For a long time I thought I understood exactly what sexual immorality (πορνεία) in 1 Corinthians 5:1 (NET) [Table] meant.
It is actually reported that sexual immorality (πορνεία) exists among you, the kind of immorality (πορνεία) that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting (ἔχειν, a form of ἔχω) with his father’s wife.
I assumed that father’s wife meant not the son’s mother. So I assumed this wife was at least the father’s second, probably younger than he, maybe even closer to the son’s age. The son and the father’s new young wife became attracted to one another. Either she divorced the father and married the son or simply ran off with the son. The Greek word translated cohabiting is ἔχειν (ἔχω, to hold) and might mean either (along with a host of other forms of possession or ownership usually translated to have).
For all I know this is exactly what it means, but some confusion and uncertainty set in as I began to wonder what πορνεία itself meant, especially when I began to suspect that it had something to do with “idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices).” My religious mind says, “Look, I’ve got the rule: ‘Don’t mess around with your father’s wife.’ I’m satisfied with that. Don’t confuse me.” I’ve obviously become suspicious of my religious mind. So in the spirit of expanding the context a bit and knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [He] sent1 I’m going to explore some of my confusion.
The sin scenario I described above is adultery (μοιχεία) plain and simple. Why call it πορνεία? But I had assumed that the father was still alive. What if the father was already deceased?
| You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness.
Leviticus 18:8 (NET) |
If a man has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.
Leviticus 20:11 (NET) |
This is the strongest indication I know that πορνεία meant a violation of Leviticus 18 and 20 to Jesus, Paul and the New Testament writers. But why would there be such an arbitrary limit? Why didn’t πορνεία mean immorality in general, any and every violation of God’s law? That led me inexorably to the conclusion that though πορνεία may have connoted violations of Leviticus 18 and 20 in Jewish minds (strictly speaking Paul was descended from Benjamin not Judah), its underlying denotation in Greek was the sexuality of ancient (and not so ancient) religious worship.
This form of religious worship was still practiced openly in Corinth. In Corinth the πόρνη, the female devotee of this manner of worship, still lived in all her honor and glory. And I think it is safe to say that though this form of worship wasn’t mandatory, it was still a good way to advance one’s business and political ambitions (not to mention satisfying a thirst for wine, women and song). With that in mind I want to look at the next chapter of 1 Corinthians. I’m quoting 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (NET), except that I’m not translating words from the πόρνος word group.
“All things are lawful for me” – but not everything is beneficial. “All things are lawful for me” – but I will not be controlled by anything. “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both.” The body is not for [πορνείᾳ], but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Now God indeed raised the Lord and he will raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a [πόρνης, a form of πόρνη]? Never! Or do you not know that anyone who is united with a [πόρνῃ] is one body with her? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee [πορνείαν, a form of πορνείᾳ]! “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body” – but [πορνεύων, a form of πορνεύω] sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.2
While it is probably true that the body is not for an everyday-run-of-the-mill prostitute, I think the thrust of Paul’s message above (I should say “no pun intended,” but I can’t say for sure) was the cultic variety. Members of Christ should not also become members of other gods (or goddesses).
The phrases in quotes above are thought to be Corinthian slogans (notes 10, 11) by the translators of the NET. That may be true, but I still believe that, All things are lawful for me but not everything is beneficial is Paul’s take home message from the Jerusalem Council. I seriously doubt that James took home the same message. And I believe that Paul was beginning to struggle with it a bit here.
At the time of the Jerusalem Council God had apparently only called Gentiles who were Jewish converts, God fearers or people who had attached themselves to Jewish synagogues in some fashion. In Corinth He also called, The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards,3 the verbally abusive, and swindlers.4 And He had given them his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:4-9 NET).
I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus. For you were made rich in every way in him, in all your speech and in every kind of knowledge – just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed among you – so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Apparently some of them were having difficulty shedding their former sins. What’s a former Pharisee to do? Paul singled out one man who had his father’s wife, and made an example of him. I’ve considered that perhaps this man had (ἔχειν, a form of ἔχω) his father’s wife in a more commercial sense, that he was pimping her somehow as a temple prostitute. But it feels like I’m reaching. Paul was quite careful in 1 Corinthians 7:2 (NET) to clarify the vagaries of ἐχέτω (another form of ἔχω).
But because of immoralities (πορνείας, a form of πορνεία), each man should have relations with (ἐχέτω, another form of ἔχω) his own wife and each woman with (ἐχέτω, another form of ἔχω) her own husband.
The translators added the words relations with for clarity. In Greek it reads more like, each man should have his own wife and each woman should have her own husband. Out of context like this it is a clear command that all in Corinth should marry. But Paul introduced this statement with 1 Corinthians 7:1 (NET).
It is good (καλὸν, a form of καλός) for a man not to have sexual relations (ἅπτεσθαι, a form of ἅπτω) with a woman.
So he clarified the meaning of ἔχω (ἐχέτω) in this case and kept its use from becoming an unintended prohibition against celibacy. Surely some clarification or elaboration on ἔχω (ἔχειν) was in order if Paul meant to communicate that a man was pimping his father’s wife as a temple prostitute, unless the meaning of πορνεία so clearly and exclusively referenced such activity that no other meaning would have been considered. And I am still a long way from accepting that idea. I consider 1 Thessalonians 4:1-5 (NET):
Finally5 then, brothers and sisters, we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that6 as you received instruction from us about how you must live and please God (as you are in fact living)7 that you do so more and more. For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is God’s will: that you become holy, that you keep away from [πορνείας], that each of you know how to possess his own body in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.
So far so good. I’m willing to accept that Paul was writing about abstaining from idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices). But wait, Paul continued (1 Thessalonians 4:6-8 NET):
In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him, because the8 Lord is the avenger in all these cases, as we also told you earlier9 and warned you solemnly. For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. Consequently the one who rejects this is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.10
I don’t know if believing women in the first century could be compelled against their wills11 to serve in Thessalonica as cult prostitutes or not. I would hope if that were the case that Paul’s words would have had more fight in them. He probably wouldn’t have said, “Lock and load, brothers!” I doubt that Paul would consider having the brothers go all Simeon and Levi12 on the town of Thessalonica was the best way to present the Gospel. But he might have suggested that a brother should get to her first, buy her and take her home to her husband, rather than the comparatively wimpy admonition not to violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of the situation!
So, though Paul used the word πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, I sincerely hope he meant simple adultery, (μοιχεία). And its usage here persuades me that πορνεία could mean μοιχεία.
Addendum: April 6, 2019
Tables comparing Leviticus 18:8; 20:11 and Genesis 2:24 in the Tanakh and NET, and the tables comparing Leviticus 18:8; 20:11 and Genesis 2:24 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow. Following those are tables comparing 1 Corinthians 6:20; 6:10; 7:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 4:6 and 4:8 in the NET and KJV.
| Leviticus 18:8 (Tanakh) | Leviticus 18:8 (NET) |
| The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness. | You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. |
| Leviticus 18:8 (Septuagint BLB) | Leviticus 18:8 (Septuagint Elpenor) |
| ἀσχημοσύνην γυναικὸς πατρός σου οὐκ ἀποκαλύψεις ἀσχημοσύνη πατρός σού ἐστιν | ἀσχημοσύνην γυναικὸς πατρός σου οὐκ ἀποκαλύψεις, ἀσχημοσύνη πατρὸς σού ἐστιν. |
| Leviticus 18:8 (NETS) | Leviticus 18:8 (English Elpenor) |
| You shall not uncover the shame of your father’s wife; it is the shame of your father. | Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s wife; it is thy father’s nakedness. |
| Leviticus 20:11 (Tanakh) | Leviticus 20:11 (NET) |
| And the man that lieth with his father’s wife–he hath uncovered his father’s nakedness–both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. | If a man goes to bed with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. |
| Leviticus 20:11 (Septuagint BLB) | Leviticus 20:11 (Septuagint Elpenor) |
| ἐάν τις κοιμηθῇ μετὰ γυναικὸς τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἀσχημοσύνην τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἀπεκάλυψεν θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν ἀμφότεροι ἔνοχοί εἰσιν | καὶ ἐάν τις κοιμηθῇ μετὰ γυναικὸς τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, ἀσχημοσύνην τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἀπεκάλυψε, θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν, ἀμφότεροι ἔνοχοί εἰσι. |
| Leviticus 20:11 (NETS) | Leviticus 20:11 (English Elpenor) |
| And if anyone lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s shame; let both of them by death be put to death; they are liable. | And if any one should lie with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness: let them both die the death, they are guilty. |
| Genesis 2:24 (Tanakh) | Genesis 2:24 (KJV) |
| Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. | Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. |
| Genesis 2:24 (Septuagint BLB) | Genesis 2:24 (Septuagint Elpenor) |
| ἕνεκεν τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ προσκολληθήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῗκα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν | ἕνεκεν τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ προσκολληθήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν. |
| Genesis 2:24 (NETS) | Genesis 2:24 (English Elpenor) |
| Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. | Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. |
| NET Parallel Greek | Stephanus Textus Receptus | Byzantine Majority Text |
| ἠγοράσθητε γὰρ τιμῆς· δοξάσατε δὴ τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν | ηγορασθητε γαρ τιμης δοξασατε δη τον θεον εν τω σωματι υμων και εν τω πνευματι υμων ατινα εστιν του θεου | ηγορασθητε γαρ τιμης δοξασατε δη τον θεον εν τω σωματι υμων και εν τω πνευματι υμων ατινα εστιν του θεου |
| NET Parallel Greek | Stephanus Textus Receptus | Byzantine Majority Text |
| οὔτε κλέπται οὔτε πλεονέκται, οὐ μέθυσοι, οὐ λοίδοροι, οὐχ ἅρπαγες βασιλείαν θεοῦ κληρονομήσουσιν | ουτε κλεπται ουτε πλεονεκται ουτε μεθυσοι ου λοιδοροι ουχ αρπαγες βασιλειαν θεου ου κληρονομησουσιν | ουτε πλεονεκται ουτε κλεπται ουτε μεθυσοι ου λοιδοροι ουχ αρπαγες βασιλειαν θεου ου κληρονομησουσιν |
| NET Parallel Greek | Stephanus Textus Receptus | Byzantine Majority Text |
| Περὶ δὲ ὧν ἐγράψατε, καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γυναικὸς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι | περι δε ων εγραψατε μοι καλον ανθρωπω γυναικος μη απτεσθαι | περι δε ων εγραψατε μοι καλον ανθρωπω γυναικος μη απτεσθαι |
| NET Parallel Greek | Stephanus Textus Receptus | Byzantine Majority Text |
| Λοιπὸν |οὖν|, ἀδελφοί, ἐρωτῶμεν ὑμᾶς καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ, |ἵνα| καθὼς παρελάβετε παρ᾿ ἡμῶν τὸ πῶς δεῖ ὑμᾶς περιπατεῖν καὶ ἀρέσκειν θεῷ (καθὼς καὶ περιπατεῖτε) ἵνα περισσεύητε μᾶλλον | το λοιπον ουν αδελφοι ερωτωμεν υμας και παρακαλουμεν εν κυριω ιησου καθως παρελαβετε παρ ημων το πως δει υμας περιπατειν και αρεσκειν θεω ινα περισσευητε μαλλον | το λοιπον ουν αδελφοι ερωτωμεν υμας και παρακαλουμεν εν κυριω ιησου καθως παρελαβετε παρ ημων το πως δει υμας περιπατειν και αρεσκειν θεω ινα περισσευητε μαλλον |
| NET Parallel Greek | Stephanus Textus Receptus | Byzantine Majority Text |
| τὸ μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐν τῷ πράγματι τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, διότι ἔκδικος κύριος περὶ πάντων τούτων, καθὼς καὶ προείπαμεν ὑμῖν καὶ διεμαρτυράμεθα | το μη υπερβαινειν και πλεονεκτειν εν τω πραγματι τον αδελφον αυτου διοτι εκδικος ο κυριος περι παντων τουτων καθως και προειπαμεν υμιν και διεμαρτυραμεθα | ο μη υπερβαινειν και πλεονεκτειν εν τω πραγματι τον αδελφον αυτου διοτι εκδικος ο κυριος περι παντων τουτων καθως και προειπομεν υμιν και διεμαρτυραμεθα |
| NET Parallel Greek | Stephanus Textus Receptus | Byzantine Majority Text |
| τοιγαροῦν ὁ ἀθετῶν οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ἀθετεῖ ἀλλὰ τὸν θεὸν τὸν [καὶ] διδόντα τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον εἰς ὑμᾶς | τοιγαρουν ο αθετων ουκ ανθρωπον αθετει αλλα τον θεον τον και δοντα το πνευμα αυτου το αγιον εις ημας | τοιγαρουν ο αθετων ουκ ανθρωπον αθετει αλλα τον θεον τον και δοντα το πνευμα αυτου το αγιον εις υμας |
1 John 17:3 (NET)
2 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και εν τω πνευματι υμων ατινα εστιν του θεου (KJV: and in your spirit, which are God’s) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.
3 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had οὐ preceding drunkards, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ουτε.
4 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10a (NET)
5 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article το preceding Finally (KJV: Furthermore). The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.
6 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἵνα here. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.
7 The phrase καθὼς καὶ περιπατεῖτε (as you are in fact living) in the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 was not in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.
8 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article ο here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.
9 The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus had προείπαμεν here, where the Byzantine Majority Text had προειπομεν.
10 The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ὑμᾶς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had ημας (KJV: unto us).
11 And I must assume against their wills, otherwise this should be addressed to the women rather than the men.
12 Cf. Genesis 34:25. When Jacob complained to his sons, Simeon and Levi replied, “Should he treat our sister like a common prostitute?” (Genesis 34:31 NET). Common prostitute was πόρνῃ in the Septuagint. Their sister Dinah was either raped, or seduced before proper wedding arrangements had been made (Genesis 34:2).