“Thou shall not commit adultery” is the seventh commandment given to us by God. God commands his people to be pure. Watson states that in this commandment “there is something tacitly implied, and something expressly forbidden.” The thing that is implied is that the ordinance of marriage should be observed. Love and fidelity must be observed within marriage as God has commanded. Anyone who places certain feelings or emotions, which should only be reserved for their spouse, on something or someone other than their wife or husband has ultimately committed adultery. Adultery does mean having a relationship with someone else other than your wife, but it can also cover so many other things involving purity. We are to be pure and holy as God is holy.
The thing Watson says is forbidden in the commandment is infecting our own bodies with pollution and uncleanness. This can include a mental or physical thing in which we lust after something or someone other than our God or our wife. With the growing divorce rate and single parent homes it is evident that this commandment has fallen by the wayside. People do not honor God with their bodies. We not only commit adultery against ourselves and our spouses but also against God himself. Any time that we lust after something over obedience to God then we make that thing greater than God and commit adultery against him as we seek it. The Israelites were guilty of this as they forsook their God and worshipped others. This world has taught us how to be great adulterers, and it is time we let God teach us how to be pure and holy by observing his commands.
The eighth commandment is “Thou shall not steal.” Many would claim that this commandment is obvious and leave it at that, but once again like all of the other commandments it implies many different things that we are far to often guilty of. It is obvious that we can steal material items from others, but we can also steal from our neighbor by holding back spiritual truth that he should know, or by greedily charging him interest on something he has borrowed, or we can even borrow money or items from someone and never pay them back. Any time we rob our neighbor of something that is due to him we are stealing and harming him, not loving him. There are also many ways we can steal from ourselves too. If we don’t allow ourselves what we need such as food and shelter we rob ourselves of what God has graciously given us. If we keep ourselves for studying the word of God and worshiping him, then we rob ourselves of the glorious relationship we should have with our God. We rob ourselves when we waste the time that God has given us, spending it only on pleasure and vanity. In a world full of entertainment and pleasures galore we have a tendency to waste our time on those things and not spend it on the things that really count. We also steal from God. When we do not obey God we are robbing him of the glory that is due to his name. Anytime that we break any of the other 10 commandments we rob God and people of the things that are due to them as commanded by God. The opposite of taking is giving. We should not steal from God glory, but give to God glory, and we should not steal from man but give to man. This is all to often a foreign thought in our society today, but should be a part of every believer.
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