The Seventh Commandment: Protect the Marital Relationship
Unless the natural desires that attract us to members of the opposite sex
are channeled exclusively toward a loving marriage relationship, the temptation
to engage in sexual immorality can easily overpower our self-control.
This weakness is the focus of the Seventh Commandment.
Men and women were designed to be together, to need each other. Marriage,
a natural union of a man and a woman, is divinely ordained, established by
God at the creation. His laws-in particular the Seventh Commandment-authorize
the marriage relationship and establish it as the foundation of the family,
which in turn stands as the foundation and most important building block
of society.
God told our first parents that "a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). God's instruction clearly established what all future generations
were supposed to learn regarding marriage and sex.
As children grow old enough to shoulder the responsibilities of a family
and come to love and honor someone of the opposite sex, it is natural and
proper for them to marry-be joined together-and create their
own family apart from their parents. Only then should they "become one
flesh" by physically uniting in a sexual relationship. Jesus makes it
clear that God, from the beginning, intended that marriage be a monogamous
and permanent relationship (Matthew 19:3-6).
