5 Peter answered Him, “Explain to us this parable.” 16 And He said, “Are you also still without understanding?” 17 “Do you not know that everything which enters into the mouth passes into the stomach and passes into a latrine?” 18 “But the things which come from the mouth come out from the heart, and that defiles the man.” Matthew 15:15-20 (translated from the NA28 Greek text) (Read verses 19-20 on the site)
In this post we are going to focus on one Greek word that was one of the words in yesterday’s post, It is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, that describes one of the sinful acts that have sprung from Satan’s counterfeit love. That word is πορνεία (porneia). Here is the definition for yesterday’s post:
It originally referred to prostitution. It is derived from the related word in Greek which means “prostitute.” It was used in the Septuagint to refer not only to common prostitution, but religious prostitution that was part of the fertility rites of Baal worship. By sexual relations with temple prostitutes, humans, supposedly, could share in the fertilizing power of and cosmic harmony with the fertility god Baal.
However, in in later rabbinical language, which heavily influenced the New Testament, πορνεία came to be used for any sexual relations outside of marriage, including: premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexuality, lesbianism, sodomy, pedophilia, incest, and bestiality. In the Graeco-Roman world, this became so perverted that all of these activities were indulged in without shame or scruple, not only by the common people, but by the social elite as well.
Our time is no different. In fact, indifference to the practice of these things runs deep in our society as well as the visible church. However, lest we become distracted, we must not forget that all Christians are commanded to turn from these things in repentance.