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PORNEIA

: This Greek word occurs 25 times in the New Testament. The word has a wide variety of meanings and means more than adultery. Most of us are familiar with Jesus' statement in Matthew 19:9 where Jesus says,

And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery." Matt. 19:9 (also see Mark 10:11-12)

The Greek word for immorality in this verse is PORNEIA while the Greek word for adultery is MOICHAO. The King James referred to PORNEIA as fornication. What Jesus is saying is that a married person can divorce their spouse without committing adultery if the offending partner has committed PORNEIA. Jesus could have said "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for MOICHAO, and marries another woman commits MOICHAO" but He did not. Jesus used a very broad term for illicit sexual behavior that includes specific acts called:

These references show the breadth of the meaning of this word. The word also includes pre-marital sex in ancient literature. The emphasis of PORNEIA is bad moral behavior. PORNEIA occurs between humans. Bestiality and other unnatural forms of sexual behavior are licentiousness.

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Seeking God's Will