Adultery- The Ultimate Betrayal
The Scriptures tell us God created earth and provided vegetation and animal life. After that he created Adam and said it was not good for man to be alone. He then created the most beautiful of his creations, woman. He then gave Eve to Adam as a wife and told him to cleave to her and no one else. This is God’s pattern for all mankind to marry and cleave to each other and none else. There are some who have handicaps that prevent them from getting married, but God will heal them in the resurrection. For the rest of us we are expected to be married, care for our spouse and children and cleave to our spouse and no one else.
When we get married, we are committing to love and honor our spouse and put the spouse first in our life before all others. In a religious ceremony some variation of these commitments are spoken and each couple agrees to these commitments usually by saying “I do”. Unfortunately, some chose to do evil and commit adultery, the ultimate betrayal to their spouse, children, other family members and a betrayal to God. They are totally selfish people and lose respect from their spouse, children, other family members, friends they have made over the years and they also lose self respect. This is a very high price to pay for selfishness.
When a person is committing adultery, they also tell despicable lies to cover their depravity. They show total disrespect for their spouse, their children, other family members and God. In spite of all these transgressions some adulterers have no remorse other than for getting caught. Often they will even accuse their spouse of being the cause of their adultery after they have shattered the life of a spouse. This adds to their grievous sins spousal abuse. Some even lie to their family members about the spouse’s being the cause of their infidelity. The family has such a central role in God’s plan, adultery is just behind murder in seriousness.
After discussing the depravity of adulterers, we acknowledge they can still receive forgiveness if they ask for forgiveness of their sins. I’m sorry, “I will never do it again” does not fit the definition of repentance. God requires the guilty one to have deep remorse, confess their sin to Him, the spouse and any one the adulterer has wronged. The sinner is also required to never commit that sin again if he wants forgiveness. If a person is not willing to go through these steps, they will not be forgiven.
The sin of adultery is sexual sin between two people, one or both being married to someone else. There is another sexual sin that is an affront to God which the scriptures call fornication. This is sexual relations between unmarried people. Society generally accepts whatever happens between consenting adults, but this does not meet God’s approval. It does not fit the pattern for what he expects of his children. This is a sin that requires the same repentance process as adultery.
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