Biblical Condemnation Of Adultery And Infidelity
Biblical Condemnation of Adultery and Infidelity
The biblical condemnation of adultery and infidelity is rooted in the Old Testament law, which defines adultery as sexual relations between a married woman and a man who is not her husband [1, 2]. The Mosaic law prescribes severe penalties for adultery, including death by stoning for both the adulterer and the adulteress (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22). The biblical account also associates adultery with idolatry, as seen in Ezekiel's prophecies against Jerusalem, where the city's idolatry is likened to adultery (Ezekiel 23:37) [3].
The wisdom literature of the Old Testament also condemns adultery, with Proverbs warning that committing adultery is a destructive act that brings ruin to the individual (Proverbs 6:32) [4]. In the New Testament, Jesus reaffirms the biblical condemnation of adultery, teaching that divorce and remarriage constitutes adultery, except in cases of sexual immorality (Matthew 5:32; 19:9) [5, 6].
The biblical definition of adultery is not limited to the act itself but also encompasses the intent and circumstances surrounding it. According to Jewish tradition, adultery is considered a serious offense against God, the community, and the individual's own soul [1, 2]. The Rabbis made various regulations to prevent adultery, and the Mosaic law prescribed the "water of jealousy" ordeal to test a woman's fidelity [1].
The severity of the biblical penalty for adultery reflects the gravity with which the offense is viewed. In Jewish law, both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death, although the application of this penalty is nuanced, with different circumstances and status (e.g., betrothal, bondwoman) affecting the punishment [2, 8]. Maimonides, a Jewish rationalist, explains that the punishment for adultery is stoning, emphasizing the seriousness of the offense [8].
The early Christian tradition continued to uphold the biblical condemnation of adultery. The patristic writers, such as Augustine, emphasized the importance of fidelity in marriage, citing the sacramental bond between husband and wife [11, 12]. Reformed theologians like Calvin also reaffirmed the biblical teaching on adultery, emphasizing the severity of the offense and the need for repentance [9, 10].
The biblical condemnation of adultery is not merely a matter of legal or moral prohibition but is deeply connected to the theological understanding of marriage and the nature of God's relationship with his people. The prophetic literature, for example, uses the metaphor of adultery to describe Israel's idolatry and unfaithfulness to God [3, 7].
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Adultery — Conjugal infidelity. An adulterer was a man who had illicit intercourse with a married or a betrothed woman, and such a woman was an adulteress. Intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was fornication. Adultery was regarded as a great social wrong, as well as a great sin. The Mosaic law (Num. 5:11-31) prescribed that the suspected wife should be tried by the ordeal of the "water of jealousy." There is, however, no recorded instance of the application of this law. In subsequent times the Rabbis made various regulations with the view of disc”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Adultery — (Exodus 20:14) The parties to this crime, according to Jewish law, were a married woman and a man who was not her husband. The Mosaic penalty was that both the guilty parties should be stoned, and it applied as well to the betrothed as to the married woman, provided she were free. (22:22-24) A bondwoman so offending was to be scourged, and the man was to make a trespass offering. (Leviticus 19:20-22) At a later time, and when owing, to Gentile example, the marriage tie became a looser bond of union, public feeling in regard to adultery changed, and the pena”
- Ezekiel “For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured. -- Ezekiel 23:37”
- Proverbs “He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul. -- Proverbs 6:32”
- Matthew “but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery. -- Matthew 5:32”
- Matthew “I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.” -- Matthew 19:9”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Fornication — In every form of it was sternly condemned by the Mosaic law (Lev. 21:9; 19:29; Deut. 22:20, 21, 23-29; 23:18; Ex. 22:16). (See [220]ADULTERY.) But this word is more frequently used in a symbolical than in its ordinary sense. It frequently means a forsaking of God or a following after idols (Isa. 1:2; Jer. 2:20; Ezek. 16; Hos. 1:2; 2:1-5; Jer. 3:8, 9).”
- Mishneh Torah (Maimonides) (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Mishneh Torah (Maimonides), Mishneh Torah%2C Forbidden Intercourse 3:10: If witnesses come [and testify] after she comes of age 36 I.e., six months after she manifests signs of physical maturity. or after her husband has relations with her, she is stoned to death in the place for stoning. 37 As Hilchot Sanhedrin 13:1, 15:1, the place for stoning was a two storey building somewhat removed from the city. [This applies] even if they testify that she committed adultery in her father's home when she was a maiden. 38 Since she has already come of age, the laws governing her change and she is not sto”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 34: to bring good out of evil,” ( Augustin. in Ps. 111:2 ). 4. In the same way is solved, or rather spontaneously vanishes, another objection—viz. If God not only uses the agency of the wicked, but also governs their counsels and affections, he is the author of all their sins; and, therefore, men, in executing what God has decreed, are unjustly condemned, because they are obeying his will. Here will is improperly confounded with precept , though it is obvious, from innumerable examples, that there is the greatest difference between the”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 59: 36:22 ), he sufficiently demonstrates that both are gratuitous. In short, if we are freed from guilt by Christ, the punishment consequent upon guilt must cease with it. 31. But since they also arm themselves with passages of Scripture, let us see what the arguments are which they employ. David, they 562 say, when upbraided by Nathan the Prophet for adultery and murder, receives pardon of the sin, and yet by the death of the son born of adultery is afterwards punished ( 2 Sam. 12:13, 14 ). Such punishments which were to be inflicted”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 5: Augustine — Anti-Pelagian — CHAP. 13.--IN THE MARRIAGE OF MARY AND JOSEPH THERE WERE ALL THE BLESSINGS OF THE WEDDED STATE; ALL THAT IS BORN OF CONCUBINAGE IS SINFUL FLESH.: The entire good, therefore, of the nuptial institution was effected in the case of these parents of Christ: there was offspring, there was faithfulness, there was the bond.[11] As offspring, we recognise the Lord Jesus Himself; the fidelity, in that there was no adultery; the bond,[11] because there was no divorce. [XII.] Only there was no nuptial cohabitation; because He who was to be without sin, and was sen”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 5: Augustine — Anti-Pelagian — CHAP. 11 [X.]--THE SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE; MARRIAGE INDISSOLUBLE; THE WORLD'S LAW ABOUT DIVORCE DIFFERENT FROM THE GOSPEL'S. (part 1): It is certainly not fecundity only, the fruit of which consists of offspring, nor chastity only, whose bond is fidelity, but also a certain sacramental bond[2] in marriage which is recommended to believers in wedlock. Accordingly it is en-joined by the apostle: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church."[3] Of this bond the substance[4] undoubtedly is this, that the man and the woman who are joined ”