93. CORPORATE, CHRISTLIKE LOVE FOR THE FATHER AND HIS SON (dd): Pursuing Christlike holiness (18)

2. Adultery as ‘a spiritual sin’ or ‘a sin of the heart’ in the New Testament churches

This meditation is closely linked to Meditation 90 which speaks of prostitution as ‘a spiritual sin’ or ‘a sin of the heart’. The Oxford Dictionary gives the following definitions of prostitution and adultery:

-- “prostitution is the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment.”

God uses this term for the ‘spiritual sin’ of His unfaithful people Israel: “The LORD said to Moses: You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people (Israel) will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.” (Deuteronomy 31:16)

-- “adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse.”

God uses this term especially when He speaks of His people as an unfaithful wife because of the covenant(s) He has made with them. We can see in the Sinai or Mosaic Covenant as well as in the New or Messianic Covenant, the term ‘adultery’ as the designation of unfaithfulness to God.

2a.) Breaking the Sinai or Mosaic Covenant

At Mount Sinai, after God rescued Israel from bondage in Egypt, He made a marriage covenant with His people. God describes this covenant with the following poetic words: “When I passed by and saw you again, you were old enough to be married. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.” (Ezekiel 16:8)

God condemned Israel’s marital unfaithfulness with the following words of the prophet Ezekiel (6^th century B.C.): “Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband.” (Ezekiel 16:32)  

In 722 B.C., God punished this stubborn unfaithfulness of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (10 tribes) by sending them away to Assyria: “The people of Israel persisted in all the evil ways of Jeroboam [their first king]. They did not turn from these sins of idolatry until the LORD finally swept them away, just as all his prophets had warned would happen. So Israel was carried off to the land of Assyria...” (2 Kings 17:22-23). These ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel never returned to their homeland.

Finally, in the 6^th century B.C., God's punishment struck the still-existing Southern Kingdom of Judah for their continuing unfaithfulness to God’s covenant with them. He sent them away in captivity to Babylon: “Then King Jehoiachin, along with his advisers, nobles, and officials, and the queen mother, surrendered to the Babylonians. In the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. As the LORD had said beforehand, Nebuchadnezzar carried away all the treasures from the LORD's Temple and the royal palace. They cut apart all the gold vessels that King Solomon of Israel had placed in the Temple. King Nebuchadnezzar took ten thousand captives from Jerusalem, including all the princes and the best of the soldiers, craftsmen, and smiths. So only the poorest people were left in the land.” (2 Kings 24:12-14)

The Babylonian exile of the Southern Kingdom of Judah ended officially in 538 B.C. The biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell us the dramatic story of the return of God’s people to Jerusalem. 

During His ministry, Jesus mentions three times the unfaithfulness of God’s people to the Mosaic Covenant:

-- “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” (Matthew 12:39 and Matthew 16:4)

 

-- “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)

2b.) Breaking the New or Messianic Covenant

Only once does God address His new covenant people as adulterous. Through the mouth of His servant James, He spurns their unfaithful behaviour toward Him, saying: “You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can't be a friend of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, jealously longs for us to be faithful?” (James 4:4-5)

However, although the term adultery as a ‘spiritual sin’ or a ‘sin of the heart’ is not directly used for the church, the matter itself is very extensively dealt with in the New Testament epistles. Here are some examples:

(1.) Stop loving ‘the world’

The apostle John contrasts Jesus’ followers with the world that rebels against God’s rule: “Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

Using the same contrast, the apostle Paul warns the church in Rome for an adulterous lifestyle: “Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-- the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.” (Romans 12:1-2)

(2.) Stop following ‘your old sinful nature’

For the same reason, Paul contrasts in his letter to the church in Rome a lifestyle controlled by God’s Spirit with a lifestyle controlled by their former rebellious attitude towards God: “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.” (Romans 8:5-8)

God makes His new or messianic covenant with all those who repent of their sins and are reborn by His Spirit. Consequently, returning towards a worldly lifestyle, driven by selfishness, greed, materialism, individualism, hedonism and the like, is in God’s view nothing less than ‘spiritual adultery’.

Therefore, Paul states clearly to the followers of Jesus in Rome: “So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” (Romans 8:12-14)

Using the same contrast, the apostle Paul warns the churches in the Roman province of Galatia (modern Turkey) of spiritual adultery: “I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.

The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. .....

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin.

Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:16-21)

Paul encourages the followers of Jesus in the Greek town of Colossae: “Put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires. Don't be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry. God's terrible anger will come upon those who do such things.

You used to do them when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.

Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all its wicked deeds.

In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you.

In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” (Colossians 3:5-11)

In the context of the New or Messianic Covenant, there is a clear difference between getting rid of my ‘old sinful lifestyle’ when I desire to follow Jesus Christ, and returning to that ‘old lifestyle’ after becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. The latter is ‘spiritual adultery’ and the theme of this Meditation. 

Of course, this does not only apply to individuals, but also to entire churches (see Meditations 46-47, 63 and 85). That leaves me with the following questions concerning my church:

-- Does my church want to love God wholeheartedly?

-- Is my church therefore actively pursuing Christlike holiness?

-- Is my church in danger of falling back into ‘spiritual adultery’? If yes, then what can I do to prevent that?

-- Is my church already lost in ‘spiritual adultery’? What are the ways in which my church copies the sinful lifestyle of our culture? If yes, is there anything I can do to lead my church to repentance?

  

Deuteronomy 31:16, Matthew 12:39, Matthew 16:4, Mark 8:38 are quotes from the New International Version. All other quotes are from the New Living Translation.