Sex after adultery on this edition of Truth in Love.

I'm Heath Lambert and you're listening to Truth in Love, a podcast of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, where we seek to provide biblical solutions for the problems that people

face. I'm joined this week on the podcast with Dr. Deepak Raju, who is the pastor of biblical counseling

and family ministry at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and who is also the author

with Jeremy Pierre of the pastor and counseling, a book that

equips church leaders to know how to do biblical counseling ministry.

And I asked Dr. Raju onto the podcast this week because we want to talk about the complications

that flow into a marriage after a partner has committed adultery.

In particular, I want to examine this issue of how does a couple be restored in their

sexual relationship after one party has been unfaithful.

So, Dr. Rayshu, I want to just begin by asking you, what are some of the reasons that a

couple might legitimately suspend their sexual relationship in the aftermath of

adultery. Well, he's one reason why a couple might suspend the sexual relationship in the

aftermath adultery is the spouse that was betrayed is taking time to evaluate if he or she

wants to remain in the marriage. So Matthew 5 and 19, the traditional evangelical approach to adultery.

For most evangelicals to say, it's grounds for divorce.

And yet God models faithfulness even when we're sinful against him.

So we want to encourage couples in such a difficult situation to reconcile before they rush to thinking about divorce and think through what it means to recover the marriage and work hard at the process of reconciliation.

First Corinthians 7 tells us there's, in the marriage,

there are conjugal rights in the marriage, and conjugal is a word that says that in marriage,

a husband and wife have the privilege of physical intimacy with his or her spouse. In adultery,

those rights are temporarily suspended as the husband or the wife consider

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