Adultery

Sexual relations involving at least one partner who is married to someone else. Such relations break the marriage covenant and are condemned in Scripture. Jesus Christ extended the understanding of adultery to include inner lust.

Adultery is condemned by God

God's law forbids it

Exodus 20:14 parallel Deuteronomy 5:18 See also Leviticus 18:20; Matthew 19:18 parallels Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20; James 2:11

You shall not commit adultery.

It is listed with other evil practices

Psalm 50:18; Jeremiah 7:9–10; Hosea 4:1–2; Luke 18:11; 1 Timothy 1:9–10

The lure of adultery

It begins with lust

Proverbs 6:25; Matthew 5:27–28 See also 2 Samuel 11:2–3; Job 31:1, Job 31:9; Jeremiah 5:8; Matthew 15:19

Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

It is seductive

Proverbs 7:14–21 See also Proverbs 5:3, Proverbs 5:20

“I have made my peace offerings; today I have paid my vows. So I came out to meet you; I sought you, and I have found you. I have decked my bed with coverings, with colored linen from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight in loving caresses! For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He took with him a bag of money and will not return till the moon is full.” With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him.

It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words

Adultery breaks the marriage covenant

Proverbs 2:17 See also Hosea 2:2; Malachi 2:14

who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.

The consequences of adultery

It destroys individuals and society

Proverbs 6:32–34 See also Proverbs 5:4–5, Proverbs 5:9–11, Proverbs 6:26–29, Proverbs 7:22–27; Job 31:11–12

He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. Wounds and dishonor will befall him, and his reproach will never be wiped away. For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

It was punishable by death under OT law

Leviticus 20:10 See also Deuteronomy 22:22, Deuteronomy 22:23–24; John 8:4–5

If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife— with the wife of his neighbor— both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.

Adulterers face God's judgment

Hebrews 13:4 See also 2 Samuel 12:11–12; Malachi 3:5; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Revelation 2:22

Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Remarriage after divorce may be adultery

Matthew 19:9 parallel Mark 10:11 See also Matthew 5:32; Luke 16:18; Romans 7:3

Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Hypocrisy in relation to adultery

Romans 2:22 See also 2 Samuel 12:5–6; Hosea 4:14; John 8:7–9

You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

Examples of adultery

2 Samuel 11:1–4 See also Jeremiah 5:7 the people of Jerusalem; Jeremiah 29:23 the exiles in Babylon; Hosea 3:1–3 Hosea's wife, Gomer; John 8:3 the woman caught in adultery; 2 Peter 2:14 false teachers in the church

In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing— a very beautiful woman. So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.

Children born of adultery

Isaiah 57:3 “offspring of adulterers” was a term of abuse. See also 2 Samuel 12:15–18 David and Bathsheba's child died when he was seven days old; Hosea 2:4–5, Hosea 5:7

“But come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!