Immorality: Adultery, Fornication and Homosexuality, Part 3

November, 2004

by: Jack Hughes

• Common Sins

In the present Calvary Review series we have been addressing specific sins from the Bible. This is the third part of a series entitled “Immorality: Adultery, Fornication, and Homosexuality.” We started off by asking the question, “Why are the sins of immorality so common in the church?” There are several major reasons: 1) Churches are not preaching the Gospel and therefore many churches are filled with unbelievers who have no power to fight against sin and Satan. 2) Preachers are not only failing to preach the Gospel, they are failing to confront sin by preaching the Word of God with clarity and conviction. 3) Christians are failing to strive against sin. These three factors have contributed to escalating immorality in the church. We learned that when the Gospel isn't preached, people are not saved, when the Word of God isn't preached, people don't grow in holiness, and when God's people make no effort to pursue holiness, they are by default pursuing sin. In our last Calvary Review we focused on the sin of adultery. Now we turn to adultery's close cousin — fornication.

Fornication (harlotry or prostitution)

Fornication is when unmarried people engage in sexual activity. In the Bible it is often referred to as harlotry or prostitution. People in our culture often think of a harlot or prostitute as someone who commits sexual acts for money. This is certainly one motive for harlotry or prostitution but it is not the most common. We must not confuse the motive for committing harlotry, prostitution, or fornication with the act. It is the act, not the motive, which makes someone a prostitute. God sees any unmarried person who engages in sex outside of marriage as a harlot or prostitute.

They may not engage in immorality for money, but more often than not the motive is to receive the “payment of pleasure.” Again, motives must not be confused with the act. It is the act that makes one a prostitute, not the reason or motive for committing the act. Fornication is a grievous sin because the law of God is set aside in order to gratify the flesh, make money, secure a relationship, get a promotion, or any combination of desired benefits. This is why Paul in Col. 3:5 likens immorality to idolatry. The immoral person puts sexual gratification before God, which is idolatry.

Like adultery, fornication is a compounded sin. Those who practice fornication sin against their own body (I Cor. 6:18), against the other person, against God, and against their future spouses if either of them ever get married. By giving away their virginity to someone other than their spouse they defraud their neighbor (I Thess. 4:3-7). Those who get married have a right to expect their spouse to be a virgin. It is also God's intention for no one to look upon a person's nakedness except his or her spouse. This is why in the Old Testament adultery was called “uncovering a woman's skirt” or “uncovering her nakedness” (Lev. 18:6-19; 20:11-21; Deut. 22:30). It is a husband's and wife's exclusive right to see each other naked. When a man (or woman) exposes himself to someone other than his spouse it is a perversion of God's design. Pornography is a prime example of this perversion which we will be addressing in a future review.

Consequences of Fornication

In the Old Testament, if a woman had sexual relations with a man before being married it fell into two categories — rape or willing prostitution. If an engaged woman was raped, the man who raped her received the death penalty. If an engaged woman willingly participated in fornication both the man and the woman were put to death. If a woman was raped but was not engaged to be married, the man had to pay a large sum of money to her father and marry her with no possibility of divorce. The exception was if the girl's father would not allow the man to marry his daughter, then he paid the fine of a large dowry (Ex. 22:16; Lev. 21:9; Deut. 22:20-21, 23-29).

God's Design Must be Upheld

The laws governing sexual activity in the Old Testament and New Testament are designed to enforce God's design for marriage as stated in Gen. 2:24. His design is for there to be 1) one man and one woman, 2) who make a public declaration of marriage to one another, 3) who permanently commit to each other both mentally and emotionally, and 4) to enjoy physical intimacy. The Old Testament laws cited above in this article seek to correct any aberrations of God's design. Those who violated a married or engaged woman would be put to death, thus ridding the land of those who would violate another man's wife. Those who violated a woman who was not engaged would then make restitution by paying a dowry and taking on the life long responsibility of loving, caring, providing for and raising children with the woman he violated.

We might cringe when we read that a rapist had to marry the virgin he violated and that his only penalty was to pay a heavy dowry for her, yet consider the alternative. An unmarried woman who was not a virgin would usually be passed over by a man seeking a wife. Hence, a victim of rape might remain single all of her life, never able to have children or raise a family. While this may seem like a better alternative to us, for a woman in a culture that prized children as expressions of God's blessing, as a means to secure her family's inheritance, and as a chance to produce the Messiah, having children was a big deal. Hence these laws, if enforced, would ensure that there would be no one in the land having multiple sex partners. There would only be permanent, monogamous relationships according to God's design.

What people fail to acknowledge today is that sex is not merely a biological act as godless people claim. It is a spiritual act whereby a man and a woman are spiritually joined together by God (Mt. 19:6). Sex is the most intimate relationship expression designed by God and those who experience it have a spiritual bond with one another. Though God forbids sex outside of marriage, it is one of the necessary requirements to establish the marriage relationship. The husband and wife must become “one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). After the marriage is consummated God commands both the husband and wife to continue to fulfill each other's sexual needs within marriage (I Cor. 7:3-5). Marriage is the proper place for sexual expression and provides a degree of protection from immorality (Prov. 5:18-20; I Cor. 7:2, 8-9). Fornication is a corruption of God's design.

The Corruption of God's Design

Contrast the Biblical standard of morality with the world we live in! If we applied the law of Moses in our country, most would be dead or married at a very early age. Our culture is so accepting of prostitution and harlotry that those who do not have sex outside of marriage are considered abnormal. It is more common than not for singles to live together in a state of harlotry before being married or to be in a continual state of immorality without ever intending to be married. Even within the church the number of virgins getting married today is becoming the rare exception.

The consequences of immorality are being ignored. The desire to gratify the flesh blinds people to the tragic consequences of their own sin. Unwed mothers, neglected, abused, and disobedient children, unfaithful fathers, sexually transmitted diseases, the holocaust slaughter of unborn children, financial poverty and all sorts of conflict and pain are the consequences of fornication.

Sadly, the people of the world see the consequences of prostitution and try to help relieve them without addressing the problem. This allows the pain and misery associated with immorality to escalate while the problem is ignored. For instance, a single mother might receive government aid for food, rent, and tuition for a college education. Our government, in an attempt to “fix the problem” of unwed motherhood, actually rewards women who have babies out of wedlock. In fact, the more children they have out of wedlock the more aid they can receive from the government. Hence, there is government incentive for the immoral, instead of painful consequences and strong deterrents. Meanwhile the faithful average student who doesn't get good enough grades for scholarships, who works hard to support himself, making too much money to receive government grants has to pay his own way to college. The problem of fornication is left untouched, immorality increases, consequences escalate, and the sexually pure are penalized.

Many are quick to argue that those who have made bad choices and who want to do what is right should not be neglected or punished for their bad decisions and that the children of harlotry should not be made to suffer either. It is true that those who are truly repentant should not be neglected, but all sin has built in consequences. God has established the government “for the punishment of evil doers and the praise of those who do right” (Rom. 13:1-4). Since fornication is an evil act it should be punished. There should be painful consequences. The problem is when the government sees fornication, harlotry, and prostitution as an “acceptable life style.” When this happens society suffers under the burden of sin.

But consider how a pagan government's approach to dealing with immorality is diametrically opposed to God's law given through Moses which would have put to death fornicators or forced them to marry. The law of God provides a very strong impetus to abstain from sexual sin. People took sexual purity and the right of married couples to receive each other's virginity very seriously. In our culture there is little or no motivation to abstain from immorality as the government has become tolerant and, in many cases, promotes evil. This is why the world sees Christians as strange and abnormal when we don't engage in sexual sin. To them immorality is normal behavior. They can't imagine why anyone would deprive themselves of something so pleasurable and good which God created. Yet, they are deceived and their thinking distorted for God did not create sex to be enjoyed outside of marriage and the pleasures associated with fornication pale in comparison to its temporary and eternal consequences.

Others might argue that we are not under the Law of Moses any more and therefore the motivation to abstain from sexual immorality is no longer in place. God doesn't require the church to put to death fornicators or force them to pay a penalty and get married. It must be granted that the church is not under the law of Moses. It must also be granted that the church is not the government, unlike Israel whose religious system was a theocracy (God ruling the people directly) or theocratic monarchy (God ruling the people through a godly king). Yet to think fornication is acceptable because we are not Israel living under the law of Moses is foolish for two major reasons.

First, Old Testament law reveals the mind of God and shows us that sexual sin is an abomination to the Lord. God's moral law flows not from His personal preferences, but from the very holiness of His being. While God might overturn various ceremonial laws and regulations, He cannot overturn or disregard any laws founded upon His holy nature. To do so would be to deny Himself. God could never say lying is now okay because He is the God who cannot lie. Similarly, God could never allow immorality because He is a faithful, loving, and holy God who could never sin against another or allow others to sin against each other. Even though the law system of Moses has been abrogated, the moral aspects of the Old Testament law founded on the character and nature of God remain forever.

Secondly and even more significantly, the New Testament condemns fornication just as the Old Testament does. In our country there are no penalties for consenting adults to engage in immorality. Yet the Bible provides the single strongest incentive which exists — eternal torment in hell. In fact, those who practice any sin and live in a state of unrepentance are described as those who “will not inherit the kingdom of God” and those whose “part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone” (I Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5-6; Heb. 13:4; Rev. 21:8). While the world in their unbelief may disregard threatening of hell as false, they are true nonetheless. If a man jumps off a cliff and denies he will hit the ground, he hits the ground still the same. Though many people are deceived into thinking they can live in immorality and still go to heaven, the Word of God is clear that they will perish in hell.

Hell is the greatest deterrent against immorality. Sadly, most churches have stopped preaching on hell for they see it as “negative doctrine” instead of a purifying truth. Others deny the reality of hell altogether. Paul, after condemning immorality says in Eph. 5:6, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” May God give Calvary Bible Church the boldness to preach the Gospel, understand the reality of hell, and may we honor God's design for marriage both in word and deed.