Pentecost Week 15 - The Seventh Commandment

Christ Church Elders
8 hours ago
3 min read

Scripture Reading

*Explain the context: “This week, we will continue to read about God giving Israel his instructions at Mt. Sinai after God had freed them from Egypt.”

Exodus 20:14

Big Idea (For Parents)

Our faithfulness in marriage is a picture of faithfulness in the relationship between God and his people.

Family Reflection

(Read aloud or summarize)

The Seventh Commandment is the second of the group of commands that focus on our relationship with God’s image bearers—human beings. Like all such laws, it shows us what “love” looks like as we seek to love our “neighbor” as ourselves.

The Seventh Commandment most directly forbids adultery, which is when a person treats a married person who is not his or her spouse as if the person were his or her spouse. God’s creation design for marriage is clear in Genesis 2:18-24, showing that God’s plan was for marriage to be between one husband and one wife in one marriage for one life. When humans sinned, the brokenness of sin eventually resulted in some marriages ending early in divorce, some people having more than one spouse, and other changes from God’s plan. Even before God gave the 10 Commandments to Israel at Mount Sinai, God’s people knew God’s plan and that they shouldn’t commit adultery, as shown by stories like that of righteous Joseph who refused to sin in that way (see Genesis 39). However, God clarified this specific command in the 10 Commandments because, in the exodus from Egypt, God was making a marriage-like covenant with Israel in which God was the husband and Israel was his bride (see Ezekiel 16). Thus, the Seventh Commandment, and all the other marriage-related laws God gave Israel, teach the nation of Israel many important things about its relationship to Yahweh as its divine husband. Just as spouses were to be totally faithful, so Israel was to be totally faithful. Given the reality of sin, most Christians now believe God permits ending marriage early in divorce in some limited scenarios, but the goal is always to maintain God’s creation pattern because it was established for our good. Faithful marriages also now gloriously show forth the amazing marriage-like relationship of Jesus, the greatest revelation of the divine husband, and his bride the Church—the Israel of God.

Within the structure of the 10 Commandments, the Seventh Commandment in the “love of neighbor” section corresponds to the Second Commandment in the “love of God” section. The Second Commandment forbids liturgical idolatry—worshiping the right God in the wrong way. People can only break the Second Commandment if they already have some relationship with Yahweh and then violate that relationship through wrong forms of worship. Likewise, people can only violate the Seventh Commandment if there is already a marriage relationship that is violated by adultery. Just as adultery involves treating someone who is not a spouse as if the person were a spouse, so liturgical idolatry involves treating something that does not give access to Yahweh (like a statue, image, or ritual) as if it did give access to Yahweh. The relationship between the Second and Seventh Commandments appears in the prophetic passages which condemn Israel for her spiritual adultery against her divine husband Yahweh in close connection with condemnation for her liturgical idolatry in improper forms of worship (e.g., Ezekiel 16:15-21, 30-32, 38-39).

Discussion Questions

(Choose 1-2. Adjust for age.)

1- Faithful marriages are a picture of the faithful relationship between God and his people. Think of any faithful marriages you’ve seen. What are some of the good things you see in them? What does that reveal about good things in the church’s faithful relationship with God?

2- In faithful marriages, spouses confess and choose to stop when they sin against one another, and they then, accordingly, forgive one another. What does that teach us about how we should expect our divine husband God to respond when we, his bride the Church, confess our sin and choose to stop?

3- Husbands and wives care about how the other spouse relates to them because that person isn’t just anyone—it’s the closest person to them, their own spouse! Similarly, God cares about how we worship him because he has already chosen those who are baptized to be part of his institutional bride, the church. How should this impact the level of importance we place on the way in which the church worships?

Practice—Celebrate Faithfulness

Think of one long-standing, faithful marriage among the people you know. Call or send a note to the spouses (or remaining spouse if one has passed) and tell them what an encouragement and beautiful picture their marriage is.

Pray that God would grant such a wonderful, faithful marriage to those in your family to whom God gives the gift of marriage.