We all deserve to be put to death for our sins—not just physically, but eternally in the lake of fire.  Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  We have been spared only by the grace of God.

 

The penalty for adultery in the Old Testament was the death penalty.  Leviticus 20:10 says, “And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”  But even under that law, God sometimes showed grace, like with David.  2 Samuel 12:9-14 says, “Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.   Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.   Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.   For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.   And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.   Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.”  The wages of David’s sin of adultery was death, but God showed him grace, and spared his life.

 

In the New Testament, Jesus spared the life of a woman taken in adultery.  John 8:3-11 says, “And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,   They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.   Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?    This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.   So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.   And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.   And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.   When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?    She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”  Why did Jesus let her go?  Because there were no witnesses left.  Deuteronomy 17:6-7 says, “At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.   The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.”  Jesus let her go, because the whole situation was no doubt prearranged by these men to trap Jesus.  They wanted to bring Him a situation where He commanded to fulfill the Old Testament Law contrary to Roman law, so that they could accuse Jesus before the Romans.  The Romans would not let the Jews put any person to death.  John 18:31 says, “Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:”  But these men were hypocrites, because they had testified, “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.”  If that was the case, then where was the man?  Why did they not bring him, too?  Remember, Leviticus 20:10 says, “the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”  Obviously, they paid some guy to do their dirty work, so they let him go, but they needed the woman to bring before Jesus to trap Him in His words.  These men cared nothing for the woman, whether she was put to death or not.  This is no doubt one reason why all those men left, one-by-one.   “Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?    This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.   So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.   And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.   And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”

 

Others in the New Testament were also shown grace, and were not put to death for their sin of adultery.  1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,   Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.   And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”  Some of the Corinthians had committed adultery, but now they were washed by the Lord Jesus Christ (in other words, they were still alive, saved, and now serving the Lord). 

 

God has not given the Church the authority to put people to death for breaking God’s Law.  God has given the authority of capital punishment to the government today.  Romans 13:1-4 says, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.    Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.   For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:   For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”

Adultery is a horrible sin, that destroys homes, and the lives of children and adults.  As Christians and Churches, we have not been given the authority in the New Testament to put adulterers to death.  God has given that authority to the government.  Sadly, in America, many States have gone to “no fault divorce,” which requires no legal reason for asking for a divorce.  If it is requested by either the husband or the wife, then there is no contesting it, and the divorce is granted.  This policy has made divorce easier to obtain, and has destroyed many homes.  Legislators and government officials will one day answer to God for disobeying His will in this matter.

 

In the mean time, churches should be preaching against adultery, like all other sins.  The problem is that the churches are so filled with divorced and remarried people who have never repented of their sins, and they get highly offended when the preacher dares to say that adultery is a sin.  If they were truly repentant of their sin of adultery, then they would gladly have the preacher preach against it, to thus warn others to not commit adultery.  What about the preacher preaching against drinking alcohol?  If people drank liquor before they were saved, do they get highly offended when the preacher preaches against drinking?  No, not if they have truly repented of their sin of drinking.  They gladly want the preacher to preach against liquor, so that other people’s lives will be spared from that sin.  The same with smoking, immorality, gambling, etc.  The churches are so filled with unrepentant sinners today, that get highly offended at the preacher if he touches on topics dealing with their sins.  Theses people are very free to rebuke the pastor for hitting on those topics, and thus threaten to leave the church.  Rather than lose his crowd, the preacher chooses to quit preaching on those topics which offend these unrepentant sinners.  The end result is that church-going people quit fearing God, because they quit hearing about God’s judgment upon sin.  That is exactly the situation in America today.  There have never been so many large churches in America’s history--many numbering in the thousands.  But at the same time, America has never been so low, spiritually.  The problem is that most of those mega-churches are not preaching against sin.  People are doing that which is right in their own eyes, and they are not warning them.  Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”