Sexual immorality and fornication is derived from pornia which is best translated as temple prostitution or perhaps prostitution in general not what the modern church has made it in to
Bible Bereans, can you please address this?
That argument is primarily lexical, if anything, and is far too narrow to be correct as to the meaning of the word
porneia in the NT. It may (perhaps) be derived from
porne ('
prostitute'), but derived words are not always limited to the sense of the root (I'm not sure though whether
porne is actually the root though, or if it also is derived - see below about the "word group" that
porne and
porneia belong to). Tracing a word to its common Classical Greek usage can be enlightening (and possibly it is true that it was used to refer primarily to temple prostitution in that period) but the NT being written in Koine Greek (not classical Greek) and having the unique message and theological usage of words as it does, a word is rather to be determined by
the context that it is used in
in addition to its lexical value. A great example is how St. John gave the Greek word
Logos a new meaning and connotation it never quite had before in Classical Greek (although it derives meaning from it all the same). However even the strict lexical meaning of the word in all of the authorities that I have consulted include more than just prostitution in the definition of
porneia.
I will refer to a Bible word study commentary that I have called
Word Meanings in the New Testament by Ralph Earle to quote what he wrote in commenting on passages that use the Greek word
porneia. He refers to the Greek scholars William Arndt and Wilbur Gingrich and their Greek lexicon in the process, and also another Greek scholar George Abbott-Smith.
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Matthew 5:32 -
"Fornication"
The Greek word is
porneia which occurs 26 times in the NT and is always (in the KJV) translated as "fornication". It sometimes has this meaning in distinction from
moicheia which regularly means "adultery" but only occurs twice in the NT (Matt. 15:19; Mark 7:21).
On the other hand, Abbot-Smith notes that here and in 19:9 it equals
moicheia (p. 373).
Arndt and Gingrich give this definition of porneia: "prostitution, unchastity, fornication, of every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse" (p. 699).
Today "fornication" means "sexual intercourse between a man and a woman not married to each other" (
American heritage Dictionary, p. 517). According to this, it is not an accurate translation here; the meaning is more accurately "marital unfaithfulness" as in the NIV.
--
1 Corinthians 7:2 -
"Fornication"
"Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." This seems to suggest a low motive for marriage. But instead of "to avoid fornication," the Greek reads: "on account of the fornications." The NASB renders it correctly, "because of immoralities;"
porneia is used in the NT for all kinds of immorality, including adultery and homosexuality. The NIV reads: "But since there is so much immorality."
The reason for Paul's admonition was that Corinth was at that time perhaps the most immoral city in the world. Cases of immorality were to be seen on every side. The Christians at Corinth were safer to be married, since they had to live in such immoral surroundings.
--
Jude 7 -
"Giving Themselves Over to Fornication"
This is all one word in Greek, the aorist participle of
ekporneuo (only here in the NT). As we have noted before, the noun
porneia, which is always translated "fornication" (26 times) in the KJV, takes in more than that term indicates today.
It includes all "sexual immorality" (NIV) or "gross immorality" (NASB). This is further enlarged here by the additional "going after strange flesh," which rather obviously suggests homosexuality.
--
Revelation 17:2 -
"Committed Fornication... Fornication"
The verb is
porneuo, the noun
porneia (see above). The first should be translated "committed acts of immorality" (NASB) or "committed adultery" (NIV). The second means "immorality" (NASB) or "adulteries" (NIV). Swete comments, "The
porneia of which these kings were guilty consisted in purchasing the favour of Rome by accepting her suzerainty and with it her vices and idolatries" (p. 213).
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I also consulted
Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words edited by William D. Mounce and looked at the entries for 'fornication' and 'prostitute'. There is a word dedicated to the later,
porne, which is related, but does not limit the general sense of "sexual immorality" that
porneia conveys.
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Fornication
New Testament
Verb: (
porneuo), GK 4519 (S 4203), 8x. The word group to which
porneuo belongs generally relates to
any kind of sexual immorality or fornication (KJV). See
commit sexual immorality.
Noun: (
porneia), GK 4518 (S 4202), 25x. The word group to which
porneia belongs generally relates to
any kind of illegitimate sexual intercourse - that is, sexual immorality or fornication (KJV). See
sexual immorality.
--
Fornicator
New Testament
Noun: (
pornos), GK 4521 (S 4205), 10x.
pornos generally refers to any kind of illegitimate sexual intercourse (see also prostitute), but in most scriptural contexts,
it carries the sense of one who is sexually immoral (a fornicator or whoremonger, KJV). See
sexual immorality.
--
Prostitute
New Testament
Noun: (porne), GK 4520 (S 4204), 12x.
porne identifies a person as a "prostitute" ("harlot" or "whore," KJV); it
belongs to a word group that denotes various forms of sexual deviance (see
sexual immorality).
----
So as you can see, and as indeed Felix also pointed out, from both the meaning of the word and the contexts in which it is used in, the word
porneia cannot be limited to simple prostitution (and even is used in contexts of adultery and homosexuality). To say it is limited to "temple prostitution" is not a correct assertion or exegesis of the usage of the word
porneia.
I hope this helped.
God bless,
~Josh