The Sanctity of Sex – The Seventh Commandment

The Sanctity of Sex

Exodus 20:14

“You shall not commit adultery.”

Sexual attraction is a powerful urge, so strong that it can reinforce itself with overwhelming affections, override sound reason, cancel out long-standing priorities and commitments, and pursue expression in a wide range of practices.

God Himself has made the sexual drive what it is, and He intends it for good, to further the purposes of His Kingdom.  Marriage is the proper context for the full and fruitful engagement of sexual attraction.  All other indulgences of this powerful urge fail to meet the demands of love for God and neighbor.

Our age has gone mad with sex; the abuse of it confronts us every day, so much so that we’ve become inured to all the innuendo and flaunting of sexuality in advertising, pop culture, and everyday life.  Christians aren’t prudes, but we need to consider whether we are might be contributing to our generation’s flouting of the seventh commandment.

What does it say about the state of love in our society that so much of life is fueled by appeals to sexual interest?  How many different ways are you subjected to those appeals in a typical day?

Daily meditation in the Law of God helps us along the path of holiness, righteousness, and goodness (Rom. 7:12). Order your copy of The Law of God, a compilation of the Mosaic Law for contemporary believers, by going to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.