10/6/74
A. Definition.
1. Fornication refers to sexual activity outside of marriage. Fornication is the seduction of the opposite member of the human race.
2. Sex is designed by God as an expression of category two love between right man and right woman only, an extension of soul love.
3. Adultery may be categorized as fornication, except in Mt 15:19 and Mk 7:21.
4. By analogy, it has a spiritual meaning which refers to reversionism among unbelievers, Heb 12:16.
5. Abnormal sex includes incest, homosexuality, lesbianism, indecent exposure, masturbation, child molestation, bestiality, sodomy, etc.
B. Greek Etymology.
1. PORNEA refers to illicit sexual intercourse, and includes adultery, Jn 8:41; Acts 15:20,29, 21:25; 1 Cor 5:1, 6:13,18; 2 Cor 12:21; Gal 5:19.
2. PORNOS refers to a man fornicating, Heb 12:16; 1 Cor 5:9-11.
3. PORNEUO means to commit fornication. It is metaphorically used in Rev 17:2, 18:3,9.
4. EKPORNEUO, which strengthens the previous verb, means to give up oneself entirely to fornication, Jude 7.
5. MOICHOS means unlawful intercourse, Lk 18:11; 1 Cor 6:9; Heb 12:16.
6. MOICHALIS means adulterous in the literal sense in 2 Pet 2:14 and Rom 7:3, and in the spiritual sense in James 4:4.
7. MOICHEIA means adultery, Mk 7:21. Mark 7:21 differentiates between adultery and fornication.
8. MOICHAO is used in the middle voice of men in Mt 5:32, 19:9; Mk 10:11; and of women in Mk 10:12.
9. MOICHUO, Mt 5:27,28,32.
C. Prohibition of Fornication.
1. Fornication is specifically prohibited in Ex 20:14; Deut 5:18; Col 3:5; 1 Cor 6:18; 1 Thes 4:3.
2. Mental adultery is condemned in Matt 5:22-28.
3. Other specific sexual prohibitions include:
a. Incest, Lev 18:6-17, 20:14; 1 Cor 5:1-7; Deut 27:20,22.
b. Homosexuality, Rom 1:26-27; Lev 18:22, 20:13.
c. Bestiality, Deut 27:21; Lev 18:23, 20:15.
D. The Effects of Fornication on the Soul.
1. Phallic reversionism has an effect upon the soul as well as the body, Prov 6:32; Eph 4:18-19.
2. Fornication and the frantic search for happiness is taught in Eph 5:3.
3. There is a destructive force in fornication, promiscuity and adultery, 1 Cor 6:13-18. The man becomes impotent; the woman becomes frigid or can no longer have any response or pleasure. Anything that attacks the female body attacks her soul. When a woman is not satisfied or responsive in sex, it can lead to lesbianism or nymphomania.
E. Fornication and Marriage.
1. The sanctification of category two love is marriage, 1 Thes 4:3-4; Heb 13:4.
2. The glory of category two love is described in the spiritual analogy of 1 Cor 11:7-16. The glory of the woman is her hair.
3. Fornication is a bonified basis for divorce, Mt 5:32, 19:9; Lk 16:18. Desertion is the other legitimate reason for divorce.
F. The Spiritual Analogy to Fornication.
Adultery and fornication are used in the Bible in a spiritual sense to describe both reversionism and apostasy, as in Rev 12:16; Jer 3:8-10; Ezek 23:24-28, 16:23-43; Rev 17:1-5; Heb 12:16.
G. Application to the Single Person.
1. Right man and right woman was designed by God in eternity past for both believers and unbelievers. In God’s time, they are brought together.
2. An exception to the principle of right man and right woman includes the gift of celibacy, which is the function under the law of supreme sacrifice, Jer 16:2, and illustrated by the life of Paul in 1 Cor 9:5. This gift enables a normal person to refrain from sex, designed by God to provide him with maximum concentration and production.
3. Every believer under grace will eventually meet his opposite number at the right time and under the right circumstances. Therefore, wait on the Lord’s timing.
4. However, there is no benefit from meeting your opposite number unless you have waited under faithfulness to that principle. As you wait, you avoid fornication and instead function under GAP.
5. Consequently, your thought and life pattern must be based on the doctrinal principle that there is only one person for you and no one else will do.
6. Fornication is accepting a cheap substitute to gratify an emotional or biological urge. It is part of the frantic search for happiness.
7. The antidote to temptation is found in the metabolization of Bible doctrine, advancing you to the high ground of supergrace or ultra- supergrace.
8. Under phallic reversionism, fornication builds scar tissue on the soul while destroying the physical response and capabilities of the body in sex.
9. Maximum Bible doctrine in the soul and abstinence from sex before marriage becomes the basis for maximum pleasure in category two love.
10. Therefore, the preparation for a great sex life is persistent daily metabolization of doctrine. This capacity for life overflows to include sexual prosperity for the right man and the right woman.
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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