edited 5/14
1. Sex between unmarried people. It is wrong to create a one-flesh union with someone who is not your spouse – I Corinthians 6:16. This is reserved for marriage – Mark 10:7; 1 Corinthians 7:8-9. This includes:
- Prostitution. Paul forbids this. He says, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!” – I Corinthians 6:15. In I Corinthians 6:18 it is called Porneia.
- Premarital sex. In Deuteronomy 22:20-21 the clear expectation is that a bride is to be a virgin. For a man to have sex with an unmarried woman is to treat her as a prostitute – Genesis 34:31. For a woman to have premarital sex is likened to prostitution – Deuteronomy 22:21. (see also Matthew 1:18-19).
1 Corinthians 7:2-3 calls both of these sexual immorality.
If you are unmarried, you are to control your sexual desires. Paul says, it is God’s will “that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” – I Thessalonians 4:4-5. If you feel you can’t control your desire, the answer is Christian marriage, not pre-marital sex or prostitution – I Corinthians 7:2, 9.
2. Adultery – Breaking your marriage commitment by having sexual relations with someone who is not your spouse. “You shall not commit adultery.” – Exodus 20:14. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery . . ..” – Matthew 15:19.
Also, remarriage after a wrongful divorceis considered adultery.If your first marriage is not already broken by sexual immorality, and you consummate another marriage (even if you are legally divorced) this is considered an act of adultery, because the first marriage is still intact in God’s eyes. Jesus said, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” – Matthew 19:8-9. (However, if your spouse was an unbeliever and left or divorced you, you are free of the marriage, even if the marriage is not broken by adultery – I Corinthians 7:12-16.)
3. Homosexual practice – Or same-sex activity. “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” – Leviticus 18:22. This is also forbidden in Romans 1:26-27 and I Timothy 1:8-11. In this last passage it is connected to the word Porneia. It is also associated with Porneia in Jude 7. The Apostolic decree of Acts 15:28-29, referring to Leviticus 18, also classifies this as Porneia.
4. Incest – Sexual relations with close relatives. (See Leviticus 18:7-18 and Deuteronomy 27:23). This is forbidden in the New Testament – Mark 6:18 and I Corinthians 5:1-3. It is called Porneia in I Corinthians 5:1.The Apostolic decree of Acts 15:28-29, referring to Leviticus 18, also classifies this as Porneia.
5. Bestiality – Sexual contact with an animal. “And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.” – Leviticus 18:23. The Apostolic decree of Acts 15:28-29 tells us to observe the regulations of Leviticus 18 in its prohibition of Porneia.
6. Sex during menstruation. This may not seem that crucial compared to the other items here, but it is forbidden. “You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.” – Leviticus 18:19. (Also Ezekiel 18:5-9). The Apostolic decree of Acts 15:28-29 tells us to observe the regulations of Leviticus 18 in its prohibition of Porneia.
7. Other: Sex was made to be expressed between one man and one woman in a committed life-long relationship. Jesus said, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.” – Mark 10:6-8. Sex outside of this is forbidden, including things like polygamy and pedophilia.
Christian teaching 