WLC 138

Q138. What are the duties required in the seventh commandment?

The duties required in the seventh commandment are, chastity in body, mind, affections, words, and behavior; and the preservation of it in ourselves and others; watchfulness over the eyes and all the senses; temperance, keeping of chaste company, modesty in apparel; marriage by those that have not the gift of continency, conjugal love, and cohabitation; diligent labor in our callings; shunning all occasions of uncleanness, and resisting temptations thereunto.

Proof texts

• 1 Thess. 4:4 — [4] that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
• Job 31:1 — [1] “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?
• 1 Cor. 7:34 — [34] and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.
• Col. 4:6 — [6] Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
• 1 Pet. 2:3 — [3] if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
• 1 Cor. 7:2,35-36 — [2] But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. [35] I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. [36] If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry — it is no sin.
• Job 31:1 — [1] “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?
• Acts 24:24 — [24] After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.
• Prov. 2:16-20 — [16] So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, [17] who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; [18] for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed; [19] none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life. [20] So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
• 1 Tim. 2:9 — [9] likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,
• 1 Cor. 7:2,9 — [2] But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. [9] But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
• Prov. 5:19-20 — [19] a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. [20] Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
• 1 Pet. 3:7 — [7] Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
• Prov. 31:11,27-28 — [11] The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. [27] She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. [28] Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
• Prov. 5:8 — [8] Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,
• Gen. 39:8-10 — [8] But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. [9] He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” [10] And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

For discussion

1. The Assembly cited 1 Thess. 4:4 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
2. 16 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
3. WSC Q45 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
4. HC Q92 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

WSC Q45 · HC Q92