Teachings from the threefold Word of God regarding the sixth Commandment, "You shall not commit adultery."
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Exodus (NKJV) 20:14
[14] "You shall not commit adultery."
Deuteronomy (NKJV) 5:18
[18] "You shall not commit adultery."
Matthew (NKJV) 5:27-32
[27] "You have heard that it was said to those of old,
‘You shall not commit adultery.’ [28] But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. [29]
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast
it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
[30] And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast
it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
[31] "Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’
[32] But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery."
A.C. (Elliott) n. 8903-8904
8903. Verse 14 You shall not commit adultery means that what belongs to teachings about faith and charity must not be perverted, thus that the Word must not be used to lend support to falsities and evils also that the laws of order must not be turned upside down.
8904. 'You shall not commit adultery' means that what belongs to teachings about faith and charity must not be perverted, thus that the Word must not be used to lend support to falsities and evils, also that the laws of order must not be turned upside down This is clear from the meaning of 'committing adultery'* and 'committing whoredom.' In the internal or spiritual sense they mean perverting the forms of good and falsifying the truths that belong to teachings about faith and charity. And since these things are meant by 'committing adultery', using the Word to lend support to evils and falsities is also meant, since the Word constitutes the most genuine teachings about faith and charity, and truth and good there are perverted when used to support falsities and evils. Scarcely anyone at the present day knows that these things are meant 'by committing adultery' in the spiritual sense, because few people within the Church at the present day know what the spiritual realm is and how it differs from the natural. And scarcely anyone knows of the correspondence that exists between the two, which indeed is such that an image of the one presents itself in the other, that is, the spiritual realm is represented in the natural. Consequently the spiritual exists as a soul and the natural as its body, so that through influx and the joining together that results they constitute a single entity, just as the internal man, also called the spiritual man, and the external man, also referred to as the natural man, make one in a person who has been regenerated.
[2] Since people nowadays are ignorant of such matters they cannot know what else 'committing adultery' means beyond unlawful bodily coupling. Because people nowadays are ignorant of these matters, as has been said, let the reason be stated here why 'committing adultery' in the spiritual sense means perverting what belongs to teachings about faith and charity, that is, adulterating forms of good and falsifying truths. That reason, which is deeply hidden at the present day, is that conjugial love descends from the marriage of goodness and truth, called the heavenly marriage. The love existing between goodness and truth in heaven flows in from the Lord and changes into conjugial love on earth; and this happens through correspondence. This explains why the falsification of truth is meant by 'whoredom' in the internal sense, and the perversion of good by 'adultery'. It also explains why those who are not governed by the goodness and truth of faith cannot have genuine conjugial love within them, and why those who experience the delight of life in adulterous relationships can no longer receive anything of faith. I have heard it said by angels that as soon as anyone commits adultery on earth and takes delight in doing so, heaven is closed to him, that is, he refuses to receive any longer from there anything of faith or charity. The reason why at the present day in countries where the Church exists very many people make light of adulterous relationships is that the Church is at its end, and so there is no longer any faith because there is no charity; for the one corresponds to the other. Where no faith exists there is falsity instead of truth and evil instead of good; and from this flows attitudes in which adultery is no longer considered to be an offence. For when heaven has been closed with a person such attitudes flow in from hell. See what has been stated and shown previously on these matters in 2727-2759, 4434, 4835, 4837.
[3] The meaning of 'committing adultery' in the internal or spiritual sense as falsifying and perverting the truths and forms of the good of faith and charity, and therefore also lending support to falsity and evil by using statements in the Word wrongly, becomes clear from individual places in the Word in which 'committing adultery' and 'committing whoredom' are mentioned. That meaning will be plainly evident from places quoted below, as in Ezekiel,
Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations. You committed whoredom because of your renown, and poured out your acts of whoredom on every passer-by. You took some of your garments and made for yourself high places variously coloured, and on them committed whoredom. For your adornment you took vessels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself figures of the male; you committed whoredom with them. You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them to them. Were your acts of whoredom a small matter? You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, your neighbours, great in flesh, and multiplied your whoredom to provoke Me to anger. And you committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, since you were insatiable; with them you indeed committed whoredom and were not satisfied. And you multiplied your whoredom, even as far as the trading land of Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied with this. An adulterous woman - though subject to her husband, she takes strangers. To all harlots [men] make payments; but you have made payments to all your lovers, and have bribed them to come to you from all around for your whorings. Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah. I will judge you with the judgements of adulteresses and of shedders of blood. Ezek. 16:1ff.
[4] Is there anyone who cannot see that falsifications of truth and adulterations of good are meant here by 'acts of whoredom'? And is there anyone who can understand a single word here unless he knows that such things are meant by 'whoredom', and also unless he knows what is meant by 'the sons of Egypt', 'the sons of Asshur', and 'Chaldea', with whom Jerusalem is said to have committed whoredom? Jerusalem, it is obvious, did not literally commit whoredom with those actual peoples; therefore what the things in this passage mean in the internal sense must be stated. 'Jerusalem' is used to mean the perverted Church, 'its garments' here being truths that are perverted; and therefore falsities that are accepted are meant by 'high places variously coloured'. 'The sons of Egypt' are factual knowledge, 'the sons of Asshur' are reasoning, and 'Chaldea' is the profanation of truth. For truths are meant by 'garments', see 1073, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6918; and worship is meant by 'high places', so that the worship of falsity is meant here by 'high places variously coloured', 796. 'Vessels for adornment. made out of gold and silver' are cognitions or knowledge of good and truth - 'vessels' being cognitions, 3068, 3079; 'gold' being good, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917; and 'silver' the truth of good, 1551, 2048, 2954, 5658 'figures of the male' means appearances and likenesses of truth, 2046; 'the sons and daughters whom they had borne' are the truths and forms of good which they perverted, 'sons' being truths, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, and 'daughters' forms of good, 489, 2362, 3024. 'The sons of Egypt' are factual knowledge, by means of which the perversion is brought about, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588 (end), 4749, 4964, 4967, 5700, 5702, 6004, 6015, 6125, 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692, 6750, 7296, 7779, 7926; 'Asshur' is reasoning, which by means of factual knowledge has brought about the perversion of the truths of faith and the adulteration of forms of the good of faith, 119, 1186. 'Multiplying whoredom even as far as the land of Chaldea' is even to the profanation of truth, 'Chaldea' being the profanation of truth, 1368. From all this it is evident why the expressions 'adulterous woman' and 'harlot' are used.
[5] Something similar is said about 'Babylon', in the Book of Revelation,
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me, saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgement of the great harlot who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, and with the wine of whose whoredom the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk Babylon the great was the mother of whores and of the abominations of the earth. Rev. 17:1, 2, 5; 14:8; 18:3.
'Babylon' is those who pervert the Church's truths and forms of good for the sake of their own dominion and gain, perverting them to the point of profanation, as is clear from the meaning of 'Babel' in 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326, 1327 (end). This explains why Babylon is called 'a harlot' and 'the mother of whores'. People who know nothing about the internal sense will think that 'the kings of the earth who have committed whoredom with her' means kings on earth or kingdoms. Neither kings nor kingdoms are meant however, but the Church's truths of faith; and 'to commit whoredom' with these is to pervert them. For the meaning of 'kings' as the truths of faith, see 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148; and 'the earth' as the Church, 566, 662, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011, 8732. 'The inhabitants of the earth have become drunk with the wine of whoredom' means that those within the Church have been carried away into errors and insane ideas by falsities arising from evil. For 'being made drunk' is being led into errors by false reasonings and wrong interpretations of the Word, 1072, and 'wine' is falsity arising from evil, 6377, so that 'the wine of whoredom' is falsity resulting from the perversion of truth; and 'the earth', as shown just above, is the Church She is said 'to be seated on many waters' because she rests on falsities; for 'waters' in the genuine sense are truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, 729, 790, 8137, 8138, 8568.
[6] The fact that 'committing adultery' and 'committing whoredom' mean perverting the Church's forms of good and its truths is also quite clear from the following words elsewhere in Ezekiel,
Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt. In their youth they committed whoredom. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. Oholah committed whoredom under Me and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours - clothed in purple, governors and leaders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She bestowed her acts of whoredom on them, the choicest of all the sons of Asshur. But her acts of whoredom brought from Egypt she did not give up, for they kind lab' with her in her youth. Oholibah corrupted her love more than she, and her acts of whoredom more than her sister 's acts of whoredom; she desired the sons of Asshur. She added to her acts of whoredom, when she saw men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, painted in vermilion. As soon as her eyes saw them she desired them. The sons of Babel came also to her, into her love-bed; they defiled her through their whoredom. Yet she multiplied her acts of whoredom when she remembered the days of her youth, in which she committed whoredom in the land of Egypt. She desired them more than their concubines did. Ezek. 23:1ff.
Here also no one can fail to see that 'acts of whoredom' is used to mean spiritual acts of whoredom, that is, perversions of the good and falsifications of the truth which the Church possesses, and also that what the internal sense contains does not become evident unless one knows what is meant by 'the sons of Egypt', 'the Assyrians' or 'sons of Asshur', 'Chaldea', and 'Babel'. Those nations are plainly not the meaning but such things as belong to falsity; for the inhabitants of Samaria and Jerusalem did not literally commit whoredom with them. But what 'Egypt', 'Asshur', 'Chaldea', and 'Babel' mean has been shown and may be seen just above.
[7] From the following passages also it is clear that 'whoredoms' and 'adulteries' in the internal sense are falsifications and perversions of goodness and truth, thus adulterations of them, as in Hosea,
Contend with your mother, contend, since she is not My wife, and I am not her husband, in order that she may remove her whoredoms from her sight,** and her adulteries from between her breasts. I will not have mercy on her children, for they are children of whoredoms, because their mother committed whoredom saying, I will go after my lovers giving [me] my bread, and my water, and my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink. But I will lay waste her vine and her fig tree, about which she has said, These are my harlot's reward that my lovers have given me. Hosea 2:2-12
'Mother' in the internal sense here means the Church, 289, 2691, 2717, 4257, 5581, 8897, and so does 'wife', 252, 253, 409, 749, 770; but she is said 'not to be a wife' because she is steeped in perverted truths, that is, in falsities. 'Children' or 'sons' are the Church's truths, in this instance falsities since they are called 'children of whoredoms', 489, 491, 533, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257. What 'bread', 'water', 'wool', and 'flax' mean, also 'oil' and 'drink', and 'vine' and 'fig tree' too, has been shown in their own places. In these it has been shown that they are forms of the good of love and charity, and also forms of the good and the truths of faith, interior and exterior; but that in the contrary sense they are evils and falsities, since forms of good become evils and truths become falsities when they are perverted. What 'bread' means, see 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915, 6118, 8410; 'water', 739, 790, 8137, 8138, 8568; 'flax' 7601; 'oil', 886, 3728, 4582; 'drink', 3069, 3168, 3772, 8562; 'vine', 1069, 5113, 6376; and 'fig tree', 4231, 5113. 'Harlot's reward' is falsity contained in religious teachings which they try to palm off as truth.
[8] In the same prophet,
My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their rod gives them a reply, for the spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have committed whoredom beneath their god. They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, therefore your daughters commit whoredom and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. Shall I not punish*** your daughters because they commit whoredom and your daughters-in-law because they commit adultery? For the men themselves divide with whores and sacrifice with cult-prostitutes. If you commit whoredom, O Israel, do not let Judah become guilty. Hosea 4:11 ff.
'Committing whoredom beneath their god' stands for perverting truth; for 'god' in the internal sense means truth and in the contrary sense falsity, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 4295, 4402, 4544, 7010, 7268, 7873, 8301, 8867. 'Mountains' and 'hills' are types of love, at this point self-love and love of the world, 795, 796, 1691, 2722, 6435; 'a piece of wood' which is 'inquired of' is the good associated with the delight belonging to some desire or other, 643; and 'a rod which gives a reply' is the illusory power that one's own understanding seems to provide, 4013, 4015, 4876, 4936, 7011, 7026. Since truths are meant in the genuine sense by 'gods' and falsities in the contrary sense falsifying truths and adulterating forms of good is meant by they went whoring after foreign gods - after baal, after Molech, after idols, Lev. 20:5; Ezek. 6:9; and elsewhere.
[9] From all this one may now recognize what is meant by 'adultery' and 'whoredom' in the following places: In Isaiah,
Draw nearer, sons of the sorceress, seed of the adulterer, and [of her who] committed whoredom. Whom are you mocking?**** Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not those born of transgression, the seed of deceit, who inflamed yourselves among the gods under every green tree? Isa. 57:3-5.
In the same prophet,
It will happen at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre, so that she may return to her harlot 's reward and may commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the world. Isa 23:17, 18.
In Jeremiah,
And a man has put away his wife, and she has gone from him and become another man's .., .. you***** have committed whoredom with many partners. You have profaned the land with your nets of whoredom and with your wickedness. Have you not seen what estranged Israel has done? Going up onto every high mountain and under every green tree, you have committed whoredom there. Also her treacherous sister Judah, she also has gone and committed whoredom, so much so that with the voice of her whoredom she has profaned the land; she has committed adultery with stone and wood. Jer. 3:1-10.
In the same prophet,
This is your lot, because you have forgotten Me and trusted in a lie. Your adulterous acts and your neighings, the wickedness of your whoredom committed on the hills, in the field - I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Jer. 13:25, 27.
In the same prophet,
Against the prophets: The land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse the land mourns, the pastures of the wilderness have dried up For both prophet and priest practice hypocrisy In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible obstinacy, in their committing adultery and walking in a lie; they strengthen the hands of the evil They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of Jehovah. Jer. 23:9, 10ff.
In the same prophet,
They have committed folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their companions' wives, and have lyingly spoken in My name a word which I did not command them. Jer. 29:23.
[10] From these places it is plainly evident that 'committing adultery' means explaining and perverting the truths of the Word because of self-centred desires, that is, the proprium, thus as self-love and love of the world dictate; it is therefore speaking lies, that is, falsities, as is explicitly stated. In addition to those places, in Hosea,
Do not rejoice, O Israel, for you have committed whoredom under your God - you have taken delight in a harlot's reward on every threshing-floor Hosea 9:1.
In the same prophet,
Jehovah spoke to Hosea, Go, take yourself a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms; for the land has committed great whoredom by forsaking Jehovah.****** Hosea 1:2.
In Nahum,
Woe to the city of blood,******* because of the multitude of the acts of whoredom of a harlot with goodly grace, the mistress of sorceries, the seller of nations through her acts of whoredom, and of families through her sorceries. Nahum 3:1, 4.
In Moses,
Your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and will bear your acts of whoredom; according to the number of days in which you explored the land, each day for a year. You shall bear your iniquities forty years. Num. 14:33, 34
[11] Because falsifications of truth and adulterations of good corresponded to acts of whoredom in the land, adulterers received the death penalty, Lev. 20:10; and the daughter of a priest, if she profaned herself by committing whoredom was to be burned with fire, Lev. 21:9; also no daughter in Israel was to be exposed to whoredom, Lev. 19:29. In like manner one who was illegitimate was not to come into the assembly of Jehovah, down to the tenth generation of his descendants, Deut 23:2; and a harlot's reward was not to be brought into the house of Jehovah because it was an abomination, Deut. 23:18, 19.
[12] All this now shows fully what 'committing adultery' means - that in the external sense it means committing acts of adultery; in the internal representative sense it means worshipping idols and other gods by means of the kinds of things the Church possesses, consequently acts outwardly and inwardly idolatrous; but in the internal spiritual sense it means adulterations of good and perversions of truth. All this shows plainly why it is that adulterous actions are intrinsically disgusting and called abominations; that is to say, they are such because they correspond to the marriage of evil and falsity, which is the hellish marriage. It also shows conversely why genuine marriages are holy - that they are such because they correspond to the marriage of goodness and truth, which is the heavenly marriage. Indeed genuine conjugial love descends from the marriage of goodness and truth, and so from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven. But adulterous love springs from the marriage of falsity and evil, and so from hell, that is, from the devil.
* Sw. Here mentions two words - adulterari and moechari - each of which describes committing adultery and is so rendered in Scriptural quotations in this paragraph.
** lit. faces
*** lit. visit
**** lit. Against whom do you delight yourselves?
***** The Latin means she but the Hebrew means you, which Sw. has in another place where he quotes this verse
****** lit. from [being] after Jehovah
******* lit bloods
LIFE (Dick) n. 74-79
74. IX
SO FAR AS ANY ONE SHUNS ALL KINDS OF ADULTERY AS SINS, SO FAR HE LOVES CHASTITY
In the sixth commandment of the Decalogue, by committing adultery in the natural sense is meant not only to commit whoredom, but also to commit obscene acts, to speak lascivious words, and to think filthy thoughts. But in the spiritual sense, by committing adultery is meant to adulterate the goods of the Word and to falsify its truths; while in the supreme sense, by committing adultery is meant to deny the Lord's Divinity and to profane the Word. These are all the kinds of adultery. The natural man may know from rational light (lumen) that by committing adultery is also meant to commit obscene acts, to speak lascivious words and to think filthy thoughts; but he does not know, that by committing adultery is also meant to adulterate the goods of the Word and to falsify its truths; still less does he know that it means to deny the Lord's Divinity and to profane the Word. Consequently he does not know that adultery is so great an evil that it may be called devilishness itself; for whoever is in natural adultery is also in spiritual adultery, and conversely. That this is so will be shown in a particular treatise on MARRIAGE.* But they who do not regard adulteries as sins, both in faith and in life, are at the same time in adulteries of every kind.
* De Conjugio, a little work, written c. 1767, and first published in 1860.
An English translation appears in POSTHUMOUS THEOLOGICAL WORKS Vol. II. The work De Amore Conjugiali was published in 1768.
75. So far as any one shuns adultery, so far he loves marriage, or, what is the same, so far as any one shuns the lasciviousness of adultery, so far he loves the chastity of marriage. This is because the lasciviousness of adultery and the chastity of marriage are two opposites; and therefore so far as a man is not in the one, so far he is in the other. It is precisely as was stated above No. 70.
76. No one can know what the chastity of marriage is, unless he shuns the lasciviousness of adultery as sin. A man may know that in which he is, but he cannot know that in which he is not. If from description or thought he knows something in which he is not, still he knows it only as something in the shade, and uncertainty adheres to it. Therefore he does not see it in the light and free from uncertainty, as when he experiences it; and so this is to know, but the other is to know and yet not to know. It is a truth that the lasciviousness of adultery and the chastity of marriage are to each other just as hell and heaven are to each other; and that the lasciviousness of adultery makes hell with man, and the chastity of marriage makes heaven with him. However, the chastity of marriage is only possible with the man who shuns the lasciviousness of adultery as sin. See below, No. 111.
77. From these considerations it may be concluded and seen without doubt whether a man is a Christian or not: indeed, whether a man has any religion or not. He who does not regard adulteries as sins, both in faith and in life, is not a Christian, neither has he any religion. But on the other hand, he who shuns adulteries as sins, and especially he who on that account holds them in aversion, and still more he who on that account abominates them, has religion, and if he is in the Christian Church he is a Christian. But more will be seen on this subject in the treatise on MARRIAGE. Meantime see what is said concerning it in the work on HEAVEN AND HELL Nos. 366-386.
78. That by committing adultery is also meant to commit obscene acts, speak lascivious words, and think filthy thoughts, is evident from the Lord's words in Matthew:
Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a strange woman (A.V. a woman) to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matt. v 27, 28.
79. That in the spiritual sense by committing adultery is meant to adulterate the good of the Word and to falsify its truth, is evident from the following passages:
Babylon ... made all nations drink of the wine ... of her fornication. Rev. xiv 8.
The angel said ... I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. Rev. xvii 1, 2.
Babylon hath made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. Rev. xviii 3.
God hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication. Rev. xix 2.
Fornication is spoken of in relation to Babylon, because by Babylon are meant those who arrogate to themselves the Lord's Divine power, and profane the Word by adulterating and falsifying it. Therefore also Babylon is called
The mother of fornications and abominations of the earth. Rev. xvii 5.
[2] The same is signified by whoredom in the Prophets; as in Jeremiah:
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible stubbornness: they commit adultery, and walk in lies. Jer. xxiii 14.
In Ezekiel:
Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth ... One played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours . . . she bestowed her whoredoms upon them . . . Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt. The other corrupted her love more than the former, and her whoredoms more than the whoredoms of her sister. ... She increased her whoredoms . . . she loved the Chaldeans ... the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom. Ezek. xxiii 2-17.
These words relate to the Israelitish and Jewish Church, which are here called the daughters of one mother. By their whoredoms are meant the adulterations and falsifications of the Word; and as in the Word by Egypt is signified knowledge, by Assyria reasoning, by Chaldea the profanation of truth, and by Babylon the profanation of good, therefore it is said that they committed whoredom with those nations. [3] The like is said concerning, Jerusalem, by which is signified the Church as to doctrine, in Ezekiel:
Jerusalem, thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by ...
Thou hast committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredom...
Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians because thou wast insatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them...
Thou hast multiplied thy fornication unto Chaldea, the land of merchandise ...
An adulterous wife which taketh strangers instead of her husband.
They all give their gift to their whores; but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers . . . that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.
Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah. Ezek. xvi 15, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35.
That by Jerusalem is meant the Church may be seen in THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE LORD Nos. 62, 63. The like is signified by whoredoms in
Isa. xxiii 17 18; lvii 3; Jer. iii 2, 6, 8, 9; v 1 7; xiii 27 xxi 23; Micah i 7; Nahum iii 4; Hosea iv 10, 11 Lev. xx 5; Num. xiv 33; xv 39; and elsewhere.
For the same reason also the Jewish nation was called by the Lord
An adulterous generation. Matt. xii 39; xvi 4; Mark viii 38.
T.C.R. (Chadwick) n. 313-316
313. THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
You are not to commit adultery.
In the natural sense, this commandment forbids not only committing adultery, but also having obscene desires and realising them, and so indulging in lascivious thoughts and talk. It is clear from these words of the Lord that even lusting is committing adultery:
You have heard that it was said by the men of old, You are not to commit adultery. But I say to you, that if anyone looks at another man's wife so as to lust after her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matt. 5:27, 28.
The reason is that when lust is in the will, it becomes like a deed; for the enticement only enters the understanding, but the intention enters the will, and a lustful intention is a deed. More on this subject can be found in my book CONJUGIAL LOVE AND SCORTATORY* LOVE, published at Amsterdam in 1768. This contains sections on he opposition of [scortatory and] conjugial love (423-443); fornication (444a-460); types and degrees of adultery (478-499); the lust for deflowering (501-505); the lust for variety (506-510); the lust for rape (5-11, 512); the lust for seducing the innocent (513, 514); the imputation of either love, both scortatory and conjugial (523-531). All these ideas are meant by this commandment in the natural sense.
* A term to describe love which is the opposite of marriage love.
314. In the spiritual sense committing adultery means adulterating the various kinds of good in the Word and falsifying its truths. These meanings of committing adultery have until now been unknown, because the spiritual sense of the Word has until now been hidden. It is perfectly plain from the following passages that this and nothing else is meant in the Word by 'committing fornication, committing adultery, and whoring.'
Run up and down the streets of Jerusalem, and seek to find a man who acts righteously and seeks the truth; when I gave them plenty, they went after whores. Jer. 5:1, 7.
Among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horrible obstinacy, in committing adultery and going about lying. Jer. 23:14.
They acted foolishly in Israel, they went after whores, and spoke my Word untruthfully. Jer. 29:23.
They went after whores, because they have abandoned Jehovah. Hosea 4:10.
I will cut off the soul which pays attention to soothsayers and fortunetellers, to go whoring after them. Lev. 20:6.
No treaty is to be made with the inhabitants of the land, for fear the people should go whoring after their gods. Exod. 34:15.
Since Babylon stands pre-eminent in adulterating and falsifying the Word, that is why she is called the great prostitute, and the following things are said about her in Revelation:
Babylon has given all nations to drink from the wine of anger of her whoring. Rev. 14:8.
The angel said, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute, with whom the kings of the earth have gone whoring. Rev. 17:1, 2.
He has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her whoring. Rev. 19:2.
It was because the Jewish nation falsified the Word that it was called by the Lord 'an adulterous generation' (Matt. 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38) and 'the seed of an adulterer' (Isa. 57:3). In many other passages too adulteries and whoring are to be understood as meaning adulteration and falsification of the Word: e.g. Jer. 3:6, 8; 13:27; Ezek. 16:15, 16, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33; 23:2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 14, 17; Hosea 5:3; 6:10; Nahum 3:4.
315. In the celestial sense committing adultery means denying the holiness of the Word and profaning it. It follows from the spiritual sense given above, which is adulterating the good and falsifying the truth of the Word, that this is the meaning in the celestial sense. The holiness of the Word is denied and profaned by those who in their hearts ridicule everything connected with the church and religion; for in Christian countries everything of this sort is derived from the Word.
316. There are a number of reasons why a person may appear chaste, not only to others, but even to himself, when in fact he is utterly unchaste. For he is unaware that when lust is present in the will it constitutes a deed, and this lust can only be removed by the Lord after the person has repented. It is not abstaining from the act which makes a person chaste, but abstaining from willing it, when the opportunity is there, because it is a sin. Suppose for example someone abstains from adultery and fornication simply out of fear of the civil law and its penalties; from fear of losing his reputation and respectability; from fear of catching diseases by this means; from fear of quarrelling with his wife at home and thus upsetting his life; from fear of a husband or relatives taking revenge, and of being beaten by their servants; or from greed; or from weakness due to disease, abuse or age, or impotence for any other reason; even if he abstains from these actions as the result of any natural or moral law, and not at the same time as the result of spiritual law, yet that person is inwardly an adulterer and fornicator. For in spite of this he believes these actions not to be sins, and so in his spirit does not treat them as unlawful in the sight of God. Consequently he commits them in spirit, even if he does not do so bodily in the sight of the world. After death therefore, when he becomes a spirit, he openly speaks in favour of them.
Moreover, adulterers can be compared with the forsworn, who break their promises, or with the satyrs and priapi* of the ancients, who roamed the woods shouting, 'Where are the girls, the brides and wives for us to have fun with?' Adulterers actually look like satyrs and priapi in the spiritual world. They can also be likened to stinking he-goats; or to dogs which run about the streets, looking around to sniff out bitches with whom to wanton, and so forth. Their virility, when they become husbands, can be likened to the flowering of tulips in spring-time, which within a month wither and droop.
* Priapus, a Roman god of lechery.
