Fornication Can't Be Deconstructed
Introduction
One of the more common things people like to deconstruct and/or dispute in modern times is the biblical concept of fornication. Because this has become a common thing for people to do, I decided to write an article confirming that fornication is, indeed, a sin.
You see, it has become very popular to have sex outside of marriage, whether with someone the person intends to marry, or just with some random person. I understand that non-Christians do this, and I am not here to judge or condemn them. However, for the Christian this is off-limits, as I will explain.
All quotes from the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB).
Understand that there are going to be some
possibly triggering things in this article. My goal is not
to guilt or shame anyone here, just to explain where the
biblical line in the sand lies.
One Flesh
One of the common arguments provided is that having sex with someone essentially is equal to marriage. This depends on 1 Corinthians 6:16, "Don't you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh."
The problem here is that, if this were true, there would be verses in the Bible that encourage people to have sex in order to be married. This is simply not the case. In John 4:16-19, Jesus says "the man you now have," not her husband. If having sex with someone resulted in marriage, Jesus would have said "your current husband." You can "have" someone without being married to them, so Jesus's words clearly are not saying sex is marriage.
1 Cornithians 7:1-2 is often cited by those who hold this view, saying that this is proof that sex causes marriage. However, the passage says the opposite. It starts in verse 1 saying "it is good for a man not to have relations with a woman." Note however, that the structure of verse 2 is that because "sexual immorality is so common, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband." Thus marriage is the solution to prevent sexual immorality, not that sexual relations produce marriage.
Old Testament Concubines
One other factor that those who try to
deconstruct about sexual immorality is that they accuse OT kings
of having concubines, which isn't marriage, etc. However,
I note that in 2
Samuel 20:3 they were treated as widows when David
returned, after the death of Absalom. Chronologically,
David had "taken them" (2
Samuel 5:13) and then Absalom had raped them (2
Samuel 16:22). So when David returned, he treated
them as widows, meaning they had been married to him, whether
literally in a ceremony or legally as part of becoming a
concubine. Note that Absalom had a rape habit, as he had
raped his sister Tamar (2
Samuel 13:14). This whole story is rather tragic and
gross, but my point is that concbunes are not proof that God
thinks sex equates to marriage.
Positive Proof #1: It's What Gentiles Who Do Not Know God Do
Romans 1 is a proof text for this. You see, in Romans 1, God through Paul proves the Gentiles are all sinners, then in Romans 2, that the Jews are also sinners, and in Romans 3, that all people are sinners. So in Romans 1, the Gentiles are portrayed as being sexually impure (Romans 1:24, akatharsia).
Positive Proof #2: It is Directly Called a Sin
From here, then, see 1 Corinthians 6.
In verses
9-10, "Do not be deceived: no sexually immoral people ...
will inherit God's kingdom." It is called out among all
the sins. When we look up the Greek word for that, we see
the root word porneia, or pornos in this
specific passage. It means sexually immoral and actually
is derived from the root word for a male prostitute. What
do male prostitutes do? Have sex with people they're not
married to. It is basically the modern day equivalent of
calling a man a "man whore." And porneia is the root word
from which we get pornography, as this word means whoredom.
We see that porneia, when we look at all other uses, is found in Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9 as the only justificaiton for divorce, therefore it breaks the marriage bond. How? By causing another bond, per 1 Corinthians 6:16. It is listed as one of the things that comes from inside a person that defiles them (Matthew 15:19, Mark 7:21). In Acts 15:20, fornication (sexual immorality) was one of the main things the Gentile new converts were instructed to refrain from.
In 1 Corinthians 5:1, the person who gets excommunicated from the Corinthian church is engaged in sexual immorality: living with his father's wife (i.e. sex). This person was not married to their father's wife. Fornication, when the individual refuses to repent, is grounds for being kicked out of a church. Note that it doesn't distinguish whether or not this person was going to marry his father's wife or not. Whether one plans to marry or not is irrelevant to fornication being sin.
In 1 Cornithians 6:18-20 we are told to run away from sexual immorality, not towards it. Those who tell Christians it's ok to have sex before marriage, or even a good idea, are false teachers. One of the reasons is because "the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body," which seems to designate fornication as a sin that can apparently damage the physical body. And we know that it absolutely can: sexually transmitted diseases. And then in verses 19-20, another reason to refrain from sexual immorality is because God bought us at a price (i.e. the death of Jesus for our sins).
Galatians
5:19 teaches that sexual immorality is a work of the
flesh, the opposite of what we want (i.e. the fruit of the
Spirit).
Ephesians
5:3 teaches that sexual immorality should not even be
something that Christians are accused of doing.
In Colossians
3:5, we are instructed to "put to death ... sexual
immorality...."
1
Thessalonians 4:3 instructs us to "abstain from sexual
immorality."
In Revelation 2, the letter to Thyatira,
makes it very clear that God does not like or tolerate sexual
immorality in His churches. God says their tolerance of
"the woman Jezebel, who ... teaches ... My slaves to commit
sexual immorality" (Revelation
2:21) makes Him angry. So God's judgment is that He
"will throw her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery
with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her
practices" (Revelation
2:22).
Finally, we see in Revelation God's judgment against the world for their sexual immorality (9:21, 14:8, 17:2, 17:4, 18:3, 19:2). Romans 1:18 already told ius God's wrath "is being revealed ... against all the ... wickedness of people." Indeed, 2 Corinthians 6 teaches us, right after the verses on being unequally yoked, to "come out from among them and be separate." The main reason not to partake in the sins of the unbelievers is that God's going to punish them, and if we are doing the same bad things, God will punish us also. In the Old Testament, we see God bringing the Israelites into the land (Leviticus 18:24-28) to punish the inhabitants of that area, the Sinai Peninsula, but then when Israel also became wicked, God kicked them out too (2 Kings 17:7-23). It is false to teach that God will not punish us for sin. Indeed, if we, Christians, commit sin intentionally after being saved, we are worse than the lost, who don't know God.
Conclusion
I will add to this document as I encounter
the (false) arguments of those who claim sex before marriage is
justified with God. The Bible is clear that God does not
support sex before marriage, and that it is a sin.