We are in a series on the Ten Commandments, or as the Bible calls them, the Ten Words.

These are not rules to check off a list.

These are an invitation to rethink how we relate to God and humanity in a way that creates life and flourishing.

Today, we'll look at command number seven.

Don't commit adultery. It's two words in Hebrew, lo tin off, which means to violate another

couple's marriage covenant, breaking it, shattering it. That's what not off means. And flip this

command over, and it's a unique invitation.

Protect the covenant marriage partnership of your neighbor as if you were protecting their life,

even if it comes at great cost to yourself.

So why is the marriage covenant so important in the Bible?

Well, the answer starts in a place that if you're a regular listener to the show, you might anticipate.

Where would I go if I want to meditate on the nature and purpose of a marriage partnership between a man and a woman?

It happens to be the subject of much focus in the seven-day creation narrative and the Eden narrative.

And we'll discover that the Bible thinks of marriage in cosmic terms.

It's a symbol that teaches us a mystery about God.

Marriage is a symbol of the creator's relentless,

focus, love, and loyalty towards creation, that he would relentlessly commit himself

to the dirt creatures and pursue them, to love them as God loves God's own self. That's what a human

marriage is meant to symbolize. Marriage is a place where humans train to sacrificially love and be devoted to each other,

just like how God is devoted to us.

And all of this is what the Seventh Command is trying to protect.

If you see a married couple in your community, their marriage is the most important context

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