Adultery -- A Peek at Trustworthiness

“You shall not commit adultery.” (Ex. 20:14; Deut. 5:18) “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38) He was speaking about physical betrayal, and then later spiritual untrustworthiness. What distresses God most of all, it seems, is a people who make a promise and then break it. And yet, if God so chose, he could pardon someone, as in the case of the woman that the Pharisees brought before Jesus (John 8:3-11; see 19^th Century reproduction of a painting of this incident here [Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Jesus and the woman taken in adultery]). He could also choose to pardon a nation for this sin (see multiple episodes throughout the book of Judges, for example), if they repented and returned to Him. In the same vein, Jesus concludes by instructing the woman, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”(John 8:11B) Evidently, God is sovereign, and knows what is best for individuals, and for a nation that enters into a covenant with Him. Promise-making with God is serious business, so a people should take note when adultery is present. What if a leader has a tendency for straying this way – consider David’s episode with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12, esp. 12:10)? It can lead to serious consequences, ones that last for generations. Don’t overlook the 7th Commandment, if you are a nation seeking what is best.  

 

Just how common is the problem? Rubel Shelly indicates (Written in Stone: Ethics for the Heart, p. 150) that a Gallup poll (early 1990s?) showed the vast majority of married couples are faithful to each other – 90 percent. Other more recent surveys suggest that adultery in the U.S. is more common – perhaps up to 25% of men, and 15% of women Prevalence of Adultery in U.S. - Wikipedia. This can affect attitudes among the general population, especially among those with little or no commitment to God and His warning to His image-bearers in the 7^th Commandment. What of the impact when it mingles with American politics? These, because of the public spectacle, are especially lurid and can even impact the business of government. Most notably, this happened in Bill Clinton’s presidency Bill Clinton episodes when he was impeached (but not convicted in a Senate trial), and has also been spotlighted in Donald Trump’s life Donald Trump episodes , even leading to his criminal conviction. John F. Kennedy was likewise purportedly guilty of this sin, and was perhaps the most egregious, and even dangerous of all presidents in this regard JFK episodes. If these three presidents appear to have ‘gotten away with it’, social mores on this issue – though some might consider the 7^th Commandment old-fashioned and irrelevant – have derailed other candidates, like Gary Hart in 1987-88 Gary Hart episode. So, given these examples, how costly is disregard for the 7^th Commandment?  

 

What is at the heart – in the heart, really – of an adulterer? God thinks of it as a violation of trust, and since He made me, I should listen to the One who knows me better than I know myself. If I see someone I want, despite what God thinks about it, I’m really elevating my ego above what He wants for me. Admittedly, obedience is hard, especially when physical desires are present. But, evidence of someone’s violation of, and ill-discipline for, the 7^th should be a big yellow light for we who are being asked to entrust someone with high office – presidency, vice presidency, or other elective offices in the U.S. Congress, and federal judicial appointments, for example. Can such a person be trusted to administer his/her office with integrity? Across the U.S. (and around the world, in fact Oaths Around the World), thousands and even millions of people take an oath to serve – employees of federal agencies, members of the armed forces, for example. Here’s the one I took:  I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. [So help me God.]  Those last four words mean the most to me, as a believer in God, the one to whom I owe my ultimate allegiance. He instituted governments and even leaders of states. We decent-hearted citizens, God-believers, should hold these leaders accountable, as God would.   

 

See information about the image here: Jesus judges a woman caught in adultery (John 8) …This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States.