In Scripture there is a close link between sexual sin and spiritual corruption and immorality as promoted by false teachers. Scripture frequently uses the language of sexual sin to expose the infidelity of God's people.
The link between sexual sin and spiritual adultery
In practice
Numbers 25:1–3 See also Exodus 34:15; Hosea 4:14
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab, who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods. So Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD burned against them.
In false teaching
Revelation 2:20–25 See also Numbers 31:15–16; 2 Timothy 3:6; 2 Peter 2:13–15; Jude 1:4, Jude 1:8; Revelation 2:14–16
But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling. Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds. Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned the so-called deep things of Satan: I will place no further burden upon you than to hold fast to what you have until I come.
Spiritual adultery and God's covenant relationship with his people
God as a husband to his people
Ezekiel 16:8 The spiritual relationship between God and his people is defined in terms of the intimate and exclusive bond of marriage. See also Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 3:14, Jeremiah 31:32; Ephesians 5:31–32
Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD.
God is jealous for his people's affections
Exodus 34:14 Just as husband and wife are jealous for their relationship in love, so God is jealous for the affections of his people. See also Exodus 20:4–5; Deuteronomy 4:23–24, Deuteronomy 6:13–15
For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
The history of spiritual adultery among God's people
Before Israel's kings
Deuteronomy 31:16 See also Leviticus 17:7–9, Leviticus 20:4–6; Judges 2:16–17, Judges 8:27, Judges 8:33–34
And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.
In the northern kingdom of Israel
Hosea 1:2 See also 1 Chronicles 5:25; Ezekiel 23:1–8; Hosea 2:2–3, Hosea 4:10–12, Hosea 5:3–4
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”
In the southern kingdom of Judah
Jeremiah 3:1–3 See also 2 Chronicles 21:10–11; Isaiah 57:3–8; Jeremiah 2:20, Jeremiah 5:7–8, Jeremiah 23:13–14; Ezekiel 16:15–22, Ezekiel 23:11–21
“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers — and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD. “Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
In Jesus Christ's generation
Matthew 12:38–39 See also Matthew 16:4
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” Jesus replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
God's judgment on spiritual adultery
Jeremiah 19:3–5 See also Jeremiah 3:6–10, Jeremiah 16:10–13; Ezekiel 23:36–49
saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that the ears of all who hear of it will ring, because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in this place to other gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have ever known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal — something I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even enter My mind.
Believers are not to be drawn into spiritual adultery
1 John 2:15–17 See also 1 Corinthians 10:6–11; Colossians 3:5; Hebrews 3:12–14, Hebrews 10:26–31; James 4:4–5; 1 John 5:21
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not from the Father but from the world. The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.