What is the meaning of commiting adultery?

Answer 1

In modern society and modern law it means having sexual intercourse with someone outside marriage, if you yourself are married. The person with whom you have sex can be married or not. Or it means, whether you are married or not, having sex with someone who is already married to someone else.

In the Old Testament, however, adultery meant something different. If, as an example, you were a man and had sex with another woman, outside your own marriage, and that woman was unmarried, you would be guilty of fornication and not adultery. You would, if caught, be expected to take on that woman as your wife, or as a second wife to protect her honour, but, of course, you would also then have all the financial implications of looking after her as well as your original wife in a society where women, on the whole, did not do paid work and relied on the men for their welfare.

If, however, you were a man and had sex with another man's wife, then you would be guilty of adultery as you had not only violated the other man's wife, you had not only violated their marriage vows, but, in Jewish Law, you would have also violated the 'property' rights of the husband of the wife with whom you committed adultery. In those days women were almost regarded as 'property' by the Jewish men and therefore it was this aspect of adultery that the Jewish men regarded as the greatest sin.

When Jesus taught, he made clear that the Jews had got the seventh commandment very wrong. 'You shall not commit adultery' meant something very different from how the Jews interpreted it - for their own gain and especially to lord it over women, and as a result of regarding women as little more than property. Jesus confirmed that men and women were equal and that in marriage two people became one. He also set the bar very high, claiming that any man who even looked on a woman lustfully (ie wanting her for himself although she belonged to someone else) had already committed adultery with her in his heart. Therefore, most of the Jewish men could see that, as a result, their finding 'loopholes' in the Law was futile - they were all sinners that needed repentance.

AnswerIn short Adultery means voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse. says Oxford Dictionary. Committing adultery is considered as an offense by most of the major religions.