The Ten Commandments: Adultery

"You shall not commit adultery."--Exodus 20:14.  The seventh of the ten commandments, to not commit adultery.  This commandment is also one of the more well known ones in the world today, whether people are Christians or not.  Adultery seems to be the reason many marriages fall apart.  Many times adultery seems to be the reason people's relationship with God falls apart.  And most unfortunately, adultery seems to be the reason many churches fall apart.  And these are three areas of adultery we will explore in today's blog.

Adultery.  First and foremost, when we hear this word we most often associate it with someone who has sexual relations with someone other than their spouse.  This is true and again this is the reason many marriages fall apart and end in divorce.

Adultery.  Secondly, the Bible also paints adultery as a person's unfaithfulness to God.  When a person steps outside the boundaries God has laid, he or she has committed adultery and is therefore guilty of breaking the seventh commandment.

Adultery. Thirdly, when a church deviates from God's direction as given in Scripture, it is also guilty of breaking the seventh commandment.

Adultery.  So how does this all apply to us? With these three definitions we can see that the seventh commandment is probably the one that is broken most frequently.

Adultery.  Ephesians 5:22-33 compares the church's relationship with Christ to that of a husband and wife. Christ of course being the groom and the church His bride.  When a person is baptized into Christ, he or she is added to the Lord's church and is therefore "married" to Christ and for us to step out of that "marriage" relationship by going back to our old ways is to be guilty of adultery and breaking the seventh commandment.

Adultery.  As most of us, if not all of us know, a successful marriage takes work and the same is true of our marriage to Christ, we must be diligent to follow Him and remain faithful to Him in all we do on a daily basis. We cannot allow our daily battle with temptation to cause us to commit adultery and be guilty of breaking the seventh commandment. "You shall not commit adultery."--Exodus 20:14