Is It Ok Then?

We have all heard it. It is nothing new. It was always discussed in the church when you were young. Even if you are not a christian, or don’t go to a church, you have still been so instructed. Instructed in what? Abstinence. Celibacy. We were always told to wait. To wait until we are married. Save yourself till you find the one. It is God’s will that you only have sex with whom you are married to. But what if we are wrong? What if this was incorrect? What if such commands are found nowhere in the bible?!

That is what one pastor preached recently in his church. Senior Pastor Delman Coates of Mount Ennon Baptist Church was preaching a series on sex and the bible. In a portion of his recent sermon he stated that: “The living Bible translation that says this, another problematic translation, ‘but sexual sin is never right.’ These translations give unlearned readers the impression that the text is saying that sex before or outside of marriage is wrong. But the Bible is not saying that. It is critiquing prostitution, the immoral and unjust sexual and economic exploitation of poor people, slaves, women and young males who are oftentimes forced into prostitution in the first century…Every time the word ‘pornea’ translated fornication is used in the New Testament, it is talking about prostitution.”

Could he be right? Could our English translations have it misinterpreted and when we go into the Greek we see that the bible was talking about something different? Well let us look at it. The word that Delman is referring to, porneia, is a Greek word defined: “sexual immorality, fornication, marital unfaithfulness, prostitution, adultery, a generic term for sexual sin of any kind”. The Strong's Greek Lexicon defines it as: “illicit sexual intercourse in general” So what he is saying is only half right. The word can be referring to prostitution, but that is not all it is referring to. The word is a generic term that means any type of sexual activity, that is not within the way God has designed it, is sinful. That is why most bible translations will use the english word “fornication” or the phrase "sexual immorality”. This is not at all the right way to translate the greek word.

Delman continued, “It is not talking about or condemning consensual sexual relations. I told y’all, this the first time you have ever heard this preached in a church. Therefore, teaching Christians that sex before, outside of marriage is a sin, may be tradition, it may be something that’s been passed down from generation to generation, it may be something that you learned from an esteemed Bible preacher or teacher, but it is not something supported by the Word of God. There is no biblical basis for that teaching. I know this comes as a shock to many of you. It may sound sacrilegious to others, but I am obligated as a preacher of the Word of God to preach the truth of the Bible and not to further myth, superstitions, and lies. Jesus said, ‘and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.’” While yes he is obligated to preach the word, that is not what he is doing. Instead he is giving his people a license to sin thinking it is perfectly okay.

Now let us say, for the sake of argument, that he is right about the definition of the word porneia. Let’s change it to mean prostitution. If you look at every scripture verse that has the phrase “sexual immorality” and put in prostitution, it will not make sense. The context in these passages speaks to sexual sins beyond that. And that still does not change the narrative of what the bible has to say about this topic in other places without ever using the porneia. If Delman is right, then why did Paul say that if you can not abstain, then get married! “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.” (1 Corinthians 7:1–3) Clearly Paul is not talking about prostitution in this passage! He is saying, because it is wrong to have sex outside of marriage, if you have trouble staying abstinent then get married!

Then look at the dozens of marriage metaphors that God uses throughout the bible! He uses marriage as an illustration of the special union between Himself and His people.  And in every one of them, He shows it as a marriage. Never is it shown as a coming together before a marriage. Even the church is referred to as the bride of Christ. And we are shown of the great marriage feast that will take place before we are with Him in eternity forever. Plus having multiple “partners”has always been condemned in the bible. Yet if we are to take Delman’s preaching seriously, you can be with as many people as you want as long as it is consensual and before marriage. And let us not also forget that Jesus taught us that even thinking of another person in a sexual way is sinful. If just your imagination about this can be sinful, how could we possibly conclude that the act itself is not wrong as well?

No, any form or sex (consensual or not) that is not within the way God has designed it is sinful. This goes to show that context is key when interpreting scripture. Simply looking up a word in a Greek dictionary will not always give you the right interpretation. This also reminds us about the bible warning us to be aware of false preachers and teachers. We are told that we are to test what we are taught. We are supposed to take it back to the scriptures and see if what our preachers are preaching is true. We are not supposed to do what the 9,000 members of Mt Ennon Church did when they heard Delman preach these lies: applaud.