Pints With Aquinas - Do Not Commit Adultery | Bible Study W/ Aquinas

Episode Date: July 9, 2020

Today we'll take a look at what Thomas Aquinas has to say about the commandment, "do not commit adultery." Matthew 5:27. I'll also give 5 reasons that our Lord's words do NOT mean the Eucharist is metaphorical.  GIVING Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mattfradd This show (and all the plans we have in store) wouldn't be possible without you. I can't thank those of you who support me enough. Seriously! Thanks for essentially being a co-producer coproducer of the show.  LINKS Website: https://pintswithaquinas.com/ Merch: teespring.com/stores/matt-fradd FREE 21 Day Detox From Porn Course: https://www.strive21.com/  SOCIAL  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattfradd Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattfradd Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattfradd/ MY BOOKS Does God Exist: https://www.amazon.com/Does-God-Exist... Marian Consecration With Aquinas: https://www.amazon.com/Marian-Consecr... The Porn Myth: https://www.ignatius.com/The-Porn-Myt...

G'day, how are you? Matt Fradd here. Today we're going to be doing another Bible study with Thomas Aquinas. I would love to know what you've been thinking of these Bible studies. I very much enjoy reading Thomas Aquinas. This is something I do anyway. So when I click record, it really isn't that much extra work for me because this is just me doing it and you're just happening to join me. So I would like to know what you think of it, how they could improve. Is the time length pretty good? Is it too long, too short? Let me know. For those who are just joining us, Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century theologian and philosopher who wrote commentaries on different gospels, such as Matthew's gospel and John's gospel.

Today, we're going to be taking a look at what he says on Matthew chapter 5, verse 27. You have heard that it was said to them of old to not commit adultery, but I say to you that whoever will look on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So we'll see how far we can get when it comes to those two verses there. Now, it's morning time. I just went and worked out. I'm super tired, so I am drinking espresso. So there you go. I hope you're comfortable. Hope you're having a drink, depending on what time of the day it is. I hope it's not alcoholic, but you know, I don't know. I just felt like I had to explain the size of my cup. All right, why don't we begin?

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Really interesting things Thomas Aquinas has to say today about sex, the nature of sex, the purpose of sex. And it's going to fly right in the face of what our modern society has to say about sex. So let's just jump into it. You have heard that it was said to not commit adultery. Above, the Lord fulfilled the laws as to the precept prohibiting homicide. Now he fulfills it as to the precept prohibiting adultery. And concerning this, he does three things.

First, he lays down the precept. Second, the fulfillment. Third, he teaches three things. First, he lays down the precept. Second, the fulfillment. Third, he teaches how it could be observed. The second is at, but I say to you. The third at, if you're right, I. And fittingly, after the precept prohibiting homicide, the precept prohibiting adultery is discussed. Okay, now why is that fitting? Well, because adultery holds

second place after homicide. Think about that for a second. We live in a society that glorifies adultery in a sense. I mean, there was that whole disgusting Ashley Madison movement, I don't know if they're still around, where a bunch of, well, perverted, vicious men and women commit adultery. And that's the whole point of the website. So here he's saying that it's, you know, just after homicide, you've got adultery. Why does he say that? The homicide is against the life of a man already existing, but adultery is against the life of a man to be generated, for it destroys certainty about children and as a result their education. So when we think of the sexual act in this modern age, if we haven't been taught and formed by the gospels and by

natural law, we may think that sex is recreational. It's sort of like tennis. You might go and play tennis with somebody. You might go to the movies with somebody. You might play a video game with somebody. And you might have sex with somebody. And really, this is a matter of recreation. And just like I can have a meaningful experience playing a computer game with you perhaps or a game of tennis, I can also have a meaningful experience when it comes to sexual intercourse. And really sexual intercourse is sort of just like a massage. Nothing more. And that's it. But this is demonic and utterly false.

The purpose of sex is certainly the union of the two coming together, but the primary purpose of sex is the begetting of offspring and their education. That's the point of sex. And so just like in homicide, the life, you know, for homicide is against the life of a man already existing. side is against the life of a man already existing. If I'm committing adultery, I'm committing a sin in many respects, and Aquinas is going to talk about that, but I'm also committing a sin against the child who may be born out of that union. One, because the mother might terminate. Isn't it funny we use these sort of pseudonyms? The mother might pay a hitman to slaughter the unborn child, pseudonyms. The mother might pay a hitman to slaughter the unborn child, or the child may be raised fatherless, right? This is a sin against that child. He's not saying it's a sin against the potential child, but if a child does result, then it is a sin against that child.

For it destroys certainty about children and as a result their education. Do not commit adultery. Okay. This precept is from Exodus and Deuteronomy. We can read about that in Exodus chapter 22 and Deuteronomy 5. And it should be known that since simple fornication is not prohibited in the precepts of the Decalogue by only adultery, some people believe that simple fornication was not a mortal sin, since it was not against the law if it was not in the precepts of

the Decalogue. So I'll get to that in a second. First of all, I remember a couple of years ago, somebody said to me that like sex before marriage isn't condemned in the Bible. Yeah, it is. It's called fornication. And I think we should bring back that ugly word for an ugly action. Now, this isn't to condemn any of you who may be engaging in fornication, but it is to condemn the act. And it is to say that you and I as Christians, if we are engaged in these actions, ought to repent and turn from that evil action and to cease doing it. Fornication is an ugly word, and it's an ugly word for an ugly thing. We should keep ugly words for ugly things. We shouldn't swap out the word to make it more bearable.

If we make the word more bearable, we make the action more bearable. If instead of fornication, we say sleeping together, or instead of fornication, we say hooking up, we're trivializing the importance of a sexual act, and we're turning a disgusting instead of fornication, we say hooking up. We're trivializing the importance of a sexual act, and we're turning a disgusting thing, fornication, into something that might not be so bad after all, because at the end of the day, we just call it hooking up, and that's all we were doing. It's the same thing with adultery. Adultery is a disgusting word, and it's a disgusting action. If you are committing adultery, you should be ashamed of yourself,

and you ought to repent and receive the mercy God wants to give you. It's interesting that we speak so disparagingly of shame as if there could never be an appropriate time for shame to properly arise within us. But that's not true at all, it seems to me. There are certain things that you should feel ashamed of. there are certain things that you should feel ashamed of. And if you are experiencing shame, say for committing adultery, what you don't need is therapy to get rid of the shame, but to stop acting like a wicked person so that there will be no need for shame to result. Now, I do understand that sometimes people make the distinction between guilt and shame,

guilt being sorry for what I've done, shame being sorry for who I am. I get that. But you should, if you are committing a grave sin and do not feel shame, that's not, that's not a good thing. Okay. Now notice what he's saying here. He's saying that some people are trying to argue that fornication isn't a mortal sin. Like it's not that bad because at the end of the day, it's not actually prohibited in the Decalogue that is the 10 commandments. And so here he's going to say, here's what they say, right? Here's the argument people give for saying that fornication is okay. Let's see here.

Since these people say it's not against the law, if it was not in the precepts of the Decalogue. First, it is said in Leviticus, if a man carnally lie with a woman, therefore simple fornication is a venial sin. Further, all iniquity is sin. But whoever commits simple fornication does iniquity to no one for him not. And just listen to how good Aquinas formulates the argument against the position he's making. recognize that even when it comes to something evil, Aquinas is going to help them make the best case they can possibly make before utterly exploding it. Whoever commits simple fornication does iniquity to no one,

not himself, for he fulfills his own will, not another, not God, for it is not directly against him, like blasphemy or idolatry, and that kind of thing. Therefore for it is not directly against him like blasphemy or idolatry and that kind of thing. Therefore, it is not mortal. What should we say to this? You might be struggling with pornography. Maybe you're not struggling at all. Maybe you're just giving into pornography. Struggling is one thing. Struggling can mean to violently resist, but sometimes we don't violently resist. We just give in, right? Maybe it's masturbation. Maybe it's adultery. Again, keep the ugly words. Fornication,

self-abuse. Let's bring back self-abuse. That's an ugly word for an ugly action. It should be said that it must be absolutely certain among the faithful that every act of simple fornication is a mortal sin, as is basically any use of the genital organs outside of marital use. Oh, look, someone's calling me. I'll ignore them. Excuse me. Sorry about that. For fornicators and adulterers, God will judge, Hebrews 13.4. And he gave it separately because he will judge fornicators just as adulterers. Take heed to keep yourself from all fornication, Tobit chapter 4 verse 13. And there will be no prostitute among the daughters of Israel, Deuteronomy 22.17. Therefore it is clear by the authorities of the Old and New Testaments that it is a mortal sin.

And the reason for this is that marriage is a natural thing, not only according to our faith, but even according to the Gentiles. For it is natural that a man should be matrimonially joined, not to any women indiscriminately, but to one particular woman. Nor does it matter what may be done by any multitude, as far as the intention of nature goes, but what is of natural law is perverted among those who lack reason. For the union of male and female is ordered to generation and education. In other animals, the female alone suffices for education, and among such animals the father never involves himself in the education of the children,

and thus there is no certainty about the children, and afterward he mingles indiscriminately with any female, as is seen among dogs. But among others we see that wherever the female does not suffice for the education of the children, the male and female remain together throughout the education of the children. Therefore it is clear that since the union is for the sake of the education, every union from which the due education does not follow is against nature. Therefore, since the child born needs much care from the father, it is necessary that a man have a particular woman, and this is marriage. Fornication, therefore, will be against the education in the same way.

Therefore, it is against nature and a mortal sin. But Moses spoke the most obvious notions to the Jews as a teacher to a primitive audience. The Decalogue is the beginning of a law, and thus it only expresses those things that are most obvious. Hence, some say that God himself spoke the Decalogue, but he reversed all other things to be explained by others. Rather, he reserved, I beg your pardon, all others to be explained by others. Hence, in the do not commit adultery is understood every sin that there is by the use of those organs outside marriage. So if you or I are sitting through masturbation, looking at pornography, fornicating, these sorts of things, these are by extension condemned in the Decalogue where the father says

to not commit adultery. And the man does indeed, or the woman does, sin against himself or herself. Because whoever fornicates against his own, whoever fornicates sins against his own body, Now that isn't to say that every act of intercourse must result in a child being born, but it is to say there is an order to the sexual act and it is ordered to procreation. And here's one way to kind of show that. Because I know there are some Catholics who in reacting to the culture, which is so perverted sex, they want to say, no, the primary, not just the primary, the only end of sex is children. The only end. But here's why that's false, at least if you want to take Thomas Aquinas as an authority, as many traditional Catholics would.

Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae asks the question, is it okay to have sex? Is it okay for a married couple to have sex while they're on their period, while she's on her period? And it's very interesting how he answers. He first says, okay, if she's on her period, you shouldn't have sex with her. Or rather, he's talking about the marital debt. So he's saying the wife ought not to demand the debt from her husband while she's having a period. Now, why does he say that? He says that because he thinks falsely that to have sex while the woman is on her period will result in a child being born with a severe handicap or special needs. All right.

He's wrong about that. to condemn having sex while the woman is on her period because, again, the primary end is the offspring, educating those offspring. And so you don't want to kind of hurt the child you're bringing into the world. But here's why we know that there are two ends to the sexual act. Again, if we're just looking at Aquinas and forgetting about natural law for a second, right? And that is Aquinas says if the flow of blood from the woman is unnatural, okay, so not her period, but it's an unnatural flow caused by something else so that she will not get pregnant. Aquinas says that the woman can request that her husband have intercourse with her, right? So if you were to say that the only time you can actually have sex

is when you're morally certain a child will result, then you're going to have to condemn Thomas Aquinas because he says if there's an unnatural flow of blood such that the woman will not get pregnant, then she may request the debt. When Aquinas talks about the marital debt, he's talking about the debt that the man owes the woman and the woman owes the man by virtue of the fact that they are married. Okay.

Whew. Because such an act that is fornication should not be except for the generation of another. Likewise, in the law, sins such as theft and many others were not punished by death. Therefore, the objection about Exodus does not hold. Therefore, it is clear that fornication is a mortal sin. All right, I want to kind of just pause there

because I could say much more. We could read much more, but we're going to have to save that for another time. Let me just sort of say a word of hope and just sort of try and speak as somebody who knows what it's like to have those temptations of the flesh like you do, someone who knows what it's like to fall into them,

to repent of them, okay? I think the primary reason, because I've been in this field, you know, helping people overcome pornography, speaking out against the issue of pornography for a long time right now. And I think the primary reason people go back and back to pornography is to soothe themselves. It's a way to self-regulate. Now, this is simplifying things a bit, but I do think it's a helpful point. So just like if I'm cold, my body shivers to

regulate my temperature, or if I'm hot, my body sweats to regulate my temperature. If I'm feeling emotional turbulence, if I'm feeling triggered from a conversation I had with my mother or father, or if I feel put down by my spouse, or if I feel ignored and invisible, and I believe the idea that nobody's going to ever take interest in me and marry me and these sorts of things, then I feel myself emotionally turbulent. And we all get this way. And when we do, we have ways of remedying that turbulence, of regulating that turbulence. This might be why at the end of the night when you're super stressed out you reach for the peanut butter m&m bag and you just start scoffing down handfuls of them you know this is why we might drink too much this is why we binge on netflix okay we're trying to make ourselves

feel calm again it's a way of regulating okay now those examples i just gave are unhealthy ways of regulating watching pornography and masturbating is obviously an unhealthy way of regulating and and and worse i think than the three that i just mentioned um so that is really helpful that is really helpful i think because if you realize that then you can say okay when is it that i try to regulate and you might say okay well when it will think of think of this an acronym blasted bored lonely angry stressed tired lonely, angry, stressed, tired. All right, that's BLAST. Okay. If I'm bored, lonely, angry, stressed, or tired, right, I start to feel the need to regulate. And so just by recognizing, okay, this is the kind of the emotional thing happening in me. And when I have this sort of emotional turbulence going on within me,

what are those triggers that then lead me to kind of act out? So if you think of an alcoholic, right, same thing applies. If he's bored, lonely, angry, stressed, or tired, he's more susceptible to then drink alcohol. And then you say, okay, well, then what's the external trigger? And the external trigger might be a bottle of Jack Daniels that he hasn't tipped down the sink. It might be walking past a bar on his that he hasn't tipped down the sink. It might be walking past a bar on his way home from work or something like that. So once we realize these are the internal things going on, okay, then we can point to what are these triggers. This is not always easy to get to.

And then we can be better on guard against those things. So I just don't want anyone to think. I don't want anyone to think that I'm condemning them if you're watching me and you are looking at pornography, if you're masturbating, if you're committing adultery, if you're engaged in homosexual acts or these sorts of things. This is not even really a matter of us and them. It's not like the good pure people and then the adulterous people or the good heterosexual people and the homosexual people. Rather, we're all in this together. We are all dealing with disordered sexual desires. We're all dealing with concupiscence, the disordered passions within us. And so how can we best act and live in such a way that we don't end up engaging in these

lustful activities? I want to just conclude by saying one thing. I have a course called strive21.com. It's for men. We're trying to develop one for women. So if you're a woman who struggles with pornography or sexual lust in any way, you're going to want to check that out. But we're going to have one for women coming out in the future. But if you're a man, please go check out strive21.com. It's a 21-day course that I created. It's like a detox from porn course, we've colloquially called it, that'll help you break free of porn. Strive21.com. It's free, free, free, free, as in free, free. And you can be as anonymous as you want. And currently we have 17,000 men going through the course. All right, I want to close by looking at a couple of verses from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Oops. Here we are. Chastity. What does chastity mean? Well, you've heard the word perhaps. We've certainly heard of a chastity belt. Unfortunately, that's not a good name for a, you know, it's a misnomer because chastity means, well, let's read what it means. It means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. So if chastity means a successful integration of sexuality within the person, then a person would not need a chastity belt, I don't think anyone's using them these days, to avoid engaging in sexuality. We might call it an abstinence belt because abstinence just means what you're not doing.

Chastity is rather a positive virtue. Okay. But I love how it describes that here. Sexuality in which man's belonging to the bodily and biological world is expressed becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to another in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman. I love this quote. I'm going to close on this quote, paragraph 2339. Chastity, okay, includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery, which is a training in human freedom. The man or woman dominated by lust is not free. So chastity is a training in human freedom. Only the chaste man and the chaste woman can truly love.

Okay, let's continue here. The alternative, listen to this, listen to this. The alternative is clear. Either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy. Man's dignity, therefore, requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint.

not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and by his diligence and skill effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end. So when the church and the word of the word of God tells us to be chaste, they're telling us to be free. When the church says be chaste, she's not saying don't do these bad things as much as she is saying, be who you are, be a free son or daughter of God so that you can be happy. I love that line. The alternative is clear. Either you govern your passions and you find peace or you don't and you become unhappy. These are your options. Choose. I hope this has

been a helpful episode of a Bible study with Aquinas. There is so much more we could have got into, but I'm trying to keep these relatively short. Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoy these Bible studies and pints with Aquinas as a whole, please consider supporting at patreon.com slash Matt Fradd. Thanks very much.