The sin of conjugal unfaithfulness.
We here use the term "unfaithfulness" in its widest sense, extending far beyond the sin of unchastity. We note—
I. UNFAITHFULNESS TO GOD IS THE ROOT SIN OF ALL OTHER FORMS OF INFIDELITY. The sins denounced in the earlier verses of this book are quite sufficient to account for the criminality here exposed. Those who profane the "covenant" and the "holiness" of God in their hearts, and who do not seek "to give glory" to his Name (Malachi 2:2), are easily betrayed into glaring acts of wrong against the nearest and dearest on earth. "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways," and those ways are all downward ways. The first sin of Adam and Eve led to mutual recrimination. Disobedience towards the heavenly Father paves the way for discord in the earthly home. "Therefore take heed to your spirit" (Malachi 2:16).
II. THIS INFIDELITY SHOWED ITSELF IN TWO FORMS.
1. In unlawful marriages. (Malachi 2:11.) This was a proof of unfaithfulness both to the national covenant (Ezra 9:10-12) and to God's purpose in marriage. Similar unfaithfulness shows itself under the Christian covenant when such precepts as 1 Corinthians 7:39 ("only in the Lord") and 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 are set at naught. For a Christian to marry an enemy of Christ, "a covetous person who is an idolater," or a slave of "the god of this world," is a breach of the sanctity of marriage. It tends to degrade it into a carnal union; it certainly grossly neglects its object as a spiritual bond, in which all material considerations are to be held as subordinate to that "great mystery," typical of the Divine union of Christ and his Church. By such sin a professed disciple of Christ virtually cuts himself off from the commonwealth of the saints, that he may join the congregation of the aliens. He thus exposes himself to the judgment of God, who will be impartial in his treatment of all classes, of those that lead into sin and those that are led (2 Corinthians 6:12; Job 12:16), and who will accept no "offering," no outward service, that might be regarded as a blind to the eyes of the Judge, presented by a man who sought thus to compound for his sin (Proverbs 21:27; Proverbs 28:9; Isaiah 1:13-17; Amos 5:21-24).
2. In ill treatment of their lawful wives. This is the second form of unfaithfulness, and reminds us that "the way of sin is downhill, and one violation of the covenant is an inlet to another" (M. Henry). Unfaithfulness to the marriage vow in any form (unkindness or neglect as well as adultery or divorce) is here condemned by the following considerations.