What is the difference between Fornication and adultery?

Question: What did Jesus mean to say..,

“But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery”. (Matthew 5:32)

Answer: The word fornication as it appears in the dictionary, means “having sex with someone you are not yet married to” regardless of whether you are already in marriage or not. Unlike the word Adultery, which comes when a person engages in sexual intercourse with someone other than their partner? (I.e. the act of getting out of wedlock and having sex)

So we can say that the word fornication is a ‘’General’’ term referring to any sexual act that someone is performing in an unlawful manner that is outside of the lawful marriage..It also mean Adultery but adultery can not mean Fornication.

So when the Lord Jesus said there in (Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19: 9), that I say unto you,

whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery.

He was primarily meaning an act of committing “adultery” by the couples, because the information that was discussed there was about people who are in a relationship of husband and wife.

Therefore, Fornication is a general term, apply to both married couples and non married couples. If someone who is not married, go and commit sexual intercourse to another person who is not married to, He has committed fornication rather than adultery.

So when the Bible said marriage should be respected by all, it really meant it. You can’t just get married and just do the things you want to do, going around and committing adultery thinking that once the marriage is already closed it cannot be broken. The bible says it can be broken in that case, and other couple can be free to get married to another person.

But it should also be noted that it was not a requirement that every act of infidelity be a reason for a man to leave his wife and marry another one. No, God hates divorce the Bible has emphasized that, and most of all, we have been taught to forgive, for even we sin against God in many ways, but he forgives us, why can’t you forgive your couple when caught her cheating?

So forgiveness is a very important basis for marriage to stand. And most of all marriage must be respected with all, knowing that he is the God who connected it. Let only death separate it, and not any man.

Shalom.

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