Adultery

Adultery is condemned by God

God’s law forbids it

Exodus 20:14 ESV

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

See also ; ;

It is listed with other evil practices

; ; ; ;

The lure of adultery

It begins with lust

;

See also ; ; ; ;

It is seductive

Proverbs 7:14–21 ESV

14 “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; 15 so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. 16 I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; 17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. 19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; 20 he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.” 21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.

See also ;

It is secretive

; ;

It is a snare to the unwary

; ;

It is resisted by the wise

Proverbs 2:16 ESV

16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words,

See also ;

Adultery breaks the marriage covenant

Proverbs 2:17 ESV

17 who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;

See also ;

The consequences of adultery

It destroys individuals and society

Proverbs 6:32–34 ESV

32 He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. 33 He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. 34 For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge.

See also ; ; ; ;

It was punishable by death under OT law

Leviticus 20:10 ESV

10 “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

See also ; ;

Adulterers face God’s judgment

Hebrews 13:4 ESV

4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

See also ; ; ;

Remarriage after divorce may be adultery

Matthew 19:9 ESV

9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

See also ; ;

Hypocrisy in relation to adultery

Romans 2:22 ESV

22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

See also ; ;

Examples of adultery

2 Samuel 11:1–4 ESV

1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.

See also the people of Jerusalem; the exiles in Babylon; Hosea’s wife, Gomer; the woman caught in adultery; false teachers in the church

Children born of adultery

“offspring of adulterers” was a term of abuse.

See also David and Bathsheba’s child died when he was seven days old; ;