Since the marriage was ordained by God, there was not only a unity in the flesh but in the spirit as well. Mankind is more than flesh; he too is living spirit (Gen 2:7). Therefor the two with spirits became one in the spirit since there is only one Holy Spirit. "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor 6:17). Do the mathematics: One plus God = Godly; Another one plus God = Godly; therefore one plus another one is Godly. That is divine mathematics to the base, not of ten, but of Jesus. For those not mathematically inclined, two people each having the same spirit are one union. If both are born again, then the Holy Matrimony is him plus her under God.
Marriage in the more formal Christian churches is sacramental: a rite ordained by God. It should be in all churches! Why so? Holy Matrimony is a type of marriage to Christ. Those in the Spirit of God are the Church and the Church is the bride of Bridegroom - Jesus Christ (Mat 9:15). Jeremiah prophesied of a day in which the Groom was taken from the Bride.
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth (gaiety), and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate. (Jer 7:34).The Bride without the Bridegroom ceases gladness; that is the Jews (the Bride) rejecting Jesus (the Bridegroom). Keep in mind that when one looks at Jesus, the person sees God. (John 12:44). The Jews were always "married" to God. They were fickle, and nearly always had affairs with other gods.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me (KJV),." which is "lo yih'yeh-l'khä élohiym áchëriym al-Pänäya" (Exod 20:3; English transliteration of the Hebrew Text)Pänäya is a plural noun used as the singular paneh which means "face". Thus al-Pänäya means above or against the face {Strong's Dictionary). Think on adultery. What is it? Denigrating marriage by having carnal knowledge in the "face" of Holy Matrimony. Those who commit adultery defy God because Holy Matrimony is symbolic of Holy Union with God.
We are not to have other gods above God's face, and neither to have other lovers in the face of our marriages. Conversely, if we do the latter, we don't have fidelity to God who admonished, "Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mat 19:6).
"What" can be anything. In the context of marriage it is Holy Matrimony which man is not to put asunder. "What" also means the Church whose relationship to the Groom - Jesus - must be one of trust and fidelity. God's point is taken: if anyone cannot retain Holy Matrimony, he or she disparages God. However, many have broken their relationship with God because of martial adultery. It is not the unpardonable sin. (Refer to Psalm 51 which was King David's repentance for adultery and murder). Many church denominations, however, treat it as the unpardonable sin!
The above commentary is about adultery - the pollution of Holy Matrimony. What about fornication? That is having consensual carnal knowledge with another outside Holy Matrimony. That too is wrong, although indeed, it is consensual. In the case of theism, the fornicator wills to have intercourse, and the god is willing for it to happen. Thus spiritual fornication is choosing another god, given a choice, in the face of God. The Hebrew people were God's chosen, and their marriage was the Abrahamic Covenant. Many Jews were circumcised (that's the I do take part of their spiritual marriage), and some others were not.
Those Hebrews "married" to God, committed adultery in God's face. That's what Adam and Eve did (Gen 3). They stood under another tree when the Tree of Life was theirs from whose fruit they could freely eat.
The uncircumcised Jews fornicated with other gods. They had not taken God as the Groom but another god. The act of sexual intercourse between people is fornication against God. It may be consensual under the rules of their god, but not Jehovah God.
Since Jesus is the Bride of the Church, adultery is anathema to the relationship between Christians and Christ. Fornication is pleasuring the self in defiance of pleasing God. Non-Christians who don't engage God fornicate with other gods, most notable themselves! Christians who commit adultery don't have fidelity to God.
I hope that the reader, whether promiscuous or not, or remarried or not, takes this symbolism as Holy Scripture intends. Herod the Great and Herodias, his former brothers wife, killed John the Baptist because he confronted their adultery. When Christians commit adultery it is handing Satan Jesus's head on a platter (symbolically). I refer to Psalm 51; that is both the sinner's prayer (the fornicator's) and the prayer of repentance (the adulterer's prayer). I have prayed that prayer myself. I pray that others do too because adultery is more than an action but thoughts of activity:
That whosoever looketh on a woman (or one person toward another) to lust after her (or him) hath committed adultery with her (o him) already in his (or her) heart.(Mat 5:28; parentheses mine)In other words, all have sinned. Whether a person has had coitus or not, the act was still done mentally. Ironically, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh are part of original sin because God covered Adam's and Eve's genitals. Why? Their libido was their shame.
Christians are always the first to judge those whose marriages have failed. Because of original sin, they too have committed adultery in their thoughts. Anyone who claims to be without sin is a liar (1 John 1:10). Those who excuse their own sin as more trivial, rationalize what they do. Although some sins are greater than others, the punishment for any non-repented sin is the same. I would advise reading and making Psalm 51 the prayer of all. Men are all "Davids" and women are all "Bathshebas". Bathsheba never wrote a prayer of repentance; perhaps she prayed David's.
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