Lifestyle – Temperance – Marriage

No discussion of temperance would be complete without a discussion of sexual passion. God created man with sexual desires and desires for intimacy. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Genesis 2:24-25. Let us analyze this well-known, but not always well followed, verse.

The first prerequisite for marriage is that the man is to leave his father and mother. So, before the man marries, he is to leave his family home and establish a home of his own. Many youth are looking for relationships and intimacy before they meet the first requirement of marriage, to be established themselves and able to maintain a household. The next step is to cleave unto his wife, not his girlfriend, boyfriend, an acquaintance, or family of orgin. Once this marriage relationship is begun, the couple should then cleave to each other and look to no one else for intimacy. It is then that God allows intimacy in the form of nakedness and sexual relationship. Much of our world today has lost the shame of nakedness (Revelation 16:15), as often the way we dress leaves more and more of the body exposed for all to see. Could this also be part of why sexual intimacy is no longer seen as something that is not exclusive to marriage?

Once a man and a woman have committed to marriage, the Lord says, “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.” Matthew 19:9. Divorce has become rampant both in and out of the church with divorce occurring in nearly 50 percent of marriages. Not only has society rejected that marriage is a lifelong commitment made in the presence of a holy God, but it seems that we have forgotten that to remarry, when the cause of divorce is not fornication, is committing adultery. It is important to remember to, “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.” I Corinthians 6:18.

In the Old Covenant, the punishment for adultery was severe, “And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” Leviticus 20:10. In the New Covenant, the punishment is eternal death (Revelation 22:15).

Through the ministry of Jesus, we learn that we are also to keep the law with our inward thoughts. In Matthew 5:28 the Lord says, “That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

Therefore, the seventh commandment of the Decalogue, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” begins with modest, Godly dress that does not reveal our nakedness, circumspect behavior, appropriate courtship, and then purity, maintained by each partner in the marriage relationship.

“Let your moderation [abstinence from that which is harmful and moderation of that which is good] be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.” Philippians 4:5.