Question 108. What does the seventh commandment teach us?
Answer: That all unchastity is accursed of God (a): and that therefore we must with all our hearts detest the same (b), and live chastely and temperately (c), whether in holy wedlock, or in single life (d).
(a) Leviticus 18:27-28: (For the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
(b) Jude 1:23: Save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
(c) 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5: For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.
(d) Hebrews 13:4: Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
1 Corinthians 7:7-9: I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
For your personal reflection:
Sexual restraint. Imagine. Can the Bible really expect us to refrain from all sexual activity outside of the state of holy matrimony? Simply, yes. Why? Because Scripture has a very high view of the gift of sexual intimacy. It a good gift and sacred act between a husband and a wife meant to be shared within the bonds of a mutually committed relationship submitted to Christ. And, we are reminded in the celebration and blessing of marriage that the union of husband and wife, among other things, reflects the relationship between Christ and His bride, the church.
What is the positive teaching of this Commandment?
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