Matthew 5:27-32
27 “You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. 28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell!
31 “It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce. 32 But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8
3 For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality, 4 so that each of you knows how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not with lustful desires, like the Gentiles who don’t know God. 6 This means one must not transgress against and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. 7 For God has not called us to impurity, but to sanctification. 8 Therefore, the person who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who also gives you His Holy Spirit.
Related Text:
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
Proverbs 5
Malachi 2:10-16
Matthew 19:3-12
1 Corinthians 7
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What do you think?
The Old Testament was originally written in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew word to describe “sex outside of the marriage relationship” is Zanah. This word is used 99 times in the entire Old Testament. In the New Testament, that same word is translated into the Greek word Porneia, which is the root word for pornography.
The Bible has a lot to say about sex. Whether it’s in Hebrew, Greek, or translated into English for you and me, the message stays the same. God created sex for a man and a woman to have within a marriage relationship.
This might be one of the most difficult places to stay obedient to God. Sex is everywhere in our society. We cannot escape it’s images, it’s innuendos, it’s popularity in tv and movies. Sexuality reaches out and influences our clothes, our fashion, our hairstyles, our schools, our workplace; it’s everywhere.
Don’t be mistaken. This isn’t a rant about how sex is bad. Sex is great, but God commands us to keep it inside our marriage. Each of us must decide to obey this. We must seek God’s strength when we feel like we can’t be obedient.
