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BUT IMMORALITY: porneia de:
(Eph
5:5;
4:19,20;
Numbers 25:1;
Deuteronomy
23:17,18;
Matthew 15:19;
Mark 7:21;
Acts 15:20;
Romans 1:29;
6:13;
1 Corinthians 5:10,11;
6:9,13,18;
10:8;
2 Corinthians
12:21;
Galatians 5:19-21;
Colossians 3:5;
1 Thessalonians 4:3,7;
Hebrews 12:16;
13:4;
2 Peter 2:10;
Revelation
2:14,21;
9:21;
21:8;
Revelation
22:15)
But (1161)
(de) conveys a very strong contrast with that which produces a
"fragrant aroma" before God. It is probably not too far fetched to take
from this contrast the implication that the following vices are a
"stench" in His nostrils rather than a fragrant aroma! Thus Paul carries
the exhortation to be imitators of God over to a prohibition expressed
in the strongest terms and which is leveled against one of the deadliest
and most inveterate temptations to which Gentile Christians were
exposed - porneia!
Hoehner
writes that...
The self-centered vices in conduct
and speech (Eph 5:3-4) are the opposite of the self-sacrificing love
spoken of in
Ephesians 5:1,
5:2.
Since these vices portray selfishness and unconcern for others, a
believer should not have even a hint of these sins in his life. (Walvoord,
J. F., Zuck, R. B., et al: The Bible Knowledge Commentary. 1985. Victor).
Among you -
''you'' is plural. There is not to be one loose cannon on the deck. Not
one guy cheating on his wife. Not one church staff member hooked on
internet pornography. We are saints, holy ones of God. We have laid
aside these old filthy garments and are wearing the robes of Christ's
righteousness. We need to live like it, and in context love like Christ.
In this verse Paul shows what love does not look like!
Immorality (4202)
(porneia
from porneúo = commit fornication or any sexual sin)
originally referred to any excessive
behavior or lack of restraint, but eventually became associated with
sexual excess and indulgence. Porneia
originally was used especially to describe the practice of consorting
with prostitutes (porneis = “prostitute”) and eventually came to
mean “habitual immorality.” Porneia is the opposite of the Greek
word
enkrateia/ egkrateia (literally
"holding oneself in"), which usually referred to sexual self-control
(see
Acts 24:25)
Porneia as
used in the Scriptures describes any illicit sexual activity outside of
the divine bounds established by marriage and thus includes the ideas of
unlawful sexual intercourse, unchastity and fornication. Porneia
includes (but is not limited to) adultery, premarital sex,
homosexuality, bestiality, incest, and prostitution.
As an aside, porneia refers primarily to sins of the flesh, but those sins can never
be divorced from the sins of the mind or heart, because all sin is
related. Sin in one area always makes us more susceptible to sin in
other areas (don't be deceived). No where does Scripture sanction the
commitment of any form of extramarital sexual activity...a far cry from
our modern American culture!
Our English word
pornography is from porneia + graph = a
writing and thus pornography (or colloquially "porn") is thus a writing
(or picture) relating to sexual sin (missing the mark).
Expositors Greek Testament writes that...
The
term porneia (fornication) is to be taken in its proper sense and
is not to be restricted to any one particular form—the license practiced
at heathen festivals, concubinage, marriage within prohibited degrees,
or the like. The moral life of the Greco-Roman world had sunk so low
that, while protests against the prevailing corruption were never
entirely wanting, fornication had long come to be regarded as a matter
of moral indifference, and was indulged in without shame or scruple, not
only by the mass, but by philosophers and men of distinction who in
other respects led exemplary lives.” (Nicoll, W Robertson, Editor:
Expositors Greek Testament: 5 Volumes. Out of print. Search Google) (Comment:
Does this comment remind you of any modern day society?)
Christianity
brought chastity, a virtue that was foreign to the Greco-Roman world.
Into this world of pagan idolatry where sexual immorality was not
only condoned, but regarded as normal, the Christian faith came as a
purifying fire. Twentieth-century America has reverted back to the “normality
of sexual immorality” and the revival fire of the Christian faith is
desperately needed.
Remember the
context of the society Paul was addressing. In the Greek culture of that
day, prostitution and fornication were considered permissible
activities. A married man in Greece cold engage in extramarital sexual
intercourse as much as he wished, but this practice was forbidden for
the wife! Athenaeus, a writer in the second century AD, quotes from a
speech of Demosthenes,
“We keep mistresses for pleasure,
concubines for daily concubinage, but wives we have in order to produce
children legitimately and to have a trustworthy guardian of our domestic
property.”
Kenneth Wuest records that
The moral life of the Greco-Roman
world had sunk so low that, while protests against the prevailing
corruption were never entirely wanting, fornication had long come to be
regarded as a matter of moral indifference, and was indulged in without
shame or scruple, not only by the mass, but by philosophers and men of
distinction who in other respects led exemplary lives. (Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Studies in the
Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament: Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)
In Acts the early
church condemned all sexual experimentation outside of marriage James
declaring that the Gentiles who were turning to God from idols be
instructive
"that they abstain from things
contaminated by idols and from fornication (porneia - in
this context the reference is to sexual sins in general but orgies that
were associated with the worship of the pagan idols) and from what is
strangled and from blood." (Acts
15:20)
As discussed
elsewhere the association of idolatry and immorality is frequently noted
in Scripture.
In Romans 1 Paul
clearly links idolatry with immorality writing...
"Professing to be wise, they became
fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image
in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and
crawling creatures (idolatry). 24 Therefore God gave them over (a
judicial term in Gr., used for handing over a prisoner to his sentence.
When men consistently abandon God, He will abandon them) in the lusts of
their hearts to impurity (a general term describing decaying matter,
like the contents of a grave and in context speaks of sexual
immorality), that their bodies might be dishonored among them. 25 For
they exchanged the truth of God for a lie (an idol is a lie, a false
representation of God), and worshiped and served the creature (idolatry)
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this
reason God gave them over (God's judicial sentence because of their
idolatry was to deliverer them over to the power of) to degrading
(dishonoring, disgracing, shameful) passions (which resulted in erotic
activity with members of their own sex); for their women exchanged the
natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way
also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in
their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts
and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error."
(Romans
1:22-27)(see notes beginning with
Ro 1:22)
In Paul’s day
Corinth was like much of our culture today, for people were strongly
intent on having their own ways, doing what was right in their own eyes,
and this aberrant behavior was especially manifest in fulfilling their
physical lust. Corinth was so conspicuous for its immorality that to “corinthianize”
was the term for reckless debauchery. And so sexual permissiveness was
rampant and then, as now the church was not unaffected. Sensuality in
the guise of religion was rife. And so Paul writing to the Corinthian
church declares that
"It is actually reported that there
is immorality (porneia) among you, and immorality
(porneia) of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that
someone has (present tense = an ongoing, habitual activity) his father's
wife." (1Cor
5:1 read the entire chapter which is devoted to immorality in
the church - and by the way - this chapter is directed not so much to
those committing immorality but to the church who stood by doing nothing
about it and in fact arrogantly refusing to do anything about it!)
In this Corinthian case
the immorality in the church
was a form of incest, because a man was living with his father’s wife,
that is, his stepmother. Sexual relations between a man and his
stepmother are in the same category as relations between him and his
natural mother and anyone guilty of those or other sexual
“abominations” was to be cut off from his people (Lev
18:7-8,29), a reference to capital punishment. From Cicero
we know that such incest was even strictly forbidden by Roman law. Later
in this same letter Paul gives his instruction to
Flee (present
imperative = continually
flee and keep fleeing until the danger is past - when the sensual
commercial comes on at halftime of the game, excuse yourself and leave
the room beloved!) immorality (porneia). Every other sin that a
man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his
own body (Porneia is more destructive to the sinner than other
sins because the one who engages in it cannot undo their act. In the
Screwtape Letters C. S. Lewis says that each time a man and a woman
enter into a sexual relationship a spiritual bond is established between
them which must be eternally enjoyed or eternally endured!) Or do you
not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." (1Cor
6:18-20)
Sexual sin not
only is against God and other persons, it is also against ourselves.
Part of our moral responsibility to ourselves is to be sexually pure.
When Christians are immoral, the testimony of the gospel is polluted.
Don't dabble with porneia, (and "pornography") trifle with it, argue about
it, debate it, explain it and certainly don't try to rationalize it as a
"spiritual challenge" to be met but as a "spiritual trap" to be escaped.
Get away as fast as you can! God gives such a clear and strong command
because porneia is so serious, so seductive, and so corrupting and shattering
to spiritual
relationships, both human and divine! So flee!
An excellent
illustration of "fleeing immorality" is found in the account of Joseph
when he was tempted to sin by Potiphar’s wife Joseph addressing her
advances declared
“There is no one greater in this
house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because
you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin
against God? [Joseph feared Jehovah and so turned away from evil, cf
Job 1:1]”10 And it came about as she
spoke to Joseph day after day, that he did not listen to her to lie
beside her, or be with her.11 Now it happened one day that he went into
the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there
inside.12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And
he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.) (Genesis
39:9-12)
While there may be
safety in numbers, sometimes there is more safety in flight! It is like
the pastor cautioned his handsome new assistant about the dangers of
immorality in the ministry. The assistant said that he always did his
socializing in a group setting and concluded that “there is safety in
numbers.” The wise pastor replied, “Yes, that is so, but there is
more safety in Exodus!”
How serious is
immorality? Paul's rhetorical question indicates the consequences can be
eternally serious asking...
Or do you not know that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of
God. (1Cor
6:9-10)
William
MacDonald commenting on the preceding passage in first Corinthians
clarifies that Paul...
does not mean to imply that
Christians can practice such sins and be lost, but rather he is saying
that people who practice such sins are not Christians. (MacDonald,
W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or
Logos)
Paul goes on to
explain that a healthy marriage is the main bulwark against immorality
writing that
But because of immoralities, let
each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. (1Cor
7:2)
Porneia is
the more general term for all kinds of sexual sins and encompasses the
more specific sin of adultery (moichea
[3430])
which describes sexual sin in at least one person who is married. Jesus
used porneia to describe adultery in marriage, declaring
that everyone who divorces his wife,
except for the cause of unchastity (porneia - fornication), makes her
commit adultery (moichao = verb related to moichea); and whoever marries
a divorced woman commits adultery (moichao = verb related to moichea)
(see note
Matthew 5:32)
Porneia as
used in this verse in the context of marriage always constituted
adultery, which, by definition, is illicit sex by a married person.
The verb form of porneia is used by Paul to describe the
immorality for which 23,000 (of the total of 24,000) Israelites were
killed by a plague in one day ("Nor let us act immorally [porneuo], as
some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.1Cor
10:8; cf.
Num 25:9). Because the majority, if
not all, of those slain were probably married, porneia clearly
includes adultery.
Porneia is
used most often with its lurid literal meaning but some NT uses (as well
as uses in the Septuagint) utilize porneia in a figurative sense to
picture idolatry or the forsaking of the true and living God to
worship dead idols. Scripture describes God as married to His Church
through Christ, so that any idolatry is unfaithfulness toward God
and is often depicted as analogous to sexual unfaithfulness to one’s
marriage partner!
In the OT God's
relationship to Israel was pictured as that of a Husband to His wife (cf
Isaiah 54:5). And so in Jeremiah we see
Jehovah describe His punishment of the adulterous northern
kingdom of Israel by allowing her to be defeated and exiled into Assyria
(He gave "her a writ of divorce"). In spite of God's clear warning, the
southern kingdom described as Israel's
"treacherous sister Judah did not
fear; but she went and was a harlot (Lxx = porneuo verbal
root of porneia) also (why did she play the harlot? no reverential fear
of the holy God). And it came about because of the lightness of her
harlotry (Hebrew = zenut refers to sexual sin that violates the
marriage covenant; and is used most
often figuratively to describe the wickedness of the nation of Israel,
this wickedness usually being associated with the worship of idols, and
occasionally even descriptive of outright rebellion
Nu 14:33; Lxx = porneia), that
she polluted the land and committed adultery (Lxx = moicheuo verbal form
of moicheia) with stones and trees." (Jer
3:8-9)
Addressing
Jerusalem, Jehovah declares to her that
"you trusted in your beauty and
played the harlot (Hebrew = zanah = fornicate, prostitute, figuratively
of Israel's illicit relationship with other so-called gods; Lxx =
porneuo verbal root of porneia) because of your fame, and you poured
out your harlotries (Lxx = porneia), that she polluted the
land and committed adultery (Lxx = moicheuo verbal form of moicheia) on
every passer-by who might be willing...and besides all your abominations
and harlotries (Lxx = porneia) you did not remember the days of
your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood."
23 "Then it came about after all your wickedness ('Woe, woe to you!'
declares the Lord GOD), 24 that you built yourself a shrine (Lxx says "a
house of fornication" or for harlots) and made yourself a high place in
every square. 25 "You built yourself a high place at the top of every
street (Lxx has "on the head of every way thou didst set up thy
fornications [porneia]") and made your beauty abominable; and you
spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry
(Lxx = porneia). 26 "You also played the harlot ("go a whoring"
Lxx = related verb ekporneuo = to be utterly unchaste, to give
self over to fornication; to indulge in flagrant immorality) with the
Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry (Lxx =
related verb ekporneuo) to make Me angry....32 "You adulteress
(Lxx = moichao) wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!" (Ezekiel
16:15,22-26, 32 read all of chapter 16 to see how God feels
about porneia!)
Sex is a gift of
God which is like a great river flowing through life which, kept within
its banks, is a source of pleasure and power. When it overflows its
proper banks it becomes destructive and, ultimately, disastrous. In the
ancient world (? our modern world also) sexual activity (physical
unfaithfulness) was often connected with the idolatrous worship of false
gods (spiritual unfaithfulness) (cf
Nu 25:1-3,
Rev 2:14, 20). Within marriage, sex is
beautiful, fulfilling, creative and as noted above has protective effect
against immorality. Outside marriage, sex is ugly, destructive, and like
fire. In a fireplace, it’s warm and delightful. Outside the hearth, it’s
destructive and uncontrollable.
As Billy Graham
has observed...
Satan fails to speak of the remorse,
the futility, the loneliness, and the spiritual devastation which go
hand in hand with immorality.
Jesus explained
porneia declaring that
the things that proceed out of the
mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of
the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications (porneia),
thefts, false witness, slanders. (Mt
15:18-19)
Jesus' point is
that the basis of all sin is the inner thought, not the outward act.
Porneia begins in the heart. When a person is defiled on the inside,
what he does on the outside is also defiled. And so beloved,
Watch over your heart with
all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs
4:23)
John records that in the last
years just prior to our Lord's return indescribable sexual perversions
will be running rampant. He writes that those who dwell upon the earth
did not repent of their murders nor
of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts. (Rev
9:21)
Porneia is
an all-encompassing sensual or sexual immorality, a perfect description
of modern day America. Let's be honest. Most men (even Christian men!)
have problems with this area that they would not even dare tell anyone!
When you realize that you are complete in Christ and can now say "no" to
this sin, from that point on you are responsible what kind of mess you
get yourself into by not saying "Yes" to Jesus and "No" to immorality.
Remember that "victory" is not so much me overcoming the problem but
it's me having been overcome by Christ and it's now Christ in me who can
overcome. You don't have to live the way you did when you were dead in
your trespasses and sin. Your body is now dead to sin (the power of sin)
and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Immorality is evidence of turning your back on God as (see
notes
Romans 1:25;
Romans 1:26;
Romans 1:27)
teaches. God will judge illicit sexual sin (Heb
13:4) whether one in a believer or an unbeliever and Peter
adds that but judgment begins at the household of God (see note
1 Peter 4:17)
because believers are even more accountable in view of the fact that
they have the power (see notes
Romans 6:11,
Ro 8:13,
Gal 5:24) to flee youthful lusts
and to abstain from fleshly lusts (1Pet
2:11). As Paul explained to believers who thought that now
that they were "covered" by grace and could sin
with impunity since grace abounded where sin increased, he countered
this deceptive teaching with horror
May it never be! How shall we who
died (dead men are positionally uninfluenced and unaffected pleasures of
this life) to (the) sin (the power of sin inherited from Adam is broken
along with the previous powerlessness to say "no" to it's reign and
demands to be gratified) still live in it? (see
note
Romans 6:2)
When we
surrendered to Christ and took him as Lord and Saviour, not as our "fire
insurance" policy!
The biblical view of immorality is summarized in (see note
1Thessalonians 4:3) where Paul records that
this is the will of God, your
sanctification (State of being set apart from sin and the world
to deity God); that is, that you abstain (literally continually
or as the habit of your life - present tense- to hold oneself away)
from sexual immorality (porneia).
Vine
comments that Paul
puts at the beginning of the list the
sins which set at defiance the primal laws of God which govern the
continuation of the human race and are essential to its well-being,
physical and moral...The first in this list is a specific sin; from this
there is a transition to the moral general. (Vine,
W. Collected Writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson)
William Barclay
has an interesting historical note to put Paul's teaching in the
proper cultural context writing that
Chastity was the one
completely new virtue which Christianity brought into the world. In the
ancient world sexual relationships before marriage and outside marriage
were the normal and accepted practice. The sexual appetite was regarded
as a thing to be gratified, not to be controlled. That is an attitude
which is not unfamiliar today, although often it is supported by
specious arguments. The Christian ethic insists on chastity,
regarding the physical relationship between the sexes as something so
precious that indiscriminate use of it in the end spoils it." (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press)
Paul has
another "vice" list in Galatians writing that
the deeds of the flesh are evident,
which are: immorality
(porneia), impurity,
sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of
anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing,
and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned
you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God. (see notes
Galatians 5:19;
20;
21).
John
records a similar warning writing that
for the cowardly and unbelieving and
abominable and murderers and immoral persons (related noun
pornos) and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part
will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the
second death. (see note
Revelation 21:8)
Neither Paul nor
John is not saying that you won't go to heaven if you slip up and commit
these sins from time to time. But they do indicate that if these sins
are your lifestyle (and if there has never been a time in your
life when you experienced a degree of freedom from them) then you will
inherit not the kingdom of God but the lake of fire.
The Bible
Knowledge Commentary adds this insight on
Revelation 21:8...
"It should be obvious that this
passage is not affirming salvation by works, but rather is
referring to works as indicative of whether one is saved or not.
Obviously many will be in heaven who before their conversions were
indeed guilty of these sins but who turned from them in the day of grace
in trusting Christ as their Savior. Though works are the evidence of
salvation or lack of it, they are never the basis or ground of it." (Walvoord,
J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. The Bible knowledge
commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books)
Someone has
written that immorality is like a cat’s paw. When lightly
stroked, it is quite soft and pleasurable, but increased pressure brings
out the claws of sin that will shred your very life.
Pastor Ray Stedman writes
that
Words like immorality do not
seem to register with many people. Let us put it plainly: Immorality
means no sexual wrongdoing; no pre-marital sex (no fornication); no
extra-marital sex (no messing around with someone else's wife or being
faithless to your own husband or wife); No homosexual sex (that is very
clear in Scripture in many places); No pornography (no standing in the
news section at the airport and flipping through Penthouse or Playboy
magazine and getting yourself turned on by looking at the pictures; that
is sexual fantasy and that is wrong, too, as Jesus pointed out). So to
"flee immorality" means to have none of those things going on in your
life. (from
Handling your Sex Drive)
Miscellaneous
related resources from John Piper:
Strategies for fighting sexual sin,
ANTHEM - Strategies for Fighting Lusts;
10 Steps Toward Sexual Sin: Pitfalls
and Protection for Christian Leaders
If you know
someone "wrestling" and being continually defeated by Internet
Immorality (and they want to be set free) have them check
Covenant Eyes
and then agree to be their
accountability partner. Under grace and with the Holy Spirit's
enablement, I have heard a number of men give testimony of the efficacy
of this tool. The difference between
Covenant Eyes and
other "porneia" blocking software is that
Covenant Eyes logs
every place you visit and keeps that record on a separate computer at
their headquarters. Your site visits are scored as to likelihood that
they have porneia and your accountability partner receives a periodic
report. Men need accountability in this day of widespread, seemingly
"anonymous" access to internet pornography (Remember though my beloved
brethren in Christ
The eyes of the LORD are in every
place, watching the evil and the good.
Proverbs 15:3)
Thomas
Jefferson although by all accounts not a born again believer
recognized the destructive nature of immorality and advised one
to...
Give up money, give up fame, give up
science, give up the earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an
immoral act.
Lawrence
Richards writes that...
Because sexual relationships between
a man and a woman are intended to reflect the intimate relationship
between God and his people, a covenant of faithfulness between marriage
partners is essential. Adultery and other sex relations outside of
marriage violate something basic to the very nature of God and to our
own nature as beings created in his image. (See SEX) (See MARRIAGE)
Marriage, as an exclusive commitment, is the necessary context for
sexual expression for God's people. Our faithfulness to that
relationship is critical." (Richards,
L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency)
William Jenkyn
in describing immorality said that...
The unclean person makes himself a
stigmatic (having or conveying a social stigma); he brands his body, and
leaves upon it a loathsome stain. Other sins comparatively are without
the body, by it, not in it; this is both.
Henrietta Mears
(author of the famous work Understanding the Bible) quipped that...
Savonarola appealed to feelings and
transformed Florence into a model of righteousness. But Robespierre
appealed to feelings and turned Paris into a pandemonium of
immorality. Feelings cannot be made moral absolutes.
Immorality and
specifically sexual intercourse outside of marriage is always wrong
because those who indulge in it are trying to isolate one aspect of
union—the physical—from all the other aspects that were intended to make
a total union of two people. There is nothing wrong with sexual
pleasure, any more than there is with the pleasure of eating. However,
just as attempting to enjoy the pleasures of eating and tasting without
swallowing and digesting is abhorrent and wrong, so attempting to enjoy
sex as an isolated physical sensation is wrong.
A poem on the
dangers of immorality/fornication...
Vice is a
monster of such terrible mien**
That to be hated needs but to be seen.
Yet seen too often, familiar her face
We first endure, then sanction, then embrace.
**Mien = air or bearing especially as expressive of
attitude or personality
David Burnham in
Discoveries, Volume 3, Number 1 list immorality as one of the
major "Character Killers"
1. Self-centeredness.
2. Distorting the gospel to serve your agenda .
3. Using your verbal skills to control others.
4. Appetite for power and possessions.
5. Immorality.
In Our Daily Bread
we read that...
The Bible is up-to-date on sexual
matters. Long ago, God warned against adultery and fornication. In
effect, He said, "Say no!" Now, in the 20th century with the awful
threat of AIDS, many lawmakers, educators, and doctors are agreeing with
the Almighty.
The Grand Rapids Press carried an article titled "Abstinence: The New
Emphasis in Sex Education." It told of 16-year-old Will Heiss, a "peer
educator" who challenges younger kids to say no to sexual activity--and
they are listening.
Author and campus lecturer Josh McDowell reminded a college audience
that the seventh commandment is a gracious provision by God, given for
our protection. Josh told of a man who had several sexual relationships.
The man later received Christ and met a wonderful woman whom he married.
"She's precious," confided the man, "but in the intimacy of our marriage
I'm haunted by the 'ghosts' of those previous affairs."
Abstinence until marriage is a sure safeguard. It protects the gift of
sexual intimacy that is to be enjoyed within a lifelong relationship of
commitment and trust. God hates sexual immorality because He has the
highest good of men and women at heart. --D J De Haan (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
Lord, grant me
strength from day to day--
How prone I am to go astray!
The passions of my flesh are strong;
Be Thou, my God, a shield from wrong. --DJD
God's commandments
were not given to frustrate us but to fulfill us.
OR ANY IMPURITY: kai akatharsia
pasa : (Eph
5:5;
Exodus 18:21;
20:17;
Joshua 7:21;
1 Samuel 8:3;
Psalms 10:3;
119:36;
Proverbs 28:16;
Jeremiah 6:13;
8:10;
22:17;
Ezekiel 33:31;
Micah 2:2;
Mark 7:22;
Luke 12:15;
16:14;
Acts 20:33;
1 Corinthians
6:10;
Colossians 3:5;
1 Timothy 3:3;
6:10;
2 Timothy 3:2;
Titus 1:7,11;
Hebrews 13:5;
1 Peter 5:2;
2 Peter
2:3,14)
Or any impurity
- is more literally "and all impurity"!
Impurity (167)
(akatharsia
from a = without + kathairo = cleanse)
literally describes any substance that is filthy or dirty and cold refer
to refuse or to the contents of graves, causing ceremonial impurity. In
castigating the hypocritical Pharisees Jesus used this word declaring
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside
appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all
uncleanness
(akatharsia). (Mt
23:27)
Figuratively
akatharsia refers to a state of
moral impurity (especially sexual sin).
In Romans when men exchange the
glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible
man, etc,
God gave them over in the lusts of
their hearts to impurity (akatharsia), that their bodies might be
dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie,
and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is
blessed forever. Amen. (see notes
Romans 1:23;
1:24-25)
In the NT
akatharsia was also used in reference to unclean or demonic
spirits. Akatharsia describes a filthiness of heart and mind that
makes the person defiled. The unclean person sees dirt in everything.
What a word picture one gets from the secular medical use where
akatharsia described an infected, oozing wound. Akatharsia
was also the general term often used of decaying matter, like the
contents of a grave. As used in its moral or ethical sense, the word
speaks more of an internal disposition. An immoral filthiness on the
inside. Acts of ''immorality'' are on the outside. A "good" illustration
is what transpires within the soul of one who looks at internet
pornography. Do not be deceived! Do not be partakers with them! Do not
participate in their unfruitful deeds of darkness!
In a parallel passage in Romans
Paul declares to the Roman saints that
just as you presented your members
as slaves to impurity (akatharsia) and to lawlessness, resulting
in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to
righteousness, resulting in sanctification (to live holy lives). (see
note
Romans 6:19)
Finally, Paul uses
akatharsia in his letter to the Thessalonians reminding them that
God has not called us for the
purpose of impurity (akatharsia), but in sanctification. (see
note
1Thessalonians 4:3)
Why do we
evangelicals try to put on these airs that we don't deal with these
problems? The key is that you can overcome these types of things,
because you've understood the truths about your high calling in Christ. The problem is so severe that many true
believers complete in Jesus, made alive in Him, have walked away from
Him and are not walking worthy of Him, having fallen back into the trap
of the sins Paul lists in
Colossians 3:5 (see note).
And after a while you fall even further into the trap so that you think
you can no longer even get out of the particular behavior! Remember:
When Christ died and you believed, you identified with His death and
these sins no longer have any power over you, unless you allow play with
them.
While driving
along a highway, we often see vultures soaring high overhead, swooping
down, and then rising up again with the air currents. Every so often, a
small group of them can be seen sitting right on the roadway, tearing
apart and gobbling up the carcass of some unfortunate creature. One gets
the impression that these ugly birds are on the lookout continually for
what is loathsome and repulsive! Does that describe the desires of
your heart? What kind of "food" do you prefer? Don't be like the
vulture. Rather, "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word,
that you may grow thereby" (see note
1 Peter 2:2).
The new birth creates a new appetite and requires a new diet. Put off
the old and put on the new garments of created in righteousness and
holiness of the truth.
O child of God,
guard well your eyes
From anything that stains the heart;
Forsake those things that soil the mind--
Your Father wants you set apart. --Fasick
OR GREED MUST NOT EVEN
BE NAMED
AMONG YOU, AS IS PROPER AMONG SAINTS: e pleonexia mede onomazestho
(3SPPM) en humin: (12;
Exodus 23:13;
1 Corinthians
5:1)
Not even (3366)
(mede from me = not + dé = but, and) means what it says
"not even" = an emphatic negative.
Phillips
has a vivid paraphrase of greed as...
the itch to get your hands on what
belongs to other people
Expositor's
Greek Testament says
The strong negative mede
gives it this force—‘Not to speak of doing such a thing, let it not be
even so much as mentioned among you.’ “ Commenting on “as becometh
saints (Nicoll, W Robertson, Editor: Expositors Greek Testament: 5
Volumes. Out of print. Search Google)
Or greed must not even be named
among you - The same word pleonexia was used in the preceding
chapter in Paul's description of the
Old Man
or
Old Self
who
was described as practicing "every kind of impurity with
greediness" (see note
Ephesians 4:19)
Greed
(4124)
(pleonexia
from pleíon = more + écho = have) (Click
word study on
pleonexia) literally to have more. |