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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Adultery always involves married woman? | Bible general Archive 4 | DocTrinsograce | 233660 | ||
Dear Emeth, I agree that your definition of adultery is lacking Scriptural support. Since that is the foundation of your argument, the structure on which it is built is also faulty. Let me see if I can summarize: Adultery -- prohibited in Scripture (Exodus 20:14; cf Deuteronomy 5:18) is a form of stealing. It is taking of something that is not rightfully our own. Years ago we used to talk about "making an honest woman of her" or "making an honest man of him." I said something along these lines to a young woman living with a man, but whose marriage was scheduled in a few months. The woman said that if he wasn't honest already, he never would be. It occurred to me that she missed the meaning of the phrase entirely. Married people have specific privileges granted to them alone as married people (1 Corinthians 7:3-5). Taking those privileges outside of marriage is behaving as though they are married, without having the authority to do so; i.e., it is dishonest. You are not alone in your attempt to build a fence about a prohibition. This has been a long and well practiced approach by the Scribes (doctors of the law) and the Pharisees (pious religious leaders), even to this very day. God gave the commandments, on a mountain, through Moses in Exodus. Moses even went on -- under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit -- to carefully exposit these commands in Deuteronomy. Nevertheless, the Mishnah -- and later on the Talmud -- attempted to hedge about the commands with a variety of prohibitions that circumvented the heart of the issue. Consequently, our Lord Jesus Christ, also on a mountain, gave proper specifics about the commandments, contrary to the relaxing of them by the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:17-20). Of particular interest to the question of adultery is Christ's assertion found in Matthew 5:27-30. He zeros in to the heart of the matter. No more qualifications, no more hedging, no more over simplification; adultery is a matter of the heart. Therefore, I suggest you take a broader stand on the question, rather than a narrower stand. Do not limit it all to a set of dos and don'ts; but see the problem as something fundamentally lawless in our hearts -- something for which we have all been guilty -- something that shows the glorious righteousness of Christ. (Matthew 5:48) In Him, Doc |
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2 | Adultery always involves married woman? | Bible general Archive 4 | EmethAlethia | 233663 | ||
Bringing up the passage in Mat. 5:27-30 does, indeed present some of the passages that pertain to the issue, but the meaning, and understanding of the words used as the Jews understood their meaning prior to this, and how Jesus is clarifying the meaning, are essential. Adultery is ONLY used involving married women in the entire O.T. the word fornication is not used in this passage, and the only way to specify “married woman” in Greek is used as well. The other passages where God defines Adultery as the destruction of an existing marriage relationship to form another marriage relationship are given in the list of passages I included. That adultery occurs first in the mind, AND REQUIRES THE VIOLATION OF THIS STEP FIRST, adultery in the mind, is a given. That anyone willing to sit in the same room with a woman married to another man, and dwell on his lust for her, already sets him on a road to committing the actual sin of “adultery”. That people want to change the meaning to make it include single women, and thus change the meaning of the word adultery to fornication as well. Is a common problem, but the meanings are distinct, and fornication includes all manner of illicit intercourse, homosexuality, bestiality, incest, homosexuality, adultery, … and adultery ALWAYS requires the destruction of an existing marriage relationship to form a new one. Adding a new wife did not destroy a family relationship. It added to it. That said, it could just be my misunderstanding of the words and terms you used, and how the passages you select fit in with all the passages that I have found, that I listed above. I may, of course, missed a number of passages that you have found that may completely alter the most common interpretations of the passages I have in the list. On the other hand, the passages in the list might end up requiring a reassessment of your conclusions as well. The goal is to combine ALL of the passages God gives us in such a way that everything fits fully with everything else, and we do not need to add, subtract, or distort the meaning of passages, or words, to force them to support our beliefs. I eagerly await the areas where you believe that I have missed passages, failed to consider them properly, or to include them in my assessments, along with any misunderstandings you feel I may have. I thank you again for your willingness to carefully examine this issue, and alter your beliefs in accordance with ALL that the word of God says and means. I pray that I also, will be willng to do the same on every issue God brings before me. |
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