More Bible Verses About Sexual Immorality
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. ~ Hebrews 13:4
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ~ Matthew 5:28
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. ~ Ephesians 5:3
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality ~ Galatians 5:19
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. ~ 1 Corinthians 10:13
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Bible Verses About Sexual Immorality
Acts 15:29“You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”
1 Corinthians 5:15It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
1 Corinthians 5:911I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people — not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler — not even to eat with such a one.
1 Corinthians 10:8We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
What Is Sexual Immorality
Sexual sin is something that many people do not talk about because of the personal stigma attached to it. Sexual sin can include a list of various sins: adultery, fornication before marriage, lust, etc. Because it seems to be a more secret sin, the enemy makes the lies of temptation very easy to rationalize away.
In the New Testament, the word most often translated sexual immorality is porneia. This word is also translated as whoredom, fornication, and idolatry. It means a surrendering of sexual purity, and it is primarily used of premarital sexual relations. From this Greek word we get the English word , stemming from the concept of selling off. Sexual immorality is the selling off of sexual purity and involves any type of sexual expression outside the boundaries of a biblically defined marriage relationship .
People seem to rationalize sexual sin in two ways:
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Biblical Verses Related To Sexual Sins
Exodus 20:14
You shall not commit adultery.
Job 31:1
I have made a covenant with my eyes How then could I gaze at a virgin?
Proverbs 6:27-29
Can a man take fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals And his feet not be scorched? So is the one who goes in to his neighbors wife Whoever touches her will not go unpunished.
Matthew 5:28
but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Acts 15:20
but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.
Romans 13:13
Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Or 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 effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:13-19
How Can We Avoid Sexual Immorality
Galatians 5:19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery
We are humans and we are never free from the weakness of our flesh
Temptations surround our daily lives and Satan will always find a way to make us commit sins. In this regard, we must always turn to God and listen to His words as often as possible. Not only will it be a good distraction against worldly thoughts, but it will also strengthen our faith. It will give us immunity to fight these weaknesses.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Use our body and strength to serve God
The world needs more of Gods love and us, His children, should be the mirror that reflects it for everyone.
Ephesians 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for Gods holy people.
We must avoid things He forbids, and that includes thinking about immoral things, much more engaging to it. One can consider pornographic materials, unholy gatherings, and blasphemous shows as sinful. Consuming it is equal to supporting the people making it. Moreso, it corrupts our thoughts.
Lets honor Him by helping people in need strive to be a good person lead others to know Him. By doing good, we do not just contribute to the goodness that the world desperately needs. But we also please Our Father above.
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Personal Pride Corporate Judgment
This does not mean, however, that theres an exact correlation between the nature of our particular sexual brokenness and our personal rebellion against God. We are all born with natures in rebellion against God. But our individual sexuality is shaped by a host of biological, personal, family, and social/cultural influences. Some factors were born with, some may have been abusively forced upon us, and some we sinfully embrace and nourish. The Bible acknowledges all these factors.
But when Paul says God gives up a people in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, hes mainly referring to a corporate judgment. The more a people unhinge themselves from Gods ordained limits, the more God removes the restraints on the sexual expressions of pride, resulting in a societal slide into consuming sexual destruction.
So we must keep in mind that, no matter what sexual orientation or dysfunction or distortion were dealing with, our biggest personal and corporate problem is not sexual its pride.
What Damage Can Fornication Do
It is very sobering that the God who loves marriage and hates divorce , in fact, provides one allowance for a covenant marriage to end in divorce. Jesus says that anyone who divorces for any reason except for the reason of unchastity commits adultery, and if a person marries someone who has been divorced for any other reason other than unchastity also commits adultery.
Youve probably already guessed it, but the word “unchastity” in the Greek is the very word weve already identified as porneias. These are strong words that cut against the grain of our cultural views of marriage and divorce, but they are Gods words.
The sin of sexual immorality has the potential to destroy the very relationship which God created to reflect his love for his bride, the church. Paul instructed husbands to love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her . Dont get me wrong, there are many things that can strike a death blow to a marriage, but it seems that sexual sins are especially heinous and destructive, and often inflict such deep wounds and hurt and ultimately break covenant in ways that seldom can be repaired.
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Bible Verses About Sexual Sin
Bible verses related to Sexual Sin from the King James Version by Relevance
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Bible Verses About Premarital Sex
Deuteronomy 22:1321Suppose a man marries a woman, but after sleeping with her, he turns against her and publicly accuses her of shameful conduct, saying, ‘When I married this woman, I discovered she was not a virgin.’ Then the woman’s father and mother must bring the proof of her virginity to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. Her father must say to them, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, and now he has turned against her.’ He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin. But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.’ Then they must spread her bed sheet before the elders. The elders must then take the man and punish him. They must also fine him 100 pieces of silver, which he must pay to the woman’s father because he publicly accused a virgin of Israel of shameful conduct. The woman will then remain the man’s wife, and he may never divorce her. But suppose the man’s accusations are true, and he can show that she was not a virgin. The woman must be taken to the door of her father’s home, and there the men of the town must stone her to death, for she has committed a disgraceful crime in Israel by being promiscuous while living in her parents’ home. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you.
1 Corinthians 7:9But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust.
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When You Are Attacked Run
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 teaches us to flee from sexual immorality, but it says so much more. Fleeing literally means run but where are we supposed to run to? We are supposed to run to Jesus and who we are in Him. What does this look like? Here are two quick suggestions to help you run:
- Find Bible verses that talk about your identity in Christ and speak them out loud. This is how Jesus fought temptation He quoted the truth of the Bible and the truth of who He is to the devil.
- Run towards obedience to Jesus. Obedience does not mean just avoiding sin it means doing the good you were created for. In this case, running towards obedience might mean focusing your energy on loving your wife. If you are single, it might mean running towards other activities you can do that will help bring life to other people.
I realize there are many layers we can discuss about battling sexual sin. This post is meant to give you some starting points. You can overcome sexual sin. There is hope.
About
Kirk Giles
Kirk Giles
God Hates Sexual Immorality
Those who love must also hate. Those who love what is good, what is beneficial, what is honorable must hate what is evil, what is harmful, what is deplorable. We are defined by the things we love as well as the things we loathe. And what is true of us is true of God as well . For God to love he must also hate.
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God Can Read Our Hearts And Minds
Through our hearts and minds, we can commit sin. Our thoughts are the beginning of our every action. We must be very careful about what we think as God considers lustful and worldly thoughts as sexually immoral.
He went on: What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a persons heart, that evil thoughts comesexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.
We should think in-line with whats stated in the Bible and according to Christs teachings. This is because God holds us accountable for our thoughts . As much as adultery is punishable by Gods law, so as thinking about it. Desiring or sexually thinking of anyone who is not your other half can also be considered as adultery.
Matthew 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
The 5 Dangers Of Sexual Sin
Before I go into the dangers of sexual sin, its important to define what exactly it is because its not always clear. Here are some of the most common questions I get regarding this topic.
Is masturbation by yourself a sin?
Is flirting a sin if your single?
God has a lot to say about sexual sin, specifically in Corinthians and Ephesians.
However, I think 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 gives us the most comprehensive description regarding sexual sin.
Gods will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honornot in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. Never harm or cheat a Christian brother in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.
The best answer I can give you regarding sexual sin is to really examine your own heart and the motives behind it. If youre wondering if its okay, it probably isnt.
Instead of looking for what you can and cant do regarding sexual sin, ask yourself,
Does this help my relationship with God? or Will this benefit me as a Christian?
These are much more important questions to ask yourself when addressing sin of any kind, including sexual sin.
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Sexual Sin Is An Addiction
People explain sexual sin away with the lie that is an addiction that can be fixed. Once the person who is struggling can just recover, the struggle will go away.
Harry Schaumburg describes it like this:
I believe addictionology plays down the seriousness of sin and the necessity of the work of God when it encourages the sexual addict to accept the theory that recovery will only be successful when they begin to believe that they are a good person at the core and just have a disease
The opposite is true. When dealing with sexual sin we must hold fast to the teaching of Jesus Christ, For from within, out of the heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, andadultery .
Looking back on my strong desire to spend time with someone that belonged to another person, I could have rationalized my desires away or blamed my professor: He should not have been so nice to me. If only I was married, I would not have looked at him. Or I could have thrown up my hands and said, Since I am a sinful creature, I will struggle with this desire my whole life.
That last part is partly true because we will struggle with sin our whole lives. But the truth is that we are also set free from sins grip by the blood of Jesus Christ.
What Is The True Meaning Of Fornication In The Bible
From time to time, there are many things that we wish the Bible spoke more explicitly about than it does. For example, with baptism should we immerse or sprinkle, can women be elders, where did Cains wife come from, do all dogs go to heaven, and so forth? Despite the fact that some passages leave a little more room for interpretation than most of us are comfortable with, there are countless other areas where the Bible leaves no ambiguity at all. What fornication is and what God thinks about it are issues in which there can be no doubt where the Bible stands.
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Biblical Stories About Sexual Immorality
There are many biblical stories in which we can see the acts of sexual immorality. However, that does not mean we can follow those examples and be excused for our disgraceful actions. There were punishments that came upon those who sinned. Sexual immorality has and will always be punished by God in some way. That includes not being allowed into Heaven unless the sinner repents.
Acts 15:29 You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.
This verse was told to the Gentile Christians of Antioch. It explains what is to be done when they commit sexual immorality. Christians should not only be careful in what they say and do but how they speak and act.