The Ten Commandments/You shall not commit adultery

"You shall not commit adultery" is one of the Ten Commandments. Adultery is sexual relations in which at least one participant is married to someone else. According to the Book of Genesis|Genesis narrative, marriage is a union established by God himself. Within marriage, sexual relations are designed to unify husband and wife, to be a source of enjoyment and to result in children. Before the account of the Ten Commandments, there are biblical examples that adultery was understood to be a serious offense. According to Book of Exodus|Exodus, the law forbidding adultery was codified at Mount Sinai as one of the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God on stone tablets. Details regarding the administration of this law and additional boundaries on sexual behavior followed. According to Deuteronomy, the commandment was reaffirmed as the leadership of Israel passed from Moses to Joshua. In the book of Book of Proverbs|Proverbs, the temptation to adultery is described, and advice for avoiding it is offered. Proverbs likens a man entering an adulterous encounter to a “deer stepping into a noose.” Adultery may be the first specific activity referred to as a ‘highway to hell,’ and temporal consequences are starkly stated. For example: Adultery is one of three sins (along with idolatry and murder) the Mishnah says must be resisted to the point of death.

New Testament scriptures support the sanctity of marriage and affirm the gravity of the commandment:  Other New Testament passages describe the positive expectation of sexual relations within marriage, and the sinfulness of adultery and of sexual relations outside of marriage.

Pre-Law Examples
Several incidents in the Genesis narrative demonstrate that adultery was understood to be a serious offense. These occur in the times of the Patriarchs over a span of about 200 years, the last one occurring more than 400 years before the giving of the law through Moses. In Genesis 12, Abram’s beautiful wife Sarai is taken into the Egyptian Pharaoh’s palace after Abram does not disclose her marital status. God inflicts “serious diseases on Pharaoh and his whole household.” Pharaoh realizes it is because Sarai is actually Abram’s wife and strongly rebukes Abram for misleading him, saying, “What have you done to me?” In Genesis 20, Abraham (renamed after his encounter with Yahweh) has moved to the Negev and again conceals his marriage to Sarah. A local king, Abimelech, intends to marry her. However, God appears to Abimelech in a dream and says: Years later, Isaac tells the same lie regarding his wife, Rebekah, but Abimelech quickly discovers the truth. Appalled, he confronts Isaac, saying, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” In Genesis 39, a positive example is presented in Joseph (Hebrew Bible)|Joseph, one of Jacob’s twelve sons. He is sold into slavery in Egypt and quickly rises to a prominent and successful position managing the household of Potiphar, a military captain. He resists sexual advances from Potiphar’s wife “day after day,” protesting that he does not wish to betray Potiphar’s trust. One day her advances become physical, and in his effort to escape, Joseph leaves his cloak behind. Potiphar’s wife uses this ‘evidence’ to falsely accuse Joseph of attempted rape and he is imprisoned, losing all but his life. More than two years later Joseph is restored to an even higher position serving Pharaoh himself.

Adultery in Old Testament Law and Wisdom Literature
According to Exodus, the law forbidding adultery was codified for the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. It was one of the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God on stone tablets. Details regarding the administration of the law and additional boundaries on sexual behavior followed. For example, an ordeal was established to prove the guilt or innocence of a wife whose husband suspected her of adultery. Adultery was a capital crime, and if adulterers were caught, at least two witnesses were required before the death penalty would be carried out. Since men were permitted to have multiple wives, adultery was interpreted to consist of sexual relations between a man and a married or betrothed woman who was not his wife. A man who had sexual relations with a woman who was not married or betrothed was not guilty of adultery, per se, but the man was then obligated to marry the woman, unless her father forbid it. Other boundaries on sexual behavior included the prohibition of sexual relations between close relatives, between persons of the same sex, and between people and animals; prostitution was also forbidden. The prohibition of prostitution has been interpreted by rabbinical scholars to preclude sexual relations outside of marriage in general, and a woman who, after getting married, was found to have been promiscuous before marriage faced the death penalty. A woman who was raped was not guilty of breaking the law, provided she cried out for help (which was taken as proof that she did not consent). According to Deuteronomy, the commandment against adultery was reaffirmed as the leadership of Israel passed from Moses to Joshua.

King David’s seduction of Uriah’s wife Bathsheba and the murderous cover-up of their adultery is an infamous transgression of this commandment. Occurring approximately four centuries after the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai, the event and its aftermath are recounted in the books of Second Samuel and First Kings. Despite David’s sincere and lasting repentance, his breaking the commandment against adultery brought temporal punishment, initiated a cascade of tragic events in Israel and remains well known in modern times. The artist Triqueti illustrated the exposure of the crime when the prophet Nathan confronted David.

The book of Proverbs contains entire chapters warning against adultery and describing its temptations and consequences. Direct warnings are given to stay far away from the adulteress. Wisdom is described as a protection against “the wayward wife with her seductive words … her house leads down to death. None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.”

Sexual Relations in Marriage


In contrast to the stark prohibitions and warnings against adultery, marital relations were expected and considered a right. A newly married soldier in Israel did not have to go to war for a year, so that he could bring happiness to his bride. Proverbs encourages the enjoyment of sexual relations within marriage: “Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer – may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.”

Spiritual Parallels
The prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea indicate that God viewed Israel’s worship of idols as spiritual adultery. This led to a broken covenant between them and “divorce,” manifested as defeat by an enemy nation followed by exile, from which the northern kingdom never recovered. This spiritual adultery was apparently accompanied by the prevalence of physical adultery as well.

In Judaism


The Mitzvoh against adultery is interpreted to refer to sexual relations between a man and a married woman. Sexual relations outside of marriage are also prohibited based on Deuteronomy 23:18. The mitzvah are as follows:


 * Not to have intercourse with another man's wife.
 * There shall be no intercourse with a woman, without previous marriage with a deed of marriage and formal declaration of marriage.

In the Torah, if a husband suspected his wife of adultery, there was a prescribed ordeal she underwent to determine her guilt or innocence. A separate procedure was to be followed if a newlywed husband became suspicious that his wife had been promiscuous before marriage. Alternatively, to enforce capital punishment for adultery, at least two witnesses were required, and both the man and woman involved were subject to punishment. While cases of adultery could thus be difficult to prove, divorce laws added over the years enabled the husband to divorce the wife on circumstantial evidence of adultery without witnesses or additional evidence. If a woman committed unlawful intercourse against her will, she was not guilty of adultery, because she did not act as a free agent. The usual punishments were not inflicted in such cases, and the legal consequences of adultery did not follow. In the first century, enforcement of the ordeal became less common as additional restrictions were put on prosecution of capital cases of adultery. In the year 40, before the destruction of the Second Temple, the Jewish courts relinquished their right to inflict capital punishment (perhaps under Roman pressure). Changes in punishment for adultery were enacted: the adulterer was scourged, and the husband of the adulteress was not allowed to forgive her crime, but was compelled to divorce her, and she lost all her property rights under her marriage contract. The adulteress was not allowed to marry the one with whom she had committed adultery, and if she did marry him, they were forced to separate.

Though legal enforcement was inconsistently applied, the mitzvah remained. Adultery is one of three sins (along with idolatry and murder) that are to be resisted to the point of death. . This was the consensus of the rabbis at the meeting at Lydda, during the Hadrianic Revolt of 132.

The mitzvoh to practice sexual relations only within marriage is affirmed by many Orthodox, Conservative and Reform rabbis into modern times. While they point out that sexual relations outside of marriage undermine marriage and even love itself, they also emphasize the positive role of sexual relations in strengthening and promoting love within the marriage relationship.

In the New Testament
In the gospels, Jesus affirmed the commandment against adultery and seemed to extend it, saying, “But I say to you, anyone who looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” However, some commentators, including St. Thomas Aquinas, say that Jesus was making the connection with the commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” He taught his audience that the outward act of adultery does not happen apart from sins of the heart: “For from within, out of people's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, lewdness, stinginess, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person."

According to the gospels, Jesus quoted the book of Genesis regarding the divine origin of the marriage relationship, concluding, “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate." Jesus dismissed expedient provisions allowing for divorce for nearly any reason, and cited sexual immorality (a breaking of the marriage covenant) as the only reason why a person may divorce and marry another without committing adultery. The Apostle Paul similarly taught, “To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.”

In the gospel of John is an account of a woman caught in adultery. Leaders responsible for executing justice brought her to Jesus and asked for his judgment. Jesus’ statement “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” is often quoted to preclude judgment of any kind. However, some commentators point out that if the woman was caught in adultery, there should also have been a man standing trial. The law clearly stated that both parties were to receive the death penalty. By not bringing the guilty man to justice, these leaders shared in the guilt and were not fit to carry out the punishment. Not condoning her adultery, Jesus warns the woman in parting, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” The Apostle Paul wrote frankly about the gravity of adultery:

Within marriage, regular sexual relations are expected and encouraged. “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." As “one flesh,” the husband and wife share this right and privilege; the New Testament does not portray intimacy as something held in reserve by each spouse to be shared on condition. "Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control." A stated reason for maintaining marital relations is to reduce the temptation to adultery.

The Apostle Paul himself never married and realized the practical advantages of remaining single. However, he referred to contentment in celibacy as “a gift,” and sexual desire as the more common condition of people. For this reason, he recommends that most people are better off married, in order to preclude being tempted beyond what they can bear or going through life “burning with passion.” Like the writers of the Old Testament (see above), the Apostle James, the Apostle John, and Jesus himself likened spiritual unfaithfulness to adultery against God.

In the Catholic Church
The Catholic Catechism begins its teaching on this commandment with a positive summary of God’s creation of men and women and his purposes for sex within marriage. These purposes include unifying husband and wife, demonstrating unselfish, even generous love between them, and producing children.

According to the Catechism, those who are engaged must refrain from sexual relations until after the marriage ceremony. This exercise of restraint in order to keep the commandment against adultery is also seen as important practice for fidelity within marriage: Chastity for the married Catholic is not abstention from sexual relations, but the enjoyment of God-given sexuality within marriage only.

The tradition of the Catholic Church has understood the commandment against adultery as encompassing the whole of human sexuality and so pornography is declared a violation of this commandment. Several other sexual activities that may or may not involve married persons are also directly addressed and prohibited in the Catechism.

Adultery is viewed not only as a sin between an individual and God but as an injustice that reverberates through society by harming its fundamental unit, the family:

Reformation and Post-Reformation Commentary
John Calvin understood the commandment against adultery to extend to sexual relations outside of marriage: “Although one kind of impurity is alone referred to, it is sufficiently plain, from the principle laid down, that believers are generally exhorted to chastity; for, if the Law be a perfect rule of holy living, it would be more than absurd to give a license for fornication (sexual relations between persons not married to each other), adultery alone being excepted.” Matthew Henry understood the commandment against adultery to prohibit sexual immorality in general, and he acknowledged the difficulty people experience: “This commandment forbids all acts of uncleanness, with all those fleshly lusts which produce those acts and war against the soul.” Henry supports his interpretation with Matthew 5:28, where Jesus warns that whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Regarding the above passage, Matthew Henry comments: “Here you have, 1. A recommendation of God's ordinance of marriage, that it is honourable in all, … 2. A dreadful but just censure of impurity and lewdness.” John Wesley believed this scripture and the sure judgment of God, even though adulterers “frequently escape the sentence of men.” Martin Luther observed that there were many more people in his day who were unmarried for various reasons than in biblical times, which condition increased both temptation and sexual activities that are displeasing to God:

Luther neither condemns nor denies human sexuality, but, like the Apostle Paul, points out that God instituted the marriage relationship to provide for its proper enjoyment. Luther comments that each spouse should intentionally cherish the other, and that this will contribute to love and a desire for chastity, which will make fidelity easier.

- In Daniel 12:2, God promises that the day is coming when “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Jesus spoke of the eternity of God’s wrath in numerous ways. -