Answer. Since both our body and soul are temples of the Holy Ghost, he com mands us to preserve them pure and holy; therefore he forbids all unchaste actions gestures, words, thoughts, desires, and whatever can entice men thereto.
Exposition
God in this commandment enjoins and sanctions the preservation of chastity and marriage, and hence authorises marriage itself; for whenever God forbids any thing, he at the same time commands and authorises the observance of that which is opposite thereto. God, now, in this commandment forbids adultery, which is a violation of conjugal fidelity. When God singles out adultery as the most shocking and debasing vice of all the sins which are repugnant to chastity, he at the same time prohibits and condemns all wandering and wanton lusts, whether they be found in married or unmarried persons, and prohibits all other sins and vices contrary to chastity, together with their causes, occasions, effects, antecedents, consequents, &c. And, on the other hand, he enjoins all those virtues which contribute to chastity. The reasons of this are these: 1. When one thing is specified, all those are understood which are closely allied or connected with it. Therefore, when adultery is prohibited, as the most shocking and debasing form of lust, we are to understand all other forms of lust as forbidden at the same time. 2. Where the cause is condemned, there the effect is also condemned; and where the effect is condemned, there the cause is condemned. Hence the antecedents as well as the consequents of adultery are here forbidden and condemned. 3. The design of this commandment is the preservation of chastity amongst men, and the guarding of marriage, or keeping it holy. Whatever, therefore, tends to the preservation of chastity, and the protection of marriage, is enjoined by this commandment, whilst that which is opposed thereto is forbidden. There are three virtues which we may speak of under the seventh commandment: chastity, modesty and temperance.
1. CHASTITY, in general, is a virtue contributing to the purity of body and soul, agreeing with the will of God, and shunning all lusts prohibited by God, all unlawful intercourse and inordinate copulation in connection with all the desires, causes, effects, suspicions, occasions, &c., which may lead thereto, whether in holy wedlock or in a single life. The term chastity comes, according to some, from the Greek καζω, which means to adorn, because it is an ornament, both of the whole man, and also of all the other graces or virtues. The name has, therefore, been given to this virtue by way of pre-eminence, inasmuch as it is one of the principal virtues which constitute the image of God, according as it is said, God is chaste, and will be called upon by those who are of a chaste mind, and has regard to such prayers.
Chastity is of two kinds—one of single life, the other of holy wedlock. The former is a virtue shunning all wanton lusts without marriage. Conjugal chastity is to preserve in holy wedlock the order instituted by the wonderful counsel and wisdom of God.
The causes of chastity are, 1. The command of God, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication; that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.” “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” (1 Thes. 4:3, 4. Heb. 12:14.) 2. The preservation of the image of God. 3. A desire to avoid defacing or marring the image of God, and the union between Christ and the church, of which Paul speaks when he says, “Flee from fornication. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.” (1 Cor. 6:15.) 4. Rewards and punishments.
We may mention as being in opposition to chastity, a dissembled chastity, an impure single life, whoredom, concubinage, incest, adultery, and all wanton and hateful lusts, in connection with their causes, occasions and effects.
All the various species of lust may be referred to these three classes:
The first class or kind are those which are contrary to nature, and from the devil—such as are even contrary to this our corrupt nature, not only because they corrupt and spoil it of conformity with God, but also because this our corrupt nature shrinks from them and abhors them. The lusts of which the apostle Paul speaks in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, are of this class, as the confounding of sexes, also abuses of the female sex. The magistrate should punish these heinous sins and abominable transgressions with extraordinary punishments. Incest is greatly opposed to this our corrupt nature, although examples of it occurred in our first parents. These examples, however, were of necessity, or by a divine dispensation, and are, therefore, to be regarded as exceptions to the general rule.