Most of the sins we deal with today are clear, even if we don’t like what the Bible has to say about them. Stealing is stealing, for example, no matter what justifications I use.
Some sins, though have become clouded by our lack of understanding of the original Biblical text or, more likely, our unwillingness to follow God’s word as written – our rebellion. We want to live the way we want to live and don’t want to be told we can’t do what we want. As a result, we play games with God’s word, deliberately misunderstanding it or pretending it doesn’t apply.
All of God’s rules apply unless they have been specifically revoked
Matthew 5:18
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
This doesn’t mean we hate sinners. We are called to hate the sin but love the sinner. Our task is to help each other not to sin, not reject each other because we sin. Jesus didn’t come for the righteous, but for the unrighteous, although He made it pretty clear that none of us is righteous – we just think we are.
Romans 3:22-24
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
It’s okay to judge people for the right reason
We often hear that we are not supposed to judge people. That’s true in one sense and very wrong in another sense. The text actually reads:
Matthew 7:1
Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
Which is correct, as far as it goes, but read on:
Matthew 7:2-5
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
It’s clear, then, that Jesus is not telling me to ignore the speck in my brother’s eye, but not to be a hypocrite. We are actually supposed to judge others in the intent of helping them not sin, expecting that they will do the same for us. We are supposed to judge their actions in love, hoping they will stop sinning. This is where Jesus is telling us to be careful. We are not supposed to be self-righteous and arrogant, ignoring our sin and finding fault with others. This is typically accompanied by a lack of compassion and forgiveness. This is what He meant when He said that the measure I use for other people will be used for me.
We are definitely supposed to judge others’ actions. We are supposed to help each other not sin, and if a person won’t stop, we are supposed to shun them. This is primarily to help them return to God, but it is also intended to prevent us from getting complacent about sin.
1 Corinthians 5:9-11
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
Paul is clearly concerned about sin invading the church. He believes that tolerating those who continue to sin and won’t stop is toxic. Please note that he is not condemning those who are trying not to sin, but those who sin without even trying to repent. He is talking about the wicked.
He is also not telling us to avoid sinful non-Christians. We are supposed to walk with them, talk with them and attempt to win them over for Jesus. This is very hard to do if we maintain a haughty, self-righteous attitude.
Don’t tolerate continued sin in the church.
This has been one of the great sins of the last century. We have weakened the Gospel and watered down God’s commands to allow the sinful to stay without confronting them with their sin. The church believed that they would benefit more from staying and encountering Jesus’ love than if the church maintained a hard line and refused to let them participate.
Once sinners have been informed of the truth, they have to make a choice: join the church, stop sinning and repent or turn their back on God and continue in their sin. By allowing them to continue in the church without repenting, we are undermining that choice and telling them that they can, in effect, join the church and be right with God without stopping their sinning. We are lying to them, and lying most dangerously. We are telling them that God winks at violations of His law and will not hold them accountable at judgment. We are, in fact, imperiling their soul.
We do everybody far more good by preaching the law and setting a hard line, while also preaching forgiveness for those who are honestly trying to live rightly.
Several specific sins have been mischaracterized by the church in recent times.
The Ten Commandments
God laid down specific rules to help us remain in His will. Many of the rules in the Old Testament related specifically to the regulation of day-to-day life in the nation of Israel. There are many, however, that were given as guidelines to help all of His people live in His will. The most concise of these declarations was given at Mount Sinai and is known as the Ten Commandments. They are a set of guiding principles or rules that, if followed, enable people to live in harmony with God and with each other.
They are recorded in both Exodus and Deuteronomy. They are substantially the same, but there are a few minor differences. I will highlight them as I go.
This set of rules is actually a covenant – an agreement with the force of law on both sides.
Exodus 19:5
Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine. And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
Here God tells them that if they fulfill their part of the agreement by following these rules, He will cherish them and bless them above all nations. It worked for a while.
The setting
Exodus 19:16 – 20:17
On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. And as the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.
The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the summit. So Moses went up, and the LORD said to him, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the LORD, lest many of them perish. Even the priests who approach the LORD must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them.”
But Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, for You solemnly warned us, ‘Put a boundary around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’ ”
And the LORD replied, “Go down and bring Aaron with you. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the LORD, or He will break out against them.”
So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.
The announcement
Exodus 20:1
And God spoke all these words:
This is one of the few times God addressed the whole nation of Israel in person. It highlights the fact that God Himself dictated the law out loud to the people of Israel. They were not, as sometimes suggested, the invention of Moses. Nor are they adaptations of the Egyptian codes. They are very different in structure and content.
God Himself gave these commands. The announcement was spoken in the second person plural – “all of you” but the commands are all in second person singular “you, individually”. God was speaking to the entire assembly, but gave the rules to each individual personally. They have been summarized, but never rescinded.
Exodus 20:2
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
God established His identity at the beginning of this pronouncement. He established that it was He who spoke and reminded the people that He had demonstrated His power as sovereign. He also reminded them that He was also acting as the protector and deliverer – the laws were there to help them, not to bind them, although they are binding. He could have stated His identity as Creator, all-powerful God, Judge or Destroyer of the Wicked. All of these are true. He chose rather to identify Himself in this context as loving rescuer. He wants to have them obey His rules out of a sense of love and loyalty rather than fear or awe.
The Ten Commandments are generally broken down into two sections, two tables. The first section deals with our relationship to God, the second, our relationships with each other.
The First Table
The First Command
Exodus 20:3
You shall have no other gods before My face.
This is a command of sovereignty. God is not saying that He gets to be the head of whatever other gods the people choose to add. God is saying that He is the only one. Any other god is a rejection of Him, “in Your face.” This, of course is where we fail. We are broken – constitutionally unable to keep Him on the throne for any length of time. Something else always makes its way to the center.
So what is a god? A god is anything that holds the central place in your life. For many people, they are their own god – they worship themselves, acting entirely out of self-interest, denying themselves nothing that is in their power to provide.
Many famous people glory in the worship they are given. They view it as their due, being the object people rightly adore. Their worshippers put them in that place of special reverence. Most of these worshippers don’t worship an individual as much as a pantheon, much in the style of the collection of Greek gods. The Greek gods strutted and quarreled, postured and made arrogant pronouncements in much the same manner as the petty deities of Hollywood and the media.
Rich people tend to worship money. As they get more and more of it, the worship tends more toward power.
The powerful worship power, of course. They glory in its exercise and jealously guard it. Watch how they respond when someone suggests they may not be as powerful as they think.
Many parents worship their spouses or children. They place them at the center of their lives.
One phenomenon that has grown in recent years is worship of a Cause. Many people throughout history have worshipped charismatic leaders and adopted their causes to themselves. Recently, though the Cause has become more important to a lot of people, even in the absence of a leader. This is easy to identify because peoples’ responses to challenge more closely resemble challenge to a religious belief than an idea. Rather than responding with discussion, the response immediately toggles to anger and outraged hatred.
Some of these causes include: Religion, Atheism, Racism, Leftism, Rightism, LGBT, Environmental change.
The problem is not with the cause. The problem is with the place the cause has taken in the supporter. When the cause supplants God, the supported has gone astray. It is correct to support any cause about which you can properly say, “I support this because I believe God wants it this way.” All of the above causes can fit into this category except LGBT, which is specifically forbidden by Scripture.
Ask yourself:
Why am I doing this?
Am I comfortable with God being a part of it?
Would I be willing to stop if He asked?
Who gets the glory for success?
God has to take the center place.
The Second Command
Exodus 20:4-6
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity (punishment or guilt) of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
This was not intended to prohibit depiction of natural things in art. This is very specifically structured to emphasize the prohibition of worship. In many ways, it is a restatement of the first commandment. It specifically prohibits the worship of any image. This includes images that are used for religious purposes, such as images of the saints, of Mary or of Jesus Himself. It is too easy to drift without realizing it into worship of the representative image rather than the object it is intended to represent.
This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t hold some degree of reverence for the person the image represents, but we should not confuse the respect due to the individual with that due to the work of art. Respecting art as art is fine. Revering it because it captures something holy is not. The statue itself has no intrinsic spiritual value. When we assign it that value, we cross the line.
Ask Yourself:
Is the image sacred?
Would you object to moving it from the church to a private residence or a public building?
Would you sell it?
This command also promises dire punishments to those who disobey and abundant blessings to those who follow it. Note that the sins are carried to the third and fourth generations. This isn’t simply vengefulness. We have seen in history that it takes that long for the sinfulness to work its way out of a family or society. The curse can also be removed by rejecting the sin and returning to God. It is as much prediction as curse.
It is also useful to note that God’s love and mercy vastly outweigh His wrath. The sin is forgotten after 3-4 generations, but the love is remembered for a thousand.
The Third Command
Exodus 20:7
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain (evil, idolatry, uselessness), for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
This has been taken to prohibit falsely swearing in God’s name, as in court, but also to prohibit casual misuse of His name as well.
God’s name is sacred and must be kept so.
Questions to ask:
Why am I saying what I am saying?
Am I truly asking Jesus to be a part of what is going on, or is my use of His name simply a throwaway expression?
Am I truly asking God to condemn something to eternal torment, or am I simply invoking His name and punishment for emphasis?
For a fuller exploration of this, please read the section on God’s name in Chapter 6 – Who is God.
The Fourth Command
Exodus 20:8-11
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (set apart or consecrated). Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox or donkey or any of your livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest as you do. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
This is all about making the Sabbath a day of rest It is phrased to prevent making others work so you don’t have to.
God provided this day for us to rest and recover ourselves. Remember that in throughout most of history, there was no such thing as the weekend. Every day was a work day. It does not prevent necessary labor, but is intended to keep the Sabbath from being just another work day.
Matthew 12:11-12
He replied, “If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
The implication is that necessary tasks can be done, but not work. This functioned well in the context of the Hebrews, since their whole society was built around carefully following God’s laws. After Jesus’ resurrection, when the church began spreading to people of other cultures, this became something of a problem. There were many rules in Jewish society that didn’t apply to people of other cultures, like the day of rest. Paul noted that the form of the rest is not the important part, but honoring God.
Romans 14:5
One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; he who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Paul is saying that the intent is to honor God. Fast days, feast days, special days and the like are there to honor God, but God is honored in many ways. Intentionally honor God in the ways that seem best to you. For some, that is strict observance of the Sabbath. For some, all days are alike. It doesn’t matter as long as both do it to God’s glory.
This is a commandment that has been lifted in the specific implementation, but not in the requirement. We are still called to honor God, and should honor Him by resting as He rested. Which day we choose and how we choose to do it is left to the individual conscience.
The second table
The Fifth Command
Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 5:16
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
This is one of the most universal moral principles. All societies from savage to sacred require respect and honor to parents. In part, this is practical – otherwise, society will devolve into chaos.
What does it mean to honor parents? Love, respect and obedience throughout childhood, then love and respect as adults. We have a duty to our parents that stems from our duty to God. We must show them honor and respect. We must take care of them when they become old and enfeebled.
This command is also part promise and part description. God promises to bless those who honor their parents. It has also been noted in several ancient civilizations that children who honor their parents live longer. Ptah-hotep, an Egyptian sage, who wrote long before Moses, declared it as the result of his experience that obedient sons did attain to a good old age in Egypt, and laid down the principle broadly, that “the son who attends to the words of his father will grow old in consequence.” He also noted that they were happier.
How does this play out today?
One of the greatest tragedies of our time is the huge number of single-parent homes in the nation. According to the census, there were 13.6 million single parent households in the US in 2020, raising 11.4 million children, which is about 27% of all children in the country. 80% are single mothers.
Absentee-parent homes are harder to capture, but both spouses work in about 2/3 of households. Daycare is not a good substitute for parenting.
If the parents are not there to be honored, the children don’t learn to honor them. They don’t learn respect, and they don’t grow as balanced people. Between 70 and 90% of inmates did not grow up with both parents (depending on whose statistics you read). Over the last 30 years, the rise in crime parallels the rise in families abandoned by fathers. The whole sense of community is broken down.
In part, this is because children don’t learn respect, but in part, it is because the parents aren’t there to teach the children about God. Daycare will not do that.
Children have a duty to their parents that changes when they grow up, but does not go away. It is different – and stronger – than our duty to each other. Balancing conflicting responsibilities can be difficult, especially when older parents refuse to act sensibly. We have the responsibility to try and do our duty to help them.
We cannot simply abdicate this responsibility, as it is the first of the commands God gave us about how we are to relate to each other.
The Sixth Command
Exodus 20:13
You shall not murder.
Killing vs murder
The Bible does not condemn killing, but murder. When the Bible mentions ‘murder’, it means killing outside or against God’s law, while ‘killing’ is either in compliance with the law, as with execution, or without respect to the legality of the act, as when killing an animal. The verb ‘to kill’ is sometimes used in scripture to talk about the morality of the act while specifically ignoring the legal complications.
Murder – killing against or outside God’s law.
Killing in the Old Testament
The Old Testament uses different words to describe killing in different contexts. In the Ten Commandments, the commandment is:
Exodus 20:13
“You shall not murder”
תִּֿרְצָֽ֖ח׃ (trə·ṣāḥ) לֹ֥֖א (lō)
Literally: No murder
Verb: To murder: רָצַח (ratsach)
Exodus 21:14
“However, if someone schemes and acts willfully to kill another person, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.”
וְכִֽי־ (wə·ḵî-) אִ֛ישׁ (’îš) בְעָרְמָ֑ה (ḇə·‘ā·rə·māh) יָזִ֥ד (yā·ziḏ) עַל־ (‘al-) רֵעֵ֖הוּ (rê·‘ê·hū) לְהָרְג֣וֹ (lə·hā·rə·ḡōw) תִּקָּחֶ֖נּוּ (tiq·qā·ḥen·nū) מֵעִ֣ם (mê·‘im) מִזְבְּחִ֔י (miz·bə·ḥî) לָמֽוּת׃ (lā·mūṯ).
The Hebrew text above is in reverse order to follow the word order in English. The actual text is as below:
וְכִי־יָזִד אִישׁ עַל־רֵעֵהוּ לְהָרְגוֹ בְעָרְמָה מֵעִם מִזְבְּחִי תִּקָּחֶנּוּ לָמוּת
Literally: But a man schemes and acts proudly against his neighbor to slay him (harag) you shall take him from my altar and kill him (muth).
Verb: הָרַג (harag) to slay (kill with intent)
Verb: מוּת (muth) To kill
Manslaughter – there was a violent intent, but no intent to kill
Exodus 21:12-13
“Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. But if it was simply an accident permitted by God, I will appoint a place of refuge where the slayer can run for safety.”
מַכֵּ֥ה (mak·kêh) וָמֵ֖ת (wā·mêṯ) אִ֛ישׁ (’îš) מ֥וֹת (mō·wṯ) יוּמָֽת׃ (yū·māṯ)
The Hebrew text above is in reverse order to follow the word order in English. The actual text is as below:
מַכֵּה אִישׁ וָמֵת מוֹת יוּמָת
Literally: He strikes and kills a man, kill to death.
Verb: מוּת (muth) To kill (both times)
Death by misadventure
Numbers 35:22-3
But if anyone pushes a person suddenly, without hostility or unintentionally hits him with an object or, without looking, drops a heavy stone that kills him, but he was not an enemy and did not intend to harm him, the assembly must judge between the accused and the avenger of blood according to these regulations: (the rules follow).
Verb: That kills them: מוּת (muth) To kill
Justifiable homicide
Exodus 22:2-3a
If a thief is caught breaking in at night (forcible entry) and is beaten to death, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.
Verb: beaten: נָכָה (nakah) = struck to death: מוּת (muth)
It is understood in the passage that a person breaking in during the night has violent intentions, and may therefore be killed in defense of the family. (Alternately, it is understood that in the dark, you cannot tell whether someone breaking in the house is there to kill, or there to steal. Rather than have you give up the initiative, the aim is to err on the side of a person being able to defend himself and his family, rather than having to wait for lights for an interview.)
Killing in the New Testament
Murder
Matthew 5:21 – Killing against God’s law
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be in danger of judgment.’
Verb: φονεύω (phoneuó) to murder
Jesus could have used ἀποκτείνω (apokteinó or apoktennó) (to kill or put to death without respect to the legality of the act), but didn’t. He specifically meant murder. φονεύω (phoneuó) (to murder) is also used in: Matthew 19:18, Mark 10:19, Romans 13:9, James 2:11, James 5:6. Moreover, it also is the verb that is used in Exodus 20:13 in the LXX, the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
Killing
Matthew 10:28 – Either killing within the law or killing without regard to the legality of the act
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Verb: ἀποκτείνω (apokteinó or apoktennó) to kill or put to death
Matthew 14:5 – Herod could legally kill him
Although Herod wanted to kill John, he was afraid of the people, because they regarded John as a prophet.
Verb: ἀποκτείνω (apokteinó or apoktennó) to kill or put to death
God put specific conditions on killing. Killing is authorized within those contexts. This includes those where killing is an explicit part of the job. A soldier, for example, may kill as directed by his government. He is not allowed to kill on his own authority as a soldier. An official executioner may kill a person duly convicted of a crime and sentenced to death. He may not kill a person on his own authority even if he knows him to be guilty of a capital crime. Killing in self-defense or in defense of the helpless is okay. Pre-emptive killing to prevent a possible threat to others is not something an individual is authorized to do. A government can choose to kill a man based on that government’s policies, but that does not remove the individual official’s responsibility before God if he is acting wickedly.
It is also clear in the text that we are not allowed to murder ourselves. It sounds a little strange, but is pretty straightforward. I do not belong to myself, I belong to God. Therefore, I don’t have rights over my own body (Note the language as relating to abortion). Killing a body belonging to someone else is only allowed under certain limited circumstances, none of which can apply when I am talking about myself. Suicide is forbidden. The Catholic church lists suicide as an unforgivable sin, because a person cannot ask forgiveness, perform penance and seek restitution. It is not that clear in the Bible. Nevertheless, suicide indicates a lack of hope and trust in God.
Killing is a very serious matter. When we kill, we destroy the image of God. We also revoke what God alone can provide – life. Killing should only be undertaken in the right circumstances and for the right reasons.
Abortion
As is clear in the previous section, there has to be a clear reason to kill someone, and the proper procedures must be followed to make that decision. Killing one person for another person’s convenience is clearly wrong.
The prevailing secular thought on this issue is that a woman has the right to choose what she does with her own body. This is wrong on two counts: She does not have the right to choose for that baby’s body, and her body is not, in fact, her own.
From a human perspective, a baby becomes an individual at conception. He has individual DNA that differs from his mother. He may not have developed the ability to think or even survive on his own, but he is an individual that is just as valuable to God as his mother.
From God’s perspective, he pre-dates conception. He was hand-crafted by God prior to conception:
Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Here, God was speaking to Jeremiah about his vocation, but the implication is clear: God doesn’t just hand-craft His prophets – He hand-crafts everybody. He makes each person to be a unique personality before they were even conceived. This makes killing that person murder unless there is a very good reason. The very rare situations of medical necessity, rape or incest are beyond the scope of this text. Each person must answer to God for their choices. The presumption, though, must be murder unless proven otherwise.
It is also clear from this that the woman is not her own. God makes each of us according to His plan for His own purposes. We are beholden to Him for our very existence. We belong to Him. He has the right and authority to direct our actions. We do NOT belong to ourselves. As in the Parable of the talents, we will be held accountable to Him for how we used that which was entrusted to us. If we are not faithful stewards, God will take away even the little we have.
Abortion is murder. Child sacrifice has been around for a long time. The ancients would sacrifice their children to their gods to buy themselves blessings or long lives, or sometimes to hopefully mitigate a disaster by appeasing the god. This is little different. The child is killed for the convenience of the parent.
Abortion is often used to facilitate sexual sin. People use abortion so they can continue to have casual sex without dealing with the consequences of their actions. Disobeying God’s law always leads to consequences. Some are more visible than others.
It also violates the second of God’s greatest commandments: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no love in abortion. There is only selfishness and greed to continue in sin without dealing with the consequences of that sin.
The Seventh Command
Exodus 20:14
You shall not commit adultery.
This command is specifically related to marriage and, unlike other cultures, it is not just the woman that is held responsible.
Leviticus 20:10
If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
In the Old Testament, it is clear, but not explicitly stated that sexual activity outside of marriage is forbidden. There are far more warnings in the New Testament, and they are more explicit. The word usually used is porneia, which is a very general term that covers all immoral sexual behavior. It is different than moixeia, the word used to cover marital unfaithfulness.
Both men and, to a lesser extent women are vulnerable to sexual images. Advertisements that use sexual innuendo or imagery tempt us to adulterous thoughts. When a woman goes shopping wearing form-fitting clothing that leaves little to the imagination, she is tempting the men around her to sin, whether she realizes it or not. Sexual imagery is all around us in the world. We need to change our thinking and our habits. Don’t look. If you find yourself looking, look away and ask God for forgiveness and the strength not to fall again.
Mark 9:47
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell
The eye is frequently used in the Bible as a metaphor for looking at something or paying attention to something. We may need to pluck it out. We certainly need to control it. We also need to avoid situations that lead to temptation. Many websites that are not specifically sex-oriented use a lot of sexual imagery in their imagery or advertising. Don’t go to them. Many of the temptations we encounter are well within our control. We just have to exercise the willpower to use that control.
This also speaks about intent. No human can control their passing thoughts, but we can control the thoughts we indulge.
The Eighth Command
Exodus 20:15
You shall not steal.
This includes implicit as well as explicit theft. Taking anything as your own to which you do not have a specific right is stealing. It is stealing to fool someone into giving you something they would not otherwise give you. It is also lying.
The protection of private property is explicit in the Bible. It is one of the important reasons the Bible cannot be used to support communism or socialism.
The Ninth Command
Exodus 20:16
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
This includes lying, which is also addressed elsewhere. It covers malicious gossip as well as perjury. It forbids lying, equivocation (speech left intentionally vague to leave a false impression), fraud, slander, gossip and in any way ruining your neighbor’s reputation.
If you speak or behave in such a way as to make a person leave the conversation with a false impression, that is lying. God is a God of honesty and justice, and He demands it of us as well.
So when is lying acceptable? Very seldom. The Bible speaks positively about tactical deception, but almost never between people.
How should we answer the questions –
Does this dress make me look fat?
Do you like my haircut?
Sometimes, there is nothing more than the question as it is asked. But there is often a question behind the question. The person is frequently asking for approval and trying to make sure they are still acceptable. God sometimes answers our prayers that way. He addresses our real needs and concerns even if He doesn’t give us what we asked for.
There is a famous case question that was put to two famous rabbis that is very similar. Is it lawful to lie to an ugly woman on her wedding day and tell her she is beautiful?
Rabbi Shimmei replied, “No. Lying is never lawful.”
Rabbi Hillel replied, “Every bride is beautiful on her wedding day.”
How much of a political speech is designed to deceive?
How much of our speech is designed to deceive?
The Tenth Command
Exodus 20:17
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Deuteronomy 5:21
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or field, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
This command is a departure from the moral systems of the day. Under the other moral codes, thoughts were free, unless carried into action. God put this in very specifically because of the corrosiveness of jealousy and the necessity of controlling our own thoughts.
So what does it mean to covet? It doesn’t mean wishing you also have what they have. It is not sin for me to say, “I wish I had a car like theirs.” It is sin to dwell on it. It is also a sin to wish that what is theirs were mine. It is a greedy desire to possess. It is the discontent and dissatisfaction with what God has provided that is the problem. Remember that God provides everything you need, not everything you desire.
So how do we handle this kind of feeling?
The thing to avoid is the bitterness of the soul that can accompany unfulfilled desire.
First, recognize it for what it is. Why do you want it? It isn’t sinful to want nice things. Are you desiring what you can’t have simply because you can’t have it? Do you resent the other person for having something you don’t or can’t? These are the problem.
Second, pray. Pray that God make you content with what you have. You can also pray that He will provide it for you. It is actually okay to ask that God give you the thing you see if it is within His will. This turns jealous greed into a spiritual request, relying on God (but willing to be told “No’ if that is what He decides).
Third, thank God daily for the blessings He has provided you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
This doesn’t mean to give thanks as an antidote for jealousy, but to give thanks all the time. Build an attitude of thankfulness for what you have and feelings of longing for what others have will begin to fade.
The old expression “count your blessings” is an old expression for a reason. When I start counting the ways God has provided for me, I focus on the blessings rather than the perceived lack. It helps me remember how bountifully He has provided rather than focusing on the few things I desire that I don’t have.
Homosexuality
This is another area where God’s word has been diluted to the point of meaninglessness simply to affirm someone’s choice to live the way they want to live. There is no way to justify sexual immorality in the Bible, and the Bible clearly puts homosexuality in that category.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Or do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Again, it is not the temptation that is the problem, but the sin. One of the problems with giving in to temptation is that we train ourselves to sin. Sexual sin is especially bad for this. We yield to temptation and are rewarded for doing so; there is a strong element of addiction. This makes recovery very difficult. The person may want to recover but find it incredibly hard because the habit of yielding is so ingrained and has been so consistently rewarded. These people need help to stop sinning and return to God. They don’t need judgmental bullying, they need help. They need someone to help them see their problem and hold them accountable when they fall, but someone who will help them back up, announce God’s forgiveness and help them not to sin again. Remember that we are to act in love.
The first step is for the sinner to realize that what he is doing is sinful and want to try to stop. That can only happen if we hold fast to the truth of God’s law. There is forgiveness, but that has to follow recognition of the law and its demands. It is the only way that a person can get right with God.
This doe not mean that we reject people because they have chosen this path, even though it is a path that will lead to their destruction. We are certainly not to respond with hate or revulsion. Jesus calls us to love each other, but reject sin. We must not temporize with God’s word. We may not affirm the lifestyle. But we must love that person as God’s creation, made in His image and likeness, for whom Christ died.
The Greatest Commandment
Matthew 22:35-40
One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with a question: “Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the Law?”
Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
It seems clear that Jesus saw the two commands as intertwined – almost two halves of the same whole. This is the structure of the Ten Commandments – relations to God and to each other. Clearly, He is telling us that our responsibility to God includes both.
There are many, many sins. The number of ways we can offend God is almost infinite. Legitimately trying to imitate Jesus (as described in the Bible, not as modern culture tries to describe Him) will eliminate most issues. We must be honest with ourselves and with God about what we are trying to do and why.
We must also remember that we will sin – it is inevitable. We cannot be perfect. We have to love and honor God as best as we can and remember that He died to cover our failures, lapses and flaws.
God’s grace is sufficient. I can’t add to it by good behavior, nor take away from it by being imperfect. As long as I continue to trust in Him, I can be confident of His forgiveness and restoration.
Our relationship with God is not a legal process, it is just that – a relationship. Just like any other relationship, it involves times when we are closer and times when we are farther apart. It involves times when I please Him greatly and times when I offend Him. That doesn’t even strain the relationship, though. God loves us with perfect love and remains with us even when we get busy with other things.