Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters
Sign up to receive our email newsletters and read columns about revival, renewal, and awakening built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification.
Matthew 5.27, 28
Sin begins in the heart, as we have seen already. The Law of God sought to protect the people of Israel from their hearts getting out of control, and the laws against uncovering nakedness are an example of this. While the phrase can mean actual fornication, for the most part it seems to carry just the meaning the plain reading of it implies.
To uncover the nakedness of another was to look upon the unclothed body. In the close community of ancient Hebrew society, care had to be taken to ensure that the provisions of this rule would be observed, both on the part of the one who might be unclothed as well as the one who might observe. Thus, modesty on the part of the one, and respect on the part of the other were to be standard practice.
It’s not difficult to see how this statute speaks into our society. Sexual titillation has become so much a part of our culture that we have almost given up declaiming against it. Pop culture, fashion, advertising, and, of course, pornography all profit from the appeal of lust. Christians are not immune to these practices; we must take care, in a sexually-charged society such as ours, to guard ourselves in the area of modesty as well as in that of respect.
T. M. Moore
The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.