Author : Keith Sharp
Let’s consider the greatest danger we face today as a society and as individuals both in America and throughout the world. No, it’s not terrorism, war, pollution, global warming, bird flu, energy costs, or illegal immigration. It’s a problem that has been here almost as long as mankind. It is fornication.
In Gentile society in the first century, sexual immorality was the accepted norm, even as it is in America and throughout the world today.
In Greece there had never been any shame in relationships before marriage or outside marriage. Demosthenes writes as if it was the merest commonplace, as indeed it was: ‘We keep mistresses for pleasure, concubines for the day-to-day needs of the body, but we have wives in order to produce children legitimately and to have a trustworthy guardian of our homes!… The Greek attitude can hardly be better shown than by the fact that, when Solon was the first to legalize prostitution and to open state brothels, the profits from them were used to erect temples to the gods…
Roman women, says Seneca, were married to be divorced and were divorced to be married. Some of them distinguished the years, not by the names of the consuls, but by the names of their husbands. ‘Chastity is simply a proof of ugliness.’… Innocence, says Seneca, is not rare, it is non-existent…
From the highest to the lowest society was riddled with homosexuality. This was a vice Rome learned from Greece… (Barclay. 24-26).
It doesn’t seem to be much better in twenty-first century America. “More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study…. ‘Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans…’” (AP).
Corinth was the Las Vegas, San Francisco, or New Orleans of the Roman world. The phrase “to live like a Corinthian” referred to a life of gross immorality. To the Christians who lived in Corinth Paul warned, “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18). What should be our attitude toward fornication?
Definition
The term translated “fornication” in the King James Version, “sexual immorality” in the New International Version, New King James Version, and English Standard Version, and simply “immorality” in the New American Standard Bible basically means “prostitution, unchastity, fornication, of every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse” (Arndt & Gingrich. 699; so Thayer. 532; Vine. 2:125; Moulton & Milligan, 529; TDNT. 6:579-595). It has a narrower usage of sexual intercourse between unmarried people (Hebrews 13:4) but can be used of the “unchastity” of married people (Matthew 5:32; 19:9; NASB). It includes homosexual sex (Jude verse 7) as well as rape (Deuteronomy 22:25-27), bestiality (Leviticus 18:23), prostitution (Leviticus 19:29), incest (Matthew 14:3-4), and bigamy, i.e., marrying someone although already married to another (TDNT. 6:588; cf. Matthew 19:4-5; 1 Corinthians 7:2), and polygamy (Matthew 19:4-5; 1 Corinthians 7:2).
Why So Prevalent?
Why is sexual immorality so widespread? Obviously, the most basic reason is that most people of the world and many Christians succumb to fleshly lusts (1 John 2:16; Matthew 5:27-28). Many in the world do so in ignorance, falsely believing that, as long as they love each other, premarital sex is acceptable (Hosea 4:6,14; Ephesians 4:17-19). Because we live in an immoral society, many Christians are caught up in the prevailing lewdness (cf. Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 4:20-24). The mass media – television, movies, magazines, popular music – bombard us constantly with sex and loose morals. To watch and listen to such filth is to be guilty of lewdness and to court temptation rather than to flee from it (2 Corinthians 12:21; 2 Timothy 2:22). Tragically, many religious leaders condone sexual immorality rather than condemn it (cf. 2 Timothy 4:3-4).
What Are Its Results?
Probably no sin has more devastating effects than sexual immorality. The AIDS epidemic that threatens to engulf much of the world is directly caused by fornication (cf. Romans 1:27). Many other sexually transmitted diseases also attack the bodies of fornicators. Furthermore, sexual immorality leads to the destruction of the family and the myriads of sorrows that divorce brings (Matthew 5:32). The nation is weakened as the homes on whic it is built are destroyed and the children cursed by the blight of divorce lack guidance (cf. Leviticus 20:22-23). Fornication will destroy the church where it is permitted to exist unchecked (1 Corinthians 5:1-6; Revelation 2:14-16). Above all else, sexual immorality will destroy the souls of those who practice it (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21; Colossians 3:5-6; Revelation 21:8).
What Should We Do About It?
What can Christians do about the terrible plague of sexual immorality that is destroying our world? To begin with, we can keep ourselves pure (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7). To do so, we must get our hearts right, by refusing to watch, read, or listen to the lewdness that engulfs the world (Matthew 15:19). We do this by staying away from the avenues through which lust invades our hearts and replacing these conduits of sin with aids to righteous hearts and lives (2 Timothy 2:22; 1 Peter 2:11). Turn off the filthy television programs, stay away from the lewd movies, don’t buy the lurid magazines, and refuse to listen to the dirty music. Try studying your Bible lesson, attending Bible class and worship assembly, praying to the Lord, and singing hymns of praise and edification instead. We must have the courage to preach against this devastating sin (2 Timothy 4:2).
Conclusion
What is the greatest danger our world faces? None is more prevalent or destructive than sexual immorality. “Flee fornication.”
Works Cited
Arndt, W.F. and F.W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
Associated Press. “Study: more than 9 out of 10 Americans have premarital sex.”Watertown Daily Times, Wednesday, December 20, 2006: A2.
Moulton, J.H. and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament.
Thayer, J.H., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. G. Kittel and G. Friedrich
Vine, W.E., An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
