices, as related here. As stated many times before, God views idolatry as a type of spiritual harlotry, since when it is practiced the people are substituting the covenant bond of Yahweh for another god, and thereby committing adultery against him.
1 Thessalonians 4:8 – Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his holy Spirit.
Paul strengthens his warning by saying God is an avenger of these practices, and to participate in these worldly activities is to reject the very holy Spirit of God.
From this, we can learn that if we are sincere in following the commands of God as followers of the Master Yeshua, we likewise have an obligation to resist the permissiveness of the culture we live in, since it is God’s will (or his intention, determination, and desire) that we be holy, set apart as pure and clean for his purpose. If we take lightly this responsibility and we fall into the seductive lair of cultural acceptance, we are dishonoring the name of the One who has called us to be his own. Our distinctiveness and usefulness as salt and light is diminished because we neglected to put our light on the lampstand and instead have hid it under a bushel. We have lost our saltiness and are good for no purpose of God except to be thrown out into the street to be crushed under the foot traffic.
Succumbing to the permissiveness of our culture robs us of our power in representing God to a world who needs to know him. We must sacrifice our own desires for the desires of God, and his desire and will is that we remain holy and set apart. This is God’s ultimate will for anyone who places their faith in him through Messiah, and he empowers us through his holy Spirit to do so.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Why the representation of intimacy between a man and a woman is regarded so highly by God.
Matthew 5:32 – “But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
According to Yeshua, the holiness of the marriage union is essential. In fact, it is so critical, that he provides heart-insight on the command against adultery by saying:
Matthew 5:28 – “But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
The sanctity of marriage is fueled and kept in check by the man and the woman continually setting apart their spouse from all others, so much so that to even lust after anyone else can be considered an emotional violation of the marriage vow.
The reason this is so is because the marriage union of a man and a women is symbolic of our faithful relationship to God. Anything else outside the singular and faithful union of a man and a woman is considered a form of idolatry to God. This is illustrated by the fact that, throughout the Bible, whenever Israel began to go after other gods, they were accused of spiritual adultery.
In the book of Judges, when Israel was newly settling in the land of Canaan, they demonstrated their unfaithfulness by almost immediately “prostituting themselves” by following other gods.
Judges 2:11-12, 16-17 – “The Israelites did what was evil in Yahweh’s sight. They worshiped the Baals and abandoned Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They angered Yahweh, … Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to Yahweh’s commands. They did not do as their fathers did.”
Hundreds of years later, after the reigns of David and Solomon and many other kings who continued to rebel against God, he raised up firebrand prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel to declare their judgment for their unfaithfulness. In a scathing commentary by the prophet Ezekiel throughout the entire chapter of Ezekiel 16, he confronts the religious elite of Jerusalem with the following accusation:
Ezekiel 16:2-3, 32-33 – “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices. “You are to say, ‘This is what Yahweh GOD says to Jerusalem: … “You adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! “Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors.”
In like fashion, Jeremiah recounts the list of Israel’s rebellious and wayward prophets, likening them to acts of adultery.
Jeremiah 23:14 – “Among the prophets of Jerusalem also I saw a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, and none turns his back on evil. They are all like Sodom to me; Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah.”
The sanctity of the nation that God had set apart from all others was gone. They had compromised their unique marriage relationship with the one true God by succumbing to the allure of the gods of the competing cultures.
Even after their captivity and up until the time of Yeshua, they never regained their relationship with God. This is blatantly recognized within the imagery of the Revelation, as religious Israel of the first century is represented as the whore, the adulteress, who rides the political beast of Rome.
Revelation 17:3-4 – Then he carried me away in the Spirit to a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls. She had a golden cup in her hand filled with everything detestable and with the impurities of her prostitution.
Because of her continual and unrelenting rebellion against God’s marriage union with Israel as his own bride, Jerusalem was destroyed and her temple worship, the unique system of worship that set her apart from all other nations, was abolished.
However, there was a faithful remnant who had come out of the nation: those who believed in the Messiah God had sent to rescue them. The true marriage and spiritual worship was established with the faithful remnant, with the New Jerusalem, the kingdom of God, becoming the new and eternally faithful bride.
Revelation 21:2, 9-10 – I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. … Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
This should be a clear message about how seriously God views the marriage bond between a man and a woman. From God’s perspective, true intimacy, whether between a man and a woman or the representative spiritual union between a person and himself, is valued so highly that it is represented as a sparkling kingdom utopia of his blessing and mercy. This is where God dwells with his faithful and set apart people, and where we dwell with him. This is the holiest of all marriage relationships.
Revelation 21:3 – Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.
Our holiness is maintained when we keep our focus on God and his word, seeking to be filled with his spirit.
It is the very definition of irony then a meaningful lesson on fidelity should come from the hand of Solomon who is famous for seducing a multiplicity of women in the later years of his reign as king over Israel. Yet, who better to warn of danger than one who has seeing the depths of disobedience?
In giving instruction to his son, Solomon yearns to instill in the young mind of his child the significance of remaining faithful to one’s spouse.
Proverbs 5:18-19: “Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.”
This type of love for one’s spouse, Solomon says, should be one that is captivating. The word itself has broader meanings to include exhilaration, or intoxication, or being led away by your senses. Different Bible versions may make use of some of those various terms.
may you ever be intoxicated with her love
always be enraptured with her love
be exhilarated always with her love
be lost in her love forever
But as strongly as Solomon urges to maintain that feeling with one’s spouse, he equally cautions his son to avoid that feeling with another. This leads us to understand how Solomon may have been let astray by so many women in his later years.
Proverbs 5:20: “For why should you, my son, be captivated [exhilarated, intoxicated, enraptured] with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?”
This same term for captivation, exhilaration, or intoxication is also used as the end result of the one who experiences this type of relationship indiscriminately with others, or who stops listening to the words of knowledge.
Proverbs 5:23: “He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray [be lost, be captivated or intoxicated].” Proverbs 19:27: “If you stop listening to instruction, my son, you will stray [be lost, captivated, intoxicated] from the words of knowledge.”
It’s as if the desires and lusts of this world are represented as a villainous folk-tale witch, casting a spell on the prince who yields to her ways, leading him in a haze and stupor, oblivious to the reality of the world around him.
This is why Yeshua also urged extreme caution around others that one is not married to. This captivation or intoxication can easily cause one to stray from the path of righteousness.
Matthew 5:27-28: “”You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery;” but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
Holiness is about maintaining a clear head, a mind focused on the instruction of God, and an obedient and thankful heart filled with his spirit.
Ephesians 5:18-20: ” Don’t be drunken [intoxicated] with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing, and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father…”
If we keep our focus on God and his word, seeking to be filled with his spirit, only then we can avoid in the distraction, captivation, and intoxication of worldliness. This is how we maintain our fidelity and our holiness before him.
1 John 2:16-17: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s. The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever.”
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive here. Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.
These commands against idolatry and adultery are tied together; one is in our horizontal relationships with our spouses, and the other is in our vertical relationship with God.
Core of the Bible podcast #26 – Holiness above the twin sins of adultery and idolatry
In this episode we will be exploring the topic of holiness, and how our commitment to God, first and foremost, needs to be absolute. But this relational commitment needs also to be reflected within our spousal relationships; the two types of relationships are equivocated in the Bible.
Looking first at our spousal relationships, Yeshua stated it this way:
“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 lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. … “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Matthew 5:27-28, 31-32
Believers are commanded to never forsake our commitment to our spouses. Yeshua emphasizes that we should not even think about others lustfully in our hearts.
The topic of marriage and divorce can be very complicated. As you may know, one of my primary goals with the Core of the Bible information that I present each week is to try to keep things stated as simply as possible, and to reduce complexity where possible.
While the Bible speaks very clearly about marriage and divorce, it is also very sparse with the information it provides.
Surprisingly, marriage as an institution is never explicitly commanded in the Bible. However the concept of spousal unity is present on the opening pages of the Bible.
Genesis 2:24: “Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.”
Now the word wife in this passage is actually the Hebrew isshah, which is the Hebrew designation for “woman.” This passage could therefore be more literally rendered as “the man will join with his woman and they will be one flesh.” This is the idea of one man and one woman being united together as a sacred relationship before God, in obedience to the laws of our creator. Beyond this meager description, we find no other definitions specified within the Bible regarding marriage.
We do know that historically and culturally marriage was a communal celebration that could last up to a week.
Genesis 29:22,27: “Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. … Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me yet seven other years.””
This passage also indicates the ancient Near Eastern people practiced polygamy, but that is not necessarily God’s ideal, as is evidenced by the confusion and strife that such situations caused.
Yeshua clarified marriage and divorce for his audience when he explained about it in the following terms:
Matthew 19:3-9: “Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall join to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’ So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.” They asked him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a bill of divorce, and divorce her?” He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so. I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.””
This should also be understood in the context of the day, in which the men were garnering divorces for the slightest of infractions that a wife may have caused, such as not preparing a full meal, or working later in the field then she was expected to. The concession provided by Moses, just like the other commandments of God, had become corrupted and abused by the elite of the day.
According to Yeshua, the ideal of marriage is one man and one woman. Divorce is not a requirement, but a concession, and should be reserved only when unfaithfulness has occurred between the spouses.
The severity of this teaching which also revealed how rampant divorce had become, is illustrated by the response of the disciples:
Matthew 19:10: “His disciples said to him, “If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.””
Even they had recognized that if marriage was this big of a commitment, that it should not be entered into lightly.
Now for anyone listening to this who may be divorced and possibly remarried, I’m certain there were any number of unique circumstances that have led to your current situation. And as your understanding of God‘s word grows and changes over time, you may feel differently about past decisions that were made that led to where you are now.
However, it’s important to remember that God is always willing to forgive and to provide strength and wisdom to assist those who are earnestly seeking him, right here and right now. We should all always be faithful to God‘s word as we understand it at any given time and whatever situation we are in, and allow God’s Spirit to mold us and shape us in ways that are appropriate to his purpose.
The most intimate of human relationships conveyed in what has become the institution of marriage is likened to our relationship with our Creator. Just as we should have no other intimate relationships except with our spouse, we should also have no other gods before God. These commands against idolatry and adultery are tied together; one is in our horizontal relationships with our spouses, and the other is in our vertical relationship with God.
In the Bible, adultery, while wrong in and of itself, is a metaphor for idolatry. Time and again, Israel’s unfaithfulness with the gods of the surrounding nations is compared to adultery with God. Just as the act of adultery is an affront to the spousal relationship, an act of spiritual adultery in pursuing idolatry is an affront to the holiness of God, and destroys that relationship.
As if to emphasize this point, both of these admonitions are contained within the Ten Commandments: “You shall not commit adultery,” and “you shall have no other gods before me.”
Yeshua carries these base commandments even further into the realm of their origin, in our thoughts. The wrong thoughts lead to wrong actions, and wrong actions are sin. Just like our straying eyes can cause marital unfaithfulness, when our eyes stray from the things of God to the things of this world, we can lose our perspective and make harmful choices.
Let’s gain some of that perspective by reviewing what Yeshua said, along with some historical commentary for insights.
Matthew 5:28: “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
In Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, the focus is shown to be even stronger than in the English.
“To lust after her.—The intent is more strongly marked in the Greek than in the English. It is not the passing glance, not even the momentary impulse of desire, but the continued gaze by which the impulse is deliberately cherished till it becomes a passion.”
Albert Barnes in his Notes on the Bible adds:
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery…Our Saviour in these verses explains the seventh commandment. It is probable that the Pharisees had explained this commandment, as they had the sixth, as extending only to the external act; and that they regarded evil thoughts and a wanton imagination as of little consequence, or as not forbidden by the law. Our Saviour assures them that the commandment did not regard the external act merely, but the secrets of the heart, and the movements of the eye. He declares that they who indulge a wanton desire, that they who look on a woman to increase their lust, have already, in the sight of God, violated the commandment, and committed adultery in the heart. Such was the guilt of David, whose deep and awful crime fully shows the danger of indulging in evil desires, and in the rovings of a wanton eye.”
Additionally, Matthew Poole writes the following:
We must so interpret the commandments of God, as not to extend them only to forbid or command those acts which are plainly mentioned in them, but the inward pleasing of our hearts with such things as are forbidden, the desires of our hearts after them, or whatsoever is a probable means to give us that sinful pleasure of our thoughts, or further inflame such unlawful desires in our souls.
If we carry those same principles over to the parallel concept of idolatry, we can see how damaging and destructive our lustful imaginations toward things other than God can corrupt and destroy us.
Idolatry is more than just worshiping a statue or believing that an inanimate object has power beyond itself.
The prophet Samuel conveyed how stubbornness is a form of idolatry.
1 Samuel 15:23: “For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry….”
The apostle Paul considers greed and covetousness to be a form of idolatry.
Colossians 3:5-6: “Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.”
Notice how Paul lumps in this idolatrous longing amidst characteristics of depraved passion and evil desire. These are the types of thinking that draw us away from the things of God and from staying true to the path of holiness to which we have been called.
We are urged to maintain our holiness, being set apart for the purpose of God, by keeping ourselves from being swept away by the lure of the created things that would distract us from our true purpose. Keeping our thoughts pure keeps us from these parallel sins, whether through adultery or idolatry.
The solution for both paths of sinfulness is to keep our eyes on God at all costs. Paul writes the following in one of my personally most-quoted passages of the Bible:
Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
To avoid adulterous inclinations is to be transformed by focusing on the needs and desires of our spouse based on God’s word. To avoid the dangers of idolatry is to be transformed by maintaining focus on our relationship with our Creator. Both of these remedies involve a whole-hearted commitment to another, and not to our own selfish desires. Therein lies a powerful principle of ongoing holiness.
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If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive here. Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.
All music in todays episode: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod
If we keep our eyes and our hearts focused on the one true God, we will not stray into the idolatry and spiritual adultery of the nations around us.
You shall not commit adultery.
Exodus 20:14
While the command to ancient Israel was focused on ensuring that men would remain faithful in marriage, the term was equally used of spiritual adultery; i.e., the apostasy or turning from the one true God to idols. The emphasis is the same in both applications.
Psalm 106:39 They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the LORD’s sight.
As always, Yeshua sharpened the understanding of this command when he broadened its context within the bounds of marital faithfulness.
“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27-28
The meaning is clear: be faithful to your spouse at all times, and don’t even think about others lustfully in your heart. If a man was to maintain purity of heart by not even straying with his eyes or his thoughts, his actions would remain faithful and pure with his wife.
The spiritual aspect of adultery was consistently brought to Israel’s attention throughout their history. As they would fall into the idolatry of the nations around them, God would raise up a prophet to admonish them to return to the purity of their faith in him.
Isaiah 57:7 You have committed adultery on every high mountain. There you have worshiped idols and have been unfaithful to me.
Jeremiah 3:2, 6, 9 “Look at the shrines on every hilltop. Is there any place you have not been defiled by your adultery with other gods? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer. You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and your wickedness. … During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. … Israel treated it all so lightly–she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted.
Jeremiah 13:27 NLT – I have seen your adultery and lust, and your disgusting idol worship out in the fields and on the hills. What sorrow awaits you, Jerusalem! How long before you are pure?”
The kingdom of God, represented by natural Israel, was allegorically considered God’s bride, and when they strayed from their worship of him to the idolatry of the nations around them, God viewed it as a form of adultery.
In the kingdom of God today, by applying the same principles that Yeshua commands regarding natural adultery, we can see that if we keep our eyes and our hearts focused on the one true God, we will not stray into the idolatry and spiritual adultery of the nations around us.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive here. Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.
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