"You shall not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14 NIV)

Jim Davis

When God gave the sixth commandment "You shall not murder." He was guarding the sanctity of human life. The seventh command "You shall not commit adultery" preserves the sanctity of the highest earthly relationship that exists.

The seventh commandment has led some to believe that all sex is wrong. But a simple understanding of God's creation of man and woman reveals this is not so. I had a person tell me that the eating of the fruit in Eden was really Adam and Eve having sex. That person believed sex was their downfall. A casual reading of God's purpose in creation should wipe this nonsense out of our minds.

Genesis 2:18-25
The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. (NIV)

If these verses tell us anything, they speak of the innocence of sex in Eden. The Lord was the initiator of marriage by creating the woman and bringing her to the man. Clearly there is a sexual element to his response. The two were naked and not ashamed, and they became "one flesh," a metaphor drawn from the experience of human beings in intercourse.

The energy of sexual attraction brings about an oneness that is profound. Everything is altered by the choice of this relationship initiated and brought about by God. Marriage is a uniting of two people at every level. The choice to marry means a commitment to one whole person for one whole lifetime.

The Sacredness of Marriage

It is against the backdrop of Israel’s history as described in Genesis that the seventh commandment is given to the Israelites: "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus. 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18). The Pentateuch provides us with information concerning sexual sins, and the various forms of punishment required by each.

God has always view sexed outside of marriage as sin. The life of Joseph reveals this truth.

Genesis 39:7-10
And it came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me." But he refused and said to his master’s wife, "Behold, with me around, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?" And it came about as she spoke to Joseph day after day, that he did not listen to her to lie beside her, or be with her.

Joseph knew he could not lie with this woman because she was the wife of another man. Marriage, in Joseph’s understanding, was an exclusive relationship. Not only did his master not give him authority over his wife, he could not have done so.

We can see by Joseph’s words that adultery was not only wrong, but that he understood it to be a sin against God.

The Bible points out as early as Genesis that to use another person solely as an object of your pleasure is a serious sin.

Genesis 38:8-10 Then Judah said to Onan, "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother." But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the LORD's sight; so he put him to death also. (NIV)

Can you image how used this woman felt. This is also what happens in the world today as sex is used as pleasure outside of marriage. There is little wonder that there is friction between sexes. Each has used the other as an object of pleasure and both feel used by the other.

In Leviticus 18 Moses reveals the kind of sexual activity Israel is not to engage.

Leviticus 18:6-29

God gave the Israelites a law of jealousy.

Numbers 5:11-31

The laws governing the virginity of a bride.

Deuteronomy 22:13-21

A man who seduces a virgin must marry her or pay the price of a virgin’s dowry.

Exodus 22:16-17 "If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins. (NIV)

The New Testament Teaching

Marriage is not forbidden in New Testament.

1 Timothy 4:1-6 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. (NIV)

Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. (NIV)

Jesus gives us insight to God's original intent for the permanence of marriage.

Matthew 19:4-5 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? (NIV)

Lust is paramount to adultery.

Matthew 5:27-32
You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. (NIV)

James 1:13-15
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. (NIV)

The New Testament indicates that sex within the marriage relationship is for pleasure as well as procreation.

1 Corinthians 7:1-5
Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (NIV)

The Gravity of Adultery

Adultery leads to the fall of nations.

Jeremiah 5:7-9
"Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes. They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man's wife. Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? (NIV)

Adultery leads to the collapse of the home.

Matthew 19:3-9
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?" "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." (NIV)

Sexual perversion leads to the collapse of society.

Romans 1:22-32
Although they claimed to be wise, they became foolsand exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-- who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (NIV)

The first thing that is mentioned in these verses is that the world of which Paul speaks has taken God out of the picture. You see, without God in the picture, adultery, and all sexual perversion becomes justifiable. When we take God out of the picture we become nothing more than animals as we accept the theory of the survival of the fittest.

Our society has been deeply influenced by a scientific view of reality. It has been influenced by the scientific presuppositions of an a-moral evolution of biology. Those who adopt evolution have difficulty with this command about adultery. It unnecessarily limits the evolution of the species. Dr. Helen Fisher in her book Anatomy of Love: The Mysteries of Mating, Marriage and Why we Stray gives this somewhat evolutionary definition of why people commit adultery. Men do it "to ensure a widespread dissemination of their genetic material" and women do it as "an alternative strategy for the acquisition of resources to support herself and her young ones."

Marriage represents the spiritual union between Christ and his church.

Ephesians 5:21-33
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church--for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery-- but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (NIV)

Adultery violates us as individuals.

Paul says, "All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

Adultery can cause complete mental, physical and emotional breakdown. Our spiritual usefulness can be ruined. The balance of soul and spirit and body is destroyed.

Proverbs 6:27-35
Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house. But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away; for jealousy arouses a husband's fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse the bribe, however great it is. (NIV)

Adultery violates the sanctity of the church.

1 Corinthians 6:13-20
Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"-- but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (NIV)

The church must not allow the body of Christ to be joined to a harlot. The church can become a partaker of sexual immorality if the church tolerates sexual immorality on the part of the members.

1 Corinthians 5:1-7
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast-- as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (NIV)

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