Deuteronomy 5:18 Neither shall you commit adultery. As we are men, and so the one part of our composition is body, we have all animal appetites in common with other sensitive creatures; hunger, thirst, and the like, are common to us with all the animal world. But then, seeing we are reasonable beings also, and should be religious, God will have these animal appetites kept in due subjection, and directed according to the measures He has prescribed for that purpose: that is to say, no animal appetite must be allowed to usurp a place that does not belong to it, but must be kept within such bounds, and ordered by such rules as God hath set it. And so it is regarding that animal appetite more specially designed in this commandment. I. It requires us to be CHASTE. 1. Inward chastity is keeping the heart for God, not suffering it to be defiled by any unchaste and filthy delights. 2. Chastity is also outward, expressive of that purity of heart which lodges within. II. TEMPERANCE is the other duty required by this commandment. By temperance is meant a holy moderation concerning meat, drink, sleep, and relaxation. 1. Intemperance is prohibited for its own sake. 2. Intemperance is not only prohibited as it is sinful in itself, but also as it gives occasion to and nourishes lust. And this a life of indolence does: it is the very food of lust (Ezekiel 16:49, 50; Jeremiah 5:7, 8). Thus what made the Sodomites so wanton but fulness of bread? What made Lot commit such dreadful incest with his own daughters but drunkenness? (Genesis 19:31-36.) Or what filled David, or his son Amnon after him, with so much lust but a fit of sloth and idleness? (2 Samuel 11:2; 2 Samuel 13:1-14.) "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection," saith St. Paul (1 Corinthians 9:27).Well, and how did he do this? 1. Be moderate in the use of meats and drinks, and, as need is, give yourselves to fasting and abstinence. 2. Be diligent in your calling. Labour keeps the mind employed, and the body under; whereas sloth both genders lust and gives it opportunity. 3. We must be aware of the recreations we use, and how we use them. (S. Walker, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Neither shalt thou commit adultery. |
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