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Summary
- The Catholic and Orthodox churches and many Protestant churches teach that sex belongs only within marriage, however much a couple is in love.
- The New Testament forbids porneia, translated “sexual immorality” or “fornication,” and Paul tells unmarried people who cannot exercise self-control to marry (1 Corinthians 7:2, 9).
- The Catholic Catechism calls fornication gravely wrong and says sexual union is legitimate only once “a definitive community of life” has been established (2353, 2391).
- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America frames the question around commitment: it opposes casual sex and does not favor cohabitation, though it does not treat every cohabiting couple alike.
- Sex within marriage is no sin, and the Catechism says spouses “do nothing evil” in seeking its pleasure (Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 7:3–5; Catechism 2362).
- Scholars have argued over how much porneia covers, in articles by Bruce Malina (1972), Joseph Jensen (1978) and Kyle Harper (2012).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version (Mark 7:21; Galatians 5:19; Acts 15:29; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, 18; 7:2–5, 9; Hebrews 13:4; Exodus 22:16–17; Deuteronomy 22:22; Genesis 2:24–25; Proverbs 5:18–19; James 1:14–15; Matthew 5:28; 1 John 4:7) and the King James Version (1 Corinthians 6:18, “fornication”). https://www.biblegateway.com/
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1735, 1753, 1755, 2350, 2351, 2353, 2362 and 2391. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM
- Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, “Synodal Affirmations on Marriage, Family, Sexuality, and the Sanctity of Life” (1992). https://www.oca.org/holy-synod/statements/holy-synod/synodal-affirmations-on-marriage-family-sexuality-and-the-sanctity-of-life
- Southern Baptist Convention, The Baptist Faith and Message (2000), article XVIII, “The Family.” https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/
- The Book of Common Prayer (1662), “The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony.” https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/form-solemnization-matrimony
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, A Social Statement on Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust (2009), sections on commitment and sexuality and on sexual intimacy and adult cohabitation. https://elcamediaresources.blob.core.windows.net/cdn/wp-content/uploads/SexualitySS.pdf
- Bruce Malina, “Does Porneia Mean Fornication?” Novum Testamentum 14, no. 1 (1972): 10–17. https://doi.org/10.2307/1560033
- Joseph Jensen, “Does Porneia Mean Fornication? A Critique of Bruce Malina,” Novum Testamentum 20, no. 3 (1978): 161–184. https://doi.org/10.2307/1560427
- Kyle Harper, “Porneia: The Making of a Christian Sexual Norm,” Journal of Biblical Literature 131, no. 2 (2012): 363–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/23488230
- Jennifer A. Glancy, “The Sexual Use of Slaves: A Response to Kyle Harper on Jewish and Christian Porneia,” Journal of Biblical Literature 134, no. 1 (2015): 215–229. https://doi.org/10.1353/jbl.2015.0003
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