What does the Bible say about
Fornication?By Jack Kettler
As in previous studies, we will
look at definitions, scriptures, lexical, and
commentary evidence for the purpose to glorify
God in how we live.Unfortunately, among
young people today in nondenominational
evangelistic churches, biblical reasons from
abstaining for sex before marriage are said to
be unclear.
Doctrinal uncertainty
like this is shocking in light of the numerous
warnings in Scripture about sexual immorality.
How many of those saying such a thing have
read the New Testament in its entirety? The
problem is not with biblical clarity on this
issue but with willful biblical illiteracy.
Biblical ignorance is not an excuse that will
work on judgment day.
The Scriptures:
“Thou shalt
not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant,
nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass,
nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.” (Exodus
20:17)
“But I say
unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to
lust after her hath committed adultery (ἐμοίχευσεν
emoicheusen) with her
already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)
“For out of
the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries (μοιχεῖαι
moicheiai), sexual
immorality (πορνεῖαι porneiai),
thefts, false witness, and blasphemies.”
(Matthew 15:19)
“Flee fornication (πορνείαν
porneian). Every sin that
a man doeth is without the body; but he that
committeth fornication
(πορνεύων porneuōn) sinneth
against his own body.” (1Corinthians 6:18)
“Now the
works of the flesh are manifest, which are
these; Adultery,
fornication
(Πορνεία Porneia), uncleanness,
lasciviousness.” (Galatians 5:19)
“But sexual immorality (Πορνεία
Porneia), and all
uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be
once named among you, as becometh saints.”
(Ephesians 5:3)
“Put to
death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality (πορνείαν
porneian), impurity,
passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which
is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5)
Glossary of terms and
entries from Strong’s
Lexicon:
Definition of
fornication:
Fornication is voluntary sexual intercourse
between two people not married to each other.
In contemporary usage, the term is often
replaced with extramarital sex.
Definition of
adultery:
Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married
person and someone other than that person's
current spouse.
Adultery ἐμοίχευσεν
(emoicheusen)
Strong's Greek 3431: To commit adultery (of a
man with a married woman, but also of a
married man). From moichos,
to commit adultery.
Definition of sexual
immorality:
Sexual
immorality comes from the Greek word porneia.
Porneia
can also be translated as “whoredom,”
“fornication,” and “idolatry.” It is primarily
used of premarital sex. It can include
adultery, prostitution, sexual relations
between unmarried individuals, and
homosexuality
Sexual
immorality Πορνεία
(Porneia)
Strong's Greek 4202: Fornication, whoredom,
met: idolatry. From porneuo;
harlotry; figuratively, idolatry.
Fornication
refers to sexual relations outside of marriage
whereas; the term sexual immorality is broader
and covers many illicit sexual practices.
Whenever the Scriptures call believers to flee
from sexual immorality, it includes premarital
sex.
The
Scriptures tell believers to “flee,” to “put
to death,” and speaking of sexual sins, “let
it not be once named among you.” The apostle
Paul calls sexual sins “the works of the
flesh” in Galatians 5:19. Paul clearly says,
“For if ye
live
after the flesh, ye shall die:
but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the
deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans
8:13).
Fornication,
Fornicator - Vine's Expository Dictionary of
New Testament Words
Fornication,
Fornicator
[A-1, Noun,
G4202, porneia]
is used
(a) of
illicit sexual intercourse, in John 8:41; Acts
15:20, Acts 15:29; Acts 21:25; 1Corinthians
5:1; 1Corinthians 6:13, 1Corinthians 6:18;
2Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians
5:3; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3;
Revelation 2:21; Revelation 9:21; in the
plural in 1 Corinthians 7:2; in Matthew 5:32;
Matthew 19:9 it stands for, or includes,
adultery; it is distinguished from it in
Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:21;
(b)
metaphorically, of “the association of pagan
idolatry with doctrines of, and professed
adherence to, the Christian faith,” Revelation
14:8; Revelation 17:2, Revelation 17:4;
Revelation 18:3; Revelation 19:2; some suggest
this as the sense in Revelation 2:21.
[A-2, Noun,
G4205, pornos]
denotes “a
man who indulges in fornication, a
fornicator,” 1Corinthians 5:9-11; 1Corinthians
6:9; Ephesians 5:5, RV; 1Timothy 1:10, RV;
Hebrews 12:16; Hebrews 13:4, RV; Revelation
21:8; Revelation 22:15, RV (AV,
“whoremonger”).
[B-1, Verb,
G4203, porneuo]
“to commit
fornication,” is used
(a)
literally, Mark 10:19; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 1
Corinthians 10:8; Revelation 2:14, Revelation
2:20, See
a
strengthened form of No. 1 (ek,
used intensively), “to give oneself up to
fornication,” implying excessive indulgence,
Jude 1:7. (1)
Now for an
outstanding overview of sexual immorality!
Baker's Evangelical
Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Immorality,
Sexual:
Immorality,
Sexual
Interpersonal
activity involving sex organs that does not
conform to God's revealed laws governing
sexuality. The account of creation (Gen
1:1-28) includes reproductive activity as an
essential part of the developmental scheme.
This important function is given special
prominence in the narrative describing the
creation of woman (Gen 2:21-24). In a process
cloaked in mystery, God takes an aspect (Heb.
sela,
improperly translated “rib” in many versions)
of Adam and fashions it into a genetic
counterpart that is specifically female, and
which matches Adam's maleness for purposes of
reproducing the species. Adam and Eve are thus
equal and complementary to one another, of the
same physical and genetic composition apart
from the slight difference that governs the
characteristic nature of male and female
fetuses. God tells them to “Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill all the earth and
subdue it” (Gen 1:28).
In normal
males, the sex drive is a powerful biological
and emotional force that is often difficult to
control satisfactorily, particularly when it
expresses itself in aggressive terms. But in
the early narratives dealing with human family
life there are no specific regulations for
sexual behavior apart from the statement that
Eve's husband will be the object of her carnal
desires (Gen 3:16). As the world's population
grows, so do the human misdemeanors (Gen
6:5-6), which seem to include mixed marriages
(Gen 6:2) and possible sexual perversions,
although the latter are not mentioned
explicitly. At the same time there are certain
situations of a sexual nature that are to be
avoided by followers of the Lord. The shame
associated with the exposure of male genitalia
and the penalties that might accrue to
observers (Gen 19:22-25) illustrates one form
of prohibited sex-related activity. This
represents the beginning of later Jewish
traditions that held that nakedness was
shameful.
In the
patriarchal age, homosexuality was a prominent
part of Canaanite culture, as the incident
involving Lot in Sodom illustrates (Gen
19:1-9). So rampant was sexual perversion in
that place that in later times the name of the
city became synonymous with homosexual
behavior. God's judgment upon such a
perversion of sexuality was to destroy the
city and its corrupt inhabitants.
When God
entered into a covenant relationship with the
Israelites on Mount Sinai (Exod. 24:1-11), his
intent was to assemble and foster a select
group of human beings who would be obedient to
him, worship him as their one and only true
God, and live under his direction in community
as a priestly kingdom and a holy nation (Exod.
19:6). Holiness demands adherence to certain
stringent rules regarding worship and general
conduct, but also requires a complete
commitment of will and motive to the Lord's
commandments.
Because of
the gross promiscuity of surrounding nations,
whose behavior the Israelites are warned
periodically to avoid, the covenant Lord
reveals through Moses a collection of strict
regulations that are to govern Israelite
sexuality and morality. If these directives
are followed, the individual and the community
alike can expect blessing. But if the
Israelites lapse into the immoral ways of
nations such as Egypt and Canaan, they will be
punished. God's keen interest in the sexuality
of his chosen people has two objectives: to
exhibit Israel to the world as a people
fulfilling his standards of holiness, and to
ensure that, in the process, they enjoy
physical, mental, and moral health.
The
pronouncements on sexuality given to Moses
while the Israelites are encamped at Mount
Sinai occur in two separate places in
Leviticus (18:6-23; 20:10-21). It should be
remembered that Leviticus (the "Levite" book)
comprises a technical priestly manual dealing
with regulations governing Israelite worship
and the holiness of the covenant community.
God had chosen the covenant nation to be an
illustration to pagan society of how
individuals can become as holy as God through
implicit faith in him and continuous obedience
to his commandments. By setting out guidelines
for the priests to teach to the Israelites,
God promulgates explicitly a catalog of what
is, and is not, acceptable social, moral, and
spiritual behavior. In the distinctions
between clean and unclean that occur in
various parts of the priestly handbook, the
emphasis is on that purity of life that should
characterize God's people. Enactments of this
kind are unique in the ancient world, and only
serve to demonstrate the seriousness of God's
intent to foster a people that can indeed have
spiritual fellowship with their Lord because
they reflect his holy and pure nature as they
walk in the way of his commandments.
A closer
look must now be taken at the regulations
governing sexuality. In Leviticus 18:6-23, the
matter is approached by the use of
denunciations to describe immoral behavior.
These fall into two groups, one dealing with
carnal associations among people closely
related by blood (consanguinity), and the
other governing the sexual behavior of persons
related through marriage (affinity).
Accordingly a man is prohibited from
copulating with his mother or any other wife
belonging to his father; a sister or
half-sister, a daughter-in-law or a
granddaughter, an aunt on either side of the
family, a woman and her daughter or her son's
daughter or daughter's daughter, a wife's
sister as a rival wife, a neighbor's wife, and
a woman during the menses. Homosexuality is
castigated as reprehensible morally, and
bestiality is condemned summarily. Everything
forbidden had already led to the moral
defilement of the nations surrounding Israel,
and for these perversions they are to fall
under divine judgment (v. 24).
Homosexuality
is described in the Mosaic legislation in
terms of a man lying with a man “as one lies
with a woman” (Lev. 18:22; 20:13), that is,
for purposes of sexual intercourse. The
practice originated in humanity's remote past,
and appears to have formed part of Babylonian
religious activities. The Canaanites regarded
their male and female cultic prostitutes as
“holy persons,” meaning that they were
dedicated specifically to the service of a god
or goddess, not that they were exemplars of
moral purity in society. While general
condemnations of homosexuality occur in
Leviticus, none of the pagan Near Eastern
religions thought it either necessary or
desirable to enact comparable legislation,
since for them such activities were all part
of normal religious life in temples or other
places of cultic worship.
In general,
homosexuality in Mesopotamia is not documented
to any extent in surviving tablets, but that
it was a widespread problem in the Middle
Assyrian period (1300-900b.c.) is indicated by
the fact that legislation from that time
stipulates that an offender, when caught,
should be castrated. This judicial sentence,
when compared with the Hebrew prescription of
death (Lev 20:13), shows that in Mesopotamian
society the offense was regarded as a
secondary civic infraction. While
homosexuality seems to have been a recognized
part of Hittite life, their laws nevertheless
prescribe execution for a man who sodomizes
his son.
Hebrew
tradition, in contrast, is emphatic in
condemning homosexuality, even though some
Israelites succumbed to it. In Deuteronomy
23:18, male cultic prostitutes, and perhaps
homosexuals also, are castigated as “dogs,”
which is most probably the significance of the
term in Revelation 22:15. Since the dog was
generally despised by the Hebrews as an
unclean animal, serving much the same
scavenging purpose as the vulture (1Kings
22:38), the disparaging nature of the allusion
is evident.
Bestiality,
defined in terms of a man or woman having
sexual relations with an animal (Lev 18:23;
20:15-16), is stigmatized in the Mosaic
enactments as a defilement for a man and a
sexual perversion for a woman. It appears to
have been fairly common in antiquity (Lev
18:24), being indulged in by the
Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Hittites.
The shorter
list of prohibited relationships in Leviticus
20:10-21 deals with many of the same offenses,
but also prescribes punishments for such
violations of Israel's moral code. Thus a man
who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife
is to be executed, along with his sexual
partner. This is also the penalty for a man
who defiles his father's wife or his
daughter-in-law, because such activity
constitutes sexual perversion as defined by
God's laws. Homosexuality is once again
condemned, and the sexual perverts sentenced
to death. The marriage of a man, a woman, and
her mother is deemed wicked, and the offenders
sentenced to be burned with fire so as to
expunge completely the wickedness of the act
from the holy community. Bestiality, condemned
already as a perversion, is regarded as a
capital offense, which includes the animal
also.
The
marriage of a man with his sister from either
side of the family is declared a highly
immoral union, and the participants are to be
put to death. The same is true of a man and a
woman engaging in sexual activity during the
woman's menstrual period. Such blood is
considered highly defiling, and a gross
violation of the purity that God desires as
the norm for Israel's social behavior. The
seriousness with which God assesses his
holiness is reflected in the severe penalties
prescribed for the infractions listed above.
The phrase "their blood will be on their own
heads" is a euphemism for capital punishment.
Sexual relations between a man and his aunt,
or between a man and his brother's wife, are
regarded as dishonoring the legal spouses, and
are accorded the lesser sentence of
childlessness. In some cases, however, this is
tantamount to causing the death of the family,
a prospect that few Hebrews could contemplate
with equanimity. In Deuteronomy 25:5-10, the
law allows a man to marry his deceased
brother's childless wife so as to rear a son
for his brother's family, but this is very
different from a man marrying his brother's
wife while her legal husband is still alive.
There are
important reasons why these enactments were
part of ancient Hebrew law. Moral purity and
spiritual dedication were fundamental
requisites if the chosen people were to
maintain their distinctive witness to God's
power and holiness in society. The
prohibitions reinforced the traditional
emphasis on family honor, since the family was
the building block of society. It had to be
maintained at all costs if society was to
survive. Any marriage relationship that was
too close would have exerted a devastating
effect on community solidarity by provoking
family feuds that could last for centuries.
Serious
problems would also have arisen through inter
marriage when the result of such unions was
the concentration of lands and riches in the
hands of a few Hebrew families. For modern
observers, however, the greatest danger by far
would have resulted from the pollution of the
genetic pool because of inbreeding. The bulk
of the relationships prohibited by the
legislation involved first and second degrees
of consanguinity, that is, parent-child and
grandparent-grandchild incest. Coition within
the forbidden degrees of family relationships
generally results in genetic complications
when offspring are produced. Recessive genes
often become dominant and endow the fetus with
various kinds of diseases or congenital
malformations. This seems to have been the
force of the Hebrew tebel
[l, b, T], a word that occurs only in
Leviticus 18:23 and 20:12. It comes from balal
[l; l' B], meaning “to confuse,” and conveys
aptly the genetic upheaval that occurs in many
cases of inbreeding, since God's rules for
procreation have been upset. Only in a few
instances does close inbreeding produce
beneficial effects by removing recessive
lethal genes from the genetic pool. (This may
have happened in the case of ancient Egyptian
royalty.) Nevertheless, even in such
instances, inbreeding diminishes the energy
and vigor of species that are normally
outbred, and reinforces the wisdom and
authority of the Mosaic legislation.
When God
entered into a covenant relationship with the
Israelites he furnished them with certain
fundamental regulations engraved in stone to
symbolize their permanence. These “Ten
Commandments,” as they are styled, contain
certain injunctions of a moral character
dealing with adultery, theft, false witness,
and covetous behavior (Exod. 20:14-19).The
last three offenses are social in character,
involving the community of God to a greater or
lesser degree. But the commandment prohibiting
adultery deals with an act of a highly
personal nature, occurring between normally
consenting adults, which violates the “one
flesh” character of marriage.
The fact
that a commandment deals specifically with
this form of behavior seems to indicate that
adultery was common among the ancient Hebrews.
At all events, adultery was understood as
sexual intercourse between a man and another
man's wife or betrothed woman. Similarly, any
act of coition between a married woman and a
man who was not her husband was also regarded
as adultery. Certain exceptions to these
stringent rules were tolerated in Old
Testament times, however. A man was not
considered an adulterer if he engaged in
sexual relations with a female slave (Gen
16:1-4), a prostitute (Gen 38:15-18), or his
wife's handmaid with the spouse's permission
(Gen 16:4). Nor was a man deemed to be in an
adulterous relationship if he happened to be
married to two wives.
The
traditions banning adultery, made specific in
the Decalog, were enshrined deeply in Israel's
national life. The prophets warn that divine
judgment will descend upon those who practice
it (Jer. 23:11-14; Ezek. 22:11; Mal 3:5). The
Book of Proverbs, however, takes more of a
social than a specifically moral view of
adultery, ridiculing it as a stupid pattern of
behavior that leads a man to self-destruction
(6:25-35). The prophets use the term
figuratively to describe the covenant people's
lack of fidelity to the high ideals of Mount
Sinai. The prophets view the covenant as
equivalent to a marriage relationship between
God and Israel (Isa 54:5-8). Any breach of the
covenant, therefore, is an act of spiritual
adultery (Jer. 5:7-8; Ezek. 23:37).
In his
teachings Jesus stands firmly in the
traditions of the Mosaic law and prophecy by
regarding adultery as sin. But he extends the
definition to include any man who lust sin his
mind after another woman, whether she is
married or not. It is thus unnecessary for any
physical contact to take place, since the
intent is already present (Matt 5:28). By this
teaching Jesus demonstrates that, under the
new covenant, motivation is to be considered
just as seriously as the mechanical act of
breaking or keeping a particular law. The
motivation of a believer should always be of
the purest kind, enabling obedience to God's
will freely from the heart, and not just
because the law makes certain demands.
Whereas the
female is cast in an inferior, passive role in
the Old Testament sexual legislation, Jesus
considers the woman as equal to the man in his
teachings about divorce and remarriage. In
consequence the woman has to bear equal
responsibility for adultery. Much discussion
has taken place about Christ's return to the
strict marriage ideals of Genesis 2:24 (Mark
10:6) and the explanatory clause “except for
marital unfaithfulness” (Matt 5:32; 19:9),
which allows for remarriage after divorce and
which does not occur in either Mark 10:11 or
Luke 16:18.
Before New
Testament technical terms are discussed, it is
important to realize that Christ was directing
his teaching at the new age of grace, which in
his death was to render Old Testament legal
traditions ineffective. The Mosaic Law was
specific about the conditions under which
divorce could occur. The wife had fallen into
disfavor because her husband had found
something unclean or indecent about her, and
therefore he was entitled to divorce her.
Jesus teaches that this procedure was allowed
by God as a concession to human obduracy (Matt
19:8), even though the Creator hated divorce.
In New
Testament times, only the man was able to
institute divorce proceedings. It was in
reality, however, a rare occurrence, and at
that mostly the prerogative of the rich, since
poor men could not afford another dowry or
“bride price” for a subsequent marriage. The
accused woman was protected under the law to
the extent that her husband's accusations had
to be proved. Thus some scholars have seen the
Matthean explanatory clause as indicating
immorality as the sole ground for divorce,
following the contemporary rabbinical school
of Shammai, and not for some purely frivolous
cause, as the school of Hillel taught. If this
explanation is correct, Jesus was addressing a
Jewish controversy that had no bearing on
God's marriage ideals in the age of grace, and
which Mark and Luke consequently ignored
because the exception did not apply to their
audiences of Christian believers.
The most
common term in the New Testament for sexual
immorality is porneia
[porneiva],
and its related forms pornos
[povrno]
and porneuo
[porneuvw].
An emphatic form of the verb, ekporneuo
[ejkporneuvw], “indulging in sexual
immorality, occurs in Jude 7. These words have
been translated variously into English, some
renderings for an immoral person being “who
remonger,” “fornicator,” “loose liver,” and
“sexually immoral.” The term pornos
[povrno]
refers to a man who engages in coition with a
porne
[povrnh],
or female prostitute. The extended description
of wanton immorality in Romans 1:24-32
discusses women spurning natural sexual
relationships for unnatural ones, that is,
indulging in lesbian activities of the kind
practiced at Lesbos in pagan Greek religious
ceremonies. The males are described as
inflamed with lust for one another, and this
leads to indecent and immoral behavior. In
1Corinthians, 6:9 the sexually immoral are
classified as adulterers, male prostitutes,
and homosexual offenders. In 1Timothy 1:10,
sexually immoral people are described
comprehensively as adulterers and perverts.
The New
Testament contains far less teaching about
sexual immorality than the Old Testament, on
which Christian morals and ethics are based.
The Mosaic Law condemned adultery, but placed
less emphasis on prohibiting some other sexual
offenses. In the end, disregard for the Mosaic
enactments brought Israel to ruin and this
made it important for the Christian church to
distinguish carefully, among other matters,
between adultery as a sin and porneia
[porneiva],
which was a fatal perversion.
The New
Testament requires believers to deny physical
and spiritual lusting after people and false
gods, and to conduct their behavior at a high
moral and spiritual level. Sexual activity is
to be confined to the marriage relationship,
and if a married man or woman has sexual
intercourse with someone other than the
spouse, that person has committed adultery. To
be most satisfying for the Christian, sexual
activity must reflect the values of
self-sacrificing love and the unity of
personality to which the Christian's
reconciliation to God by the atoning work of
Jesus brings the believing couple. R. K.
Harrison (2)
In closing:
There is no
excuse for someone to plead ignorance of the
biblical teaching on sex outside of marriage,
i.e. fornication.
“To God,
only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ
forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:27) and “heirs
according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28,
29)
Notes:
1.W. E. Vine, An
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words,
(Iowa Falls, Iowa, Riverside Book and Bible
House), p. 455.
2.Walter A. Elwell,
Editor, Baker’s
Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology,
(Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Book House), p.
367-371.
Mr. Kettler
has previously published articles in the
Chalcedon Report and Contra Mundum. He and his
wife Marea attend the Westminster, CO, RPCNA
Church. Mr. Kettler is the author of the book
defending the Reformed Faith against attacks,
titled: The Religion That Started in a Hat.
Available at: http://www.TheReligionThatStartedInAHat.com
For more study:
Counting
the Cost of Sexual Immorality by Randy Alcorn
https://www.epm.org/blog/2009/Jun/26/counting-the-cost-of-sexual-immorality
Paul Washer |
1 Thessalonians 4:1-3 | Abstain from Sexual
Immorality |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQPRp2K8LjA