The necessity to keep
marital relations within marriage, are clearly expressed in these verses.
Mankind has abused the God-given right and gift of sexual expression, by taking
it outside of the boundaries of biblical marriage. In doing so, man has created
a culture and an alternate belief, which is opposed to and in contradiction to
God. This has opened the floodgates to much sin, disease, heartache, emotional
and mental illness and a host of associated abuses of fellow human beings. This
destructive behaviour is the direct result of ignoring God’s principles and
deriding His word. God intends for the beauty, closeness and commitment of the
marriage relationship to be kept between a man and his wife. Sexual relationship outside of the bond of
marriage are referred to in the Bible, by the general term of ‘fornication’-
meaning ‘sexual impurity’, and should not be entered into by anyone who fears
God and wants to please Him. It is of interest in this portion of scripture,
that two very distinct words were used by the Holy Ghost in inspiration, for
the Greek word translated ‘own’ in English. It is not unusual to find that
God’s Word is gender-specific in certain teaching, and that God wants His
people to remain faithful to the truth He reveals, in spite of personal or
cultural preferences. When God said ‘his own wife’, the emphasis of the word
used, expresses the meaning of ‘the wife he possesses and belongs to him’. The
term ‘her own husband’, on the other hand, emphasises the idea that ‘he is the
husband of whom she is a part, to whom she belongs’. The teaching here is in
line with the biblical understanding of the dynamics of what adultery, (a
specific aspect of sexual impurity) is taught to mean scripturally – relations
by a man (married or single), with a married woman - a woman who ‘belongs to another
man’ in marriage! The line upon line and precept upon precept building of truth
in the Holy Scriptures, is a wonderful and powerful safeguard against false
doctrine and misinterpretation. Praise the Lord for the accuracy and precision
of his Word, and for the beauty and strength of His teaching.
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion
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