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?
Continue Reading:
Start from the top:
- Recently Discovered Chapter of Deuteronomy
- Sexuality of: Heros of The Faith
- Biblical Marriage
- Porneia (Sexual Immorality???)
- Take a survey here
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