THE commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Ex. 20:14), was as strongly emphasized in the Old Testament as the one forbidding murder. In fact, adultery in its specific sense, striking at the very foundations of community and family life, was considered a capital offense (see Lev. 20:10); and in certain cases the law ordained that the sentence must be carried out by publicly stoning to death the persons involved (see Deut. 22:23, 24).
Christ Jesus had no hesitation in quoting literally the seventh commandment; but he broadened and deepened its significance, showing its application not only to physically immoral acts but with equal force to impure thoughts, plans, and lustful glances, which all too often ultimate in such acts (see Matt. 5:27, 28). Moreover the Master suggested that extreme action might well be required to maintain the purity demanded by the Mosaic law—action symbolized by his references to plucking out an offending eye or cutting off an offending hand (see verses 29, 30).
Though Jesus refrained from condemning the woman who, according to the scribes and Pharisees, had been "taken in adultery" (John 8:3), he did not condone the act of which she was accused but made her release contingent upon reformation. His words to her were, "Go, and sin no more"; while he uncovered the sins and hypocrisy of her accusers so drastically that they abandoned their case against the woman.
