Sex in the Bible: Adultery
The next most obvious place we should look for God’s laws about sex is in the ten commandments.
Exodus 20:
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
But let’s not forget vs. 17.
17 ...thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife...
The commandment not to covet is more than just a hint that there’s more to the nine other commandments than initially meets the eye.
As we know in Matthew 5:27 Christ pulls these principles all together by explaining that lust is no less sinful than adultery. However, what’s often overlooked is that Job understood this supposedly “New Testament” principle many centuries earlier.
Job 31:1-12
1 ¶ I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.
7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
9 ¶ If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;
10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
Matthew 5:
27 ¶ Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
So before we start feeling self-righteousd about our compliance with the letter of the Torah law regarding sex in the Bible, this verse makes probably almost every man with a healthy level of testosterone, who has had such thoughts, guilty of adultery too. And as we’ll see, the consequences are very serious.
Because adultery with a woman is explicitly mentioned, these verses are clearly talking to married men, but we know that the principle applies equally to married women too, because the commandments which were spoken by God to ALL the people men, women and children in Exodus 20:14 don’t discriminate between men and women. God spoke to all of them:
Exodus 20:
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Proverbs chapter six builds on this.
Proverbs 6:
20 ¶ My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.
The Penalty for Adulterous Sex in the Bible
Deuteronomy 22: tells us that the penalty for adulterous sex in the bible is stoning even if it occurred before the marriage was consummated i.e. during the betrothal period.
Leviticus 20:
10 ¶ And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
In 1 Corinthians 6: Paul explains that unrepentant adulterers threaten not only their physical life, but will forfeit their ability to inherit the Kingdom of God
1 Corinthians 6:
9 ¶ have ye not known that the unrighteous the reign of God shall not inherit? be not led astray; neither whoremongers, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, the reign of God shall inherit. (Young’s Literal Translation - YLT)
More Judianity Articles on the the Subject of Sex in the Bible
Go back to the start of Judianity - A "Third Way" Between Judaism or Christianity?
Theologians believe that even after the crucifixion Paul kept Nazirite vows at the temple and offered sacrifices. One predictable adjustment to a written Torah law about circumcising gentile proselytes in Acts, caused massive turmoil in the church. If most of the other "Old Testament" laws were abolished, why wasn't a similar level of controversy recorded then? Was the Torah really "done away" in Galatians ?
Let's take a look at the subject of Sex in the Bible: Fornication.
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