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G3429 Moicheuo Adultery

moicheúō: adultery; moíchos: adulterer.

The word is used differently from other words for sexual sin. Moicheúō is used for illicit sexual activity by married persons.

TDNT: Pórnē [harlot], pórnos [fornicator], porneía [prostitution, fornication], porneúō [to commit fornication] are used for other sexual sins which do not constitute adultery.

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: “Moicheúō [to commit adultery], moicháō [to commit adultery], moicheía [adultery], moíchos [adulterer], moichalís [adulteress, adulterous]

A. Use of the Group. moicheúō in the active means “to commit adultery” or “to seduce,” and in the passive or middle “to be seduced” or (in the case of a woman) “to commit adultery” (cf. Mt. 5:27–28, 32). moicháō means “to commit adultery” or “to adulterate.” moicheía is “adultery,” “illicit intercourse,” while moíchos means “adulterer” or “lover,” and moichalís “adulterous” and as a noun “adulteress,” “mistress,” “harlot.”

B. Adultery in the OT and Judaism.

  1. The Decalogue protects marriage (Ex. 20:14; Dt. 5:18) and thus forbids its violation by adultery; death is the penalty for transgression (Dt. 22:22). Where a wife is suspected of adultery, the husband may request trial by bitter water (Num. 5:16ff.), but he is not obliged to take steps against her (cf. Mt. 1:19).
  2. Hosea compares the apostasy of Israel against God to adultery (2:4ff.; 3:1–2; 4:12ff.). Jeremiah uses the same comparison in 2:1; 5:7; 9:1. Israel breaks the marriage bond, and Jerusalem will bear the punishment of an adulteress (13:22). Ezekiel interprets Israel’s history as a story of constant adultery (16:32; 23:37ff.).
  3. Proverbs contains many warnings against marital infidelity (2:16ff.; 6:26ff.). Wine and strange women are to be avoided (23:31ff.; 7:5ff.). In Sirach the adulteress is a threefold transgressor: against God, her husband, and the children she may bear to another. Adulterous old men are especially offensive. Philo thinks adultery corrupts the soul as well as the body and sows a blameworthy seed.
  4. Judaism gives more precise definitions of the act and the penalties. It distinguishes between adultery with Jews and non-Jews, and lays down that there must be warnings and witnesses if there are to be penalties. Divorce replaces death as the main punishment, and confession replaces the ceremony of bitter water. Adultery is a serious sin, the thought is equated with the act, and eternal judgment is the final penalty.

C. Adultery in the Greek and Roman World. Greek law strictly forbids adultery by women and grants to the husband or family the right of revenge (though this is limited by public law, and may be waived in favor of a public complaint). Guilty wives are to be put away. Ideally, moralists urge fidelity on husbands too, but in practice intercourse with the hetaíra is accepted. Roman law allows the husband to punish an adulterous wife (even by death), and a father has similar rights of punishment or revenge. Later, adultery becomes a penal offense with banishment as the punishment, but in the moral degeneration of the imperial period the infidelity of both husbands and wives is common.

D. The Group in the NT.

l. Literal Use. The NT puts the husband as well as the wife under the obligation of fidelity. Marriage is a lifelong partnership, divorce is contrary to God’s original purpose (Mt. 19:6ff.), and remarriage after divorce is adultery (Mt. 5:32; 19:9; Mk. 10:11–12; Lk. 16:18). Adultery is present even in the desire (Mt. 5:28), so absolute is the divine requirement. Yet Jesus rejects hypocritical self-righteousness and proclaims forgiveness even for the adulterer (cf. Jn. 8:1ff.), although on the plain presupposition of repentance, and therefore without sapping the validity of the divine command (Jn. 8:11). Paul upholds the teaching of Jesus in the lax Hellenistic world (1 Cor. 5:1ff.; 6:9). Adultery is not just a matter of civil law but conflicts with God’s holy will (1 Th. 4:3). Women are joint heirs of life and thus have the same honor as men (1 Pet. 3:7). Adultery excludes from the kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9), and marital fidelity must be kept intact (Heb. 13:4). Even the lustful glance is sinful (2 Pet. 2:14). The love of spouses is the positive relation that the prohibition of adultery protects (Rom. 13:9).”

Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985), 605–606.