The Seventh Commandment: Against Adultery – Thomas Watson

Posted on February 21, 2024 by The Town Crier Outlet
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Taken from The Ten Commandments.


EXOD. XX.14.

Thou shalt not commit Adultery.

God is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a pure holy Spirit, and hath an infinite Antipathy against all Uncleanness. In this Commandment he hath entred his Caution against it. Non maechaberis, Thou shalt not commit Adultery. The Sum of this Commandment, is, The Preservation of Corporal Purity. We must take heed of running on the Rock of Uncleanness, and so making Shipwrack of our Chastity. In this Commandment there is something tacitly implyed, and something tacitly forbidden.

1. Something tacitly Implyed, (viz.) That the Ordinance of Marriage should be observed.

2. Something expresly Forbidden, (viz.) The infecting our selves with Bodily Pollution, Thou shalt not commit Adultery.

(1.) Something Implyed, That the Ordinance of Marriage should be observed. 1 Cor. 7.2. Let every Man have his own Wife, and every Woman have her own Husband. Mar∣riage is honourable, and the Bed undefiled, Heb. 13.4. God did institute Marriage in Paradise; he brought the Woman to the Man, Gen. 2.22. He did as it were give them in Marriage. And Jesus Christ did honour Marriage with his Presence, Iohn 2.2. The first Miracle he wrought was at a Marriage, when he turned the Water into Wine. Marriage is a Type and Resemblance of the Mystical Union between Christ and his Church, Eph. 5.32. Concerning Marriage,

[1.] There are General Duties. 1. The General Duty of the Husband is to Rule. Eph. 5.23. The Husband is the Head of the Wife. The Head is the Seat of Rule and Government: but he must rule with Discretion. He is Head, therefore must not rule without Reason. 2. The General Duty on the Wife’s part, is, Sub∣mission. Eph. 5.22. Wives submit your selves unto your own Husbands as unto the Lord. It is observable the Holy Ghost passeth by Sarah‘s Failings; he doth not mention her Unbelief; but he takes notice of that which was good in her, her Reverence and Obedience to her Husband. 1 Pet. 3.6. Sarah obey’d Abraham, calling him Lord.

[2.] Special Duties belonging to Marriage, are Love and Fidelity. 1. Love. Eph. 5.25. Love is the Marriage of the Affections. There is as it were but one Heart in two Bodies: Love lines the Yoak, and makes it easie: Love perfumes the Marriage-Relation, without which it is not Conjugium, but Conjurgium; it is like two Poysons in one Stomach, one is ever sick of the other. 2. Fidelity. In Marri∣age there is a mutual Promise of living together Faithfully according to God’s Holy Ordinance. Among the Romans, on the Day of Marriage the Woman pre∣sented to her Husband Fire and Water: Fire refines Metal, Water cleanseth: Here∣by signifying, that she would live with her Husband in Chastity and Sincerity. This is the First thing in the Commandment implied, that the Ordinance of Mar∣riage should be purely observed.

(2.) The thing Forbidden in the Commandment, i. e. Infecting our selves with Bodily Pollution and Uncleanness, Thou shalt not commit Adultery. The Fountain of this Sin is Lust. Since the Fall, Holy Love is degenerated into Lust. Lust is the Fever of the Soul. There is a two-fold Adultery. 1. Mental. Matth. 5.28. Who∣soever looketh on a Woman to lust after her, hath committed Adultery already with her in his Heart. As a Man may die of an inward Bleeding, so he may be damn’d for the inward boylings of Lust, if they be not mortify’d. 2. Corporal Adultery; when Sin hath conceiv’d and brought forth in the Act. This is expresly forbidden, under a Sub poena, Thou shalt not commit Adultery. This Commandment is set as an Hedge to keep out Uncleanness, and they that break this Hedge, a Serpent shall bite them. Iob calls Adultery an heinous Crime, Job 31.11. Every Failing is not a Crime, and Page  370 every Crime is not an heinous Crime, but Adultery is Flagitium, an Heinous Crime. The Lord calls it Villany. Jer. 29.23. They have committed Villany in Israel, and have committed Adultery with their Neighbours Wives.

Quest. Wherein appears the Heinousness of this Sin of Adultery?

Resp. 1. In that Adultery is the Brea•h of the Marriage-Oath. When Persons come together in a Matrimonial way, they bind themselves by Covenant each to other, in the Presence of God, to be true and faithful in the Conjugal Relation. Unchastity is a falsifying this Solemn Oath. And herein Adultery is worse than Fornication, because ’tis a Breach of the Conjugal Bond.

2. The Heinousness of Adultery lies in this, that it is such an high Dishonour done to God. God saith, Thou shalt not commit Adultery. The Adulterer sets his Will above God’s Law, tramples upon God’s Command, affronts him to his Face; as if a Subject should tear his Princes Proclamation. The Adulterer is highly injuri∣ous to all the Persons in the Trinity. (1.) To God the Father. Sinner, God hath given thee thy Life, and thou dost waste the Lamp of thy Life, the Flower of thy Age in Lewdness. He hath bestowed on thee many Mercies, Health and Estate, and thou spendest all on Harlots. Did God give thee Wages to serve the Devil? (2.) Injurious to God the Son, two ways. First, As he hath purchased thee with his Blood. 1 Cor. 6.20. Ye are bought with a price. Now, he who is bought, is not his own; it is a Sin for him to go to another without consent from Christ, who hath bought him with a price. Secondly, By vertue of Baptism thou art a Christian, and professest that Christ is thy Head, and thou art a Member of Christ; therefore what an Injury is it to Christ, to take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of an Harlot! 1 Cor. 6.15. (3.) It is injurious to God the Ho∣ly Ghost, for the Body is his Temple. 1 Cor. 6.19. Know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? And what a Sin is it to defile his Temple.

3. The Heinousness of Adultery lies in this, That it is committed with mature Deliberation. First, There is the contriving the Sin in the Mind, then Consent in the Will, and then the Sin is put forth into Act. To sin against the Light of Nature, and to sin deliberately, is like the Die to the Wooll, it gives Sin a Tincture, and dies it of a Crimson Colour.

4. That which makes Adultery so Heinous is, that it is a Sin after Remedy. God hath provided a Remedy to prevent this Sin. 1 Cor. 7.2. To avoid Fornication let every Man have his own Wife. Therefore, after this Remedy prescribed, to be guilty of Fornication or Adultery, is inexcusable; it is like a rich Thief, that steals when he hath no need. This doth enhance and accent the Sin, and make it heinous.

Vse I. It condemns the Church of Rome, who allow the Sin of Fornication and Adultery. They suffer not their Priests to marry, but they may have their Curtizans. The worst kind of Uncleanness, Incest with the nearest of Kin, is dispens’d with for Money. It was once said of Rome, —Vrbs est jam tota Lupanar,—”Rome was become a Common Stews. And no wonder, when the Pope could, for a Sum of Money, give them a License and Patent to commit Uncleanness; and if the Patent were not enough, he would give them a Pardon. Many of the Papists judge Fornication Venial. God condemns the very Lusting, Mat. 5.28. If God condemns the Thought, how dare they allow the Fact of Fornication? You see what a Cage of Unclean Birds the Church of Rome is. They call themselves the Holy Catholick Church. But how can they be Holy, who are so steep’d and parboil’d in Fornication, Incest, Sodomy, and all manner of Uncleanness.

Vse II. It is matter of Lamentation to see this Commandment so slighted and vio∣lated among us. Adultery is the reigning Sin of the Times. Hos. 7.4. They are all Adulterers, as an Oven heated by the Baker. The time of King Henry the 8th was called the Golden Age, but this may be called the Vnclean Age, wherein Whore-hunting is common. Ezek. 24.13. In your Filthiness is Lewdness. Luther tells of one who said,

If he might but satisfie his Lust, and be carried from one Whore-house to another, he would desire no other Heaven.Afterwards he breathed out his Soul betwixt two notorious Strumpets. This is to be the right Seed of Adam, to love the Forbidden-Fruit, to love to drink of Stollen Waters. Ezek. 8.8, 9. Son of Man, dig in the Wall; and when I had digged, behold a Door; and he said, Go in and behold the wicked Abominations that they do here. Could we, as the Prophet, dig in the Walls of many Houses, what vile Abominations should we see there! In some Chambers we might see Fornication, dig further and seePage  371Adultery, dig further and we might see Incest, &c. And may not the Lord go from his Sanctuary? As Ezek. 8.6. Seest thou the great Abominations that the House of Israel committeth, that I should go far off from my Sanctuary. God might remove his Gospel, and then we might write Ichabod on the Nation, The Glory is departed. Let us mourn for what we cannot reform.

Vse III. It exhorts us to keep our selves from this Sin of Adultery. Let every Man have his own Wife, saith Paul, 1 Cor. 7.2. Not his Concubine, not his Cur∣tezan. Now that I may deterr you from Adultery, let me show you the great Evil of it.

First, It is a thievish Sin. Adultery is the highest sort of Theft. The Adulte∣rer steals from his Neighbour that which is more than his Goods and Estate, he steals away his Wife from him, who is Flesh of his Flesh.

Secondly, Adultery debaseth a Person, it makes him resemble the Beasts. There∣fore the Adulterer is described like an Horse neighing. Ier. 5.8. Every one neighed after his Neighbours Wife. Nay, this is worse than bruitish; for some Creatures that are void of Reason, yet by the Instinct of Nature observe a kind of Decorum, or Chastity. The Turtle-Dove is a chaste Creature, and keeps to it’s Mate. The Stork, where-ever he flies, comes in no Nest but his own. Naturalists write, if a Stork leaving his own Mate joyneth with any other, all the rest of the Storks fall upon him, and pull his Feathers from him. Adultery is worse than Bruitish, it degrades a Person of his Honour.

Thirdly, Adultery doth pollute and befilthy a Person. The Devil is call’d an Vn∣clean Spirit, Luke 11.24. The Adulterer is the Devils First-born; he is unclean; he is a moving Quagmire; he is all over ulcerated with Sin: His Eyes sparkle with Lust, his Mouth fomes out Filth, his Heart burns like Mount Aetna in unclean De∣sires: He is so Filthy, that if he die in this Sin, all the Flames of Hell will never purge away his Uncleanness. And as for the Adulteress, who can paint her black enough? The Scripture calls her a deep Ditch, Prov. 23.27. She is a Common-shore. Whereas a Believer, his Body is a Living Temple, and his Soul a little Heaven, bespangled with the Graces as so many little Stars. The Body of an Harlot is a walking Dunghil, and her Soul a lesser Hell.

Fourthly, Adultery is destructive to the Body. Prov. 5.11. And thou mourn at last, when thy Flesh and thy Body is consumed. It brings into a Consumption. Unclean∣ness turns the Body into an Hospital; it wastes the Radical Moisture, rots the Skull, eats the Beauty of the Face. As the Flame wastes the Candle, so the Fire of Lust consumes the Bones. The Adulterer hastens his own Death. Prov. 7.23. Till a Dart strike through his Liver.* The Romans had their Funerals at the Gate of Venus Temple, to signify that Lust brings Death. Venus is Lust.

Fifthly, Adultery is a Purgatory to the Purse, as it wastes the Body so the Estate. Prov. 6.26. By the means of a Whorish Woman a Man is brought to a piece of Bread. Whores are the Devil’s Horseleeches, Spunges that will soon suck in all ones Mo∣ney. The Prodigal had soon spent his Portion when once he fell among Harlots, Luke 15.30. King Edward the Third’s Concubine, when he lay a dying, got all she could from him, and pluck’d the Rings off his Fingers, and so left him. He that lives in Luxury dies in Beggery.

Sixthly, Adultery blots and eclipseth the Name. Prov. 6.33. Whoso committeth Adul∣tery with a Woman, a wound and dishonour shall he get, and his Reproach shall not be wiped away. Some while they get Wounds get Honour. The Soldiers Wounds are full of Honour. The Martyrs Wounds for Christ are full of Honour: These get Ho∣nour while they get Wounds: But the Adulterer gets Wounds in his Name, but no Honour. His Reproach shall not be wiped away. The Wounds of the Name no Phy∣sician can heal. The Adulterer, when he is dead, his Shame lives. When his Bo∣dy rots under ground, his Name rots above ground. His base-born Children will be the Living Monuments of his Shame.

Seventhly, This Sin doth much eclipse the Light of Reason; it steals away the Un∣derstanding, it stupifies the Heart. Hos. 4.11. Whoredom takes away the Heart: It eats out all Heart for good. Solomon besotted himself with Women, and they enticed him to Idolatry.

Eighthly, This Sin of Adultery ushers in Temporal Iudgments. The Mosaical Law made Adultery Death, Lev. 20.10. The Adulterer and the Adulteress shall surely be put to Death: And the usual Death was Stoning, Deut. 22.24. The Saxons com∣manded the Persons taken in this Sin to be burnt. The Romans caused their Heads to be stricken off. This Sin, like a Scorpion, carries a Sting in the Tail of it. The Page  372 Adultery of Paris and Helena a beautiful Strumpet, ended in the Ruin of Troy, and was the Death both of Paris and Helena. Iealousie is the rage of a Man; and the Adulterer is oft killed in the Act of his Sin. Adultery cost Otho the Emperor and Pope Sixtus the Fourth their Lives.

Laeta venire Venus tristis abire solet.

I have read of two Citizens in London, 1583. who defiling themselves with Adultery on the Lord’s Day, were immediately struck dead with a Fire from Hea∣ven. If all that were now guilty of this Sin should be punished in this manner, it would rain Fire again, as on Sodom.

Ninthly, Adultery, (without Repentance) damns the Soul. 1 Cor. 6.9. Neither Fornicators, nor Adulterers, nor Effeminate, shall enter into the Kingdom of God. The Fire of Lust brings to the Fire of Hell. Heb. 13.4. Whoremongers and Adulte∣rers God will judge. Tho Men may neglect to judge them, yet God will judge them.—But, will not God judge all other Sinners? Yes. Why then doth the Apostle say, Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge? The meaning is, (1.) He will judge them assuredly; they shall not escape the Hand of Justice. (2.) He will punish them severely, 2 Pet. 2.10. The Lord knoweth how to reserve the Vnjust to the Day of Iudgment to be punish’d, but chiefly them that walk in the Lust of Vncleanness. The Harlot’s Breast keeps from Abraham‘s Bosom. Momentaneum est quod delectat Aeternum, q. d. Cruciat. Who would for a Cup of Pleasure drink a Sea of Wrath? Prov. 9.18. Her Guests are in the depths of Hell. A wise Traveller when he comes to his Inn, tho many pleasant Dishes are set before him, yet he for∣bears to taste, because of the Reckoning which will be brought in. We are here all Travellers to Ierusalem above; and tho many Baits of Temptation are set before us, yet we should forbear, and think of the reckoning which will be brought in at Death. With what Stomach could Dionisius eat his Dainties, when he imagi∣ned there was a naked Sword hung over his Head as he sat at Meat. While the Adulterer feeds on strange Flesh, the Sword of God’s Justice hangs over his Head. Causinus speaks of a Tree that grows in Spain, that is of a sweet Smell, and plea∣sant to the Taste, but the Juyice of it is poysonous. The Emblem of an Harlot; she is perfum’d with Powders, and fair to look on, but poysonous and damna∣ble to the Soul. Prov. 7.26. She hath cast down many wounded, yea, many strong Men have been slain by her.

Tenthly, The Adulterer doth not only wrong his own Soul, but doth what in him lies to destroy the Soul of another, and so kill two at once. And thus the Adul∣terer is worse than the Thief. For suppose a Thief Rob a Man, yea, take away his Life, yet that Man’s Soul may be happy, he may go to Heaven, as well as if he had died in his Bed. But he who commits Adultery endangers the Soul of ano∣ther, and deprives her of Salvation so far as in him lies. Now, what a fearful thing is it to be an Instrument to draw another to Hell.

Eleventhly, The Adulterer is abhorr’d of God. Prov. 22.14. The mouth of a strange Woman is a deep Pit: he who is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. What can be worse than to be abhorr’d of God? God may be angry with his own Children; but for God to Abhor a Man, it is the highest Degree of Hatred.

Quest. But how doth the Lord show his abhorring of the Adulterer?

Answ. In giving him up to a Reprobate Mind and a Seared Conscience, Rom. 1.26. And now he is in such a condition that he cannot repent. This is to be abhor∣red of God: Such a Person stands upon the Threshold of Hell, and when Death gives him a Jog he tumbles in. All which may sound a Retreat in our Ears, and call us off from the pursuit of so damnable a Sin as Uncleanness. I will conclude with two Scriptures, Prov. 5.8. Come not nigh the Door of her House. Prov. 7.27. Her House is the way to Hell.

Twelfthly, Adultery is a Sower of Discord: It destroyes Peace and Love, the two best Flowers which grow in a Family. Adultery sets Husband against Wife, and Wife against Husband, and so it causeth the Ioynts of the same Body to smite one against another. And this Division in a Family works Confusion: For an House di∣vided against it self cannot stand, Luke 11.17. Omne divisibile est corruptibile.

Quest. How may we abstain from this Sin of Adultery?

Resp. I shall lay down some Directions, by way of Antidote, to keep you from being infected with this Sin.

(1.) Come not into the Company of a Whorish Woman, avoid her House as a Sea∣man doth a Rock. Prov. 5.8. Come not near the Door of her House. He who would Page  373 not have the Plague, must not come near Houses infected. Every Whore-house hath the Plague in it. Beware of the occasion of Sin: To venture upon the occasion of Sin, and then pray, Lead us not into Temptation, is, as if one should put his Finger in the Candle, and then pray that it may not be burnt.

(2.) Look to your Eyes. Much Sin comes in by the Eye. 2 Pet. 2.14. Ha∣ving Eyes full of Adultery. The Eye tempts the Fancy, and the Fancy works upon the Heart. A wanton amorous Eye may usher in Sin. Eve first saw the Tree of Knowledge, and then she took, Gen. 3.6. First she looked, and then she loved; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The Eye oft sets the Heart on Fire: Therefore Iob laid a Law up∣on his Eyes. Iob 31.1. I made a Covenant with my Eyes, why then should I think upon a Maid? Democritus the Philosopher pluck’d out his Eyes, because he would not be tempted with vain Objects: The Scripture doth not bid us do so, but set a Watch before our Eyes.

(3.) Look to your Lips. Take heed of any unseemly Word that may enkindle unclean Thoughts in your selves or others. 1 Cor. 15.33. Evil Communications cor∣rupt good Manners. Impure Discourse is the Bellows to blow up the Fire of Lust. Much Evil is conveyed to the Heart by the Tongue. Psal. 141.3. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth.

(4.) Look in a special manner to your Heart. Prov. 4.23. Keep thy Heart with all keeping. Every one hath a Tempter in his own Bosom. Matth. 15.19. Out of the Heart come Evil Thoughts. And thinking of Sin makes way for the Act of Sin. Sup∣press the first Risings of Sin in your Heart. As the Serpent, when Danger is near, keeps his Head: So keep your Heart, which is the Spring from whence all lustful Motions do proceed.

(5.) Look to your Attire. We read of the Attire of an Harlot, Prov. 7.10. A wanton Dress is a Provocation to Lust. Curlings and Towrings of the Hair, a Painted Face, naked Breasts, are Allurements to Vanity. Where the Bush is hung out, People will go in and taste of the Liquor. Hierom saith, Such as by their lascivious Attires endeavour to draw others to Lust, tho no Evil follow; yet these Tempters shall be punished, because they offered Poyson to others, tho they would not drink.

(6.) Take heed of Evil Company. Serpunt vitia & in proximum quem{que} transiliunt.* Sin is a Disease very catching: One Man tempts another to sin, and hardens him in Sin. There are three Cords to draw Men to Adultery: The Inclination of the Heart, the Perswasion of Evil Company, and the Embraces of the Harlot; and this Three-fold Cord is not easily broken. Psal. 106.18. A Fire was kindled in their Company. I may allude to it, the Fire of Lust is kindled in bad Company.

(7.) Beware of going to Plays. A Play-house is oft a Preface to a Whore-house. Ludi praebent semina nequitiae. We are forbid to avoid all appearance of Evil: Are not Plays the appearance of Evil? Such Sights are there as are not fit to be be∣held with chaste Eyes. Both Fathers and Councils have shown their Dislike of go∣ing to Plays. A Learned Divine observes, That many have on their Death-beds confessed with Tears, that the Pollution of their Bodies hath been occasioned by going to Plays.

(8.) Take heed of mix’d Dancing. Instrumenta luxuriae tripudia. From Dancing People come to Dalliance one with another, and from Dalliance to Uncleanness. There is, saith Calvin, for the most part some unchaste Behaviour in Dancing. Dances draw the Heart to Folly by wanton Gestures, by Unchaste Touches, by Lustful Looks. St. Chrysostom did inveigh against mix’d Dancing in his Time.

We read, saith he, of a Marriage-Feast, and of Virgins going before with Lamps, Matth. 25.7. but of Dancing there, we read not.Many have been insnared by Dancing; as the Duke of Normandy, and others. Saltatio ad adulteras non ad pu∣dicas pertinet. Ambros. Chrysostom saith, Where Dancing is, there the Devil is: I speak chiefly of mix’d Dancing. And whereas we read of Dances in Scripture, Exod. 15. those were sober and modest. They were not mix’d Dances, but Pious and Religious, being usually accompanied with singing Praises to God.

(9.) Take heed of Lascivious Books, and those Pictures that provoke to Lust. 1. Books. As the reading of Scripture doth stir up Love to God, so reading of bad Books doth stir up the Mind to Wickedness. I could name one who publish’d a Book to the World full of effeminate, amorous and wanton Expressions; before he died he was much troubled for it, and did burn that Book which did make so many burn in Lust. 2. And to Lascivious Books, I may add Lascivious Pictures, which bewitch the Eye, and are the Incendiaries of Lust. They secretly convey Poyson to the Heart. Qui aspicit innocens aspectu fit nocens. Popish Pictures are Page  374 not more prone to stir up to Adultery, than unclean Pictures are to stir up to Con∣cupiscence.

(10.) Take heed of Excess in Diet. When Gluttony and Drunkenness lead the Van, Chambering and Wantonness bring up the Rear. Vinum fomentum libidinis; any Wine inflames Lust: And Fulness of Bread is made the Cause of Sodom‘s Un∣cleanness, Ezek. 16.49. The rankest Weeds grow out of the fattest Soil. Un∣cleanness proceeds from Excess. Ier. 5.8. When they were fed to the full, every one neighed after his Neighbours Wife. Get the Golden Bridle of Temperance. God allows Recruits of Nature, and what may fit us the better for his Service; but beware of Surfeit. Excess in the Creature clouds the Mind, choaks good Affections, pro∣vokes Lust! St. Paul did 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, keep under his Body, 1 Cor. 9.27. The Flesh pampered is apt to rebell. Corpus impinguatum recalcitrat.

(11.) Take heed of Idleness. When a Man is out of a Calling, now he is fit to receive any Temptation. We do not use to sow Seed in Fallow Ground: But the Devil sows most Seed of Temptation in such as lie sallow. Idleness is the Cause of Sodomy and Uncleanness, Ezek. 16.49. When David was idle on the Top of his Leads, then he espied Bathsheba, and took her to him, 2 Sam. 11.4. Hierom gave his Friend this Counsel, to be always well employed in God’s Vineyard, that when the Devil came he might have no leisure to listen to a Temptation.

(12.) To avoid Fornication and Adultery, let every Man have a chaste entire Love to his own Wife. Ezekiel‘s Wife was the Desire of his Eyes, chap. 24.16. When Solomon had disswaded from strange Women, he prescribes a Remedy against it: Prov. 5.18. Rejoyce with the Wife of thy Youth. It is not the having a Wife, but the loving a Wife, makes a Man live Chastly. He who loves his Wife, whom Solomon calls his Fountain, will not go abroad to drink of muddy poysoned Waters. Pure Conjugal Love is a Gift of God, and comes from Heaven. This, like the Vestal Fire, must be cherished, that it do not go out. He who loves not his Wife, is the likelyest Person to embrace the Bosom of a Stranger.

(13.) Labour to get the Fear of God into your Hearts. Prov. 16.6. By the Fear of the Lord Men depart from Evil. As the Banks keep out the Water, so the Fear of the Lord keeps out Uncleanness. Such as want the Fear of God, want the Bridle that should check them from Sin. How did Ioseph keep from his Mistresses Temptation? The Fear of God pull’d him back. Gen. 39.9. How should I do this great Wickedness and sin against God? St. Bernard calls Holy Fear Ianitor Animae, The Door-keeper of the Soul. As a Noble-man’s Porter stands at the Door, and keeps out Vagrants, so the Fear of God stands and keeps out all sinful Temptations from entring.

(14.) Get a Delight in the Word of God. Psal. 119.123. How sweet is thy Word to my taste! St. Chrysostom compares God’s Word to a Garden. If we walk in this Garden, and suck Sweetness from the Flowers of the Promises, we shall never care to pluck the Forbidden Fruit. Sint castae deliciae meae Scripturae. Aug. The Reason why Persons seek after unchaste sinful Pleasures, is, because they have no better. Caesar riding through a City, and seeing the Women play with Dogs and Parrots, said, Sure they have no Children. So they that sport with Harlots, it is because they have no better Pleasures. He that hath once tasted Christ in a Promise, is ravish’d with Delight, and how would he scorn a Motion to sin! Iob said, the Word was his appointed Food, Iob 23.12. No Wonder then he made a Covenant with his Eyes.

(15.) If you would abstain from Adultery, use Serious Consideration. Consider,

1. God sees thee in the Act of Sin. He sees all thy Curtain-wickedness. He is Totus Oculus, All Eye. Aug. The Clouds are no Canopy, the Night is no Curtain to hide thee from God’s Eye. Thou canst not sin, but thy Judge looks on. Ier. 13.27. I have seen thy Adulteries and thy Neighings. Jer. 29.33. They have committed Adultery with their Neighbours Wives, even I know, and am a Witness, saith the Lord.

2. Few that are intangled in the Sin of Adultery recover out of the Snare. Prov. 2.19. None that go to her return again. That made some of the Ancients con∣clude that Adultery was an unpardonable Sin. But not so: David repented, and Mary Magdalen was a Weeping Penitent. Her Amorous Eyes that had sparkled with Lust, she seeks to be revenged of them, she washed Christ’s Feet with her Tears. So that some have recovered out of the Snare. But None that go to her return, that is, very few. It is rare to hear of any who are inchanted and bewitched with this Sin of Adultery, that recover out of it. Eccles. 7.26. Her Heart is Snares and Nets, and her Hands as Bands. Her Heart is Snares, that is, she is subtile to deceive Page  375 those who come to her. And, Her Hands are Bands. That is, Her Embraces are powerful to hold and intangle her Lovers. Plutarch said of the Persian Kings, They were Captives to their Concubines. They were so inflamed, that they had no Power to leave their Company. This Consideration may make all fearful of this Sin; None that go to her return again. Soft Pleasures harden the Heart.

3. Consider what the Scripture saith, and it may ponere obicem, Lay a Bar in the way to this Sin. Mal. 3.5. I will be a swift Witness against the Adulterers. It is good when God is a Witness for us: When he witnesseth for our Sincerity, as he did for Iob: But it is sad to have God a Witness against us. I (saith God) will be a Witness against the Adulterer. And who shall disprove his Witness? And he is both Witness and Iudge. Heb. 13.4. Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge.

4. Consider the Sad Farewell this Sin of Adultery leaves; it leaves an Hell in the Conscience. Prov. 15.4. The Lips of a strange Woman drop as an Honey-comb, her End is bitter as Wormwood. The Goddess Diana was so artificially drawn, that she seemed to smile upon those that came into her Temple, but frown on those that went out. So the Harlot smiles on her Lovers as they come to her, but at last comes the Frown and Sting, A Dart strikes through their Liver, Prov. 7.23. Her End is bitter. When a Man hath been vertuous, the Labour is gone, but the Com∣fort remains. But when he hath been vicious and unclean, the Pleasure is gone, but the Sting remains. Delectat in momentum, cruciat in aeternum. Jerom. When the Sences have been feasted with unchaste Pleasures, the Soul is left to pay the Rec∣koning. Stollen Waters are sweet. But as Poyson, tho’ it be sweet in the Mouth, it torments the Bowels. Sin alwas ends in a Tragedy. Memorable is that which Fincelius reports of a Priest in Flanders, who enticed a Maid to Uncleanness. She objected how vile a Sin it was. He told her, By Authority from the Pope he could commit any Sin. So at last he drew her to his wicked purpose. But when they had been together a while, in came the Devil and took away the Harlot from the Priest’s side; and notwithstanding all her crying out, carried her away. If all that are guilty of Bodily Uncleanness in this Nation, should have the Devil come and carry them away, I fear more would be carried away than would be left be∣hind.

(16.) Pray against this Sin. Luther gave a Lady this Advice, That when any Lust began to rise in her Heart, she should go to Prayer. Prayer is the best Ar∣mour of Proof. Prayer quencheth the Wild-fire of Lust. If Prayer will cast out the Devil, why may it not cast out those Lusts which come from the Devil?

Vse ult. If the Body must be kept pure from Defilement, much more the Soul of a Christian must be kept pure. This is the meaning of the Commandment, Not only that we should not stain our Bodies with Adultery, but that we should keep our Souls pure. To have a chaste Body, but an unclean Soul, is like a fair Face with bad Lungs; or a guilt Chimney-piece, that is all Soot within. 1 Pet. 1.16. Be ye holy, for I am holy. The Soul cannot be lovely to God, till it hath Christ’s Image stamp’d upon it, which Image consists in Righteousness and true Holiness, Eph. 4.14. The Soul must especially be kept pure, because it is the chief place of God’s Residence, Eph. 3.17: A King’s Palace must be kept clean, especially his Presence-Chamber. If the Body of the Temple, the Soul, is the Holy of Holies, this must be consecrated. We must not only keep our Bodies from Carnal Pol∣lution, but our Souls from Envy and Malice.

Quest. How shall we know our Souls are pure?

Resp. 1. If our Souls are pure, then we fly from the appearance of evil, 1 Thess. 5.22. We will not do that which looks like sin. When Ioseph‘s Mistress did court and tempt him, he left his Garment in her hand, and fled, Gen. 39.12. ‘Twas suspicious to be near her. Polycarp would not be seen in Company with Marcion the Here∣tick, because it would not be of good Report.

2. If our Souls are pure, this Light of Purity will shine forth. Aaron had Ho∣liness to the Lord written upon his Golden Plate. Where there is Sanctity in the Soul, there Holiness to the Lord is engraven upon our Life; we are adorn’d with Patience, Humility, good Works, and shine as Lights in the World, Phil. 2.15. carry Christ’s Picture in our Conversations. 1 Iohn 2.6. O let us labour for this Soul-Purity, without it there’s no seeing of God. Heb. 12.14. What Commu∣nion hath Light with Darkness? And that we may keep our Souls pure, (1.) Have Recourse to the Blood of Christ: This is the Fountain set open for Sin and Vn∣cleanness, Zech. 13.1. A Soul steep’d in the Brinish Tears of Repentance, and bathed in the Blood of Christ, is made pure. (2.) Pray much for Pureness of Page  376 Soul. Psal. 51.10. Create in me a clean Heart, O God. Some pray for Children, others for Riches, but pray for Soul-purity. Say, Lord, tho my Body is kept pure, yet, Lord, my Soul is defiled, I pollute all I touch. O purge me with Hyssop: Let Christ’s Blood sprinkle me, let the Holy Ghost come upon me and anoynt me. O make me Evangelically pure, that I may be translated to Heaven, and placed among the Cherubims, where I shall be as holy as thou wouldst have me to be, and as happy as I can desire to be.

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Self Denial – Charles Finney

Posted on February 20, 2024 by The Town Crier Outlet

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Supernatural Theology 64: How the Pentecostal Movement Started

Posted on February 20, 2024 by The Town Crier Outlet

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Public Opinion – Charles Finney

Posted on February 19, 2024 by The Town Crier Outlet

The true friends of God and man are always aiming at forming public sentiment, and correcting public sentiment on all points where it is wrong. They are set, with all their hearts, to search out all the evils in the world, and to reform the world, and drive out iniquity from the earth. The other class are always following public sentiment as it is, and feeling after the course of the tide, to go that way, shrinking back from every thing that goes in the face of public sentiment. And they are ready to brand as imprudent, or rash, any man or any thing, that goes to stem the tide of public sentiment and turn it the other way.

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Why All Churches Need Preacher Training Programs

Posted on February 17, 2024 by The Town Crier Outlet

The 30 Most Affordable Online Bible Colleges

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Mysteries of the Glory – John Kilpatrick

Posted on February 15, 2024 by The Town Crier Outlet
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Love – Charles Finney

Posted on February 15, 2024 by The Town Crier Outlet
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True Submission – Charles Finney

Posted on February 14, 2024 by The Town Crier Outlet

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Correcting Sloppy Agape: The Christian’s Love for His Neighbor

Posted on February 13, 2024 by The Town Crier Outlet

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  –1 Corinthians 13:6

…a number of unsent persons (went) preaching about…much smooth, undigested nonsense, preached up heresy, even that worst of heresies, (as not striking at the branches, but the whole root of holiness at once,) I mean antinomianism.  –John Wesley

No Such Sin As ‘Legalism’.

O beware of all that talk or write in that un-Scriptural manner, or they will perplex, if not destroy, you! I cannot find in my Bible any such sin as legality [legalism]. Truly, we have been often afraid where no fear was. I am not half legal [legalistic] enough, not enough under the law of love. Sometimes there is painful conviction of sin preparatory to full sanctification; sometimes a conviction that has far more pleasure than pain, being mixed with joyful expectation. Always there should be a gradual growth in grace; which need never be intermitted from the time we are justified. Do not wait, therefore, for pain or anything else, but simply for all-conquering faith.

John Wesley, November 27, 1770, “Letter to Mary Bishop.”

—

In this article, I am going to draw from four different sources. Because there is no subject in the Christian life more important than love, I feel a strong sense of responsibility to get the doctrine right; and to not water it down, or modernize it, by popular definitions. The four sources I will turn to, are what are called in Wesleyan theology, the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” of Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience. Although Scripture trumps all the rest, my hermeneutic, or method of Biblical interpretation, will be guided and informed by the other three.

In the Tradition category, I will draw mainly from John Wesley, some of his creation-centered expressions of love from William Law’s A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, chs. 20-21, Reformed theologian J. I. Packer, Martin Luther’s “A Sermon on Christian Love,” Hugh Binning’s A Treatise of Christian Love (who was a Reformed Arminian Puritan), and John Brown of Edinburgh’s Keeping Christ’s Commandments: A True Manifestation of Love to Him (a nineteenth century Reformed Arminian Presbyterian preacher):–these last two men are interesting, because they both held the view of unlimited atonement, over and against the Calvinist tradition, believing that it is possible to love all men, because God loves all men, and sent His Son into the world to die for all men, not only the “elect.”

In the Reason category, I will appeal to the sound Biblical arguments, or the reasons that these theologians and preachers had given, for why Christians should love their neighbors, and with a particular view in mind.

In the Experience category, I will appeal to my own personal experience with divine love operating in my heart since my conversion, and my gradual or not-so-gradual, growth into a more loving Christian.

Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience may guide the article, but the structure of the article is going to be based on what I feel is the most logical progression of subjects related to love for man operating in the Christian life. This article will not touch so much on God’s love for man, Christ’s love for man, or the world’s love for man or things; nor will we be taking up the subject so much of a Christian’s love for God (although we will have to necessarily touch on that briefly); rather, we will be taking up the subject of a Christian’s love for all mankind or for his neighbor.

Christian Love Fulfills the Moral Law

Jesus, Paul, and John are the three greatest teachers of Christian love (agape) in the New Testament; and it is worthy of noting in the beginning, that all three of them agreed on the view that Christian love fulfills all the moral requirements of God’s law in the Scriptures.

Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt. 22:37-40). From the outset, we should not interpret Jesus as meaning that a simplistic “loving the Lord” and “loving your neighbor” replaces all the Law and the Prophets, as if we can basically ignore the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:1-17), the sayings of the prophets, and all the moral directions in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. No, Jesus is saying that these two Mosaic commandments, to love the Lord, which the Jews called the shema (it was a very important devotional Scripture to them, Deut. 6:5); and to love your neighbor (Lev. 19:18), were the most important commandments in all the laws that were given by God to Moses, because it is in these two commandments that all the Ten Commandments, and all the other moral commandments in the Bible are obeyed exactly in the way they were intended. Jesus was not an antinomian (a teacher against the Law of Moses), although the Pharisees accused him of this, Jesus was careful to clarify Himself, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them,” etc (Matt. 5:17). Jesus had to say this, because all His teaching on grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness were even during His days on earth, coming to be misinterpreted by His disciples and the Pharisees, as a “cheap grace” or morally lax antinomian teaching. While it is clear that Jesus taught flexibility about the ceremonial law, such as how to observe the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1-14), there is not one occasion in the Gospels where He taught laxity with the moral law. And even in Jesus’ teaching on Sabbath observance, He was not breaking any Old Testament regulations, but only the teachings of the rabbis, the “tradition of the elders” (Matt. 15:2), or their interpretations of how to keep the Sabbath, and various rituals. (These teachings were later compiled into the Mishnah.) Jesus closely tied love with keeping God’s law; and that when transgression of the law or sin, increased, when iniquity is said to abound, then “the love of most will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12).

Paul wrote, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:8-10). Many carnal, morally lax, and antinomian teachers over the centuries have taken the writings of the Apostle Paul, namely Galatians, and have twisted them to their own destruction (2 Pet. 3:16). Taking Paul’s teachings out of their original context, whenever they see in his letters something that says Christians are saved by grace and not by works (Eph. 2:8-9) or when Paul says, “We’re not under law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). These people don’t realize that Christian freedom does not mean license to sin (Rom. 6:1-2); it means liberation from the ceremonial law of Judaism as the way of salvation. The Christian way of salvation is much easier: the cross of Christ (Isa. 53), brings immediate forgiveness of sins, by living a life of repentant faith (Rom. 3-8). Paul agrees with Christ: “Love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:10; cp. Matt. 22:37-40). But love is not the abolition of the law, as carnal and unstable people teach. Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law” (Matt. 5:17). Abolish means to demolish or overthrow; fulfill means to fill up, perfect, or complete. Jesus was not anti-commandments; He was pro-commandments (and even more so; His teaching was so exacting and heart-searching, that anyone who follows them will obey God’s commandments just as they were originally intended.) And Paul, the once zealous Pharisee, when he came to understand the spiritual nature of Jesus’ teaching, was able to write, “Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death…in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:2, 4). Through faith in the cross, we receive the Holy Spirit, which gives us supernatural love, and supernatural obedience to God. Romans 5:5: “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” Galatians 5:22: “The fruit of the Spirit is love.”

John also carries on the theme of how love fulfills the moral law in the Christian life; and he goes so far to say, that if someone does not have this Spirit of commandment-keeping love in their life, then they are not saved. But first, John quotes Jesus as saying, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me…If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My Words” (John 14:21, 23-24, NKJV). This from the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” the “apostle of love,” as a close brother and friend of Christ, also later wrote, fending off a group of Gnostic antinomians, “We know that we have come to know Him (Jesus) if we obey His commands. The man who says, ‘I know Him,’ but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His Word, God’s love is truly made complete in him” (1 John 2:3-5). “Knowing God” is another Biblical expression for being saved; those who do not “know God” are spoken of as going to Hell: Christ “will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power” (2 Thess. 1:8-9). “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). And John agrees with Paul, that the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in a Christian, produces divine love for other people: “If we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us…God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:12, 16).

Commandment-Keeping and Christian Contemplation:
Ways of Experiencing More of God’s Love

Dwelling in God and in His love is a continual spiritual discipline, no doubt cultivated by keeping God’s commandments; and also by silent prayer. Harald Lindström, the Wesley scholar, states that John Wesley believed contemplative prayer was a means by which to be filled with more of the love of the Holy Spirit: “If the eye of faith is steadily fixed on God’s love in Christ man is filled with ever greater love to God and man. Love to God can also be regarded as a direct result of the contemplation of God;” and quoting Wesley: “Now, if God should ever open the eyes of your understanding, must not the love of God be the immediate consequence? Do you imagine you can see God without loving Him?”[1] I have had personal experience of this! I remember in 2006 I was on a mountain retreat with a Christian friend, and I stole away into the woods for solitude and prayer. I was fixing my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith (Heb. 12:2), and I experienced a kind of inner vision, and I had a sudden flash of understanding come into my heart and mind:–that God loves all of the creatures that He has made, animate and inanimate—stars, dolphins, trees, animals, plants, men, women, and children…because He made them, He designed them, and He loves them. And this Spirit and revelation was in my understanding for some time; because the vision was amazing. I came out of prayer, and went to the Bible study session, only to discover that the theme the retreat leaders had chosen was love! And do I try to keep God’s commandments? Ever since I got saved in 2000—Jesus has been my Lord first, and Savior second. Almost legalistically, I try to keep the law of Christ, reforming my old ways, and striving for purity of thought every single moment. There is no other way to see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). Repentance from sin is a continual walk of faith, hope, and love; and I have no other view of how to be a Christian, but by exacting obedience to God in every Biblical way; yet sometimes, my focus gets off balance, I’ll get distracted, and I will focus on this or that thing in the Word, and forget that the main point of everything is to love God and neighbor (Matt. 22:37-40).

Christian Love Offers Charity to All

It’s one thing to say you feel pure and holy, divine love for all people; it’s quite another to act on it and offer proof that it is there. “Charity” in the KJV is a fitting translation of the Greek word agape in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. If you were to look at all the uses of the word agape in the New Testament with Strong’s concordance, you would find it being used in the sense of an act of charity. Of course, it is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22); charity is a Spirit of Generosity; but it finds its expression in works of charity, charitable activities, or “mercy ministries,” such as feeding the hungry, showing hospitality to strangers, clothing the poor, visiting the sick, or those in prison (Matt. 25:35-36). Jesus illustrated agape in His parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). This agape, this charitable love, this love of neighbor is profiled in positive and negative descriptions by Paul: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Cor. 13:4-7). Lindström summarizes Wesley’s understanding of the Spirit of Love: “It is a ‘universal, disinterested love,’ ‘a sincere, tender, disinterested love for all mankind,’ ‘universal benevolence; tender good-will to all men.’ It is described as a ‘tender good-will to all the souls that God has made’ or as ‘benevolence to our fellow creatures’…a ‘real, disinterested benevolence to all mankind,’…he says that neighborly love is a ‘pure, disinterested good-will to every child of man.’”[2]

But universal Christian charity is not the only meaning of agape in the New Testament. Although the word agape literally means “affection or benevolence; charity; charitable” (charitable love):–the word is also used in reference to church members loving one another as brothers and sisters. Those in pastoral ministry must see such a need for this! Backbiting, talebearing, and all kinds of divisive and malicious behavior occur among church members. But Christ and the apostles will not allow it! Jesus; and especially the apostles repeatedly tell the churches to “agape one another” (John 13:34-35; 15:12, 17; Gal. 5:13; Eph. 4:2; Col. 1:4; 1 Thess. 3:12; 1 John 4:11-12):–which implies it must require the Holy Spirit to show charitable love to such hard to love, oftentimes mean, unloving, unlovable people, who are, as Hugh Binning said, “worthy of hatred.”[3] In a way, it’s a renewal of Jesus’ teaching to love your enemies (Matt. 5:44), but taking it further, to love them as brothers and sisters, self-sacrificially, and as Wesley said, “disinterested”: expecting no love in return. Showing them the same kind of love Christ did, when He willingly offered up His life on the cross, for the sins of the whole world: friends, enemies, and everyone.

Sweet fellowship of brotherly and sisterly love (more comparable to phileo) can be experienced between saints, but this is rare. This, it seems, when given its sanctifying parameters, is a mixture of agape and phileo (a holy brotherly or sisterly love between Christian friends—a love with godly interest and godly reciprocation; a love that gives as well as receives; and is more of a blessing than a cross). This is a heightened, and dare I say, rare form of godly love, rarely spoken of in the New Testament. But if the Christian will pursue self-sacrificing charity (agape) to those that do not love him, the Holy Spirit will come alongside, and help; enabling him to see and know that love which Christ had in Him when He offered Himself up on the cross. “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). What an act of charity! To die on a cross in order to satisfy God’s wrath at us, so that all who repentantly believe, will be saved from eternal damnation! This is the sort of love (agape) that Christians are to demonstrate to all men, if they intend on imitating Christ; and being Christian disciples. Sure, it doesn’t literally mean dying for someone (although in some cases it might come to that):–but overall there is the concept of sacrificing yourself to show Christ’s charity to other people; as did the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

The Golden Rule, however, puts a simple parameter on the exercise of charity, lest those charitable Christians be taken advantage of, and allow themselves to be made into doormats, for abusive people to walk all over: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this is the sum of the Law and the Prophets”; and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 7:12; 22:39). Lindström said of Wesley, “In the exposition of the commandment to love one’s neighbour as oneself, self-love is regarded as an obvious pre-requisite”; and quoting Wesley, “We would that all men should love and esteem us, and behave towards us according to justice, mercy, and truth…let us walk by the same rule: let us do unto all as we would they should do to us. Let us love and honour all men.”[4] This allows for some measure of self-protection from unjust, unmerciful, liars who would seek to take opportunity of a charitable Christian, and really cause him harm. If we are to love others as we love ourselves; then that means we should obviously, really in fact love ourselves (only not in an overly selfish, egotistic, or self-centered way).

Christian Love Is Not Carnal Tolerance

In my personal experience of being a member or participant in various Christian ministry groups, I have repeatedly come across the concept that Christian love is nothing more than a we-can-all-get-along kind of tolerance. Forgetting all the Biblical descriptions of love, such as fulfilling the moral law, or giving prominence to charitable activities, or loving all of God’s creatures, the word “love,” it seems to me has been very misused by modern-day Christians, and still is. I suspect that this counterfeit teaching on love is influenced both by pop psychology and hippie ethos, filtering down to us through the Baby Boomers and the Jesus Movement of the 60s and 70s. Thomas Harris’ I’m OK—You’re OK (1967) idea seems to have prevailed upon the liberal mainline as well as the evangelical churches. “Judge not lest ye be judged” (Matt. 7:1), comes along with the understanding, that it is itself a sin to speak out or preach against sin, to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness (Eph. 5:11). We are told by prominent Christian leaders that Jesus means for us to tolerate sin, not expose it; that being non-judgmental is the highest, most “loving” road to take; that love is basically defined, or understood to mean, over-simplistically, nothing more than accepting everyone just the way they are; showing off a kind, friendly demeanor (usually fake, with an empty naturally-based sentiment in the heart), regardless of harmful vices and sins that could be obviously crowding their lives, and bringing destruction and despair to them, their friends, family, and relatives. We are told to leave them in the darkness, in so many words; and “just as I am” to receive God’s forgiveness, I am also to remain just as I am, knowing I’ll always be forgiven automatically of whatever I do. Christ Jesus is no longer in the ethical transformation business. Jesus is a hippie, or “Jesus is My Homeboy” as one recent sexually charged girls t-shirt came out years ago. There is no fear of God before their eyes. This is a carnal, antinomian form of Jesus, in fact “another Jesus” (2 Cor. 11:4), of which many have no comparison to the real Jesus described in the Bible, because Biblical illiteracy is at an all-time high. People simply seem to assume that Jesus was a loving, non-judgmental, tolerant hippie, who offers easy forgiveness to everyone, and does not expect the smallest measure of repentance from personal sin.

I have had a concern about this ever since I got saved and tried to live by the Bible in 2000. And for the longest time, I’ve had nothing but the Bible and my personal experience to bolster my conviction against this false, sin-accommodating idea of love. As I learned theology, I eventually found some corroborating evidence among godly theologians, that this is a type of heresy called antinomianism (anti-law-ism), and although “love” is in this case the concept used to excuse obedience to God’s commandments, there are other forms of it as well. What peace it brought to my heart to know for sure that Christ is not a minster of sin; but that He has come to deliver us from its power over our lives! (Romans 8). Wesley agreed: love is not “a love of esteem or of complacence” (man-pleasing); “it does not mean latitudinarianism” (religious tolerance);[5] love is not “an empty and vain sentimentality” (sentimental, natural favoritism without any spiritual depth).[6] Love is not political correctness, or man-pleasing, just to get people to “like” you in a social manner; as churches are often seen as any other social club in the community. Paul wrote, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). Man-pleasing is not the love of God; it is a self-centered, cowardly “seeker-friendly” approach to “not offending” people, so that you don’t “hurt their feelings”—and here’s the catch—even if your godly, mild, temperate rebuke could save their souls. It’s a humanist understanding of love, not Biblical, and not Christian. And often, this sort of “tolerant love” leads to the idolatry of interfaith activities with people of non-Christian religions. That is not the power of God unto salvation! They say, “Love the sinner; hate the sin,” but in practice they love the sin too, because they never take a stand against it, even in a proper, meek spirit. As for the Pharisees: “they loved praise from men more than praise from God” (John 12:43). J. I. Packer defines this kind of fake love-centered antinomianism:

Situationist antinomianism says that a motive and intention of love is all that God now requires of Christians, and the commands of the Ten Commandments and other ethical parts of Scripture, for all that they are ascribed to God directly, are mere rules of thumb for loving, rules that love may at any time disregard. But Romans 13:8-10, to which this view appeals, teaches that without love as a motive these specific commands cannot be fulfilled. Once more an unacceptably weak view of Scripture surfaces.[7]

Dr. Joel Beeke, a well-known Reformed theologian and Puritan scholar, active in today’s New Calvinist movement, says:

“Popular media often present love as feelings of attraction and pleasure, but such feelings rise and fall like mercury in a thermometer. We need love that is less like a thermometer and more like a thermostat—controlling our reactions rather than being controlled by them.

“Others speak of love as non-judgmental, unconditional acceptance, derived from the psychological concept of unconditional positive regard.[8] But this overly-simplistic approach is confusing and leaves us powerless in the face of malice and evil. How do you unconditionally and non-judgmentally accept a terrorist or a serial killer?

“Love does not behave indecently (1 Cor. 13:5)…This statement disqualifies any antinomian view of love; love extends to God’s law (Ps. 119:97) and strives to fulfill it (Rom. 13:8-10).

“Love does not rejoice in injustice, but it rejoices in the truth (1 Cor. 13:6). Love is jubilant whenever it encounters righteousness and faithfulness. Yet love grieves over news that someone has fallen into sin and paid a heavy price for it; thus, love does not regard such news as a tasty morsel for gossip. Such love does good, even to enemies.

“Verse 6 (1 Cor. 13:6) rebukes the idol of relativistic tolerance that often passes for love in our culture; sincere love includes hatred for evil (Rom. 12:9). The greatest display of God’s love was also the greatest demonstration of His righteousness, as His Son satisfied God’s justice by bearing the penalty for our sins (Rom. 3:25-26). So 1 Corinthians 13:6 corrects the popular Christian notion that love has nothing to do with feelings. Love has strong feelings against sin and for righteousness.”[9]

Christian Love Is Not Universalism

When a tolerant “loving” antinomian Christian thinks about Hell, it does not usually produce good theological results. In this mentality, there is an aversion to the attributes of God’s holiness, justice, and omnipotence. God is no longer seen as a Judge, but only as a tender Father over all mankind: including “good” people in non-Christian religions. This results either in an allegorizing of the New Testament passages of Hell, fire, torment of the wicked, and/or a reevaluation of the doctrine of eternal punishment:–the Biblical teaching that the wicked will suffer in the fire of Hell for all eternity (Matt. 25:46; Rev. 14:11; 20:10, 15). As this doctrine naturally makes a tender-hearted Christian to cringe, we cannot ignore it, because it is Biblical revelation: it is the Word of God. Traditional Reformed Protestant theology has taught that God’s love was manifested in the cross of Christ, so that sins could be freely forgiven, and sinners reconciled to a holy God. The universalists, which are heretical Christians filtered throughout many denominations today, maintain that there is either no Hell, or that Hell is like Purgatory, where in the end God will talk all the damned out of their sinful addictions, and by His infinite compassion, and mercy, let them all into Heaven.[10] This idea was expressed in Rob Bell’s Love Wins (2012). This begs the question, however, “Will Satan and his demons be saved by God’s infinite love too?” But the universalist squirms at such thoughts. And usually retracts by attacking the traditional Biblical view of God as a Judge and as an avenger of the righteous, who are the only true children of the Father.

A Summary of Christian Love (Agape)

I have not surveyed the entire Bible on love. Maybe I will do that one day in the future. But in this article, I have attempted to provide a Biblical, Wesleyan, and somewhat Puritan view of the Christian’s love that he should have towards his neighbor, as it is taught in the New Testament. I have focused on the New Testament Greek word agape as the normative concept for love in the Christian life. We have found that agape is morally righteous, it keeps God’s commandments; and is a supernaturally given fruit of the Holy Spirit, received by repentant faith in Christ’s atoning work on the cross. Further, New Testament love is a charity-love or charitable love that reaches out with arms of divine generosity to all of mankind, to all of the creatures that God has made. Although this love is universal or all-encompassing in its outreach, with regard to death and the afterlife, it does not embrace universalism (or the idea that God’s love will save damned people out of Hell).

Listen to Martin Luther. To be without agape in our lives is a horrible curse:

“We have seen what abominations ensue where love is lacking; such individuals are proud, envious, puffed up, impatient, unstable, false, venomous, suspicious, malicious, disdainful, bitter, disinclined to service, distrustful, selfish, ambitious, and haughty.”[11]

I pray that the love of God would be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost!

I pray that we would dwell in God; and dwell in love!

I pray that we would always seek to be law-abiding and pure!

I pray that we would be the body of Christ; and His hands of charity in this world!

—

UPDATE: 5/3/23

A DEFINITION FOR LOVE.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

Adjectives to describe the hatefulness that comes out of people where love is lacking: Martin Luther defined those well. But where the presence of love is, the reverse would be true: humbleness, meekness, godly contentment, self-love tempered by a sober self-deprecation, patient endurance, perseverance derived from the presence of God, emotional stability, honesty, emotional healthiness, trustworthiness, peace with others, good-will towards others, admiration and respect for others, a sweet attitude (but not syrupy or fake, just a sincere sweetness), and the desire to bless, help, and empower others that you love.

[1] Harald Lindström, Wesley and Sanctification (Nappanee, IN: Francis Asbury Press, 1980), p. 188.

[2] Harald Lindström, Wesley and Sanctification, p. 191.

[3] Hugh Binning, A Treatise of Christian Love, ch. 3.

[4] Harald Lindström, Wesley and Sanctification, p. 195-196.

[5] Harald Lindström, Wesley and Sanctification, pp. 191, 194.

[6] Kenneth J. Collins, The Scripture Way of Salvation (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1997), p. 123.

[7] J. I. Packer, Concise Theology (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1993), pp. 179-180.

[8] Unconditional positive regard, or “unconditional love,” was popularized in the psychiatric community by humanist Carl Rogers’ On Becoming a Person (1961). Martin Luther King, Jr. is quoted as having said, “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” Dec. 10, 1964, Oslo, Norway. Thomas Harris’ I’m OK—You’re OK (1967) popularized non-judgmentalism among the hippies. “Positive” and “negative” dichotomy. Clearly tolerant non-judgmental love is a 60s pop psychology concept.

[9] Joel Beeke, “Love’s Attributes” from http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/loves-attributes/

[10] J. I. Packer in Hell Under Fire, eds. Christopher Morgan and Robert Peterson (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), pp. 189-194.

[11] Martin Luther, “A Sermon on Christian Love” (an exposition of 1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

 

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Selfishness Not True Religion – Charles Finney

Posted on February 13, 2024 by The Town Crier Outlet

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