How Can I Sin against God? — Joseph Refuses Potiphar’s Wife
Potiphar’s wife repeatedly pressures Joseph to lie with her. Joseph’s refusal is framed both relationally and theologically: Potiphar has entrusted everything to him except his wife, and adultery would be “great wickedness” and “sin against God.” This moral conviction appears before the Sinai commandment “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” showing that Genesis treats marital betrayal as wrong prior to the Mosaic codification. The temptation is persistent—“day by day”—and Joseph does not merely argue with it; when she physically seizes his garment, he leaves the garment and flees. Later Christian teaching about fleeing sexual immorality can illuminate application, but the primary canonical point is already explicit in Joseph’s own words: faithfulness to another person and faithfulness to God are inseparable here. Joseph’s integrity does not protect him from suffering; in fact, it becomes the immediate setting for the false accusation that follows.