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The Sin of Fornication

f know this next topic is going to be a very sensitive one for many single Christian men and women. Due to the laxness of our society, and no one wanting any kind of God or moral absolutes telling them what they can and cannot do in this life, we have many people, including many Christians, who are engaging in the sin of fornication.

If there is one sin that many people do not want to give up in this day and age because of the extreme sexual and physical pleasure that it brings along with it, it has to be the sin of fornication.

Many single Christians I have talked with over the years who were doing this with their steady partners all told me that since they were not married yet, they were hoping that God would cut them some “slack” in this area, turn a blind eye to it, and allow them to at least have this one vice in their life since they had no idea how much longer it would be before they got married.

Other Christians, especially men, were literally chasing after many women, not just one steady partner, and they were having sex with whoever they could find at the time. Many professional Christian business men I had worked with were doing this on a regular basis. Some were married and some were not. But in either case, they were not willing to give up this sin even though they knew what the Bible had to say about it. They said their sexual desires were just too strong and they just flat out did not want to give up this particular sin for the Lord.

For every single Christian man and woman who is out there still committing this sin – the 50 million dollar question now becomes – will God cut you some slack on this sin and turn a blind eye to it due the laxness and permissiveness of our society – or does He mean exactly what He is saying in the Scripture verses I will give you below?

I think once you study the verses I will give you below, you will see that God is meaning exactly what He is saying in His Word on this topic, and He will not be turning a blind eye to this sin or cutting anyone any slack for wanting to stay in it. As you will see in some of these verses, God is using some very intense language to describe what He thinks of this sin and the consequences of this sin if one does not confess, repent, and pull out of it within a reasonable period of time.

I will first start out by giving you the key verses from Scripture on this sin, and then point out and highlight some key statements God is making in these verses. I will then end this article with some commentary on this sin, as over the last 2-3 years we have received many interesting emails from people all over the world on this particular sin.

The Scripture Verses

Before I get into the actual Scripture verses, here are some basic definitions from some of the different Bible Dictionaries on exactly what this sin is in case you were not sure what the word “fornication” actually meant:

  • Sex relations between the unmarried
  • Sexual relationships outside the bonds of marriage
  • Unchastity, sexual immorality – refers to every kind of illegal sexual intercourse, that is, any intercourse except that between a husband and wife
  • Voluntary sexual intercourse of an unmarried person with someone of the opposite sex

As you can see from the definitions on what this word means, God has it set up that sexual intercourse can only be done between two married people in a heterosexual union. The act of sexual intercourse was never meant to be done outside the bonds of holy matrimony.

As Christians, not only must we love God, serve God, and follow His perfect plan and destiny for our lives, but we must also follow all of His ways for our lives. And the Bible is fully loaded with all of the ways of God so we know exactly what we can and cannot do in this life. And no matter how you try to slice and dice the issue of fornication, it is simply outside the will of God for our lives.

As you read these verses below, you will see there is no way to spin or re-interpret these verses. Once again, they are all very straight forward and they all mean exactly what they are saying.

Here are 9 very good verses from our Bible on what God’s opinion really is on the subject of fornication:

  1. “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” (Matthew 15:19-20)
     
  2. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9)
     
  3. “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; … For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (Ephesians 5: 3-5)
     
  4. “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19)
     
  5. “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 harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “The two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:15-20)
     
  6. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God … For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7)
     
  7. “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you also once walked when you lived in them.” ( Colossians 3: 5-7)
     
  8. “… and lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and licentiousness which they have practiced.” ( 2 Corinthians 12: 21)
     
  9. “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner – not even to eat with such a person.” ( 1 Corinthians 5: 9-11)

Notice the following key statements being made in these verses:

1.  The very first verse is flat out telling you that fornication will “defile” a man. What exactly does the Bible mean when it says that this sin will defile a man? Here is the definition of the word “defile” from some of the different Bible Dictionaries and Commentaries:

  1. Making the pure impure
  2. To make ritually or unethically unclean
  3. To make common
  4. To render unholy, unclean
  5. To make foul
  6. To make filth or dirty, pollute
  7. To corrupt, to violate the chastity of, deflower
  8. The vices of the ungodly which contaminate a person in his intercourse with the world

As you can see from some of these definitions, the word “defile” is a very strong and intense word being used by the Lord to tell us exactly what the sin of fornication will do to all of us if we engage in it.

With this first verse telling us that the act of fornication will actually defile us, I find it hard to believe that God will want to cut us any slack on this sin and agree to turn a blind eye to it due to the permissiveness of our society, or due to the fact that every one else is doing it. The word “defile” is simply too strong of a word being used by the Lord, and I thus do not think He will agree to turn a blind eye to it like so many single Christians think He will do.

2.  In the next three verses, God really turns up the heat where He lists the sin of fornication as one of the sins that will keep you from being able to enter into heaven. Are these three verses only talking about unbelievers, or is it also including Christians who are engaging in this sin on a regular basis and who do not pull out of it and get it forgiven under the blood of Jesus before they die and cross over? We obviously will find out once we get to the other side.

But with the way these three verses are being worded, fornication is obviously a very serious sin and offense against God, and I would not want to be tempting my eternal fate with Him on this issue.

3.  The 5th verse above adds more to all of this when it tells us that not only are we sinning against God, but we are also sinning against our own bodies when we commit this sin. It then goes on to point out that are bodies are now the temple of the Holy Spirit and that when we do commit this sin, we are becoming one body and one flesh with the other person we are having sex with.

The 6th verse then adds more to this when it tells us that God wants us to be sanctified in His site. He is calling all of us to holiness and He wants all of us to abstain from any kind of sexual immorality. He wants all of us to remain clean and pure.

The act of fornication will do just the opposite – it will make us unclean, unholy, and impure in the eyes of God, and that is not a place you want to be in with the Lord if you truly love Him and want to serve and follow Him in this life.

4.  The very last verse I have listed above is one that really stunned me when I first read it. In this verse, the apostle Paul is telling us to basically shun our brothers who are operating in this sin. He is telling us that we should not even eat with them. You can also tell that he is talking about our Christian brothers and sisters, not unbelievers, when he uses the word “brother.”

I know in this day and age, this would be a very hard command to obey, as we all know and have some single Christian friends who are fornicating with their steady partners.

The only other thing I will say about this last verse is that if God is relaying this kind of intense message where He does not want us eating and associating with people who are fornicating, then you know this is a very serious sin and offense in His eyes, and that He does not want any of us engaging in it for any reason whatsoever.

When you put all of these verses together, one right after the other, there can be no doubt in anyone’s rational mind what God’s opinion really is on fornication. Once again, in a bolded numbered format, here are what the above verses are telling us in no uncertain terms.

The sin of fornication:

  1. Will defile us and cause us to become unholy and unclean in the eyes of God
     
  2. Will cause us to sin against both God and our own bodies
     
  3. Will cause us to become one body and one flesh with the person we are fornicating with
     
  4. Will be one of the specific sins that will keep people from being able to enter into heaven
     
  5. And to top it all off – God will not want His own people associating with people who are engaging in this sin

As I said at the top of this article, many single Christians I have talked with about this sin are hoping that God will cut them some slack on this sin due to the fact that everyone else is doing it and our society has become so much more lax and permissive in its moral standards.

But if you believe the Bible is God’s true Word to all of us, there is simply no way you can sugarcoat the above verses. Not only are these verses all very straight forward, but once again, God is using some very intense and strong language in these verses. This intense and strong language being used by the Lord is His big “tell” to all of us as to what He really thinks of this sin and how serious it really is in His eyes.

Thus any Christian who truly loves God and wants to serve and follow Him in this life will be willing to give up this sin until they get married.

Conclusion

Again, I know this particular topic is a very touchy and sensitive one for many today, especially in the lax and permissive times we are now all living in. As we all know, fornication brings with it extreme physical pleasure, and for many, it is very hard to give up once you start to engage in it.

But with all of the above Scripture verses being very clear on what God’s opinion really is on this sin, any Christian who truly loves God will be willing to give it up for Him. When the above verses are telling us that this specific sin will actually defile us and cause us to sin against both God and our own bodies, there is simply no other way or angle to look at this sin from. There thus can be no rational justification for any single Christian to remain in it.

My brother Chris just recently married his mate 2 years ago. They dated for two years before they got married and they both made a pact and vow with both themselves and with God that they would not have sex until after they got married due to what God’s Word had to say on this issue. And to this day, they are both really glad they did it. They feel God has blessed them as a result of doing this and nothing but good has come out of it as a result.

The other thing that we have noticed is that we have been receiving many more emails from people all across the world on this issue over the last 2 years or so. And in each one of these cases, God was moving very strongly on each couple to pull out of this sin until they got married.

The Holy Spirit was really moving with strong conviction on each of these people. As a result, many of these single couples were pulling out this sin, as they wanted to obey the Lord and not displease Him. When they did, they felt an incredible sense of peace come upon them for listening to the Lord’s instructions on this sin.

The Bible says that Jesus will be coming back for a Bride that will be without spot or blemish. And in order for that to happen, the Holy Spirit is going to have to be moving on many people to get them to clean up their acts and any obvious sins they are still living in. And fornication is definitely going to be one of the sins the Holy Spirit will be moving on in the coming years ahead if any single Christians are still engaging in it.

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Comments

10 Responses to “The Sin of Fornication”
  1. ben says:
    December 30, 2011 at 10:58 pm

    oh how i wish i understood a few years ago how important it is to save sex for marriage. i have my first serious girlfriend and we fornicate on occasion and i am just coming to realize how bad it is. i do love this girl and she loves me maybe even more. HUGE problem is she is not into church and i do not think i can change her ways. also she probably won’t be ok with never fornicating with me again. what do i do?!? am i supposed to just leave her and have nothing to do with her? i wish it was that easy.. since she is not a church-go-er like myself she is clearly not the girl i want to marry, but i do love this girl and she loves me so much. i’d be lost without her. i want to repent and i am truly regretful and sincere in my heart for fornicating. i want to never fornicate again until marriage.. but i can’t avoid it with this girl. do i just break up with her and never fall asleep happy again knowing that i broke her heart and i still love her?

  2. stan says:
    December 31, 2011 at 5:56 am

    If she does not want to serve the Lord like you do, then break up. God doesnot want us to sin, if she wants you to sin (fornication) than i don’t think God is OK with it. If God is OK with the breakup than it is ok, do not feel quilty about it. Fact is, if you follow God there will be moments of pain and sacrifice (in this case, breaking up and waiting for sex untill marriage). God loves you, he will give you the strength to overcome, Trust Him. Just my humble opinion.

  3. stan says:
    December 31, 2011 at 6:01 am

    Jesus said: Deny yourself, carry your cross and follow me.

  4. Clive says:
    December 31, 2011 at 8:32 am

    The question is ? it seems like your girlfriend is more important to you then God is in your life.! You would give up going to Heaven for this lady ? for the pleasure of sin. You see sir ,that’s why you shouldn’t have sex before marriage because you are now soul tied to this women. You need to wake up and smell the coffee! she doesn’t want anything to do with God! You are on Dangerous ground! You need to ask yourself this serious question! God died on the cross for you and you will let this women keep you in sin over obeying God. Me my self had many women before i got saved and when i got saved God gave me the power to stop fornicating and I stayed celibate for 10 years and God brought me a wife! So no one cannot tell me God cannot help them. I am not saying God will make you celibate for 10 years but I am saying that God can keep you and clean you up! Don’t let this woman stop your purpose for God and stop you going to HEAVEN! When I read your comment! I felt so sorry for you because you got it all wrong! Speak to your pastor and get out of this situation asap. IT’S TAKING YOU TO HELL! YOU NEED TO WAKE UP! ANY BODY THAT DOESN’T WANT JESUS IS NOT OF GOD! I DON’T CARE HOW SWEET AND NICE THEY ARE! THEY ARE NOT OF GOD!! RUN I SAY RUN. SIR YOU NEED TO FAST AND REPENT AND IF SHE LOVES YOU SHE WOULD LOVE YOUR GOD! NO QUESTION ABOUT THAT LOVE IS FROM GOD.

  5. Jake says:
    January 1, 2012 at 5:58 am

    The last sentence just before the article’s “Conclusion” says:

    “Thus any Christian who truly loves God and wants to serve and follow Him in this life will be willing to give up this sin until they get married.”

    While I know what the author means and intends, the wording here could leave the statement open to an incorrect interpretation by a casual reader.

    It is still possible to commit fornication (adultery) even after one is married.

    I think it would be better to state it as: “Thus any Christian who truly loves God and wants to serve and follow Him in this life will be willing to give up this sin and abstain from sex until they get married. And even in marriage, abstain from pornography and sex with anyone other than your spouse.”

    Not trying to be critical…this is a very good article. Just want to make sure there is no room for the message of the article to get twisted into something it did not intend to say.

    God Bless,

    Jake

  6. ben says:
    January 1, 2012 at 10:56 am

    thank you all for the comments. i am definitely going to take action on this situation i am in. she can either understand that i am going to give my life to christ and stop sinning and fornicating, or we can break up.

  7. ben says:
    January 3, 2012 at 12:10 am

    we are talking through it.. this may sound silly, but are we allowed to do “other things” in order to keep us from having sexual intercourse?

  8. Vickyvic says:
    January 3, 2012 at 4:57 am

    Ben, you would not be allowed to do ‘other’ things with a woman that is not your wife. Those things would likely be inspired by lust which is something to be greatly avoided as well. Not to mention the simple truth that the word does warn us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, aside from being in a relationship with this girl you shouldn’t even be close friends with an unbeliever. This could prove to be a trap for your soul and the extent of it’s seriousness is reflected by your reluctance to be without her. As someone said before….is she worth going to hell for? Is she more important than God? You would need to give this ungodly relationship up. I know emotionally it might be hard but you said yourself you don’t plan to marry her, so in a way you’re just using her until the right woman comes along for you.

    Walk away

  9. lisa says:
    January 8, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    Jews(old testament believers) and Christians only please
    same situation as ben but this guy is completely inlove with me, so inlove he started praying but to God only not any specific religion, i dont wana break his heart, ur sayin i cant even be friends with him dats deep for him,weve been goin out for a yr and have the same friends i stopped havin sex so he stoped havin sex and said he wants 2 marry me,he will if dats the only way, but he fornicates(pornography), he believes dat jesus is a metaphor,and bethlehem are star conselations,he takes drugs,ones that highten ur awareness level, hes athiest but realy free spireted he taught me allot, i dont wear make up cause of him,should i try to encourage him? to be on the safe side ino i should let him go,but im to loving for people not just for him, and i would hate to see him fall after all im his first love and my first love turned muslim cause i broke his heart he said he wants nothing to me and my God he was a Good christian before…i realy DONT NO…I WANA HELP BUT I DONT NO ENOUGH ABOUT GODS WILL ino i should be pure but the bible says ,a man should not touch a woman but if he has an urge to fornicate he should find a wife

  10. Vickyvic says:
    January 9, 2012 at 9:28 am

    Hi Lisa,

    I understand that this must be a difficult time for you because your emotions are involved and it can be hard to listen to override your emotions in this area. You’re completely right in saying you should let him go because ‘missionary soul winning’ hardly ever works. What I mean by that, being in a relationship with the guy hoping he will come to the knowledge of Christ hardly works and neither is it recommended because you might start to fall away. I think you know deep down what the right thing to do is, the bible says bad company corrupts good character and there are no exceptions. The longer you hang out with the guy the more some of his characteristics will rub of on you and you don’t want that from someone who thinks Jesus is a metaphor.

    I suggest you walk away and pray for him from a distance, only God can touch his heart and change him. Don’t allow yourself to be sucked in, as for your previous relationship, I’ll say this…..not many people when they really know Christ and have a personal relationship with him can walk away from their faith to another, most people that leave were never really in the faith to begin with. 1John 2: 19 says ‘They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us’. Meaning do NOT blame yourself for his conversion to Islam it just means he never really knew Jesus as the only way, the truth and the life. It’s not even like he became an atheist and said there is no God but he went to a different religion to believe in another ‘god’?

    Final word – walk away from this relationship and do not be unequally yoke with an unbeliever, show your love for him by praying for him to know Christ and to have salvation.

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