Deadly Adultery

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” Matthew 19

The Pharisees frequently tested Jesus with tough questions and this was a really tough one. Obviously the Pharisees saw some inconsistencies in their marriage and divorce practices or they would have never asked this question.

I guess the Pharisees expected Jesus to either say… Moses had it right you can divorce your wives or Moses had it wrong you can’t divorce your wives.

What they didn’t expect Jesus to say was that if they divorced their wives (except for fornication) and married another woman then the man and the new wife were both guilt of adultery.

You see under the Law of Moses the sin of adultery was punishable by death. In other words if you divorce your wife and marry another you will both be stoned to death.

Even the disciples were shocked and exclaimed… it would be better to not even marry than to risk the possibility of the death penalty.

Jesus basically responded… well boys… marriage isn’t for everybody but if you decide to marry you better take it seriously because I sure will.

There is no example in the New Testament of anyone being killed for committing adultery. In 1 Corinthians 5 a guy had sex with his father’s wife. That was adultery and it severed his relationship with the church and with God… but he wasn’t killed.

I suspect Jesus is still dead serious about people remaining true to their marital vows. We should be serious about our vows as well. After all… it could have deadly consequences.