Difference between revisions of "Adultery"

<p> A married woman cohabiting with a man not her husband. The prevalent polygamy in patriarchal times rendered it impossible to stigmatize as adultery the cohabitation of a married man with another besides his wife. But as Jesus saith, "from the beginning it was not so," for "He which made male and female said, They twain shall be one flesh." So the [[Samaritan]] [[Pentateuch]] reads &nbsp;Genesis 2:24, as it is quoted in &nbsp;Matthew 19:5. A fallen world undergoing a gradual course of remedial measures needs anomalies to be pretermitted for a time (&nbsp;Romans 3:25 margin; &nbsp;Acts 17:30), until it becomes fit for a higher stage, in its progress toward its finally perfect state. God sanctions nothing but perfection; but optimism is out of place in governing a fallen world not yet ripe for it. The junction of the two into one flesh when sexual intercourse takes place with a third is dissolved in its original idea. </p> <p> So also the union of the believer with Christ is utterly incompatible with fornication (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 6:13-18; &nbsp;1 Corinthians 7:1-13; &nbsp;1 Timothy 3:12). The sanctity of marriage in patriarchal times appears from Abraam's fear, not that his wife will be seduced from him, but that he may be killed for her sake. The conduct of [[Pharaoh]] and [[Abimelech]] (Genesis 12; 20), implies the same reverence for the sacredness of marriage. Death by fire was the penalty of unchastity (&nbsp;Genesis 38:24). Under the [[Mosaic]] law both the guilty parties (including those only betrothed unless the woman were a slave) were stoned (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 22:22-24; &nbsp;Leviticus 19:20-22). The law of inheritance, which would have been set aside by doubtful offspring, tended to keep up this law as to adultery. But when the territorial system of Moses fell into desuetude, and [[Gentile]] example corrupted the Jews, while the law nominally remained it practically became a dead letter. </p> <p> The Pharisees' object in bringing the adulterous woman (John 8) before Christ was to put Him in a dilemma between declaring for reviving an obsolete penalty, or else sanctioning an infraction of the law. In &nbsp;Matthew 5:82 He condemns their usage of divorce except in the case of fornication. In &nbsp;Matthew 1:19, Joseph" not willing to make the [[Virgin]] a public example (paradeigmatisai ) was minded to put her away privily"; i.e., he did not intend to bring her before the local Sanhedrim, but privately to repudiate her. The trial by the waters of jealousy described in &nbsp;Numbers 5:11-29 was meant to restrain oriental impulses of jealousy within reasonable bounds. The trial by "red water" in Africa is very different, amidst seeming resemblance's. The [[Israelite]] ingredients were harmless; the African, poisonous. The visitation, if the woman was guilty, was from God direct; the innocent escaped: whereas many an innocent African perishes by the poison. No instance is recorded in Scripture; so that the terror of it seems to have operated either to restrain from guilt, or to lead the guilty to confess it without recourse to the ordeal. </p> <p> The union of God and His one church, in His everlasting purpose, is the archetype and foundation on which rests the union of man and wife (&nbsp;Ephesians 5:22-33). (See ADAM.) As he ish ) gave [[Eve]] (isha ) his name, signifying her formation from him, so Christ gives a new name to the church (&nbsp;Revelation 2:17; &nbsp;Revelation 3:12). As He is the true [[Solomon]] (Prince of peace), so she the [[Shulamite]] (&nbsp;Song of Solomon 6:13). Hence idolatry, covetousness, and apostasy are adultery spiritually (&nbsp;Jeremiah 3:6; &nbsp;Jeremiah 3:8-9; &nbsp;Ezekiel 16:82; Hosea 1; 2; 3; &nbsp;Revelation 2:22). An apostate church, the daughter of [[Jerusalem]] becoming the daughter of Babylon, is an adulteress (&nbsp;Isaiah 1:21; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:4; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:7; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:37). So Jesus calls the Jews "an adulterous generation" (&nbsp;Matthew 12:39). </p> <p> The woman in Revelation 12, represented as clothed with the Sun (of righteousness), and crowned with the 12 stars (i.e. the 12 patriarchs of the Old Testament and the 12 apostles of New Testament), and persecuted by the dragon, in Revelation 17, excites the wonder of John, because of her transformation into a scarlet arrayed "mother of harlots," with a cup full of abominations, riding upon a "scarlet colored beast"; but the ten horned beast finally turns upon her, "makes her naked, eats her flesh, and burns her with fire." The once faithful church has ceased to be persecuted by conforming to the godless world and resting upon it. But the divine principle is, when the church apostatizes from God to intrigue with the world, the world, the instrument of her sin, shall at last be the instrument of her punishment. Compare as to [[Israel]] (Αholah ), and [[Judah]] (Αholibah ), Ezekiel </p> <p> '''23.''' The principle is being illustrated in the church of Rome before our eyes. Let all professing churches beware of spiritual adultery, as they would escape its penalty. </p>

<p> The teaching of the [[Bible]] is that sexual relations are lawful only between husband and wife. A sexual relation between two people who are not married is usually called fornication; a sexual relation between a married person and someone other than that person’s marriage partner is usually called adultery (&nbsp;Exodus 20:14; &nbsp;Romans 12:9; &nbsp;Romans 12:20; &nbsp;Galatians 5:19; &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 4:3-4; see also FORNICATION). </p> <p> '''Old Testament regulations''' </p> <p> According to the law of Moses, the punishment for adultery was death by stoning (&nbsp;Leviticus 20:10; &nbsp;John 8:3-5). Where there was a suspicion of adultery but no clear evidence, Israelite law set out a special procedure by which a priest could determine the case (&nbsp;Numbers 5:11-31). </p> <p> The engaged as well as the married were considered adulterers if they had sexual relations with third parties. Again the penalty was death. The one exception was the case of a woman who had been raped (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 22:22-27). </p> <p> [[Adultery]] was a sin against one’s own marriage partner (&nbsp;Malachi 2:11; &nbsp;Malachi 2:14; cf. &nbsp;Hosea 2:2), as well as against the marriage partner of the new lover (&nbsp;Exodus 20:14; &nbsp;Exodus 20:17; &nbsp;2 Samuel 12:9; &nbsp;Proverbs 6:32-35). Unfaithfulness was at the centre of all adultery. The Old Testament prophets repeatedly spoke of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God as spiritual adultery, or spiritual prostitution (&nbsp;Jeremiah 5:7; &nbsp;Jeremiah 23:10; &nbsp;Ezekiel 16:30-38; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:4-5; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:11; &nbsp;Hosea 9:1; see PROSTITUTION). </p> <p> '''New Testament teachings''' </p> <p> Like the Old Testament, the New Testament looks upon marriage as a permanent union. Therefore, the person who divorced and remarried was considered guilty of adultery (&nbsp;Mark 10:2-12; &nbsp;Luke 16:18; &nbsp;Romans 7:2-4). The exception that Jesus allowed concerned the case where persistent adulterous behaviour by one partner had already virtually destroyed the marriage (&nbsp;Matthew 5:32; &nbsp;Matthew 19:7-9; see also DIVORCE). Jesus said that even the desire to have unlawful sexual relations was a form of adultery. Therefore, the best way to avoid adulterous acts was to avoid adulterous thoughts (&nbsp;Matthew 5:27-30; &nbsp;Matthew 15:19; cf. &nbsp;Exodus 20:17; &nbsp;James 1:14-15). </p> <p> Paul pointed out that [[Christians]] in particular should avoid all immoral sexual relations, since their bodies are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and they themselves belong to Christ. For the Christian, there is a sense in which sexual sin is spiritual prostitution (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 6:13-20). </p> <p> Although the New Testament announces God’s judgment on those who are immoral and adulterous (&nbsp;Hebrews 13:4; &nbsp;2 Peter 2:14), it also shows that God is ready to forgive those who, in sorrow for their sin, turn to him for mercy (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Jesus rebuked the self-righteous who condemned adulterers but who could not see their own sin. At the same time he gave sympathetic support to those who acknowledged their sin and repented of it (&nbsp;Matthew 9:11-13; &nbsp;Luke 18:9-14; &nbsp;John 8:3-11; cf. &nbsp;Romans 2:22). </p> <p> Christians may rightly condemn adultery, but, remembering their own weaknesses, they should also forgive those who repent of their adultery. More than that, they should give them understanding and support as they try to re-establish their lives (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 2:7; &nbsp;Galatians 6:1-2; &nbsp;Ephesians 1:7; &nbsp;Ephesians 4:32). </p>

<p> 1. An unlawful commerce between one married person and another, or between a married and an unmarried person. </p> <p> 2. It is also used in [[Scripture]] for idolatry, or departing from the true God. &nbsp;Jeremiah 3:9 . </p> <p> 3. Also for any species of impurity or crime against the virtue of chastity. &nbsp;Matthew 5:28 . </p> <p> 4. It is also used in ecclesiastical writer's for a person's invading or intruding into a bishoprick during the former bishop's life. </p> <p> 5. The word is also used in ancient customs for the punishment or fine imposed for that offence, or the privilege of prosecuting for it. </p> <p> Although adultery is prohibited by the law of God, yet some have endeavored to explain away the moral turpitude of it; but it is evident, observes Paley, that, on the part of the man who solicits the chastity of a married woman, it certainly includes the crime of seduction, and is attended with mischief still more extensive and complicated: it creates a new sufferer, the injured husband, upon whose affection is inflicted a wound the most painful and incurable that human nature knows. The infidelity of the woman is aggravated by cruelty to her children, who are generally involved in their parents' shame, and always made unhappy by their quarrel. The marriage vow is witnessed before God, and accompanied with circumstances of solemnity and religion, which approach to the nature of an oath. The married offender, therefore, incurs a crime little short of perjury, and the seduction of a married woman is little less than subornation of perjury. But the strongest apology for adultery is, the prior transgression of the other party; and so far, indeed, as the bad effects of adultery are anticipated by the conduct of the husband or wife who offends first, the guilt of the second offender is extenuated. </p> <p> But this can never amount to a justification, unless it could be shown that the obligation of the marriage vow depends upon the condition of reciprocal fidelity; a construction which appears founded neither in expediency, nor in terms of the vow, nor in the design of the legislature, which prescribed the marriage rite. To consider the offence upon the footing of provocation, therefore, can by no means vindicate retaliation. "Thou shalt not commit adultery, " it must ever be remembered, was an interdict delivered by God himself. This crime has been punished in almost all ages and nations. By the [[Jewish]] law it was punished with death in both parties, where either the woman was married, or both. Among the Egyptians, adultery in the man was punished by a thousand lashes with rods, and in the woman by the loss of her nose. The Greeks put out the eyes of the adulterers. Among the Romans, it was punished by banishment, cutting off the ears, noses, and by sewing the adulterers into sacks, and throwing them into the sea, scourging, burning, &c. In [[Spain]] and [[Poland]] they were almost as severe. The [[Saxons]] formerly burnt the adulteress, and over her ashes erected a gibbet, whereon the adulterer was hanged. King Edmund in this kingdom, ordered adultery to be punished in the same manner as homicide. [[Canute]] ordered the man to be banished, and the woman to have her nose and ears cut off. Modern punishments, in different nations, do not seem to be so severe. In Britain it is reckoned a spiritual offence, and is cognizable by the spiritual courts, where it is punished by fine and penance. </p> <p> See Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, p. 309, vol. 1: 12th edition. </p>

<p> The law of Moses made this crime capital, both to the man and woman; and upon clear proof, they were both to be put to death. (&nbsp;Leviticus 20:10) It is somewhat remarkable, however, that in the case of the adulteress brought to Christ, we hear nothing of the man. Was it the case then, as it is but too generally now, that both the sin and the shame are thrown, with fulness of every thing blameable, upon women, while the seducers and more worthless, pass off unrebuked? yea, to the disgrace of human nature, not unfrequently applauded! Not so in thine eye, blessed Lord Jesus! (See &nbsp;John 8:1; Joh 8:11) It should be remarked under this article, that beside this natural adultery, noticed in the Scripture, there is a spiritual fornication of which the Lord complains, which is idolatry. (See &nbsp;Jeremiah 3:9; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:37; &nbsp;Hosea 2:2) Reader! if Jesus be the husband, that is, as the prophet calls him, the John of his people, who would forsake him for the idols of a dying world? (&nbsp;Hosea 2:16-17) </p>

<p> '''Adultery.''' &nbsp;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. &nbsp;Deuteronomy 22:22-24. </p> <p> A bondwoman so offending was to be scourged, and the man was to make a [[Trespass]] Offering. &nbsp;Leviticus 19:20-22. At a later time, and when, owing to a Gentile example, the marriage tie became a looser bond of union, public feeling in regard to adultery changed, and the penalty of death was seldom or never inflicted. The famous trial by the '''water(s) of jealousy''' , &nbsp;Numbers 5:11-29, was probably an ancient custom, which Moses found deeply seated. </p> <p> (But this ordeal was wholly in favor of the innocent, and exactly opposite to most ordeals. For the water which the accused drank was perfectly harmless, and only by a miracle, could it produce a bad effect; while in most ordeals, the accused must suffer what naturally produces death, and be proved innocent only by a miracle. Symbolically, adultery is used to express unfaithfulness to covenant vows to God, who is represented as the husband of his people). </p>

<p> '''Adultery.''' Strictly denotes uncleanness between a man and a woman, either of whom is married. Broadly, it includes all manner of unchastity in heart, speech, or behavior. &nbsp;Matthew 5:27-28. According to the law of God, given by Moses, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. &nbsp;Leviticus 20:10. The mode of testing a charge made by a man accusing his wife of adultery is given, &nbsp;Numbers 5:12-31. Christ says that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. &nbsp;Matthew 5:28. In many parts of the Scripture the church is called an adulteress when she forsakes the worship of God and practices idolatry. &nbsp;Isaiah 57:3-12; &nbsp;Jeremiah 3:1-2; &nbsp;Jeremiah 3:9; &nbsp;Jeremiah 13:27; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:27; &nbsp;Matthew 12:39, etc. By our [[Saviour]] adultery was made the only ground for divorce. </p>

<p> '''(1):''' (n.) The unfaithfulness of a married person to the marriage bed; sexual intercourse by a married man with another than his wife, or voluntary sexual intercourse by a married woman with another than her husband. </p> <p> '''(2):''' (n.) [[Lewdness]] or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the seventh commandment. </p> <p> '''(3):''' (n.) Faithlessness in religion. </p> <p> '''(4):''' (n.) The fine and penalty imposed for the offense of adultery. </p> <p> '''(5):''' (n.) Adulteration; corruption. </p> <p> '''(6):''' (n.) The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop. </p> <p> '''(7):''' (n.) Injury; degradation; ruin. </p>

<p> In the common acceptation of the word, adultery denotes the sexual intercourse of a married woman with any other man than her husband, or of a married man with any other woman than his wife. But the crime is not understood in this extent among Eastern nations, nor was it so understood by the Jews. With them, adultery was the act whereby any married man was exposed to the risk of having a spurious offspring imposed upon him. An adulterer was, therefore, any man who had illicit intercourse with a married or betrothed woman; and an adulteress was a betrothed or married woman who had intercourse with any other man than her husband. An intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was not, as with us, deemed adultery, but fornication; a great sin, but not, like adultery, involving the contingency of polluting a descent, of turning aside an inheritance, or of imposing upon a man a charge which did not belong to him. Adultery was thus considered a great social wrong, against which society protected itself by much severer penalties than attended an unchaste act not involving the same contingencies. </p> <p> It will be seen that this Oriental limitation of adultery is intimately connected with the existence of polygamy. If adultery be defined as a breach of the marriage covenant, then, where the contract is between one man and one woman, as in Christian countries, the man as much as the woman infringes the covenant, or commits adultery, by every act of intercourse with any other woman: but where polygamy is allowed, where the husband may marry other wives, and take to himself concubines and slaves, the marriage contract cannot and does not convey to the woman a legal title that the man should belong to her alone. If, therefore, a Jew associated with a woman who was not his wife, his concubine, or his slave, he was guilty of unchastity, but committed no offence which gave a wife reason to complain that her legal rights had been infringed. If, however, the woman with whom he associated was the wife of another, he was guilty of adultery, not by infringing his own marriage covenant, but by causing a breach of that which existed between that woman and her husband. By thus excluding from the name and punishment of adultery the offence which did not involve the enormous wrong of imposing upon a man a supposititious offspring, in a nation where the succession to landed property went entirely by birth, so that a father could not by his testament alienate it from anyone who was regarded as his son—the law was enabled, with less severity than if the inferior offence had been included, to punish the crime with death. It is still so punished wherever the practice of polygamy has similarly operated in limiting the crime—not, perhaps, that the law expressly assigns that punishment, but it recognizes the right of the injured party to inflict it, and, in fact, leaves it, in a great degree, in his hands. Now death was the punishment of adultery before the time of Moses; and if he had assigned a less punishment, his law would have been inoperative, for private vengeance, sanctioned by usage, would still have inflicted death. But by adopting it into the law, those restrictions were imposed upon its operation which necessarily arise when the calm inquiry of public justice is substituted for the impulsive action of excited hands. Thus, death would be less frequently inflicted; and that this effect followed seems to be implied in the fact that the whole biblical history offers no example of capital punishment for the crime. Eventually, divorce superseded all other punishment. </p> <p> It seems that the Roman law made the same important distinction with the Hebrew, between the infidelity of the husband and of the wife. 'Adultery' was defined by the civilians to be the violation of another man's bed, so that the infidelity of the husband to his own wife could not alone constitute the offence. </p> <p> It is understood that the crime was punished among the Assyrians and [[Chaldeans]] by cutting off the nose and the ears; and this brings to mind the passage in which the prophet Ezekiel (&nbsp;Ezekiel 23:25), after, in the name of the Lord, reproving Israel and Judah for their adulteries (i.e. idolatries) with the Assyrians and Chaldeans, threatens the punishment, 'they shall take away thy nose and thy ears.' One or both of these mutilations, most generally that of the nose, were also inflicted by other nations, as the Persians and Egyptians, and even the Romans; but we suspect that among the former, as with the latter, it was less a judicial punishment than a summary infliction by the aggrieved party. It would also seem that these mutilations were more usually inflicted on the male than the female adulterer. In Egypt, however, cutting off the nose was the female punishment, and the man was beaten terribly with rods. The respect with which the conjugal union was treated in that country in the earliest times is manifested in the history of Abraham (&nbsp;Genesis 12:19). </p> <p> Adultery, Trial of </p> <p> It would be unjust to the spirit of the Mosaic legislation to suppose that the trial of the suspected wife by the bitter water, called the [[Water]] of Jealousy, was by it first produced. It is to be regarded as an attempt to mitigate the evils of, and to bring under legal control, an old custom which could not be entirely abrogated. </p> <p> The original usage, which it was designed to mitigate, was probably of the kind which we still find in Western Africa, where, when a party is accused of murder, adultery, or witchcraft, if he denies the crime, he is required to drink the red water, and on refusing is deemed guilty of the offence. But in Africa the drink is highly poisonous in itself, and, if rightly prepared, the only chance of escape is the rejection of it by the stomach, whereas, among the Hebrews, the 'water of jealousy,' however unpleasant, was prepared in a prescribed manner with ingredients known to all to be perfectly innocent. It could not therefore injure the innocent, and its action upon the guilty must have resulted, not from the effects of the drink itself, but from the consciousness of having committed a horrible perjury. As regulated, then, by the law of Moses, the trial for suspected adultery by the bitter water amounted to this, that a woman suspected of adultery by her husband was allowed to repel the charge by a public oath of purgation, which oath was designedly made so solemn in itself, and was attended by such awful circumstances, that it was in the highest degree unlikely that it would be dared by any woman not supported by the consciousness of innocence. And the fact that no instance of the actual application of the ordeal occurs in Scripture, affords some countenance to the assertion of the Jewish writers, that the trial was so much dreaded by the women, that those who were really guilty generally avoided it by confession; and that thus the trial itself early fell into disuse. And if, as we have supposed, this mode of trial was only tolerated by Moses, the ultimate neglect of it must have been desired and intended by him. In later times, indeed, it was disputed in the Jewish schools, whether the husband was bound to prosecute his wife to this extremity, or whether it was not lawful for him to connive at and pardon her act, if he were so inclined. There were some who held that he was bound by his duty to prosecute, while others maintained that it was left to his pleasure. </p> <p> From the same source we learn that this form of trial was finally abrogated about forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem. The reason assigned is, that the men themselves were at that time generally adulterous; and that God would not fulfill the imprecations of the ordeal oath upon the wife while the husband was guilty of the same crime (&nbsp;John 8:1-8). </p> <p> Adultery, Symbolical </p> <p> Adultery, in the symbolical language of the Old Testament, means idolatry and apostasy from the worship of the true God (&nbsp;Jeremiah 3:8-9; &nbsp;Ezekiel 16:32; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:37; also &nbsp;Revelation 2:22). Hence an Adulteress meant an apostate church or city, particularly 'the daughter of Jerusalem,' or the Jewish church and people (&nbsp;Isaiah 1:21; &nbsp;Jeremiah 3:6; &nbsp;Jeremiah 3:8-9; &nbsp;Ezekiel 16:22; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:7). This figure resulted from the primary one, which describes the connection between God and his separated people as a marriage between Him and them. By an application of the same figure, 'An adulterous generation' (&nbsp;Matthew 12:39; &nbsp;Matthew 16:4; &nbsp;Mark 8:38) means a faithless and impious generation. </p>