porneia<\/em>“<\/a> and I was wondering if this meant prostitution and sexual intercourse with those to whom you have no emotional connection. More specifically, is sex with someone you love, like a boyfriend or girlfriend, specifically deemed immoral in the Bible, or is this another misrepresented sin lumped into the “sexual immorality” category?<\/p>\n\tAnswer:<\/h2>\n
What you are proposing is a change in the definition of\u00a0porneia<\/em>, but one that is not based on scholarship. Clearly, the motivation is to justify sexual intercourse where a person can claim that “love” is the motivation for the sex. In order to prove your desired definition, you would have to show that porneia\u00a0<\/em>is never used to describe sex between a boyfriend and girlfriend.<\/p>\nFirst, we note that the scholars who actually know the language disagree with you:<\/p>\n
\n- “it denotes “unchastity, illicit sexual relations” of any<\/strong>\u00a0kind” [The Complete Biblical Library].<\/li>\n
- “illicit sexual intercourse\u00a0in general<\/strong>” [Henry Thayer,\u00a0Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon<\/em>, pg. 532].<\/li>\n
- “The New Testament is characterized by an unconditional repudiation of\u00a0all<\/strong>\u00a0extra-marital and unnatural intercourse” [Theological Dictionary of the New Testament<\/em>, Vol. 6, pg. 590].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You will not find\u00a0porneia\u00a0<\/em>being used in the Bible to refer to an acceptable act. Nor will you find circumstances being modified because of a person’s feelings regarding the act of sex. For example,<\/p>\n“If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife. If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the dowry for virgins<\/em>” (Exodus 22:16-17).<\/p>\n“If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her and they are discovered, then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he cannot divorce her all his days<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nSex with a virgin carried a penalty of a fine, payable to the girl’s father. A shekel was approximately what an unskilled laborer earned in a week. Thus, it would take nearly a year, with no other expenses to earn enough money to pay the fine. In addition, if the father did not refuse, the man would be required to marry the girl with whom he had sex and would have had no option to ever divorce her. A claim of love would not alter these rules, though it is likely that the father would refuse to allow his daughter to marry a man if he had raped her.<\/p>\n
In “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge<\/em>” (Hebrews 13:4), a contrast between two states is made: sex within marriage and sex outside of marriage (fornication and adultery). Adultery is where at least one party is married, but not to the person they are having sex with. It doesn’t matter if they are in love or if it is with a prostitute, it remains adultery. Fornication is a broader word meaning sex outside of marriage, but when it is used with adultery it takes on the narrower definition of sex when the parties are not married. Thus, when sex takes place, there are two states you can be in: in honor because the sex is with your spouse, or facing the judgment of God because the sex is taking place with someone else. There is no third state.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: I was reading\u00a0your page about the Greek “porneia“ and I was wondering if this meant prostitution and sexual intercourse with those to whom you have no emotional connection. More specifically, is sex with someone you love, like a boyfriend or girlfriend, specifically deemed immoral in the Bible, or is this another misrepresented sin lumped…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1572],"class_list":["post-54862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-fornication"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27877,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-husband-abuses-his-wife-during-sex-is-that-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":54862,"position":0},"title":"If a husband abuses his wife during sex, is that fornication?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a man abuses his wife during sex, or takes her in a way that is unloving and clearly destructive, can this be considered fornication? This would be sinning against one's own body as fornication is described as being in I Corinthians 6:18, considering the wife's body is his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41438,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-sexual-immorality-in-matthew-199\/","url_meta":{"origin":54862,"position":1},"title":"What is “Sexual Immorality” in Matthew 19:9?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0Kyle Butt, M.A. via\u00a0Apologetics Press Copied by permission. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible repeatedly stresses the fact that God designed the institution of marriage (Genesis 2:22-25). He has, from the beginning of human history, given very specific ideas about what composes a divinely approved marriage (Matthew 19:1-4), consisting of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/What-Is-Sexual-Immorality-300x158.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22301,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-sexual-immorality-porneia-include-masturbation\/","url_meta":{"origin":54862,"position":2},"title":"Does “sexual immorality” (porneia) include masturbation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to just say in\u00a0some previous answers\u00a0you have said that masturbation is not mentioned as a sin, but it is. We are told in Acts 15:20 to flee from sexual immorality. Today, most of the world sees masturbation as sexual immorality, and it has always been considered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26107,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-included-in-porneia\/","url_meta":{"origin":54862,"position":3},"title":"What is included in porneia?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! I have been studying sex and the Bible. What I am really confused about is that the Bible does not mention oral sex or mutual masturbation. It only mentions anal sex and vaginal sex. Thus, how are oral sex and mutual masturbation a sin? How is it sexual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15134,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-the-bible-specifically-say-sex-outside-of-marriage-is-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":54862,"position":4},"title":"Where does the Bible specifically say sex outside of marriage is wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read your article. Why is it that all you preachers say sex outside of marriage is sexual immorality? The Greek word porneia means harlotry or idolatry. So how is it that Leviticus 18 states \"sexual immorality\" and sex outside of marriage is not listed? Where does it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36784,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-intimacies-are-allowed-or-not-allowed-to-engaged-couples\/","url_meta":{"origin":54862,"position":5},"title":"What intimacies are allowed or not allowed to engaged couples?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My girlfriend and I are very grateful to the Lord for the love and gift we are to each other. We love the Lord and want to honor Him and His law for us as an unmarried but betrothed couple. We are committed to saving sex for marriage. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}