Adultery Sermon Ideas
Adultery is, at minimum, unchastity within marriage—a violation of the marital vow of sexual exclusivity or fidelity, a violation of the seventh commandment. Viewed more broadly, adultery has implications for honor, purity, faithfulness, and morality in all human relationships. We are therefore called to pray and preach about adultery and broken relationships, but we should do so with sensitivity and care.
What does the Bible say about adultery?
In preparing a sermon about adultery, we can turn to passages throughout the Bible that present definitions of adultery, commands against adultery, prayers of confession, and counsel about how to love others well.
Commands about adultery
- Exodus 20:14, you shall not commit adultery
- Deuteronomy 5:18, you shall not commit adultery
- Leviticus 20:10, punishment in the Old Testament for adultery
Other Bible passages about adultery
- Psalm 51:1–17, a psalm of confession and a prayer for cleansing and pardon (
- Proverbs 2:16–19, adultery is forsaking covenant
- Proverbs 6:32, adultery is destructive
- Hosea 1–14, a rebuke of Israel's infidelity, a call to repentance, a promise of God's compassion
- Matthew 5:27–28, Jesus speaks about adultery
- Matthew 5:31–32, Jesus speaks about divorce and adultery
- Matthew 19:9, Jesus speaks about divorce and adultery
- John 8:4–11, Jesus refuses to condemn
- Romans 13:9, love your neighbor as yourself
- 1 Corinthians 7:4, authority over one another in marriage
- Ephesians 5:5, inheriting the kingdom of God
- Hebrews 13:4, honoring marriage
Sermon ideas about adultery
How is adultery a form of pollution?
Sermons about adultery could draw a connection between adultery and pollution or defilement. To pollute an entity is to introduce a foreign element into it, thereby weakening it. Idolatry pollutes our relationship to God, and adultery pollutes our relationship to our spouse. The book of Hosea suggests that idolatry and adultery are emblems of each other. Each introduces a rival into an exclusive relationship.
How is adultery a form of injustice?
Sermons about adultery could also show the connection between adultery and injustice. 1 Corinthians 7:4 states that married people have conjugal rights, suggesting that adultery, besides all else, is a form of injustice. Each partner has exclusive sexual rights to the other; adultery violates those rights.
Faithfulness in relationships
Though adultery deals specifically with unfaithfulness in the marriage relationship, the topic extends more broadly to faithfulness in all human relationships. As we read beyond the seventh commandment and into the rest of the Bible, we see applications that extend far beyond marriage in faithful, grateful living. Sermons about adultery can explore these applications.
