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Adultery, Fornication and Immorality

from the Viewpoint of the Bible

The Holy Bible is a collection of writings compiled by men, but inspired by an all-powerful, eternal Being who calls Himself our God, and our Creator.

According to the Bible, God's written Word, He alone determines what is right and just, good and evil. And says that all will be judged not by what they think is right, but by what He says is right and wrong as given to us in His Book, the Bible.

All that have ever lived and died will one day be resurrected to face Jesus who suffered and died for them, and they will be judged by how they lived they lives, the STANDARD by which judgment will be made are the Books of the Holy Bible. Notice Revelation 20:11-12, -"And I saw a Great White Throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, STAND BEFORE GOD; and the BOOKS (of the Bible) were opened; and another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life, and the dead were JUDGED OUT OF THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE WRITTEN IN THE BOOKS, according to THEIR WORKS."

God tells us in verse 15 that the people whose lives did not match up with the Books of the Bible will be cast into a burning Lake of Fire!

The Holy Bible is very plain spoken on the subjects of ADULTERY, FORNICATION and IMMORALITY, and we will examine just what it says about them momentarily, but first let's look at the common accepted definitions of them in an ordinary secular Dictionary, -The WORLD BOOK DICTIONARY.

ADULTERY: "Unfaithfulness of a married man to his wife or his wife to him; Voluntary sexual intercourse by a married man with a woman not his wife, or by a married woman with a man not her husband."

ADULTERER: "A person, especially a man, who commits adultery."

ADULTERESS: "A woman who commits adultery."

FORNICATION: "Voluntary sexual intercourse between unmarried persons. In the Bible -a. Adultery, b. Idolatry."

FORNICATOR: "A person who commits fornication."

IMMORALITY: "Wickedness; Wrongdoing. Lewdness; Lack of Chastity. Unchastity (impurity through sexual intercourse with someone who you are not married to). An immoral act or practice."

IMMORAL: "Morally wrong; Wicked; Unchaste;(not keeping sexually pure) Lewd (not decent, obscene, lustful, vile and wicked).

1 John 3:4 tells us God's definition of what SIN is, -"Whosoever committeth SIN transgresseth (disobeys) also the LAW; for SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW." This Scripture tells us exactly what SIN is, it is disobeying the COMMANDMENTS of God.

Romans 6:23 tells us what the penalty of Sin is, -"The wages of Sin is DEATH." Death is what we earn by refusing to REPENT and CHANGE our behavior to match what God desires of us.

Let's look of the account of God thundering the TEN COMMANDMENTS to His people from Mt. Sinai.

Exodus 20 -"And God spake all these words, saying, I AM THE LORD THY GOD which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

(1) THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.

(2) THOU SHALT NOT MAKE UNTO THEE ANY GRAVEN IMAGE, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, VISITING THE INIQUITY (SINS) OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN UNTO THE THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATION of them that hate Me. And showing MERCY unto thousands of them that love me, and KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.

(3) THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

(4) REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; But the Seventh Day (not the first) is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the Seventh day; wherefore the Lord BLESSED THE SABBATH DAY and HALLOWED IT.

(5) HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

(6) THOU SHALT NOT KILL.

(7) THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.

(8) THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.

(9) THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS (LIE) against thy neighbour.

(10) THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOUR'S HOUSE, THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOUR'S WIFE, NOR HIS MANSERVANT, NOR HIS MAIDSERVANT, NOR HIS OX, NOR HIS ASS, NOR ANY THING THAT IS THY NEIGHBOUR'S."

We have already seen the definition of ADULTERY but what about COVETNESS? To Covet is to desire what is not lawfully yours in the sight of God, it is an UNLAWFUL DESIRE. God's COMMANDMENT for a man not to COVET or DESIRE another man's wife means also that a woman should not COVET or DESIRE another woman's husband. The man is still her husband until a writ of Divorce is given. Notice what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well, 

John 4:17-18, -"He (Jesus) said to her, "Go call your husband, and come here." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her. "You have well said, I have no husband' for you have had five husbands; and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."

Jesus acknowledged that she was living with a man, but that she was not married to him.

Scriptures on the Subject

Proverbs 6:32, -"The one who commits ADULTERY with a woman is lacking in understanding; he that does it DESTROYS HIS OWN SOUL."

1 Corinthians 6:18-20, -"FLEE FORNICATION! Every SIN that a man doeth is without the body; but he hat committeth FORNICATION SINNETH AGAINST HIS OWN BODY. WHAT! Know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are NOT YOUR OWN? For ye are BOUGHT WITH A PRICE; therefore glorify God in YOUR BODY, and in your spirit, WHICH ARE GOD'S."

Notice how the Living Bible renders this passage, 

"That is why I say to RUN FROM SEX SIN. No other SIN affects the body as this one does. When you SIN this SIN it is against your own body. Haven't you yet learned that your body is the HOME OF THE HOLY SPIRIT God gave you, and that he lives within you? Your own body DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU. For God HAS BOUGHT YOU with a GREAT PRICE. (Blood of His own Son) So use every part of your body to give glory back to God, BECAUSE HE OWNS IT."

John 8:3-11, "And the Scribes and Pharisees brought unto him (Jesus) a woman taken in ADULTERY; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto Him, Master, this woman was taken in ADULTERY, in the very act.

Now Moses in the Law commanded us, that SUCH SHOULD BE STONED; but what sayest Thou?

This they said TEMPTING Him, that they might have to accuse Him, but Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not.

So when they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, "He that is without SIN among you, let him first cast a stone at her." And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last; and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, "Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, "Neither do I condemn thee, GO AND SIN NO MORE."

How truly beautiful this passage of Scripture is. Jesus showing compassion by forgiving her SINS. But notice also that Jesus told the woman to "GO AND SIN NO MORE".

Jesus expected her to repent of her SIN and change her behavior after her encounter with Him.

His reaction would certainly be much different if the same woman were brought to Him again with the same SIN, wouldn't it?

The SIN of ADULTERY or FORNICATION will destroy your soul, but ALL SIN will do the same. Though evil, ADULTERY is not a greater SIN than STEALING, FALSE WITNESS, and MURDER, but God does list these all together, doesn't He? PRACTICING any SIN will cost you your ETERNAL LIFE! God places WILLFULLY SINNING in a different category than OCCASIONALLY FALLING INTO SIN.

Christians SIN, but they don't PRACTICE SIN as a WAY OF LIFE. They may slip and fall occasionally, but they try hard to be obedient to God.

Notice what Hebrews Chapter 10:26-31 says about LIVING IN SIN, -

Hebrews 10:26-31 "For if we go on SINNING WILLFULLY (on purpose) after receiving the KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH (after you know better) there no longer remains a sacrifice for SINS, but a certain TERRIFYING EXPECTATION of JUDGMENT, and the FURY OF A FIRE (HELL) WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses DIES WITHOUT MERCY on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much SEVERER PUNISHMENT do you think he will deserve who has TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT THE SON OF GOD, and has regarded an unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has INSULTED THE SPIRIT OF GRACE? For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY", and again, "The Lord will JUDGE HIS PEOPLE." It is a TERRIFYING THING TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD."

In our age today, the Devil has successfully convinced many that God will not exercise judgment.

That the rules are somehow different today, but God says "He changes not"(Malachi 3) and that "He is the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever."(Hebrews 13)

It's important to understand that we worship and serve the same Creator that Destroyed the world with a flood,

that rained fire and brimstone on the sexually perverse and wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,

that didn't spare the Angels that sinned, but will cast them into outer darkness forever at His return,

the same God that killed all the first-born of Egypt when the Pharaoh refused to obey Him,

the God that took the Holy Spirit from King Saul because of disobedience giving him a evil spirit to terrify him,

the God that caused ancient Israel to be slaughtered by the Assyrians and the survivors enslaved because of disobedience,

the same God that opened the ground at the foot of Mt Sinai and swallowed up thousands of men, women and children because of their disobedience,

the same God that sent ancient Babylon to conquer and destroy His people the Jews because they refused to obey Him even after He warned them through His Preachers, as you are being warned at this moment,

and God knows this and is watching to see what you do.

Don't let Satan deceive you my friends, you will reap what you sow. If you sow SIN you will reap DEATH. RUN FROM SIN AND TO YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER, WHO IS EAGERLY WAITING FOR YOUR REPENTANCE! Your life will be SAVED,fulfilled, happy and blessed, and you will have the assurance of ETERNAL LIFE

Notice what God says about even the prayers of the unrepentant, - 

Proverbs 28:9, -"He who turns away his ear from listening to the law.(Commandments) Even his prayer is an abomination." God will not listen to the prayer of one who refuses to obey His Law. But if we turn from PRACTICING SIN, and PUT IT OUT OF OUR LIFE, God is faithful to forgive us of our SINS. 

Notice what Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-29, -

Matthew 5:27-29 "You have heard that it was said, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY; but I say to you, that every one who looks on a woman to LUST AFTER HER has COMMITTED ADULTERY with her already in HIS HEART. And if your right eye make you stumble (lust after another) tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your WHOLE BODY TO GO INTO HELL!"

Galatians 5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, ADULTERY, FORNICATION, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, THAT THEY WHICH DO SUCH THINGS SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD." 

Notice that God Almighty puts the SIN of ADULTERY and FORNICATION in the same category as "witchcraft", "hatred" and "murder".

Jeremiah 23:14, -"Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I (God) HAVE SEEN A HORRIBLE THING; the COMMITTING OF ADULTERY and walking in falsehood; And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that NO ONE HAS TURNED BACK (repented) FROM HIS WICKEDNESS. All of them have become TO ME LIKE SODOM, and her inhabitants like GOMORRAH." 

Did you see that God called COMMITTING ADULTERY a "HORRIBLE THING?" 

Without our repentance and forgiveness from God we all destined for the Lake of Fire.

In Jeremiah 5 God asks those seeking forgiveness WHY HE SHOULD PARDON THEM WHILE THEY ARE STILL LIVING SINFULLY? Notice Verse 7, -"WHY SHOULD I PARDON YOU? Your sons have forsaken Me and sworn by those who are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, THEY COMMITTED ADULTERY." 

James 2:11-13, -"For He who said, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY", also said, "DO NOT COMMIT MURDER", Now if you do NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. FOR JUDGMENT WILL BE MERCILESS TO ONE WHO HAS SHOWN NO MERCY; mercy triumphs over judgement."

Hebrews 12:15-17, -"Looking diligently lest any man FAIL of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be ANY FORNICATOR, or PROFANE PERSON, as Esau, who for one morsel meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was REJECTED; for he found no place of REPENTANCE, though he sought it carefully with tears."

Ephesians 5:3-6, -"But DO NOT LET IMMORALITY (fornication) or any impurity or greed EVEN BE NAMED AMONG YOU, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you KNOW WITH CERTAINTY, that NO IMMORAL or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, HAS AN INHERITANCE IN THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST AND GOD. LET NO ONE DECEIVE YOU WITH EMPTY WORDS, for because of these things the WRATH OF GOD COMES UPON THE SONS OF DISOBEDIENT." What did God mean when He said "LET NO ONE DECEIVE YOU WITH EMPTY WORDS?" He is saying "I AM GOD, I GAVE MY ONLY SON FOR YOU, SO I MAKE THE RULES OF SALVATION!" No other person holds the keys to your eternity, not your father, mother, husband or wife, only God the Father and Jesus the Son. God is warning you to not let someone convince you that you can enter into ETERNAL LIFE without repenting of SIN. It simply does not matter what a person says, we will be judged by what God says.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11, -"Or do you not know that the UNRIGHTEOUS shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? DO NOT BE DECEIVED; neither FORNICATORS, nor idolater, nor ADULTERERS, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the COVETOUS, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of God."

 

Romans 1:18 , -"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. . . verse 24, Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. . . verses 26-27, For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and RECEIVING IN THEIR OWN PERSONS the DUE PENALTY OF THEIR ERROR."

Notice that God says that those who practice homosexuality "receive in their own persons the PENALTY of their ERROR!" As we saw in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, those who practice such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. But praise God that He is willing to wash and sanctify those who are willing to repent and put that impure lifestyle behind them.

READ 1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 5 It is too long to include in this paper. It shows what the Apostle Paul taught concerning living together while unmarried. The man was a baptized member of the church but the woman he was living with wasn't. Because the man was baptized and had accepted Christ, yet was living in sin, Paul commanded he be removed from the assembly until repentance. No such judgment was made for the woman, because she was not a baptized member.

Our Savior gave all to save you and me. He endured beating, suffering, He was slapped and spit on and mocked, then nailed to a cross and left to die for YOUR SINS and MY SINS.

He wants to WASH YOU and SANCTIFY YOU with the cleansing BLOOD OF HIS SON, but you must first recognize the evil of your SIN and REPENT.

You will have passed from DEATH to LIFE ETERNAL.

There will be singing and shouts of joy in Heaven when you do, and your Heavenly Father will warmly embrace you in His arms. 

CHOOSE LIFE TODAY

Jesus is Lord. Blessed be His Name!