Fornication -what is it?

[texan1]

For what its worth, From Wikipedia:

Fornication, or simple fornication, is a term which refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other[1]. In contrast adultery is consensual sex where one or both of the partners are married to someone else.

According to this source fornication and adultery do not fall under the same umbrella so to speak.

 

[Big_TJ]

For what its worth, From Wikipedia:

Fornication, or simple fornication, is a term which refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other[1]. In contrast adultery is consensual sex where one or both of the partners are married to someone else.

According to this source fornication and adultery do not fall under the same umbrella so to speak.

That may be so. But biblically, this is not the definition. Matthew 19:9 shows that a married person can in fact commit fornication (in fact, it is the only grounds for persons to divorce). Therefore, the bible does not see fornication as "consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other."

 

[Big_TJ]

The Bible doesn't say anything about marriage vows, and Jesus forbids his followers to take vows.

In the Bible, adultery only occurs when the woman is married; if a single woman has sex with a married man, that's not adultery. The reason adultery is worse than fornication is found in the tenth commandment: you shouldn't want your neighbor's property (including his wife) for yourself. The biblical concept of adultery depends on the concept of the woman as property.

I really question if the bible regard Adultery being worst than fornication. There are tons of scriptures in the bible telling how GOD dislike fornication, while a very few even mention adultery.


Also, look carefully on this scripture:

1 Corinthians 6:17-19 (King James Version)

18Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

If this verse is correct, how would could fornication be "against the own body" and adultery is not (seen that the "adultery" would fall under the "every sin" in the statement? If the only difference between adultery and fornication is the martial status of who commits it, then this scripture cannot be correct.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

In the Books of the Law, the "punishment" of fornicators is that they must get married.

 

[Smoke]

I really question if the bible regard Adultery being worst than fornication. There are tons of scriptures in the bible telling how GOD dislike fornication, while a very few even mention adultery.


Also, look carefully on this scripture:

1 Corinthians 6:17-19 (King James Version)

18Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

If this verse is correct, how would could fornication be "against the own body" and adultery is not (seen that the "adultery" would fall under the "every sin" in the statement? If the only difference between adultery and fornication is the martial status of who commits it, then this scripture cannot be correct.

Well, fornication didn't make the Big Ten, and adultery is on there twice.

Actually, though, there are actually Christians out there who believe that fornication is possible within marriage -- for instance by committing sexual "sins" like fellatio or cunnilingus, or by thinking impure thoughts about Jennifer Aniston while having sex with your wife, or even by thinking impure thoughts about your wife while having sex with your wife. Apparently, the only proper way to have sex is with a person of the opposite sex, within marriage, in the missionary position, while thinking about how much you love Jesus and hoping to make a baby. Not endorsing that view, you understand. Merely reporting it.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Fornication
FORNICA'TION, n. [L. fornicatio.]

1. The incontinence or lewdness of unmarried persons, male or female; also, the criminal conversation of a married man with an unmarried woman.

2. Adultery. Mat 5.

3. Incest. 1 Cor 5.

4. Idolatry; a forsaking of the true God, and worshipping of idols. 2 Chr 21. Rev 19.

Babies, prior to toilet training, are generally incontinent. Most are unmarried.

 

[McBell]

Babies, prior to toilet training, are generally incontinent. Most are unmarried.

n. [L. incontinentia: cf. F. incontinence.]
[1913 Webster]
1. Incapacity to hold; hence, incapacity to hold back or
restrain; the quality or state of being incontinent; lack
of continence; failure to restrain the passions or
appetites; indulgence of lust; lewdness.
[1913 Webster]

That Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. --1
Cor. vii. 5.
[1913 Webster]

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

n. [L. incontinentia: cf. F. incontinence.]
[1913 Webster]
1. Incapacity to hold; hence, incapacity to hold back or
restrain; the quality or state of being incontinent; lack
of continence; failure to restrain the passions or
appetites; indulgence of lust; lewdness.
[1913 Webster]

That Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. --1
Cor. vii. 5.
[1913 Webster]

Note my emphasis.

 

[McBell]

Note my emphasis.

Yes, I understand that you are referring to the more commonly known and more currently used medical definition:

2. (Med.) The inability of any of the animal organs to
restrain the natural evacuations, especially urination, or
defecation, so that the discharges are involuntary; as,
incontinence of urine.
[1913 Webster]
​

However, I suspect that the definition being referred to in the definition of fornication is referring to the first definition of incontinence I posted.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

... Apparently, the only proper way to have sex is with a person of the opposite sex, within marriage, in the missionary position, while thinking about how much you love Jesus and hoping to make a baby...

Hey! That's pretty good. I'm actually batting .000.

 

[Starfish]

I have been struggling with this for a while. There are several words that the denotative meaning is different from the connative meaning. One of such word is "fornication." From I was a boy, I was told that Fornication refers to "sex by two unmarried persons" In other words, "fornication" would be similar to "adultery"; the only difference being the martial status of who commits the act.

Now, according to Matthew 19:9, it is clear that a married person can commit "fornication" which immediately trash the either the Matthew 19:9 or the accepted meaning of Fornication (since they would contradict each other).

To combat this problem, many persons start using Fornication to mean "any sexual sin" thus making it an umbrella-like sin that has every sexual misconduct, including adultery, buggery, sex outside of marriage, cheating, homosexuality, bestality, incest, etc.

I have a few questions:
1) Where do we (especially) get the furnication to be an umbrella-like sin which include "all sexually-related" sins. Was this developed mainly because the usually accepted meaning for Fornication is seen as unreliable?

2) If Fornication was an "umbrella-like" sin that contains all other sexual-related sins, isn't it a bit curious why Adultery is a part of the 10 commandments but Fornication (which would include adultery) is not?

3) Why is it, biblically, that "sex by persons who are not married" is a sin? What is the "name" of this sin (just as "adultery is the name of the sin where a married person have sex with someone other than his/her partner)?

Be careful of rationalization. We all know behavior as defined by the two terms "adultery" and "fornication" are both clearly wrong according to the Bible. So whether one or both is mentioned in every instance, is unimportant.

Trying to rationalize our way around sin is an age-old practice (remember Pres. Clinton's rationalization about sex). Wrong is wrong, sin is sin. Assuming you're a religious person, the day will come when you will need to explain your behavior to your Maker. At that point, rationalizations will not help you.

Bottom line: Obedience & repentance VS Rationalization. One or the other.

 

[Wandered Off]

Assuming you're a religious person, the day will come when you will need to explain your behavior to your Maker.

What use is an explanation in that scenario?

 

[The Voice of Reason]

What use is an explanation in that scenario?

Silly you - it's the opportunity to stir the prurient interests of God.

 

[Big_TJ]

Be careful of rationalization. We all know behavior as defined by the two terms "adultery" and "fornication" are both clearly wrong according to the Bible. So whether one or both is mentioned in every instance, is unimportant.

Trying to rationalize our way around sin is an age-old practice (remember Pres. Clinton's rationalization about sex). Wrong is wrong, sin is sin. Assuming you're a religious person, the day will come when you will need to explain your behavior to your Maker. At that point, rationalizations will not help you.

Bottom line: Obedience & repentance VS Rationalization. One or the other.

Not to be rude, but this doesn't make much sense. What are you to be obedient to? If you really want to abstain from fornication or adultery or any other "sins" don't you first need to know what they are? Sin is Sin? this is debatable. But, how do you know that an act is a sin (eg, how do you know that sex before marriage is a sin?

 

[Nessa Nenharma]

Fornication is sex between two unmarried people << absolutely nothing wrong with it . I see nothing wrong with a good fornication party in the back of a 70's car that allows you to get your feet as far apart..... soory was reminiscing:drool:

Anyway, get down with your bad selves you fornicating peoples..woot.unk:

:bb:

Nessa

 

[Smoke]

Fornication is sex between two unmarried people << absolutely nothing wrong with it . I see nothing wrong with a good fornication party in the back of a 70's car that allows you to get your feet as far apart..... soory was reminiscing:drool:

Well, well. I think I'm going to like you ...

 

[tigrers99]

Matthew 5:32 (King James Version)

32But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Because in the 1st century people married when they were still (by our understanding) adolescents, and we have not been taught what the true meaning of 'fornication' meant back then, we see sin where it does not exist.

In the 1st century, fornicators were located in the pagan temples of worship. Aphrodite, Adonis, Dionysus, etc. There both male and female fornicators (prostitutes) that worked these temples. The King James version correctly translates the Koine Greek word pornos and porneia as prostitute and/or idolater. In 1Cor.5 the Apostle Paul compared the man who was having a sexual affair with either his natural mother or his mother-in-law, the wife of his father, as a fornication so great that even the temple prostitutes have not even committed. Paul goes on in the 6th chapter of 1Cor. to compare how our bodies are also temples but temples of Christ and not temples of some pagan god/s:


1 Corinthians 6:15-20 (King James Version)




15Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

 

[Starfish]

Not to be rude, but this doesn't make much sense. What are you to be obedient to? If you really want to abstain from fornication or adultery or any other "sins" don't you first need to know what they are? Sin is Sin? this is debatable. But, how do you know that an act is a sin (eg, how do you know that sex before marriage is a sin?

It says so in the Bible, in several places. One example:

"Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." 1Cor. 7: 1-2

What are you to be obedient to? To God, by following his commandments in the scriptures.

Someone once said, "I can't define pornography, but I know it when I see it." We all know what fornication and adultery are. And Christ went so far as to even include lust.

 

[Big_TJ]

"Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." 1Cor. 7: 1-2

It could easily be argued that this was referring to whoredom/prostitution. Read it: Nevertheless, to avoid whoredom/prostitution, let every man have his own wife.

What are you to be obedient to? To God, by following his commandments in the scriptures.

Ok, but to be obedient and to follow his commandment, we must first know what
his commandment mean. That is the reason for the OP . . Does fornication means "sex before marriage" as defined by the dictionary, or does it mean "prostitution/whoredom" as the original Greek word "pornea" suggest?

Someone once said, "I can't define pornography, but I know it when I see it." We all know what fornication and adultery are. And Christ went so far as to even include lust.

I agreee that we all associate a set of activies with these words. The question is whether these are activities that GOD had intended for us to attach, thus the opening post. Can you really imagine an extremely powerful GOD wasting is time looking in your bedroom to see if you and your spouse are "doing it" before you married?

 

[Starfish]

It could easily be argued that this was referring to whoredom/prostitution. Read it: Nevertheless, to avoid whoredom/prostitution, let every man have his own wife.


Ok, but to be obedient and to follow his commandment, we must first know what
his commandment mean. That is the reason for the OP . . Does fornication means "sex before marriage" as defined by the dictionary, or does it mean "prostitution/whoredom" as the original Greek word "pornea" suggest?


I agreee that we all associate a set of activies with these words. The question is whether these are activities that GOD had intended for us to attach, thus the opening post. Can you really imagine an extremely powerful GOD wasting is time looking in your bedroom to see if you and your spouse are "doing it" before you married?

If you're not sure what it means, just ask him. Pray about it.