Proverbs 6:35

You can buy or talk your way out of some sins, but not adultery. Solomon warned against adultery by describing the rage of a jealous husband (Pr 6:20-35). Stealing food due to hunger is understandable, but having sex with another man’s wife is not (Pr 6:30-35).

Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, other than Jesus Christ. He used several arguments to warn his children, especially his son, about the heinous sin of adultery (Pr 2:16-19; 5:1-23; 6:20-29; 7:1-27; 9:13-18; 22:14; 23:27-28; 30:20; Eccl 7:26). In this chapter he threatened his son with the danger of an angry husband (Pr 6:30-35).

For men to live holy lives, they need to remember this sober warning along with Solomon’s other arguments about the folly of adultery (Pr 6:20-24). It is for this reason David wrote, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Ps 119:9). Keep an angry husband’s face before your eyes!

If you stole food because you were hungry, you would be required to make restitution under God’s laws (Pr 6:30-31). However, men would understand your offence, and you could eventually be exonerated. But there is no such understanding of adultery; there is no restitution to repay the stolen pleasures; you cannot be exonerated (Pr 6:32-35).

A man’s wife is his most prized possession, his most intimate friend, and his most secure ally. The marriage bed is the sacred place of his dearest pleasures with her. Her body and the unique union with it that lovemaking creates is his most personal privilege. When a stranger intrudes into that sacred relationship and takes from his wife what belongs only to him, such a profane and violent act cannot be explained or undone in any way.

While Christian men may be able to forgive this offence in some measure, Solomon used the natural reaction of men to this heinous crime to sober his son against ever thinking about it. Though a godly man is deeply indebted to forgive others as God forgave him (Matt 18:21-35), God saved men from having to do so in His economy by legislating capital punishment for both the adulterer and the adulteress (Lev 20:10; Deut 22:22).

What are the best rules to avoid adultery? “Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids” (Pr 6:25). Reject all thoughts about any woman you have not married (Job 31:1; Matt 5:28; Jas 1:14). Avoid any situation where you can see beautiful or whorish women (Pr 5:8; 7:8; Judges 14:1; II Sam 11:2; Rom 13:13-14).

There is more than marital adultery. You can befriend this world, its people, philosophies, and lifestyles, and commit adultery against God, Who chose His elect to be only His (Deut 6:4-5; Matt 6:24; Jas 4:4; 11:1-4). Rather than the rage of a mere jealous husband, you will face the furious rage of the jealous God of heaven, Who does not take kindly at all to flirting or sleeping with His enemy (Ex 34:10-17; Ezek 16:35-43).

What are the best rules to avoid spiritual adultery against God? Keep your heart thinking in His word alone by rejecting the teaching and traditions of this profane world and its religions (Ps 119:128; Is 8:20; I Tim 6:3-5,20-21). Attend a church where compromise with Roman Catholicism’s pagan traditions or contemporary worship’s entertainments and fables are rejected (I Tim 4:1-6; II Tim 3:1-5; 4:1-4; Rev 18:4). Delight yourself in apostolic simplicity and true worship regardless of tempting offers by compromisers.