Many Christians today have strong convictions about sexual immorality, and they believe the Bible is clear about what is sexually immoral and what is not.
In the original Greek version of the New Testament, the Greek term porneia (πορνεία) (or its variants) is used 25 times. In the late 4th century, the Latin Vulgate, a Latin translation of the Greek texts, translated the term as fornicati, fornicatus, fornicata, and fornicatae. In 1611 This term got translated into fornication in the King James version. Other modern translations now used terms such as whoredom, sexual immorality, or simply immorality. Let’s start off by assuming Bible translators in our modern era have given us a meaning that fits with what the original authors had in mind.
We may first assume this term porneia (πορνεία) was actually meant to be a catch all for any and all sexual wrongdoings. This is how most people will naturally read verses with this term. The first occurrence in our New Testament is Matthew 5:32 (NIV) “But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality(porneias), makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” How should we make sense of this? How are we supposed to know what exceptions Jesus is making here? Do we think Jesus was referring to some common understanding of some list of wrong sexual acts or thoughts?
If we could only find such a list, then we could apply that list whenever this term comes up. Then if someone wants to divorce their wife they can take the list to a judge and make their case.
If the term behind "sexual immorality" is mean to be a catch all for any and all sexually illicit activities, a list would be helpful. Is there a list anywhere that would help us decide what is included?
Start from the top:
- Recently Discovered Chapter of Deuteronomy
- Sexuality of: Heros of The Faith
- Biblical Marriage
- Porneia (Sexual Immorality???)
- Take the Sexuality and The Bible Quiz Here
No comments:
Post a Comment