In the sermon on the mount, Jesus clarified the intent of the 7th command— “You shall not commit adultery.” It starts before the physical act. It includes our desires and thoughts. As Jesus said, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).

Is that only true for a husband or wife? If you are single or dating can you commit adultery? I say yes, but my answer depends on how I understand God’s law.

God’s law is a comprehensive summary. Let me illustrate what I mean. Home Depot sells black storage bins. Do you know the ones? They have bright yellow tops. Imagine buying 10 bins and labeling each one. With a thick black marker write on the first yellow top, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” On the second, write, “‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image…” With the remaining bins, write the remaining 8 commandments. Now, cut a slot in the top. It needs to be big enough to slide in a folded piece of paper.

You’ve created a collection box and here’s why. As you go throughout your day, you will write down every single moral action that you make-every duty you fulfill; everything forbidden. You will slide those notes into the bin which best fits the kind of thought, word or action you chose or neglected.

Did you sculpt an idol and worship it in your living room? Write it down. Put it in the second bin.

That is a picture of what I mean by comprehensive summary. The 10 commandments are a summary of all the particular thoughts, words and deeds that you do or fail to do everyday. All of your moral inclinations and actions are included in one of the bins.

Now let’s apply this to our main question. Did you choose to honor God with your sexuality? Did choose to commit a sexually unfaithful act? Write it down. Ask yourself, “In which bin should I drop it?” Though some nuance is required, the basic answer is the 7th bin. It’s the bin with the yellow top where you wrote in black marker, “You shall not commit adultery.”

This means that sexual sins committed by husbands and wives are dropped in that bin. It means that if you are single or dating and you fulfill your sexual duties or neglect them, then you drop your note in the 7th bin too.

The Larger Catechism testifies to this conclusion saying, “The sins forbidden in the seventh commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are, adultery, fornication, rape, incest, sodomy, and all unnatural lusts;”

Those are not just sins of the married. That description includes sins forbidden to us all.

Whether you are married, single or dating, God gave you the 7th commandment. If you took the time to explore the Scriptures with the 7th commandment in mind, you’d find a divine vision for human sexuality for everyone.