The Sixth and The Ninth
Commandments
You Shall Not Commit Adultery
You Shall Not Covet Your
Neighbour’s Wife

The Sixth Commandment
“You shall not commit adultery.”
This commandment addresses the issue on
how we should properly express the gift of
human sexuality. This commandment
guides us to respect our own relationship as
well as that of other people.
Related to the Ninth Commandment
Sins to be avoided: sexual sins outside the
bounds of matrimony
Virtues to acquire: marital fidelity, chastity

The Sixth Commandment
“You shall not commit adultery.”
Applies to all: single, married,
widowed, religious, gay or straight.
The Catholic Church is not anti-sex
Adultery includes also thoughts and
not just actions (Mt 5: 27-28)
Sexuality vs. Sexual Activity

The Sixth Commandment
“You shall not commit adultery.”
WHY IS CHASTITY SO IMPORTANT?
It is the “successful integration of sexuality
within the person and thus the inner unity of
man in his bodily and spiritual being.” (CCC
2337)
It involves the “apprenticeship in self-
mastery” (2338) of our human freedom (as
opposed to slavery to the passions.
Involves the virtue of temperance
It means living a life of integrity and unity.

The Sixth Commandment
“You shall not commit adultery.”
SEX & THE MARITAL BOND
The Church teaches that sexual activity
may only occur within marriage. In the
marriage between couples, the bond
between unitive (love between
spouses) and procreative (having and
raising children) aspects may not be
separated. (CCC 2352, 2360, 2363)

The Sixth Commandment
“You shall not commit adultery.”
AND THE OFFENCES ARE:
Lust Masturbation
Fornication Pornography
Prostitution Rape
Homosexual Acts Sodomy
Birth Control *Divorce/Remarriage*
Artificial Insemination In Vitro Fertilisation
“Free Union” (AKA living together). Polygamy.
Trial Marriages.
Marriage of Convenience.
And, of course, Adultery
CCC 2351 to 2356

Various Forms of Chastity
The various forms of chastity
2348 All the baptized are called to chastity. The Christian has "put on Christ,"135 the
model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping
with their particular states of life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is
pledged to lead his affective life in chastity.
2349 "People should cultivate [chastity] in the way that is suited to their state of
life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy which enables them to give
themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner. Others
live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law, whether they are married or
single."136 Married people are called to live conjugal chastity; others practice
chastity in continence:
There are three forms of the virtue of chastity: the first is that of spouses, the second that of widows, and
the third that of virgins. We do not praise any one of them to the exclusion of the others. . . . This is what
makes for the richness of the discipline of the Church.137
2350 Those who are engaged to marry are called to live chastity in continence. They
should see in this time of testing a discovery of mutual respect, an apprenticeship in
fidelity, and the hope of receiving one another from God. They should reserve for
marriage the expressions of affection that belong to married love. They will help
each other grow in chastity.

The Ninth Commandment
“You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife.”
■ “…or husband.”
■ This commandment urges us to cultivate the virtue of
purity and chastity. It opposes the sin of lust.
■ Related to the Sixth Commandment in that both
commandments involve the sin of adultery
■ Whereas the Sixth Commandment involves the sinful
activity, the Ninth Commandment involves sinful
thoughts and desires.
■ Sins to avoid: lust, impure thoughts
■ Virtue to acquire: purity, chastity, modesty

The Ninth Commandment
“You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife.”
■ Lust is a two-way street: someone else’s husband, wife, daughter,
brother
■ Again, Mt 5: 28
■ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Mt 5:8)
‘Pure in heart’ refers to those who have attuned their intellects
and wills to the demands of God’s holiness in the areas of charity,
chastity, and love of truth. Chastity refers to purity in heart, mind,
and imagination. (CCC 2418)
■ Those who are “pure in heart” strive to attain holiness by being
pure in mind and body. By such achievement, looks to every
person as a divine reflection of beauty. (CCC 2518-20)

The Ninth Commandment
“You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife.”
About Modesty
■ Modesty is
1) the quality or virtue of observing proprieties
in speech, dress, and behaviour
2) “an integral part of temperance…It protects
the intimate centre of the person.” (CCC 2521)
3) part of being pure of heart. (CCC 2533)

Temple of God
1 Corinthians 6:18–20
18 Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body;
but the fornicator sins against the body itself.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within
you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?
20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

Absolute Purity
1 Timothy 5:1-2
1 Do not speak harshly to an older man, but speak to him as to a father, to
younger men as brothers, to older women as mothers, to younger women
as sisters—with absolute purity.