Adultery

The Seventh Commandment is “You shall not commit adultery”.  Adultery is the sin of taking another man’s wife or another woman’s husband.  This is a very serious sin, especially for anyone who has been married in church and has taken the Christian marriage vows of lifelong loyalty.  The man vows to forsake all others and to be faithful to her, as long as they both shall live.  And the woman, for her part, takes the same oath regarding him.  So if one of them commits the sin of adultery by going off with someone else, he or she also commits the sin of breaking a vow which was solemnly made before God in the presence of witnesses.

The Catechism explains this commandment by saying, “To keep my body in temperance, soberness and chastity”. (1) We will consider them in that order.