
Nightline is doing a series on the Ten Commandments. The first show, which was last Thursday, was about adultery, the Seventh Commandment.
We think Jesus shifted the focus of the 7th Commandment to the violation of love and made fidelity radical and essentially relational. What do you think?
The Seventh Commandment is as simple as it is clear: "Do not commit adultery!" Instances of adultery evoke some of the fiercest comments in the whole Bible: it can be called the "great sin" and "wickedness and sin against God." No one can forget the horrendous adultery of David with Bathsheba. No one who has been violated by an adulterous spouse forgets it either. The relational trauma haunts the lonely evening and provokes anger at its deepest level. Adultery violates.
But adultery is taken to a new level by Jesus because Jesus divides all the commandments (the mitzvot) into two kinds. A religious expert once asked Jesus to declare where he stood in a debate about which laws were most important. Jesus made it clear: he said all of the commands can be divided into "love God commands" and "love others commands." I have called this teaching of Jesus "The Jesus Creed," but what is often forgotten is the impact of the Jesus Creed on the laws of Israel. Everything is changed.
For Jesus, the fundamental relation in life was love. For Jesus, the fundamental relation to God was to love God. For Jesus, the fundamental relation to all other humans was to love "the neighbor as yourself." Therefore, for Jesus the fundamental relation of a married woman and man was love.
The implication of making love so fundamental for the Ten Commandments is enormous. It is too easy for Christians to say it is wrong to commit adultery because it is a law or because God said so -- and they can trot out Exodus 20:14 and clinch their argument. But Jesus went further. At the deepest level, adultery violates the love of woman for her husband and a husband for his wife, and it intrudes with violence on the love of another woman for her husband and another man for his wife. Adultery is wrong because it violates the most sacred of all relations and trusts: love.
But Jesus didn't stop there. For Jesus, adultery was a matter of the heart and the eye and the mind. He said that if a married man looked at woman in order to ravish her, he had already committed adultery in the heart. It is far too easy for men and women to make the claim that they have not committed adultery because they have not violated their spouse or someone else's spouse -- physically. But for Jesus, since this was a matter of love and relationship and not just two bodies in one place, adultery begins when a married man or woman violates the relationship in the heart and mind. Jesus lets the Jesus Creed drive humans back to the origins of sin: to desire.
Jesus made love central and, because of its centrality, he explored depths of marital love that few had, have, or ever will explore more deeply.
my husband commit adultery, what shall i do to patch up our relationship
my husband is committing adultery,he decided to file for a divorce. which is fine with me, this is how i look at it god never intended me to stay in this painful relationship he has given me the strength to stand on my two feet.the thing is the women who is with him now, well she hasn't caught on he has a few more that he has the nerve to keep showing to me driving by. this is my thought she will go through what i did maybe worst, i can't say nothing to her we all know im the bad one here. even though i still dont have no one by choice! im strong enough to wait. what i find is sad is that no one really listens or pays attention. he just figures sence he has military training he can get away being cruel to humans and animals ( NO LAW COULD STOP HIM )some how he has showen that also to be true!!!
Marriage is a sacred vow between two people. In the bible, it states, what brought them together, no one shall destroy. If the husband or wife has an affair, their is something wrong in their relationship to have that affair. Love is very powerful. Love should be trust, and
communication. The weak will be sucked into the den of evil. Only the devil can detroy people and things. The aftermath of destruction from evil is so devestating. There are rules and regulations no matter what we do, and also there are rules and regulations of man, that Jesus gave us. If we do not abide by these rules, and do not resist temptation, Jesus stated there are consequences. So whatever road one takes, evil or good, there are consequences to be paid.
I have bee doing research on all the sins of Galatians 5:19-21. The one sin that stands out is adultery. There are so many variations to it. Some say that you commit adultery by only having sexual intercourse with somebody other than your spouse. Does this mean if you have other sexual actions like a kiss that it is not adultery. Can you love 2 people? How do we know Jesus wasn't talking about looking at another man woman in Mathew 5:28. The Old Testament talks about adultery can only be committed by a woman who has an affair outside her marriage. Or a man that has an affair with another man's wife.
So what is adultery? What is the true meaning? Maybe the Holy Spirit is the only guidance you have with all these different translations of what it is.
The above article explains it best and that is the violation of love. Jesus is very clear about loving others and not breaking that bond.
(1) Adultery is also when a man marries a divorced woman (Mathew 5).
(2) Adultery is also when the diorced woman whether its her fault or not marries another man.( Mathew 5 states: if a man divorces his wife unless for marital unfaithfulness CAUSES HER TO COMMIT ADULTERY)
(3) Adultery is also when a woman who caused the divorce by cheating on her husband marries another man. (Mathew 5)
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