Saturday, June 8, 2024

Matthew on “Porneia”

According to the Christian Post, 

“The word “fornication” in Greek is porneia; this is where our word “pornography” comes from. Jesus was saying that all sexual activity outside of marriage between a man and a woman is harmful and immoral.”

This argument is frequently used by those who think that sexual activity puts the bonds of holy matrimony is illicit regardless of motive.  It’s just another attempt at prooftexting Situational Ethics. 

Matthew 15:19–20 (ESV): For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

That’s not what Matt. 5:19 actually states. If Matt. 5:19 means what Mr. Idleman says, then what defines adultery & sexual immorality is a matter of having a legal marriage certificate & the sex/gender of the 2 partners. If true, sin isn’t defined by the degree of love for God & neighbor a moral agent exercises relative to their motives. Sin is defined by concrete external particulars like a marriage certificate.

Matthew 5:27–28 (ESV): You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

In the Sermon on the Mount, adultery is not defined merely by the fact that he or she is not your spouse. Adultery is defined by lustful intent.

What is lust? Lust is, at its root, the failure to love God over & above everything & everyone else & your neighbor before yourself. Loving yourself more than God & others is definitional to lust, & lust is what underwrites sexual sin - not the mere sex/gender of your target &/or the lack of marriage certificate.   Using Matt. 5:19 - or any text - to move the moral grounds of moral guilt or innocence away from the motives of a moral agent represents a poor understanding of the Bible relative to how God condemns & commends.  It’s also an exercise in poor hermeneutics relative to how we use Scripture to underwrite Systematic Theology & Christian Ethics.  

We are to harmonize these texts, not take them in isolation then overspecify the words & concepts in the them.   The word “porneia” here is way overspecified by Mr. Idleman.  Given the rest of what Matthew says - namely Matt. 5:27 - 28, the use of porneia to encompass all that he says overfreights it meaning, and thus the meaning of the Matthew 5:19, resulting in a theology that veers into Situational Ethics.   The Bible does not teach that sexual immorality in general & adultery in particular are defined by external factors in a manner that results in guilt regardless of motive. 


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