Say What?
For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 1 Thessalonians 4:3 NASB
Sexual immorality – Have you ever wondered just how much of our ideas of sexual purity are cultural rather than biblical? Have you considered the apparent evolution of sexual standards from Genesis to the apostolic writings? If you described the sexual behavior of the major characters of Genesis, would their actions be sanctioned today? And what about David? When Paul used the term porneía in this letter, what would the Thessalonians have understood? Is it the same thing we think of when we read the translation?
First, a little etymological history. The word itself means prostitution. The expansion of the definition to include fornication (however that is understood) is not really part of classical Greek. In fact, even prostitution was unknown in the Homeric Age. “Why?” you might ask. The answer is revealing. It has to do with cultural paradigms.
Prostitutes are unknown in the Homeric age, but men often have concubines, e.g., female slaves. Prostitution arises with increasing prosperity. Slaves provide a source, as does depriving alien women of civil rights. The professional “friend” becomes a common figure in Greek society, and since intercourse is regarded as just as natural as eating and drinking, extramarital affairs are permitted for husbands. Yet excess is censured, and Plato defends intercourse with harlots only as long as it is secret and causes no offense.[1]
It wasn’t until the development of Stoicism that extramarital intercourse was associated with defilement of the gods. In the ancient Hebraic world, prostitutes are part of Israel’s history, particularly when there is the threat of sacral sexual activity in fertility cults. Deuteronomy forbids such actions, but they clearly occurred repeatedly. Proverbs “warns against the harlot. This is not just a warning against foreign wisdom, nor against foreigners acting as harlots, nor against the wives of others, but against all women, especially from other areas, that are a source of temptation. The repudiation of cultic prostitution goes hand in hand with a condemnation of all forms of porneía”.[2] But it wasn’t until the rabbis that porneía was expanded to include fornication, adultery, sodomy, unlawful marriage, and sexual intercourse in general. Jubilees is typical in its assessment: “Fornication involves paganism and defiles the individual, the family, and the land. Marriage ties with Gentiles are a form of impurity and desecration.”[3] Jewish isolation from any association with Gentiles led to increased sexual regulations.
So, when Paul writes to the Thessalonian followers of the Messiah who probably came out of the pagan world of sacral prostitution, what do you think they understood by his claim that sanctification is directly linked to abstaining from porneía? Do you suppose that Paul, reflecting the rabbinic aversion to Gentile involvement, tied God’s favor to abstention of sexual context with the outside world? Or did he mean more than that? What was it like living in Thessalonica?
There are so many things we need to know before we naively assume that Paul’s prohibition is simply the biblical endorsement of the Victorians. It isn’t quite as simple as it seems, is it? This doesn’t mean we look for excuses buried in etymology. It means that if we want to know why Paul made this particular claim to the Thessalonians, we need to know what prompted his departure from Israel’s own history. We need to know, if it is even possible, how much of Paul’s view was conditioned by his rabbinic orientation. But, of course, this is important for all of Paul’s claims, not just ones regarding sex. It’s just that sexual behavior is so psychologically crucial to our understanding of ourselves that we often don’t even want to ask the questions.
Topical Index: porneía, sex, prostitution, fornication, 1 Thessalonians 4:3
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 918). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
