23 July 2005

Tanakh Study for 23 July 2005

“You shall not commit adultery.” On the face of it, a very simple commandment, but a commandment which has far reaching consequences, as it refers to marriage, which institution is central for the stability of society. The word adultery also has a strong context for Jews in the time of Jesus. In the Tanakh (Old Testament), adultery is frequently used as meaning being unfaithful to God. This meaning would have been understood by almost any Jew after the exile.

But back to marriage. This is one of the commandments which has the death penalty attached. Both the man and the woman were to be stoned. I am one of those who feel that in the case of the adulterous woman, that Jesus wrote, “where is the man” in the sand,” as she had been caught in the act. This is also the commandment of which Jesus specifically said, “if a man looks at a women lustfully, he has already committed adultery in his heart.”

This commandment highlights the institution of marriage. Marriage is important, not only because of being a cornerstone of society, but because marriage is an icon of our relationship with God. In the Tanakh, Israel is frequently referred to as the bride, and YHWH as the bridegroom. Likewise in the New Testament, the Church is referred to as the bride, and Yeshua as the bridegroom, in other words marriage is not only a foundation of society, but an institution which directs us in our relationship with God. One of the difficulties the church has today, is a marriage deteriorates, fewer and fewer people understand that relationship.

Marriage and sex are also important in a purely spiritual sense. In Genesis, we are told that man and woman become one flesh in marriage. St. Paul extends this even further, when he tells us that a Christian should not have sex with a prostitute, because she becomes one flesh with the body of Christ.

In Exodus, we are told that if a man and woman have sex, then they are to be married, unless the girls father forbids it. The man has an obligation to the woman, because they are now one flesh, as they have been united in sex. This is why the whole marriage, divorce, and sexual problem of today is such a problem. We have forgotten the underlying principles.

Now from Ephesians, “Wives should be subject to their husbands as to the Lord, since as Christ is head of the Church and saves the whole body, so is a husband he head of his wife; and as the Church is subject to Christ, so should wives be to their husbands, in everything. Husbands should love their wives, just as Christ loved the Church, and sacrificed himself for her to make her holy by washing her in cleansing water with a form of words, so that when he took the Church to himself she would be glorious, without no speck nor wrinkle, nor anything like that, but holy and faultless. In the same way, husbands must love their woves as they love their own bodies, for a man is to love his wife is a way for him to love himself…” (Ephesians 5:21-29 New Jerusalem Bible).

Two emphases are prime here, wives are subject to their husbands (i.e. the husband is the ultimate authority in the house), and the husband is to love his wife, and sacrifice himself for her as Christ gave himself for the church. There is a reference to baptism which we will leave for now, but let us concentrate on the duties. Love is very much an action word here, referring to those things which the husband must do for the benefit and comfort of his wife, not related to material, or sexual, but including spiritual and emotional as well. If all husbands loved their wives as we are called to in this passage, there would be no need for divorce. It is also called for the wife to respect her husband. This is more and more difficult to do in our society, where commercials, movies and television programmes make the husband/father look to be the biggest dufus while wife and children solve all the problems. Many cases of marital discord are because wives no longer know how to respect their husbands. The media would have mutual respect between men and women be thing of the past.

Yeshua, himself, gave marriage a very high calling. To marry a divorced person is equivalent to adultery. I do not know, but it seems that there is a very large number of people living in adultery today, which is one reason why children have such a difficult time in understanding God’s faithfulness.

What to do? First let us not commit spiritual adultery with false Gods. Secondly, those of us who are pastors need to commit not to marry people in haste. Check with
http://www.marriagesavers.com/. Make sure that people that are getting married realise it is to be a life long commitment. Be sure we are only marrying Christian couples, as the Bible tells us we are to be unequally yoked, (which by the way means not only both Christians, but somewhere close to each other in their walk). It is very frustrating for Christian parents to raise children when they are not on the same page. We also need to be sure we deal with any baggage, whether mental, sexual, material etc. that is brought into the marriage. Get the pastors in your area to work with you on this, so the couple doesn’t just move down the street. Those of you who want to marry, think about it. Read the passage from Ephesians, and see if you really mean it. Learn in your heart that Jesus says marriage is to be permanent. Discuss marriage issues. Who will run the finance. How many children will you have? Will you both be working? Is the wife able to accept that hubby has the final word. Hubby, are you willing to do things you don’t really want to for the well being of your wife? Hubby, are you prepared to continue your spiritual growth, help your wife grow spiritually as well and be the spiritual leader in your household (many wives are the spiritual leader because the gentleman defaulted).

It is time the church took a stand on these issues. The church has been slack on these issues, and many Biblically based laws have been done away with, leading to a weakening of the high view of marriage. This is one reason for some of the troubles today. Recognition of homosexual marriage will not destroy the high Christian view of marriage. It is a recognition that it no longer exists. Rampant and easy divorce, but more so, cohabiting without benefit of marriage is something that the church must deal with, and yes, outright adultery and pornography must be addressed and dealt with. The gay people just want what we have, a legal recognition of a union that has no commitment. The church must also deal with internal issues such as divorced and remarried Bishops, and priests, and clerical sexual abuse.

Now, I am against gay marriage because it will further destroy our society. I have watched many changes because of homosexuals being out of the closet. In high school, most kids no longer shower at school, because some gay person might be watching them. Coaches are afraid to make kids shower because they might be accused of wanting to watch the kids naked. Younger kids now know a lot more about sex (probably more than is appropriate). I know my youngest has some ideas about homosexuals, an idea that I was not really familiar with until I was about thirteen or fourteen. I might add I am very upset about the homosexual use of television and schools to sexualise our children. Children and parents need to talk, but not at such young ages. Enough soap box.

Let us all learn to have a high view of marriage so we may truly obey the 7th commandment.


Shalom and blessings in the Name of Yeshua

+Mar Michael Abportus
mjthan@quik.com