Adultery – Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not his or her spouse. Exodus 20:14 says, ” You shall not commit adultery.” Of course, this is one of the Ten Commandments as given by God to Moses and us. In the New Testament the writer of Hebrews in 13:4 says, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” It’s very clear how cut and dried God is about adultery and His Word hasn’t changed just because our society has changed. This commandment is still in place and no matter how much our world trivializes it, the truth and God’s justice still remain. Jesus did take this commandment a step further though….In Matthew 5: 27-28 Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit adultery” “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (present tense means man and woman) In verse 32 of the same chapter Jesus says,“But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.” Now before you start throwing relevant comments on God’s Word back my way, the physical act of adultery is not the point I am commenting on today. I am speaking to the core of the spiritual adultery that is mentioned in the Bible. In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, the word adultery is taken back to the core meaning that even Webster’s Dictionary bypasses. In verses 1 and 2 a great word of truth is given about “truth” as it says, “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”
God’s truth is an amazing thing that cannot be explained in one, or one thousand blogs because of the depth of the subject. God’s pure truth is an amazing guide for believers in how to live our life, and draw closer to God. God’s truth though can become different than what it is supposed to be when we mix it with the impurity of our own worldly thinking. Sometimes Christians will think, “I’m gonna make a tasty “life soup” to eat every day.” So, the believer looks at God’s Word and then looks at their own worldly truth, and they mix in their soup, a little bit of this, and a little bit of that until the soup has all the flavors from everywhere. The believer is so proud because they have made every spice very happy by including them in the recipe. They heat it all up and then test their soup. It’s a little bitter at first, but over time they learn to like the taste. Then they offer some of their soup to God. God doesn’t like it!! Why? They have joined the pure truth from God’s Word with the tainted truth from the world and the end result is putrid. Terrible!! Ugh!!! The believer can’t understand why it tastes so bad to God, so he adds more worldly ingredients (cause that is where he is coming from ) but it only makes it worse. Then he turns down the heat to make it more palatable to others and that lukewarm soup gets worse and worse. That believer has adulterated the Word of God! We do it physically, by reading God’s Word and then working in the world’s vantage point with it, and we do it spiritually, by following someone else’s user friendly way of thinking. Keep this in mind. If God’s Word and His truth can’t change a person’s heart, then nothing can! It’s not about our perception of who God is, but it is about His truth being presented as is…..no blends. In physical adultery it’s usually about someone wanting to have someone they should not have. In spiritual adultery it’s usually about someone wanting God’s Word to say something it doesn’t. In either case, it must be about God’s desire, not ours.
Paul goes on in the next verses to say that if the gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing and their eyes are blinded by the world. In verse 5 Paul says a lot about who and what we are to present as believers to a lost and dying world. “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus our Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.”
So the next time you read something in the Bible and you want to lessen it so you can feel good about ignoring what God is saying in His Word, rethink your position. There is a good chance you are committing spiritual adultery in your heart. Remember, the Matthew scripture where Jesus said that physical adultery can be committed in our heart? So can spiritual adultery. How? By combining a failed, worldly belief that is relative to what’s happening now with a timeless, pure truth from the Word of God. It just won’t work. NEVER!
What do you desire? What captures your eye? Do you desire the things of God, or the things of the world? God’s Word is the purest source of truth. So, keep your eyes on God and His truth and you won’t be so easily swayed by worldly truths that just lessen the effect of God’s Word on your life. His Word is pure, so our lives should be pure as well.
The Pilgrimage continues….
David Warren