Question: Where is there a Bible verse on adultery? [email protected]
Answer: Well there are many Bible verses on adultery, in fact I have written an article on this very subject it is called: Jesus Forgives Adulterers. In reality there are many verses in the Bible on adultery, probably the most well known one is found in the Ten Commandments, where it says: “You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:13) Actually this word or other related words are mentioned in 63 other verses. The word is “naaph” in Hebrew, and in Greek ADULTERER is “MOICHOS.” “It denotes one who has unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another, Luke 18:11; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Hebrews 13:4.” “Adultery in Greek is MOICHEIA, adultery, is found in Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:21; John 8:3” (VINE’S EXPOSITORY DICTIONARY)
In the Bible sometimes the word is used in a spiritual sense as when Israel was unfaithful to her God by worshiping idols. For the Church it is used in a spiritual sense of Christians who cultivate friendship with the world, 1 John 5:21.
Jesus expands on the meaning of the word adultery in The Sermon on the Mount (or also known as the Beatitudes) where He says: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 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: 27-28) This is where the enemy uses “pornography” to trap people into this sin of adultery. We have an article also on this subject: Pornography and the Bible.
The way Jesus defines adultery lets us know that at one time or another all of us have committed this sin. You see the sin starts in the heart and then the actual act is committed. Is that to say that the thought and the actual act are identical? In one sense they are as Jesus said, but there will be wider consequences if the actual act is carried out. I heard of a person who heard about this verse so he said to himself, “If it is adultery to lust after a woman in my heart then I will go and commit the act as well.” This is foolishness, Jesus is teaching to do just the opposite. If you are thinking thoughts of lust or adultery then you need to confess it as sin and forsake it.
Jesus went on to say in this passage that we read earlier that: “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” (Matthew 5:29-30) Does Jesus mean here for people to cut parts of their body off? Of course not, it is not really the body part that is doing the sinning, but the heart of man. Jesus does want us to see how serious sin is. The world makes light of it, and of course Satan is behind the making light of sin, as he did in the Garden of Eden when he spoke to Eve. Satan said to Eve: “You will not surely die.” The media and movies make adultery look fun and as though it will not have consequences, but sin leads to spiritual and physical death!
Jesus points out at another time that adultery comes from the heart, not really from the eye. “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” Matthew 15:19 Well what should we do about this sin of adultery? Saint Paul tells us: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, or covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
If you do not know Christ as your personal Savior and have committed this sin of adultery you need to repent of your sin, and ask Jesus to save you. If you are a Christian and have committed this sin you need to repent of it, and ask God’s forgiveness and victory over it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Thanks for the question,
Gary T. Panell
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