What is meant by this Commandment?
We should so fear and love God as to be chaste and pure in our words and deeds, each one also loving and honoring his wife or her husband.
This commandment is meant to preserve our personal purity, and to guard the holy estate of marriage. It forbids adultery and all impurity. It commands chastity and purity in thought, word, and deed.
I. PURITY.
We should be CHASTE AND PURE
In Heart. We should keep our heart free from impure thoughts and desires. [Matt. 5:8+, Prov. 4:23+, Ps. 51:10] God judges us by the state of our heart. [I Sam. 16:7] Unchaste thoughts must not be delighted in nor harbored, but subdued and stamped out. They poison the soul. They are themselves a transgression of this commandment, [Matt. 5:28+] and they lead to further transgressions of it by word and deed.
IN WORDS. We must avoid immodest conversation, unchaste words, vile stories, and shameless jests. [Eph. 5:3-4, Eph. 4:29+] Such things are not smart, as many think, but vile and despicable. We should never take part in nor listen to a conversation which we would be ashamed to have overheard by persons whom we respect.
IN DEEDS. We should carefully avoid every act which would bring the blush of shame to our cheeks if it were known to our parents or others whose opinion we cherish. Our bodies are to be God's temple, [I Cor. 6:19, 20+] and they dare not be given over to sin and impurity. [Rom. 6:13] We should remember that God sees even in secret, and knows all our actions. [Ps. 139:1-12]
Impurity of heart and life will not go unpunished. [I Cor. 3:16, 17+, Gal. 5:19-21+] It is often followed by the most dreadful consequences: a ruined body, an enfeebled mind, a poisoned soul, a tortured conscience, public shame, dreadful disease and an untimely death.