What is adultery?

[Wheat Field]

One would assume that defining it would be simple...surely?

Jesus does say in Matthew 5:27-28:
You have heard it said, 'You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Clearly, Jesus is doubling down on not straying from one's marriage even in thought. One might infer that any form of polygamy would obviously be proscribed by such a statement and yet there numerous cases of it in the OT where it is described without condemnation. Perhaps David is the best example where he is only condemned for taking Bathsheba, a married woman - he isn't condemned for the other numerous wives and concubines he had.

We also know that scripture provided for polygamy in law - Deuteronomy 21:10ff and Exodus 21:10.

Jesus explicitly states in Matthew 19:9, that divorce is permitted only in the case of sexual immorality - which clearly underlines the hurt that having sex outside of the marriage causes:
I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.

Nobody would infer that the OT wives of such figures as Solomon, David and Jacob were any the less emotional disturbed by their husband openly sleeping with another / other women would we?

(NB: This thread is similar to my other thread: Ellicott's commentary on Romans 7:1-3, but I am hoping that presenting the issue in this new way might yield a better response.)

 

[Wheat Field]

At the very least, Jesus appears to be at odds with the Jewish understanding of adultery which, according to Wikipedia, is:

Leviticus 20:10 defines what constitutes adultery in the Hebrew Bible, and it also prescribes the punishment as capital punishment. In this verse, and in the Jewish tradition, adultery consists of sexual intercourse between a man and a married woman who is not his lawful wife:

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.

Thus, according to the Hebrew Bible, adultery is not committed if the female participant is unmarried (unless she is betrothed to be married), while the marital status of the male participant is irrelevant (he himself could be married or unmarried to another woman).

Is Jesus repudiating the very law he said that not one jot nor tittle would pass from? Jesus explicitly cites looking with lust as adultery of the heart.

 

[hawkman]

One would assume that defining it would be simple...surely?

Adultery - The married having sex with the unmarried .

Note , we are not living in the time of the Old Testament and we have a very shallow understanding of what it was really like to live and die in that time frame .

Jesus does say in Matthew 5:27-28:
You have heard it said, 'You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Jesus was teaching from the mountain starting in Matthew 5 and ending with , 6 and 7 , that is all one continuous sermon from Jesus .

What Jesus is saying is basically what Paul said here that we need to control our thoughts . 2 Corinthians 10

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

 

[Wheat Field]

Adultery - The married having sex with the unmarried .

Thanks for your response hawkman.

In Romans 7:3 it is clear that a married woman would be an adulteress if she had sex with another man. It is also clear that this would be the same situation if she married another man whilst still married to her original husband. I don't see how your definition takes this into account.

So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

Note , we are not living in the time of the Old Testament and we have a very shallow understanding of what it was really like to live and die in that time frame .

Jesus was teaching from the mountain starting in Matthew 5 and ending with , 6 and 7 , that is all one continuous sermon from Jesus .

What Jesus is saying is basically what Paul said here that we need to control our thoughts . 2 Corinthians 10

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

I'm not entirely sure what you are saying here. Jesus explicitly equates inappropriate lustful thoughts with the act of adultery. His stance would make King David and his many wives and concubines an adulterer several times over. Are you suggesting otherwise?

Please let me just add that it is NOT my intension to prove a contradiction in the bible - rather, I hope that it is a lack of understanding on my part. However, if such a contradiction exists, it should of course be revealed.

 

[Wheat Field]

Bump.

Is there just simply no easy answer to this? Christians don't know what adultery is?

(It is my wish that a satisfactory answer is forthcoming; I'm not in anyway goading or taunting).

 

[hawkman]

Bump.

Is there just simply no easy answer to this? Christians don't know what adultery is?

(It is my wish that a satisfactory answer is forthcoming; I'm not in anyway goading or taunting).

If I am having trouble understanding God's word from the Bible I will pray and seek God in the matter .
What do you normally do if you do not understand God' word ?

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

 

[GodsGrace]

Bump.

Is there just simply no easy answer to this? Christians don't know what adultery is?

(It is my wish that a satisfactory answer is forthcoming; I'm not in anyway goading or taunting).

Could you state what you think adultery is?

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

At the very least, Jesus appears to be at odds with the Jewish understanding of adultery which, according to Wikipedia, is:

Leviticus 20:10 defines what constitutes adultery in the Hebrew Bible, and it also prescribes the punishment as capital punishment. In this verse, and in the Jewish tradition, adultery consists of sexual intercourse between a man and a married woman who is not his lawful wife:

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.

Thus, according to the Hebrew Bible, adultery is not committed if the female participant is unmarried (unless she is betrothed to be married), while the marital status of the male participant is irrelevant (he himself could be married or unmarried to another woman).

Is Jesus repudiating the very law he said that not one jot nor tittle would pass from? Jesus explicitly cites looking with lust as adultery of the heart.

Those pharisees at the time were gaming the system by frequently divorcing and remarrying. A pharisee was at liberty to kick his wife out for any frivolous reason that displease them, then immediately marry the next woman whom he already lusted for, such practice effectively turned marriage into a joke, it's like you get married for a one night stand and divorce at the next morning. Jesus was rebuking this Jewish "understanding" in both the sermon on the mount and the teaching of marriage in Matt. 19.

 

[Wheat Field]

If I am having trouble understanding God's word from the Bible I will pray and seek God in the matter .
What do you normally do if you do not understand God' word ?

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

I am impressed that you are honest enough to admit that you as a believer do quite understand this issue either.

Though I remain a skeptic, I do ask for understanding as if in prayer.

 

[Wheat Field]

Could you state what you think adultery is?

Having sex with someone who is not your wife or husband (and just to clarify - this would include having sex with additional marriage partners).

 

[Wheat Field]

According to Britannica regarding The Song of Solomon:

"...the songs celebrate the joy and goodness of human love between the sexes and the sense of inner fulfilment and harmony with God’s creation that arise from such love."

One might ask why would such a book is include in the Tanakh? It does indeed include inspired love poetry between Solomon and the Shulammite woman...and yet we understand that he (Solomon) already has (at this juncture at least) multiple partners:

Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number;

Jesus's explicit rebuke of lusting after other women isn't once acknowledged.

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

Having sex with someone who is not your wife or husband (and just to clarify - this would include having sex with additional marriage partners).

These days if you're already in a relationship with a partner, i.e. dating, and you cheat on your partner by being intimate with somebody else, that is usually considered as adultery.

 

[Wheat Field]

Those pharisees at the time were gaming the system by frequently divorcing and remarrying. A pharisee was at liberty to kick his wife out for any frivolous reason that displease them, then immediately marry the next woman whom he already lusted for, such practice effectively turned marriage into a joke, it's like you get married for a one night stand and divorce at the next morning. Jesus was rebuking this Jewish "understanding" in both the sermon on the mount and the teaching of marriage in Matt. 19.

This is my understanding as well - but it doesn't seem to help in pinning down the meaning of adultery.

 

[Wheat Field]

These days if you're already in a relationship with a partner, i.e. dating, and you cheat on your partner by being intimate with somebody else, that is usually considered as adultery.

Indeed - assuming that the relationship is understood to be exclusive.

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

This is my understanding as well - but it doesn't seem to help in pinning down the meaning of adultery.

Adultery is polygamous in nature, marriage is monogamous in nature. By God's design and the commandment that forbids adultery, marriage, sex and relationship all should be exclusive, no multiple partners. You can break up with one and hook up with another, but you can't hook up with both.

 

[WIP]

Adultery is more than just sexual. Adultery is unfaithfulness plain and simple.

In Ezekiel 6 God makes reference to the Israelites as having an adulterous heart because they departed from Him.

Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations.
Ezekiel 6:9 NKJV


In Ezekiel 16 God makes reference to Jerusalem being an adulterous wife because of idol worship.

15 “But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.
16 You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be.
17 You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.

31 “You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment.
32 You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband.
Ezekiel 16:15-17, 31-32 NKJV


In Matthew 12 Jesus referred to the Jews as an adulterous generation.

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Matthew 12:38-39 NKJV


In Matthew 16 Jesus again referred to the Jews as an adulterous generation.

1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.
2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’;
3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.
4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.
Matthew 16:1-4 NKJV


And again in Mark 8 Jesus refers to the Jews as an adulterous generation.

34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:34-38 NKJV

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

Indeed - assuming that the relationship is understood to be exclusive.

Yes, adultery is the opposite of fidelity, it’s a form of betrayal.

 

[GodsGrace]

Having sex with someone who is not your wife or husband (and just to clarify - this would include having sex with additional marriage partners).

Hi WF
It's been so long for your answer that I've forgotten why I asked your opinion of what adultery is!

Your answer is correct.

However, the answer also depends on how close the relationship is between a person and God.
Although the above is right, it can go much further than that. Some might feel that if they just go for coffee with another person, this constitutes some kind of break in trust.

Jesus said just thinking of a woman could be a sin.
He meant to say that it's the heart that controls our mind.