You shall not commit adultery.

Lev 20:10 - Both parties to adultery are to be put to death.

Mt 5:27-28 - Jesus clarifies the scope of the command; even our thoughts are at issue.

Ro 13:9 - Another aspect of loving your neighbor.

Definitions

Adultery

violation of the marriage bed.

Adulterate

To corrupt, to debase by admixture, to deteriorate

Eze 23:36-39
36 Moreover, the LORD said to me, "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 37 "For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their idols and even caused their sons, whom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to them as food. 38 "Again, they have done this to Me: they have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and have profaned My sabbaths. 39 "For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and lo, thus they did within My house.

Adulterated Worship

God's primary complaint against His people has ever been that they try to mix pure worship with the ways of those around them. Theology refers to this as syncretism - trying to mix opposing philosophies and practices into a single, harmonious system. This is still an issue for the Church today. Some - not all, but some - of the things attempted in the name of unity are in truth syncretism. Those who seek to claim that Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and other religions are aspects of the same belief are practicing a particularly dangerous syncretism. This isn't truth. This is new age. This isn't just a matter for theological debate. This is, by God's definition, adultery.

When our attempts at unity exceed God's boundaries, when we bring the world's ways into our place of worship, God calls it adultery. He is not pleased by such actions in His people. By contrast, He gives us another word, another definition: that of the virgin.

Virgin

one who has remained chaste, modest, and pure; new and unmixed.

The Old Testament is filled with references to the virgin daughters of Jerusalem, and with images of Israel as the unfaithful wife of God. It seems that whenever the prophets were dealing with unfaithfulness in Israel, it was images of marriage that they used to convey God's feelings for His people. The New Testament Church began to see this imagery more clearly. Paul brings it out perhaps most clearly of all.

2 Co 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

Adulterated People

What is his concern here? His concern is that the church in Corinth recognize that they are betrothed. They are spoken for. Corinth was a place of innumerable worldly influences. Promiscuity was a way of life. Any and all forms of pagan religious were to be found there. The trouble Paul was dealing with in the Corinthian church was that far too many of these worldly practices had found their way into the church itself. Rather than purity of worship, they were bringing in bits and pieces of all the religious and social practices around them. Rather than impacting their world, they were allowing their world to impact them.

We are in the same danger today. The ways of our society are constantly trying to force their way through the doors of God's sanctuary. This is why we see such a focus on 'seeker friendly' services, on making Christianity 'relevant.' As though God's Word could be irrelevant! The call we are hearing in our church today is for purity, for holiness. This is exactly the concern Paul was expressing. He was urging the Corinthian church to remain pure, not to allow themselves to become mixed with the surrounding idolatries. This was exactly what had so damaged Israel. Rather than cleansing the land, they tried to become part of the land. Sadly, they succeeded all too well.

What's In a Word?

I find it interesting that these two words, by which God describes the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of His people are so prevalent in our own language, in the language of commerce. When we buy our olive oil, it is labeled as "extra virgin," a rather curious term. Is it really possible to be extra pure? What is more pure than pure? How about a sweater made from virgin wool? It's worth more to us to know that the items we are buying are pure, not mixed with any other material. We seek out the unadulterated, because we know the adulterated product has somehow been cheapened, we understand implicitly that the adulterated product is a corruption of the pure.

God sees us much the same way. He seeks out an "extra virgin" people, a people of the utmost purity, unwilling to mix anything with that most valuable material of God's word. No wonder the image of marriage plays out so often in His words to us. For us, it is the most essential earthly example we will know of the relationship He seeks with us.