3A “Fornication”—Every Kind of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse
Matthew 5:32—Gr., πορνεία (por·neiʹa); Lat., for·ni·caʹti·o
The Greek word por·neiʹa covers a broad meaning. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, by W. Bauer, second English ed., by F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker, Chicago and London (1979), p. 693, says under the word por·neiʹa that it means “prostitution, unchastity, fornication, of every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse.”
Commenting on Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:32 and Mt 19:9, the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. VI, p. 592, says that “πορνεία [por·neiʹa] refers to extra-marital intercourse.” Therefore, the Scriptures use the term por·neiʹa in connection with married persons. The same dictionary, on p. 594, in connection with Ephesians 5:3, 5, says that Paul “realises that not every one has the gift of continence, 1 Cor. 7:7. As a protection against the evil of fornication the [single] man who does not have [continence] should take the divinely prescribed way of a lawful marriage, 1 Cor. 7:2.” Hence, the Scriptures use the term por·neiʹa also in connection with unmarried persons engaging in unlawful sex relations and practices.—See 1 Corinthians 6:9.
B. F. Westcott, coeditor of the Westcott and Hort Greek text, in his work, Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, London and New York, 1906, p. 76, comments on the various meanings of por·neiʹa in the Scriptures in a note on Ephesians 5:3, saying: “This is a general term for all unlawful intercourse, (I) adultery: Hos. ii. 2, 4 (LXX.); Matt. v. 32; xix. 9; (2) unlawful marriage, I Cor. v. I; (3) fornication, the common sense as here [Ephesians 5:3].” By “the common sense” evidently reference is made to the modern, limited, sense involving only unmarried persons.
In addition to this literal meaning, in certain places in the Christian Greek Scriptures por·neiʹa has a symbolic meaning. Concerning this meaning, Lexicon Graecum Novi Testamenti, by F. Zorell, third ed., 1961, column 1106, says under por·neiʹa: “apostasy from the true faith, committed either entirely or partially, defection from the one true God Jahve to foreign gods [4Ki 2Ki 9:22; Jer 3:2, 9; Ho 6:10 etc.; for God’s union with his people was considered like a kind of spiritual matrimony]: Re 14:8; 17:2, 4; 18:3; 19:2.” (Brackets and italics his; 4Ki in LXX corresponds to 2 Kings in the Masoretic text.)
In the Greek text por·neiʹa occurs in the following 25 places: Matthew 5:32; 15:19; 19:9; Mark 7:21; John 8:41; Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25; 1 Corinthians 5:1, 1; 6:13, 18; 7:2; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Revelation 2:21; 9:21; 14:8; 17:2, 4; 18:3; 19:2.
The related verb por·neuʹo, rendered in the New World Translation as “practice fornication” or “commit fornication,” occurs in the following eight places: 1 Corinthians 6:18; 10:8, 8; Revelation 2:14, 20; 17:2; 18:3, 9.
The related verb ek·por·neuʹo, rendered in the New World Translation as “commit fornication excessively,” occurs once, in Jude 7.
The related noun porʹne, rendered in the New World Translation as “harlot,” occurs in the following 12 places: Matthew 21:31, 32; Luke 15:30; 1 Corinthians 6:15, 16; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25; Revelation 17:1, 5, 15, 16; 19:2.
The related noun porʹnos, rendered in the New World Translation as “fornicator,” occurs in the following ten places: 1 Corinthians 5:9, 10, 11; 6:9; Ephesians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 12:16; 13:4; Revelation 21:8; 22:15. A Greek-English Lexicon, by H. Liddell and R. Scott, 1968, p. 1450, defines this word as meaning “catamite, sodomite, fornicator, idolater.”