Infidelity, also known as adultery or cheating, refers to being unfaithful in marriage. It involves one spouse having an intimate relationship with someone other than their husband or wife. Infidelity is consistently condemned throughout Scripture. Here are some key Bible verses about infidelity:
Exodus 20:14 – “You shall not commit adultery.”
This commandment given to Moses on Mount Sinai clearly prohibits adultery. It is one of the Ten Commandments outlining God’s moral law for His people.
Proverbs 6:32-33 – “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.”
The book of Proverbs warns that adultery leads to pain and lasting shame. There are always consequences for unfaithfulness.
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 further by saying that adultery begins internally with lustful thoughts. He calls His followers to purity of heart.
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.”
The apostle Paul instructed the Corinthians to avoid all sexual sin because it uniquely impacts one’s own body and life.
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 affirmed the sanctity of marriage and warned that God will judge those who commit sexual sin.
James 4:4 – “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
James spoke strongly against spiritual adultery – close fellowship with the corrupt world system. Our relationship with God must be paramount.
2 Peter 2:14 – “They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!”
Peter warned against false teachers obsessed with sexual sin. They exploit others for dishonest gain.
Revelation 2:22 – “Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works.”
Jesus rebuked the church in Thyatira for tolerating the false prophetess “Jezebel” who led people into sexual immorality. Unrepentant sinners face judgment.
Additional Bible verses about infidelity include: Genesis 39:7-9, Leviticus 18:20, Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22, 2 Samuel 11:1-5, Proverbs 5:1-23, Proverbs 6:20-35, Jeremiah 5:7-9, Jeremiah 7:9-10, Jeremiah 23:14, Ezekiel 16:32, Ezekiel 23:37, Hosea 4:1-2, Malachi 3:5, Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 15:19, Matthew 19:3-9, Mark 7:21-23, Mark 10:2-12, Luke 16:18, John 4:16-18, John 8:3-11, Acts 15:19-20, Romans 1:29, Romans 2:22, Romans 7:1-3, 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Corinthians 6:15-20, 1 Corinthians 7:1-5, 2 Corinthians 12:21, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:3-7, Colossians 3:5-7, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, 1 Timothy 1:8-10, Hebrews 12:16, Hebrews 13:4, James 2:11, 2 Peter 2:13-14, Jude 1:7, Revelation 21:8.
Overall, the Bible consistently condemns adultery and sexual immorality. It upholds faithfulness in marriage. Infidelity is destructive to individuals, families, and society as a whole. God’s design for intimacy is that it be reserved for a husband and wife within the sacred covenant of marriage. Any intimacy outside of marriage constitutes adultery in God’s eyes.
The Bible warns that lust is equivalent to adultery of the heart. Believers are called to purity in mind and body. Husbands and wives must nurture their relationship, keeping the marriage bed undefiled through complete faithfulness. The marriage covenant is sacred and not to be broken. While infidelity is a serious sin, God’s grace and forgiveness are available to all who repent.
Infidelity breaks trust and inflicts lasting wounds. It brings pain and consequences. But by God’s power, marriages can be restored through sincere repentance, forgiveness, counseling, accountability, and reconciliation. For the wounded spouse and for unfaithful Christians, God’s redemptive love brings hope and healing.
In summary, the Bible offers a clear and consistent perspective on infidelity. It is sinful and prohibited. Faithfulness in marriage is commanded and honorable. The Bible warns Christian husbands and wives to avoid sexual immorality and instead grow in love and intimacy within marriage. For those who have been unfaithful, God offers forgiveness and restoration when we repent and turn to Him.
Additional key points on Bible verses about infidelity:
- Adultery violates God’s 7th commandment given to Moses: “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14)
- Sexual sin uniquely impacts one’s own body; it is self-destructive (1 Corinthians 6:18)
- The marriage bed must be kept pure; intimacy is only for marriage (Hebrews 13:4)
- Lust is equivalent to adultery in one’s heart according to Jesus (Matthew 5:27-28)
- Infidelity has destructive consequences including pain, wounds, disgrace, and dishonor (Proverbs 6:32-33)
- Spiritual adultery refers to compromising one’s relationship with God (James 4:4)
- God judges and condemns unrepentant adulterers (Hebrews 13:4, Revelation 2:22)
- Forgiveness and restoration are available to all who repent of sexual sin (1 John 1:9)
Marriage is sacred and the intimacy of husband and wife is blessed by God. Adultery constitutes unfaithfulness to one’s spouse and rebellion against God’s commands. All believers must pursue sexual purity and faithfulness by God’s grace. For those damaged by infidelity, God brings healing through His redemptive love.
The Bible offers many warnings against adultery and gives guidance for maintaining purity and faithfulness in marriage. God’s design for intimacy is that it be expressed between husband and wife within a committed marriage covenant. Infidelity violates His commands for sexuality and harms individuals, marriages and society. Through repentance and God’s grace, broken marriages can be restored and forgiven sinners can be redeemed.
Additional Bible verses about adultery and sexual immorality:
Leviticus 18:20 – You shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her.
Deuteronomy 22:22 – If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
2 Samuel 11:1-5 – In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.
Proverbs 5:1-23 – My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. 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; …
Jeremiah 5:7-9 – “How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores. They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
Jeremiah 7:9-10 – Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?
Jeremiah 23:14 – But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
Malachi 3:5 – “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
Matthew 15:19 – For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
Mark 7:21-23 – For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
John 8:3-11 – The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” …
Romans 2:22 – You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
Romans 13:9 – For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19 – Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality…
Colossians 3:5-7 – Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 – For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God…
Hebrews 12:16 – That no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
2 Peter 2:13-14 – They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!
Jude 1:7 – Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
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.”