The Ten Commandments
Q12. What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we live pure and decent lives in what we say and do, and so that husbands and wives love and honor each other.
Scripture Proofs — King James Version
Matthew 5:27–28
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
1 Corinthians 6:18–20
“Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”
Hebrews 13:4
“Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
Ephesians 5:25
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”
Parent Guide
Discuss this question together
Discussion Questions
- 1
What does Luther say husbands and wives owe each other?
- 2
Why does God give rules about how families should work?
- 3
How can a kid your age practice purity in everyday life?
Illustration
A garden with a fence around it is not a prison. The fence keeps out the deer that would eat everything and the dogs that would dig it up. God's rules about purity and marriage are a fence that protects something good. They are not meant to take away your freedom. They are meant to guard something worth protecting.
Application
This week, choose to speak respectfully about other people's families and about marriage. If friends make crude jokes, you do not have to join in. Ask God to help you see his design for families as something worth honoring.
Read Luther’s expanded teaching
From the Large Catechism (1529)