The modern dictionary definitions of fornication (voluntary
sexual intercourse between persons not married to each other, which would include adultery) and adultery (voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a partner other than the lawful spouse) are simple
enough, but the Bible gives us greater insight into how God perceives these two sexual sins. In the Bible, both are referred to literally, but both are also used figuratively to refer to idolatry.

In the Old Testament, all sexual sin was forbidden by the Mosaic Law and Jewish custom. However, the Hebrew word translated “fornication” in the Old Testament was also in the
context of idolatry, also called spiritual whoredom. In 2nd Chronicles 21:10-14, God struck Jehoram with plagues and diseases because he led the people into idolatry. He “caused the people of Jerusalem to commit fornication” (v. 11, KJV) and “to go lusting like the fornications of the house of Ahab” (v. 13 NKJV).

King Ahab was the husband of Jezebel, a priestess of the lascivious god Baal, who led the Israelites into idol worship of the most egregious kind. In Ezekiel 16, the prophet Ezekiel describes in detail the history of God’s people turning away from Him to “play the harlot” with other gods. The word “fornication,” meaning idolatry, is used numerous times in this chapter alone. As the Israelites became known among the nations round about them for their wisdom, riches, and power, which was a snare to them
as a woman's beauty is to her, they were admired and courted and complimented by their neighbors, and so drawn into idolatrous practices. The word “fornication” is used in connection with pagan idolatry because much of
pagan “worship” included sex in their rites. Temple prostitutes were common in the worship of Baal and other false gods.

Sexual sin of all kinds was not only accepted in these religions, but encouraged as a means to greater blessings from the gods for the worshippers, particularly in the increase of their flocks and crops. In the New Testament,
"fornication" comes from the Greek word porneia, which includes adultery and incest. Porneia comes from another Greek word that also includes indulging in any kind of unlawful lust,
which would include
homosexuality.

The use of
the word in the gospels and
the epistles is always in
reference to sexual sin,
whereas "fornication" in the
book of Revelation always
refers to idolatry. The Lord
Jesus condemns two of the
churches of Asia Minor for
dabbling in the fornication
of idolatry ( Revelation 2:14,
20), and He also refers to
the “great harlot” of the end
times, which is the
idolatrous false religion
“with whom the kings of the
earth committed
fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth
were made drunk with the
wine of her fornication” ( Revelation
17:1-2, NKJV).
Adultery, on the other
hand, always refers to the
sexual sin of married
people with someone other
than their spouse, and the
word is used in the Old
Testament both literally
and figuratively.

The
Hebrew word translated
“adultery” means literally
“breaking wedlock.”
Interestingly, God describes
the desertion of His people
to other gods as adultery.
The Jewish people were
regarded as the spouse of
the Lord, so when they
turned to the gods of other
nations, they were
compared to an adulterous
wife.

The Old Testament
often referred to Israel’s
idolatry as a wanton
woman who went “whoring
after” other gods (Exodus
34:15–16; Leviticus 17:7;
Ezekiel 6:9, KJV). Further,
the entire book of Hosea
likens the relationship
between God and Israel to
the marriage of the prophet
Hosea and his adulterous
wife, Gomer. Their
marriage was a picture of
the sin and unfaithfulness
of Israel which, time after
time, left her true husband
(God) to commit spiritual
adultery with other gods.
In the New Testament, the
two Greek words translated
“adultery” are nearly always
used, from their contexts,
to refer literally to sexual
sin involving married
partners.

The only
exception is in the letter to
the church of Thyatira
which was condemned for
tolerating the “woman
Jezebel who calls herself a
prophetess” (Revelation
2:20). This woman drew the
church into immorality and
idolatrous practices and
anyone seduced by her
false doctrines was
considered to have
committed adultery with
her.

THANK YOU....HAPPY SUNDAY NAIRALANDERS

both ADULTERY and FORNICATION are sin.....any sexual intercourse with an illegal partner is totally spiritually unaccepted...