Tackling Tradition 93: Analogical Porneia

According to Bill Mounce, the lexical definition of porneia is as follows.

Gloss

sexual immorality, fornication, marital unfaithfulness, prostitution, adultery, a generic term for sexual sin of any kind

Definition

fornication, whoredom, Mt. 15:19; Mk. 7:21; Acts 15:20, 29; concubinage, Jn. 8:41; adultery,Mt. 5:32; 19:9; incest, 1 Cor. 5:1; lewdness, uncleanness, genr., Rom. 1:29; from the Hebrew, put symbolically for idolatry,Rev. 2:21; 14:8

I our previous two articles (Iverson On Divorce & Remarriage) we saw the way Mr. Iverson overlooks the fact that the term “adultery,” like the term “porneia,” is used by God in Jeremiah in figurative, analogical fashion. 

In Jeremiah 3:8, God says that he gave faithless Israel a certificate of divorce for her adulteries.   

Hosea’s major theme centers on a great big prophetic sign act in which God commands Hosea to marry Gomer who prostitutes herself so much that she is in the thrall of another lover, & although according to Deuteronomy 24, Hosea had more than enough cause to divorce her but nevertheless did not & instead sought reconciliation with her.  

This corresponds to God’s relationship with the Northern Kingdom.   In Hosea, the Northern Kingdom is on the road to a certificate of divorce for her adulteries, but they are not yet there.   In Jeremiah they had crossed the threshold & now the Southern Kingdom is being warned. 

Matthew’s Gospel refers to porneia in relation to marriage & divorce & the Law in 3 key passages. 

But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual (porneias | πορνείας | gen sg fem) immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman is made to commit adultery.  (Mt. 5:32)

But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual (porneia| πορνείᾳ | dat sg fem) immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” (Mt. 19:9)

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual (porneiai | πορνεῖαι | nom pl fem) immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (Mt. 15:9). 

In the first 2 passages, the word comes to us in English & Spanish as sexual immorality in general that is connected to adultery.  

In the 3rd passage we read a progression of thought murder, adultery (specific), sexual immorality (a more general term), & then back to more a more specific set of terms (theft, false witness, slander). 

The text forms a short, neat, & pointed chiasm: 

• On the low end: murder, adultery
• At its peak: PORNEIA!
• On the low end: theft, false witness, slander 

From time to time, Matthew uses the Septuagint to point the way to his meaning.  For example, Isaiah 7:14 in Hebrew uses the word “almah” for what we know as “virgin” in Matthew.  Why? Because “almah” is more easily construed as a broader term that encompasses the term “virgin” but also includes “young woman of marriable age.”  Matthew uses the Septuagint for a more specific term that conveys the meaning of “virgin of marriable age.”  

Isaiah 7:14 uses “almah” because there is a more immediate event In view fulfilling the birth of a prophetic child conceived by ordinary means.  Matthew uses the Septuagint because he is talking about the zenith of Isaiah 7:14, the birth of a bona fide miracle baby (Yeshua) to a bona fide virgin, both of whom  were also born during the time of the Greco - Roman religious era & the time of the Roman Occupation of Palestine (Galilee, Samaria, Judea) & elsewhere along the Mediterranean Basin.  

This is Jeremiah 3:8 in the Septuagint:

καὶ 

And 

Conjunction

1492

eidon

εἶδον 

I beheld 

Verb, Aorist Active Indicative 1st Singular

1360

dioti

διότι 

(for 

Conjunction

4012

peri

περὶ 

on account of 

Preposition

3956

pantōn

πάντων 

all 

Adjective, Genitive Plural Masculine

473

of which 

3739

hōn

ὧν 

Pronoun, Relative, Genitive Plural Masculine

2638

K

en

ἐν 

by 

Preposition

1473

them 

3429

emoichato

ἐμοιχᾶτο 

committed adultery 

Verb, Aorist Middle Indicative 3rd Singular

3588

hē

ἡ 

the 

Pronoun, Article, Nominative Singular Feminine

2733

katoikia

κατοικία 

house 

Noun, Nominative Singular Feminine

3588

hē

ἡ 

  

Pronoun, Article, Nominative Singular Feminine

*

of Israel, 

2532

kai

καὶ 

and 

Conjunction

1821

exapesteila

ἐξαπέστειλα 

I sent her out 

Verb, Aorist Active Indicative 1st Singular

1473

autēn

αὐτὴν 

Pronoun, Demonstrative Accusative Singular Feminine

2532

kai

καὶ 

and 

Conjunction

1325

edōka

ἔδωκα 

gave 

Verb, Aorist Active Indicative 1st Singular

1473

autē

αὐτῇ 

to her 

Pronoun, Demonstrative Dative Singular Feminine

975

biblion

βιβλίον 

a scroll 

Noun, Accusative Singular Neuter

647

apostasiou

ἀποστασίου 

certificate of divorce 

Noun, Genitive Singular Neuter

1519

eis

εἰς 

into 

Preposition

3588

hē

ἡ 

  

Pronoun, Article, Nominative Singular Feminine

5495

cheiras

χεῖρας 

her hands) 

Noun, Accusative Plural Feminine

1473

autēs

αὐτῆς· 

Pronoun, Demonstrative Genitive Singular Feminine

2532

kai

καὶ 

that 

Conjunction

3756

ouk

οὐκ 

feared not 

Adverb

5399

ephobēthē

ἐφοβήθη 

Verb, Aorist Passive Indicative 3rd Singular

3588

hē

ἡ 

the 

Pronoun, Article, Nominative Singular Feminine

802

asynthetos

ἀσύνθετος 

covenant-breaker 

Adjective, Nominative Singular Feminine

*

Judah, 

2532

kai

καὶ 

and 

Conjunction

4198

eporeuthē

ἐπορεύθη 

went 

Verb, Aorist Passive Indicative 3rd Singular

2532

kai

καὶ 

and 

Conjunction

4203

eporneusen

ἐπόρνευσεν 

committed harlotry 

Verb, Aorist Active Indicative 3rd Singular

2532

kai

καὶ 

even 

Conjunction

1473

autē

αὐτῇ 

herself. 

Pronoun, Demonstrative Dative Singular Feminine

And I beheld for on account of all of which she was overtaken by them adultery the house of Israel & I sent her out/away & gave her a scroll certificate of divorce in her hands that feared not the covenant breaker Judah & went & committed harlotry even herself.  

Notice these words: 

eporneusen

ἐπόρνευσεν 

committed harlotry 

Verb, Aorist Active Indicative 3rd Singular

2532

asynthetos

ἀσύνθετος 

covenant-breaker 

Adjective, Nominative Singular Feminine

*

apostasiou

ἀποστασίου 

certificate of divorce 

Noun, Genitive Singular Neuter

1519

exapesteila

ἐξαπέστειλα 

I sent her out 

Verb, Aorist Active Indicative 1st Singular

1473

emoichato

ἐμοιχᾶτο 

committed adultery 

Verb, Aorist Middle Indicative 3rd Singular

3588

biblion

βιβλίον 

a scroll 

Noun, Accusative Singular Neuter

647

cheiras

χεῖρας 

her hands) 

Noun, Accusative Plural Feminine

1473

katelēmphthē

κατελήμφθη 

she was overtaken 

Verb, Aorist Passive Indicative 3rd Singular

1722

The image that Jeremiah publishes, if this was a faith-based soap opera about those days, would look something like this:

Using the key words above as instructions for the writer/director/producer to reference in order to strongly drive this lesson home for the audience, the story, when storyboarded, depicts a married woman who has been doing whatever she’s been doing for quite some time & multiple interventions haven’t worked. In addition, she is now well past the legal point of no return, insofar as she has been playing the harlot & lost control of the narrative & has now been overtaken by her own deeds & the wheels of justice are now upon her. 

Consequently, it’s now: 

OMG! John Ross Ewing & Lee Ann de la Vega have arrived. & Lee Ann has the deed to Judith Ryland’s call girl enterprise as well as the roadhouse not far away. 

In addition, Lee Ann & her trusted allies now own Ryland Trucking & have decided to put Emma, Bobby, Annie, & Sue Ellen in charge of this hot mess & hang a millstone over Ichabod Incorporated —- thus putting an end to Judith’s exploitation of her girls, & Judith is going to have to go on a long, legally & prophetically mandatory, vacation south of the border, to a certain Mexican prison where Cliff Barnes was once interred, &, if need be, where Judith’s new owners “Juan ‘Perseus’ Vasquez de la Vega Con Pablo” & Rebecca Barnes, can turn her out from time to time by renaming her Tina & smuggling some primo cocaine / 3rd Eye from Venezuela into the joint to keep her in their thrall while Christopher & Elena work with their carefully vetted associates to keep this from ever happening again. 

This is the text in English: 

Berean Study Bible

Because ... ... - faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet I saw that ... her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and ... - prostituted herself as well.

English Standard Version

She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one Israel I had sent her away with a decree of divorce Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear but she too went and played the whore

Holman Christian Standard Version

I observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself.

This is all to say that the Bible spells this out in brief, yet poignant terms, & biblical text comes to us from the ancient world from a time in which life was harsh, which is why our storyboard appears to be so extreme. 

Basically, God, in Jeremiah, depicts the Northern Kingdom as a woman deeply committed to her cause & who has been playing the harlot for a long long time.  By now, she has many lovers who take the form of national apostasy that runs through multiple idols to any number of pseudodeities (& maybe even God Himself), & she is given to witchcraft & sorcery, murder, systemic injustice, gluttony, & warmongering just like Sodom & Gommorah; so God has decided to let a train roll up on her, put a heavy millstone in her hands (ie the scroll of divorce), & let her leave as a slave to her lovers by binding her hands & putting a noose around her neck then expelling her out & away from His presence for as long as the plot requires. 

Even worse, her sister, Judah, is heading in the same direction for the same reasons, and is therefore guilty of analogical porneia/adultery — & if she doesn’t learn from this & pull herself together, the same thing that happened to Israel in the North is going to happen to Judah in the South. 

As you can see, analogical porneia is a real world phenomenon, which is a major reason that Deuteronomy 24, Matthew 5:32. & Matthew 19:9 exist.   

In addition, the Bible teaches the 3 uses of the Law. Therefore, what God did in relation to the Divided Kingdom in the days of Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, & others applies with equal force in the home with respect to marriage & family, & in churches & other religious & civil institutions.  

Consequently, the adultery clause in the Mosaic Law’s Civil Code isn’t limited to literal sexual immorality/adultery — it also extends to figurative sexual immorality/adultery — & neither Deuteronomy nor Matthew command divorce.  Rather, they circumscribe divorce.  

This is both just & merciful & charts a via media between any/no cause divorce on the one hand & on the other, a restriction to adultery qua adultery only &/or a command qua command for a spouse to seek &/or otherwise obtain a divorce predicated upon adultery/sex immorality. 

In addition, Matthew 18 describes the process for church discipline & conflict resolution.   Churches are not supposed to be in the business of cutting members loose for just any cause whatsoever.  There’s a process for that in the Bible that is also reflected in any number of Books of Order in multiple Christian denominations. 

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians because a previous letter had been ignored & at some point misinterpreted as a warning to his audience that, if they continued on the road to apostasy, Paul himself would go there in person &, given the circumstances, it might get ugly if that was to happen. The 1st Corinthian letter exhorts his readers to take his words to heart & engage in the process of participating with God in the reordering of their church & community.  

In the Bible, God constantly seeks to reconcile with both Israel & the nations.   Sodom & Gommorah took time to reach “I will proverb you in an instant if you don’t stop right now.” The same was true for Egypt, Gibeah, Israel as a single unitary nation, the Divided Kingdom, Assyria,  Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece & the Seleucids,   Rome, & any number of civilizations from then to the present day. 

God did not violate His own standards.  He did not divorce the Northern Kingdom for any old reason. Neither did He fail to intervene many times, for centuries even.   

That’s not how any cause/no cause divorce works —- therefore that is not what Deuteronomy 24 teaches, nor is it what the adultery/porneia clause encompasses in Deuteronomy & Matthew.  

To say otherwise, as if the affirmation of the adultery/porneia clause opens the door to any cause divorce, is just plain ignorant  —- especially in Mr. Iverson’s case, insofar as he believes that the real law isn’t in the regulation, it’s in nature, namely the prelapsarian estate of Adam & Eve who were placed into a covenantal union by God before the Fall.   

His ideas, therefore, run through the thought process forbidden by God in Romans 1:18 - 32 — the use of the state of the created order to sufficiently warrant theology, philosophy, &/or ethics. Take that away, & his views crumble into dust on the spot, & it’s just a mop-up operation from there on out —- & that, incidentally, is where Presuppositional Apologetics makes a very important contribution, y’all.  

O LORD, Hear our prayers!