In the Old Testament, God Declared Adultery to be a sin Deserving Death
When God set apart a nation to be His special people, He gave them a set of basic guidelines for living. They were the basis for every other law He would give them. These laws were a written record of the way God expects His people to behave. The seventh commandment God gave His people was, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). God knew that the heart of humankind would naturally seek to fulfill every desire it experienced. God gave these laws to make His holy standards clear. God viewed adultery as being a sin so terrible that it was punishable by death. “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death” Leviticus 20:10; cf. Deuteronomy 22:22. If we ever think that God takes adultery, or any other sin, lightly, we should remember what penalties and punishments He assigned to them. Adultery is not just an outward action “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). This tells us that adultery can take place within the heart [mind] and is just as sinful as an outward act. The sin of the mind may not affect as many other people, families, and friends as the outward physical act, but it is still a sinful affront to the holiness of God. This applies to the prevalence of pornography in our culture. Often claimed to be a ‘victimless offense’, the damage pornography does to the heart of the one involved in it, and often to those around him/her, can be just as devastating. Pornography and adultery often go hand in hand. Adultery can keep you out of the Kingdom of God First Corinthians 6:9-10, the apostle Paul lists some sins that, if continued in without confession and repentance, will prevent the practitioner from entering God’s kingdom, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God”. Included in this list is the sin of adultery. This further emphasizes how serious God views this sin. He knew the devastating effects adultery has on individuals and families and He wanted to protect us from that heartbreak. He still feels the same today.
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Author Oni T.
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