Cheating in relationships is unfortunately a common issue that many people face. The Bible has quite a bit to say on the topic of adultery, unfaithfulness, and sexual immorality. Here is an overview of some key Bible verses that address cheating:
Exodus 20:14 – “You shall not commit adultery.”
This is one of the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses. It clearly prohibits adultery, which is defined as sexual relations between a married person and someone other than their spouse. This verse establishes cheating as a serious sin.
Proverbs 6:32 – “He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.”
This verse in Proverbs warns that someone who commits adultery is acting foolishly and puts themselves on the path to ruin. The consequences of cheating can be devastating emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.
Matthew 5:27-28 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Jesus took the Old Testament commandment prohibiting adultery even further by declaring that lustful intent is just as sinful as the physical act. He calls us to faithfulness not just in our actions but also in our minds and hearts.
1 Corinthians 6:18 – “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
Paul instructs the Corinthian church to run from sexual immorality, emphasizing how it is a unique sin that harms one’s own body and temple of the Holy Spirit. Cheating involves deep betrayal and can bring long-lasting damage.
Hebrews 13:4 – “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”
The writer of Hebrews calls for faithfulness and purity within marriage. He warns that God will judge those who are immoral and unfaithful to their spouse. There are always consequences for sin.
James 1:14-15 – “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
James outlines the downward progression of sin, from temptation to conceived desire to fully grown sin that leads to death. This pattern can unfold in the life of a cheater as they allow lust to lure them into adultery.
Proverbs 5:3-6 – “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.”
Solomon poetically warns his son of the temptation of the adulteress. Her lips may drip with honey at first but ultimately lead down the path of death and destruction. Cheating often starts out thrilling but ends painfully.
1 Corinthians 7:2-5 – “But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
Paul advocates for fidelity and frequent intimacy within marriage to help avoid the temptation to adultery. He explains that spouses have a duty to meet each other’s needs and not deprive one another, so as to prevent sexual immorality.
Colossians 3:5 – “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
As Christians, we are called to put sinful desires and passions to death, including evil covetous lust. These are roots which can lead to sexual immorality and idolatry, pulling our love away from God.
2 Samuel 11 – David’s adultery with Bathsheba
The story of David and Bathsheba provides a sobering Biblical case study on how lust, abuse of power, and deceit led to adultery. David saw Bathsheba bathing, slept with her while her husband Uriah was off at war, got her pregnant, then had Uriah killed to cover it up. The devastating personal and national consequences underscore the gravity of David’s sin.
Matthew 19:4-6 – “‘Haven’t you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator “made them male and female,” and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.'”
Jesus emphasized God’s design in creation as one man and woman united in marriage. Adultery is a grievous violation of that sacred union. Cheating splits apart what God has joined as one flesh through deep betrayal of covenant love and intimacy.
Proverbs 6:20-35
This extended passage gives a graphic poetic warning against adultery. Verses 32-33 especially underline how self-destructive cheating is: “He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.”
Jeremiah 29:23
“Because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the Lord.”
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God condemns the adultery and deception of Israel’s false prophets. They betray their wives and also speak lies, claiming it is God’s message when He did not send them.
Proverbs 5:15-19
“Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.”
In contrast to warnings against forbidden women, Solomon poetically praises the intimacy and pleasures of marital love. Satisfaction should be found in one’s own spouse.
Matthew 18:6-9
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”
Jesus gives a grave warning about causing “little ones” in the faith to stumble through sins like adultery. It would be better to take extreme measures than to lead others into sin and death through one’s own unfaithfulness.
Numbers 5:11-31
This passage describes a purification offering ritual to be carried out if a man suspects his wife of adultery but has no proof. While unusual to modern readers, this ritual underscores the gravity of adultery and the jealousy it provokes.
Hosea 3:1
“And the Lord said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.'”
Through the prophet Hosea and his unfaithful wife Gomer, God illustrated his steadfast love for wayward Israel. God does not take pleasure in divorce, and His desire is restoration after adultery and redemption of the sinner.
Galatians 5:19
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality…”
In his letter to the Galatian church, Paul lists sexual immorality, which includes adultery, as one of the sins that characterizes a life lived in the flesh apart from God’s Spirit.
Revelation 21:8
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
The book of Revelation warns that the sexually immoral, including adulterers, will face God’s judgment if they remain unrepentant. Hell awaits those who continually live in sin and rebellion.
In summary, the Bible contains stern warnings against adultery, sexual immorality, and unfaithfulness in marriage. God takes the covenant of marriage seriously. At the same time, God’s grace and forgiveness extend to adulterers who sincerely repent. With the Spirit’s help, our faithfulness can be restored in marital intimacy that honors Christ.