Welcome! Today, I wanted to write about every bodies favorite biblical death penalty sin, adultery. It is popular in modern culture around the world to explore, exploit and encourage sexual intercourse with not only one partner but multiple. It doesn’t stop there, we are even encouraged and praised on sexualizing our bodies, and having homosexual intimacy. Humanity has always been involved in these acts, it’s not new at all. However it is much more popular today than it has ever been. Remember Sodom and Gomorra? That’s where we’re headed. Anyway, In a biblical view, these sexual activities are worthy of the final death. But why? Why does The Highest God hate “sexual freedom”? Is he mean? Not quite so, but before we embark on the history of how wrong these sexual activities are, we need to see what Christ requires of us in order to enter into heaven.
In general there are five types of sexual immoral acts that are popular: adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bestiality and the imaginations of it all. There are deep reasons for why all of them are worthy of the death penalty according to The Highest God. I will have to explain these five topics in five different articles to highlight the hidden biblical meaning behind them all. For now our focus is adultery. Christ elaborates on this topic in ways that may be hard to understand.
Matthew 5:27 Lust.
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, Thou whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
What is Adultery
First, what is adultery? Christ starts off his explanation of the new law by reflecting on the old law. Adultery was widely known as a deadly act. According to the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance H5003 it means “a woman that breaketh wedlock”. Originally, adultery referred to women more so than men. Women were seen as a type of glorified property, therefore womens trespass was more vicious than mens. There are more laws against forbidden female fornication and adultery than against men.
However the men in the old testament were allowed to marry as many women as they wanted as long as the woman was unmarried or divorced. That’s why the original Hebrew text criminalizes the feminine for this act more than men. Men were forbidden from having intimate relationship with someone else’s wife, especially one close of kin (Leviticus 18:8-20). In the text above, Christ evens out the playing field, he reprimands men for their fornication habits and puts them on the same level as women.
Masculine Adultery
In the Greek G3432 (adulterer) the word adultery is referring to the male aspect of lusting over another woman that isn’t his wife. Lust is a type of emotionally changed greedy thought that might cause the person to take something that doesn’t belong to him/her. Men play the role as the giver or the taker and give into their lust for women. According to the scripture that we see above there are three rules that classify under adultery.
- Marrying another woman while already having a wife.
- Divorcing a wife to have a new wife.
- Marrying a divorced woman.
Polygamy
The first rule applies to a married man lusting after a married woman. The woman is always the married one in this scenario and is usually the victim. The best example of this in scripture is the account of king David ( 2 Samuel 11) when he sent a man into war so that he died in order for David to have that mans wife. Her name was Bathsheba. David already had two wives before lusting over Bathsheba. This type of adultery is documented in the law, Exodus 20:17…. King David did a terrible thing by stealing another man’s wife. He was punished for it too.
The second rule is new. Previously men in the Old law were encouraged to have more than one wife. It was widely accepted. Abraham had two women, Jacob and Esau had more than one wife. Even King David and Solomon had multiple wives. Therefore the old law promoted polygamy for men but restricted it for women: Exodus 21: 10, 22: 16. Now even in the beginning, having multiple wives was not lawful but it was allowed. Christ makes the men aware of their sins against women. He even tells them that even Adam was only given one wife not multiple.
Divorce and Remarriage
Divorce was a widely accepted practice in the old testament too. Men were able to divorce their wives if they displeased them in some way. He couldn’t remarry the woman he divorced. A divorced woman either served another family or went back to their fathers house for food shelter and water. She was expected to leave her children with her ex-husband after a divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). This is sad, especially if the man divorced his wife just to have someone else. Christ put an end to the mans lustful ways. He can’t even look at another woman that’s not his wife. Not only that but he blames the man for causing women to commit adultery by divorcing her. In short Christ wants men to more responsible and in control of the sexual tendencies and thoughts. 1 Corinthians 7:2 No more screwing around.
Matthew 19:3-9 Adultery In Divorce.
3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Conclusion
To tie it all together, both men and women are restricted to only having one intimate partner. Before Christ women were the only ones responsible for being loyal but now men are to. No one can divorce each other or lust for anyone else aside from their spouse.
On a practical note, popular culture promotes all of these things even pastors are involved in this sin. Married woman are wearing skin tight clothes, which causes other men to lust. Married couples are divorcing each other, and are remarrying. And some couples are actively cheating on each other. The best way to stop committing adultery is to take your intimate relationship more seriously. Think about only loving one person and no one else exists but him, her and the children in between.