Porneia Verses

The term pornea shows up 25 times in the New Testament. Just for fun, lets see what some of these verses would look like if we translated the term as simply prostitution. Will the context of any of these verses make sense?

1 Chorinthians 6:12-20 is one example where the context helps see that this is a good fit.
 “All things are lawful for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “All things are lawful for me”—but I will not be controlled by anything.  “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both.” The body is not for prostitution, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.  Now God indeed raised the Lord and he will raise us by his power.  Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!  Or do you not know that anyone who is united with a prostitute is one body with her? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”  But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him.  Flee prostitution! “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body”—but the ones (involved with prostitution porneuōn) sins against his own body.  Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

Note the above passage also includes the term  πόρνη (porné) which usually gets translated as prostitute, but the term πορνείᾳ (porneia) usually gets translated as immorality or sexual immorality.
πορνεύων (porneuōn) — 1 Occurrence


Matthew 5:32
 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for prostitution, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Matthew 15:19-20
For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, prostitution, theft, false testimony, slander. These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.”
Note: murder, adultery and prostitution are 3 different things listed. If porneia is a catch all for any sexual immorality, there would be no need to list adultery here.


Matthew 19:9
Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for prostitution, and marries another commits adultery.”

Mark 7:21-23
For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, prostitution, theft, murder, adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. All these evils come from within and defile a person.”

John 8:41
You people are doing the deeds of your father.”  Then they said to Jesus, “We were not born as a result of prostitution! We have only one Father, God himself.” 
Note: When the nation of Israel went after other Gods it was common to make an analogy of the nation prostituting themselves to other gods.

Acts 15:20
but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from prostitution and from what has been strangled and from blood.

Acts 15:29
that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from prostitution. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.

Acts 21:25
 But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter, having decided that they should avoid meat that has been sacrificed to idols and blood and what has been strangled and prostitution.”
Note: this is a short lists in Acts of things gentile converts are told to avoid. These three things would have been common together in their previous pagan worship rituals:  Idols, temple prostitution, and animals sacrificed to other gods.

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