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Unlawful Sexual Relations
18 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.
“None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. And you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.
“You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.
“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.”
(ESV)
Leviticus 18 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
We see consistency in the NT with all of these laws found in Leviticus 18. Incest, idolatry, adultery, and homosexuality are addressed. Jesus actually raises the bar on many of these laws from the OT. He famously declared adultery to be a sin inwardly as well as outwardly.
The controversial piece in Leviticus 18 which would crop up many times in the NT is found in verse 5.
Follow the practices and the laws that I give you; you will save your life by doing so. I am the LORD.”
Leviticus 18:5 GNB
The Pharisaic opponents of Paul quoted this verse to try to justify the stance that obeying the law fulfilled God’s will and that they would be saved in the end. We read Paul attack this theory in Galatians 3.
Now, it is clear that no one is put right with God by means of the Law, because the scripture says, “Only the person who is put right with God through faith shall live.” 12 But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, as the scripture says, “Whoever does everything the Law requires will live.” 13 But by becoming a curse for us Christ has redeemed us from the curse that the Law brings; for the scripture says, “Anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God’s curse.”
Galatians 3:11-13 GNB
The law cannot bring justification. It can only show us the fact that we are sinners. In bringing forth the law, God showed us that we cannot measure up to His standard of holiness in our flesh alone. Paul argues that keeping the law (through the Holy Spirit) is the fruit of our Salvation by faith, not a means of earning our Salvation.
This interpretation of Leviticus 18:5 makes much more sense when read in context with what’s going on in Israel’s history. God gave them this law after He had rescued them from Egypt and established His covenant with them. The context does not indicate it was a moral standard they must reach in order to be saved spiritually. God knew they could not uphold it anyway. In the end, the law proved that all we can earn in this life is death and we need something much greater. Praise God He sent us Jesus Christ!