Coveting – Wrong and Right Desire

The verb covet came into English in the 1200s AD from the Old French word covoitier.  “Covet” was used in the Wycliffe Bible (1395 AD), Coverdale Bible (1535), Tyndale Bible (1536), KJV (1611), and others.  In the middle English of that period, covet could refer to either a right/good desire or a wrong/bad desire.  “Covet” was like a synonym for the verb “desire”.

Use of the word covet is becoming less common in today’s society.  Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines covet: 1. “To wish for earnestly. [e.g.] covet an award.”  2. “To desire (what belongs to another) inordinately.”  Coveting is a desire for what a person doesn’t have, or doesn’t have enough of.  An earnest desire can be right or wrong, good or evil.  Coveting of itself is ‘morally neutral’.  The context of the Bible verse/passage shows whether that coveting was good or bad.

We may usually think of coveting as a wrong desire, for something a person cannot rightfully have some day.  The Lord’s Ten Commandments/Decalogue/Testimony doesn’t forbid all coveting; basically they forbid the coveting of what belongs to another, an inordinate desire.

Ex.20:17 “You shall not covet [chamád Strongs h2530, Hebrew] your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet [chamad] your neighbor’s wife, his servants, his work animals …anything that belongs to your neighbor.”  De.5:21 “Neither shall you desire [chamad] your neighbor’s wife, neither shall you covet [aváh h183] your neighbor’s house, his field, servants, work animals…or anything that is your neighbor’s.”  (Also idolaters desired/coveted other gods.)

Following are Old Testament (OT) verses which contain Hebrew and Greek Septúagint/LXX verbs translated “desire”, “covet”, “delight”, etc. in English.  Verses which reflect a right/good desire are in bold text; verses which reflect a wrong/bad desire are in normal text.

One such Hebrew verb is chamad h2530.  It occurs 20 times in the OT: Ge.2:9, 3:6; Ex.20:17, 34:24; De.5:21, 7:25; Jsh.7:21; Jb.20:20; Ps.19:10, Ps.68:16; Pr.1:22, 6:25, 12:12, Pr. 21:20; SSol.2:3; Is.1:29, 44:9, 53:2; Mi.2:2.  Chamad usually referred to wrong/bad desires.

Another Hebrew verb translated “desire”, “covet”, “lust for”, “long for” “crave”, etc. is avah h183.  It occurs 26 times in the OT: Nu.11:4; De.5:21, De.12:20, De.14:26; 1Sm.2:16; 2Sm.3:21, 2Sm.23:15; 1Ki.11:37; 1Ch.11:17; Jb.23:13; Ps.45:11, 106:14, Ps.132:13-14; Pr.13:4, 21:10, 21:26, 21:10, 23:3, 6, 24:1; Ec.6:2; Is.26:9; Je.17:16; Am.5:18, Mi.7:1.  Avah reflects both wrong/bad and right/good desires.

The Greek verb translated “desire”, “covet”, “lust for”, etc. in the OT Septuagint/LXX is epithuméo g1937.  It occurs 42 times.  This Greek word corresponds to both the Hebrew OT chamad h2530 and avah h183.  Epithumeo in the LXX also shows covet/desire as being either bad or good.  As good, ref LXX: De.12:20; De.14:26; 2Sm.3:21; 1Ki.11:37; Ps.45:11; SSol.2:3; Is.26:9.  Bible scholar Spiros Zódiates: Epithumeo “To desire in a good sense…[and] in a bad sense.”

This same Greek verb epithumeo g1937 occurs 16 times in the New Testament (NT): Mt.5:28, Mt.13:17; Lk.15:16, Lk.16:21, Lk.17:22, Lk.22:15; Ac.20:33; Ro.7:7, 13:9; 1Co.10:6; Ga.5:17; 1Ti.3:1; He.6:11; Ja.4:2; 1Pe.1:12; Re.9:6.  Epithumeo in the NT can be either a right/good or a wrong/bad desire.  Again, “covet” is a verb.

Some Greek nouns also relate to coveting.  Pleonexéa g4124 is rendered “covetousness” or greediness.  Dr. Spiros Zodiates: Pleonexea “Covetousness, the desire for having more or for what he has not.”  It occurs 10 times in the NT: Mk.7:22; Lk.12:15; Ro.1:29; 2Co.9:5; Ep.4:19, 5:3; Col.3:5; 1Th.2:5; 2Pe.2:3, 14.  The noun pleonexea, covetousness, indicated a wrong or inordinate desire in scripture.  Never a right desire!  This is unlike the (three) Hebrew & Greek verbs examined above, where “covet” or “desire” of itself was neutral; those verbs could reflect a desire either bad or good.

This Greek noun pleonexea g4124 in the OT LXX is rendered “covetousness” 4 times, “gain”/“spoils” 2 times: Ps.119:36; Is.28:8; Je.22:17; Hab.2:9; and Jg.5:19; Ezk.22:27.  In the LXX verses, covetousness or dishonest gain as a noun indicated a wrong desire…not a right or good desire.

(A corresponding OT Hebrew noun is béhtsah h1215; it occurs 23 times.  The KJV renders it “covetousness” in 10 of those 23 times; all reflect a bad desire: Ex.18:21; Ps.119:36; Pr.28:16; Is.57:17; Je.6:13, 8:10, 22:17, 51:13; Ezk.33:31; Hab.2:9.)

Another Greek noun is pleonéktes g4123, rendered “covetous”.  Although it doesn’t occur in the LXX, there are 4 NT occurrences: 1Co.5:10-11, 6:10; Ep.5:5. The apostle Paul took wrong coveting seriously!

Other Hebrew and Greek nouns relative to “lusts” (e.g. epithumía g1939) aren’t detailed in this topic.

The Greek verb zaylóo g2206 (corresponding to the OT Hebrew qanáh h7065) meant to “envy, be jealous, be zealous, desire strongly”.  It occurs 30 times in the OT LXX.  Also 12 times in the NT: Ac.7:9, 17:5; 1Co.13:4, 1Co.14:1; 2Co.11:2; Ga.4:17 (2), Ga.4:18; Ja.4:2; Re.3:19.  Paul exhorted in 1Co.12:31 KJV & 1Co.14:39 KJV, “Covet earnestly [zayloo] the best gifts”…. “Brethren, covet [zayloo] to prophesy.”  Zayloo g2206 reflects both right desire/coveting/zeal and wrong envy/zeal.

There are additional Hebrew and Greek verbs rendered in English as “take delight in”, “to desire”, “to please”, etc. in various Bible versions.  Those verbs aren’t addressed here.

The Wýcliffe Bible, completed by 1395 AD, was the first Bible in (middle) English.  It was handwritten and copied prior to the invention of the printing press.  Three sample verses from the Wycliffe Bible that reflect “covet” as good:  David and his son Solomon desired to build the house for God, the temple.  Solomon said in 2Chr.2:5 WYC, “The house which I covet to build is great, forsooth [indeed] the Lord our God is great over all gods”.  Paul wrote to the saints in Php.1:8 WYC, “I covet all (of) you in the bowels [inner self] of Jesus Christ”.  In the apocrypha, Sirach wrote of Wisdom in Sir.24:26 WYC (with modern spelling), “All ye that covet me, pass or come to me, and be ye filled….”  Coveting can be good.

The Tyndale Bible, translated from Hebrew and Greek texts, was completed by 1536 AD.  It preceded the 1611 KJV by 75 years.  The Coverdale Bible date is 1535 AD.  1Tim.3:1 TYN/COV “If ye man covets the office of a bishop, he desires a good worke.”  Again, coveting could be good; in middle English the word “covet” meant either good or evil desire.  However, coveting usually reflected evil desire (as in Ex.20:17 KJV & De.5:21 KJV).  In regards to the sluggard in Pr.21:26 KJV, “He covets greedily all day long, but the righteous gives and spareth not”.

bible.org: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Coveting “We must be very careful not to conclude that all coveting is evil.”  ecclesia.org: To Covet and Lust Can Be Good, Not Evil “Covet’ and ‘lust’ are neutral words.”  Woodlands Bible Church: Thou Shalt Not Covet “The word ‘covet’ can be used both of good things and bad things.”  av1611 KJV Dictionary Definition: Covet “To desire or wish for, in a good sense. To desire inordinately, in a bad sense.”

The middle English usage of “covet” better reflects the meanings of the old Hebrew verbs for “desire”, chamad h2530 and avah h183.  Again, both of those Hebrew terms could reflect an evil/wrong desire or a good/right desire.  The same goes for the Greek verb epithumeo g1937; it reflected either good or bad.

Although those ancient language terms usually indicated bad desire, the terms of themselves were neutral.  Again, the context determined whether they referred to bad or good, wrong or right.

The Aramaic Bible in Plain English Pr.21:20 “There is coveted treasure and oil in the dwelling of a wise man.”  This Aramaic translation too reflects that “covet” could be good (or bad).

When “covet” is used in modern English, it often denotes bad desire.  Yet saying ‘I covet your prayers’ indicates good desire.  Our word “covet” still reflects both.  As did “covet” in the KJV.  And the KJV continues to be the most popular Bible version in America.  That dual moral intent is still read today.

The task of Bible translation has been called an ‘inexact science’.  Languages change over the centuries, as etymology shows.  Yet more than 400 years ago, “covet” could indicate either right or wrong desire.

The Ten Commandments of Ex.20 and De.5 forbid theft…the act of stealing wives (adultery), property, possessions belonging to another.  Also, the Decalogue forbids idolatry, the act of desiring/worshiping pagan gods (cf. Col.3:5 coveting & idolatry).  But the 10^th Commandment regarding wrong coveting forbids the desiring (the craving, lusting), the thought of the heart, for that which belongs to another.

Jesus referred to the 7^th commandment in Mt.5:27, “You shall not commit adultery”.  v.28 “Whoever looks at a woman [wife, guné g1135] to lust [epithumeo g1937] for her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”  Such lusting/coveting broke the 10^th Commandment.  Again, in the Greek OT LXX Ex.20:17 & De.5:21, the verb rendered “covet” is epithumeo.  Coveting preceded taking/theft.

Inordinate coveting can lead to more sins, such as stealing, perjury, and even murder.

We read of incidents of wrong desire/coveting in scripture.  Jsh.7:21 Achán wrongly coveted a garment and silver & gold from among the spoils of Jericho.  1Ki.21:1-29 king Aháb of Israel desired the vineyard owned by a man named Nabóth.  When Naboth refused to sell it to him, Ahab & queen Jezébel conspired to have Naboth stoned to death.  Coveting led to murder.  2Ki.5:14-27 the prophet Elisha’s servant Gehazí coveted, wanting to get presents from the recently healed Syrian general Naamán.  But instead, Gehazi got Naaman’s leprosy!  Ac.5:1-11 Ananías & his wife Sapphíra coveted the proceeds from their land sale in Jerusalem.  They both died.  (see the topic “Lying – Ananias & Sapphira”.)

Ja.1:14-15 “Each person is tempted when he is enticed by his own evil desire [epithumia g1939, noun]. Then when the desire has conceived it gives birth to sin; and when sin is finished, it brings forth death.”  That’s a grave cause and effect, written by Jesus’ relative James!  1Jn.2:16 the desire (epithumia) for wrong selfish gratification, ever-increasing possessions, boastful pride…isn’t from Father God.

All men have desires (chamad & avah); we covet, for right or wrong.  But to desire anything that God disallows us is wrong desiring, wrong ‘coveting’ in a sense!  The desire to amass excessive wealth or possessions far beyond the needs of our family members can be covetousness or avarice.  Perhaps that was the mindset of the rich young ruler who questioned Jesus (Mk.10:17-23)?  Paul wrote in 1Ti.6:8-10, “Having food and clothing, with these let us be content. For the love of money is a root of evil.”  Money as a medium of exchange or even as a store of value/wealth isn’t bad of itself…it’s the love of money or greed that’s bad. (see the three-part series “Money”.)  Php.4:19 God will supply all our needs!

Pornography is a form of wrong desire.  It’s not wrong for a man to view beach pictures of his own wife or a single woman who may well become his someday.  But to lustfully view explicit pics of another man’s wife or a woman he could never in time come to rightfully have…is wrong coveting.

Wrong coveting can be insidious.  The sin of coveting may not show any outward manifestation at first.  It may not be apparent to other people.  They may not be aware that a wrong craving exists in the heart of another.  But God knows our hearts!  1Ki.8:39 “You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men.”

In Ro.7:7 KJV (and Ro.13:9) Paul referred to the Lord’s law about coveting, “Thou shalt not covet [epithumeo g1937]”.  Paul’s brief truncation here of the 10^th Commandment may give the impression that all coveting is bad.  But that’s not always the case in scripture, as we’ve seen!  Again, Ex.20:17 & De.5:21 only refer to wrong, inordinate coveting/desiring for that which belongs to another person.  Ro.7:8-ff Paul went on to confess his own struggles against coveting and sin.  He agonized in v.24, “O wretched man that I am”.  It’s part of our human nature to pursue self-indulgence, not always for good.

Merriam-Webster defines self-indulgence: “Excessive gratification of one’s own appetites or desires.”  Most all persons naturally love themselves and want to preserve their life.  Yet we may indulge in, crave or covet things, practices or habits which don’t truly reflect love of self (or love of others).

We all need leisure time & recreation.  But some fill their minds with violent video games or too much gaming and entertainment in general.  People may crave and become addicted to: drugs, smoking, alcoholic drink, gluttony, sugary desserts & soft drinks which make our bodies too acidic, excessive TV watching or time on the cell phone, sloth, gambling, sports, ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, etc.

Self-control/self-restraint is a fruit of the Spirit (Ga.5:23)!  Our lives should reflect a right balance of beneficial activities.  Pr.25:27 “It’s not good to eat much honey.”  We should practice moderation.  BibleReasons: Moderation “Don’t be obsessed with anything in your life, except for the Lord.”  We’re not to idolize or value any person or thing more than the true God!  We’re to be doing His will.

Ask ourselves…What would Jesus do regarding an inclination or a want we have, if He was in our shoes today?  Paul said, “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2Co.10:5).  Pr.4:23 “Guard your heart with all diligence.”  How may we guard our heart against wrong desires?  Our hearts tend to wander.

Maintaining an attitude of thankfulness is a means by which we can protect our heart from improper thoughts taking root.  We’re to be thankful for the Lord’s provision and how He’s blessed us!  Paul exhorted in 1Th.5:18, “Give thanks in every circumstance. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  And Ep.5:3-4, “Let sexual immorality, impurity, or covetousness [pleonexea g4124] not even be named among you. Not obscene or foolish talking or vulgar joking, but instead, giving thanks.”

Jon Bloom Fill Your Wandering Heart With Thankfulness “The more it [thankfulness] grows in you, the more spiritual health you will experience, and the less power sin will wield over you.”

We can cultivate the habit of thankfulness, of gratitude.  A grateful heart focuses more on the blessings God has given us, less on (wrong) wants we don’t have.

Yet that’s not to say we shouldn’t have right desires or plans for our future, according to God’s will for us.  Ps.37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  The Lord will fulfill the right desires He puts in our heart!  Php.2:13 “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure.”  God works in our hearts through the Holy Spirit He has given, 1Co.6:19.

So let’s say ‘No’ to wrong desires (some of chamad & avah, Hebrew) if/when they come to mind.  Instead, let’s be mindful to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in our daily walk.  And may the Lord graciously influence our hearts by His Spirit, to accomplish His desires & His purposes in our lives!

Ten Commandments in Genesis & Job

This topic will focus on the Ten Commandments, as found in the books of Genesis and Job.  Prior to the time God gave the Ten Commandments (so-called) to Moses/Israel at Sinai in Exodus 20.

The books of Genesis and Job reflect most of the moral directives or laws that were later codified for Israel and the Jewish people in the Mosaic Law.  My topic “Genesis Principles Predate Moses” notes three dozen of God’s principles seen or implied in Genesis.  James Bruckner Implied Law in the Abraham Narrative, p.67 “Genesis is embedded with law.”

God’s righteous standards for mankind and the Kingdom of God, and even glimpses of Christ’s gospel, are seen in the book of Genesis.  Albertus Pieters Notes On Genesis “Whoever has learned the Genesis stories has learned all the chief things that can be known about God (apart from the incarnation of God in Christ)…of permanent institutions for the well-being of mankind; we have here the institution of the Sabbath, marriage, government, and worship.”  A careful reading of the Genesis narrative bears this out.

Genesis was written/compiled by Moses, as inspired by God’s Holy Spirit.  It tells of ancient non-Jews.  Some of them applied God’s ways, while others violated the principles of God and His Kingdom.

The Lord said of the gentile/non-Jew Abraham in Ge.26:5, “Abraham obeyed My voice, kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws”.  Also Wisdom of Sirach 44:20 KJV 1611 edition “Abraham kept the law of the Most High.”  Abraham, living ca 2000 BC, was obedient to the Lord.  Abraham followed God’s principles/commandments, known in Genesis.  (also ref “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?”.)

The book of Job shows that Job practiced the Golden Rule.  Jesus said in Mt.7:12, “However you want people to treat you, so treat them”.  Jb.1:1 “Job was blameless, upright, fearing God.”  Righteous Job (Ezk.14:14) cared for others (e.g. Jb.31:16-20)….ca 1700 BC.  Jb.1:8 the Lord called Job “My servant”.  Job was the greatest man in the East (Jb.1:3).  He wasn’t Jewish.  The patriarch Job lived for 200 years (cf. Jb.42:16).  Job’s trials probably were in the 1700s BC.  see “Job and the Land of Uz”.

Among the ancient gentile Godfearers who obeyed God…were Abraham (Ge.22:12) and Job (Jb.2:3).

In Genesis and Job, there’s no nation of Israel.  Later, the Lord had Moses codify the Decalogue or Ten Commandments, seen in Ex.20 & De.5.  The Old Covenant for Israel/Jews contained the Ten Commandments and other moral precepts/laws existent in Genesis, which ancient righteous gentiles such as Abraham & Job obeyed earlier.  (The Old Covenant also contained ceremonial rituals not seen in Genesis or Job.)

Expositor’s Greek Testament Ga.3:19 “The prohibitions of the Ten Commandments….these sins prevailed before the law [of Moses].”  A close reading of actions in Genesis and Job reveals both knowledge of and violations of the commandments which later became the Decalogue for Israel.

Evangelical Old Testament scholar Walter Kaiser wrote in God’s Promise Plan and His Gracious Law: “So endemic is the moral law to the whole of the Mosaic law that evidences for its abiding nature can be found in the fact that even before it was given on Sinai it was held to be normative and binding on all who aspired to living by faith. In fact every one of the Ten Commandments is already implicitly found in the Genesis record even before their publication on Sinai. Moses didn’t invent the moral law; God did, and He had already been holding men and women responsible for heeding it millennia before he finally wrote it on tablets of stone.”  Living by faith included living by God’s Ten Commandments.

We’ll now go through the Ten Commandments from 1 to 10, according to Ex.20:1-17.  As we go, we’ll also show them as implied in the books of Genesis and Job….obeyed or disobeyed…prior to 1700 BC.

#1) Ex.20:1-3 “God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I AM the Lord your God…You shall have no other gods besides Me.”  In Ge.1–2 the Lord God is identified as the Creator.  He is the true Deity.  God told Abram in Ge.15:7, “I AM the Lord who brought you out of Ur”.  Abraham’s servant said in Ge.24:48, “I bowed and worshiped the Lord; and blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham”.  Jb.1:21 “Job said, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  Jb.42:1-2 “Job answered the Lord, ‘I know that You can do all things.”  Abraham and Job knew the Lord God.  They didn’t worship pagan gods.  Ge.35:1-2 “God said to Jacob [Abraham’s grandson]…‘make an altar to God.’ So Jacob said to his household and to all with him, ‘Put away the strange gods which are among you.”  Jacob rid his house of other gods.

#2) Ex.20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourselves an idol or any likeness [graven image or petroglyph] of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath….you shall not worship them or serve them.”  The Lord forbad the worship of carved images or heavenly bodies.  Jacob’s father-in-law Labán was an idolator.  Ge.31:35 “He [Laban] searched, but didn’t find his idols [terraphím, Hebrew].  Again, Jacob and his household put away their own idols.  Ge.35:4 “Jacob buried them [idol gods] under the oak near Shechém.”  Job acknowledged in Jb.31:26-28, “If I regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon, so that I worshiped them with my mouth and hands, that would have been iniquity…I would have denied God above.”  Job knew that worshiping/idolizing heavenly bodies would’ve belied the true Creator God.

#3) Ex.20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”  Abraham enjoined his servant in Ge.24:3, “I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth”.  Abraham’s requirement that his servant take a solemn oath in the name of the Lord indicates they understood the name of God isn’t to be taken in vain.  Abraham himself swore in Ge.14:22, “I raise my hand to the Lord God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth”.  Misusing God’s name can mean taking His name lightly, blaspheming or cursing Him.  Job’s wife berated Job in Jb.2:9-10, “Curse [or renounce, Cambridge Bible] God and die….In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.”  In all his trials, Job didn’t take the Lord’s name in vain.  Job blessed God’s name (Jb.1:21).

#4) Ex.20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and rested on the 7^th day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”  In the Bible, the 7^th day was the first thing God made holy!  After Creation, Christ ceased or rested in Ge.2:1-3. “By the 7^th day God finished His work which He had done, and He ceased on the 7^th day. Then God blessed the 7^th day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which He had created and made.”  This was the beginnings of 7^th day sabbath rest.  JFB Commentary Ge.2:3 “The institution of the Sabbath is as old as creation.”  Pulpit Commentary Ge.2:3 “A 7^th day Sabbath must have been prescribed to man in Eden.”  Dwight L. Moody Weighed and Wanting, p.47 “The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since.  Matthew Henry Commentary Ge.8:12 “Having kept the sabbath with his little church, he [Noah] expected special blessings.”  JFB Ge.8:12 “Seven days – a strong presumptive proof that Noah observed the Sabbath in the ark.”  Ellicott Commentary Ex.16:23 “Much can be said in favor of the primeval institution of the Sabbath, and its having been known to the family of Abraham.”  Matthew Henry Ge.2:1 “Sabbaths are as ancient as the world; and I see no reason to doubt that the Sabbath…was religiously observed by the people of God throughout the patriarchal age.”  The patriarchal age included Abraham & Job.  The 7-day week, known by the ancients, was a customary time period for feasting (Ge.29:27) and mourning (Ge.50:10, Jb.2:13).  Ex.16:27-29 God’s 7^th day sabbath law already existed before He gave the Decalogue in Ex.20.  In the (supposed) Book of Jasher 70:47, a Pharaoh had decreed 7^th day rest for Israelites decades prior to the Exodus.  (also see the series, “Sabbath 7^th Day”.)

#5) Ex.20:12 “Honor your father and your mother.”  We see examples in Genesis of sons honoring, and dishonoring, their parents.  Ge.25:8-10 “His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him [Abraham].”  They gave their father a proper burial.  Ge.28:7 “Jacob obeyed his father and mother [Isaac and Rebekah].”  But Ge.9:24-26, “When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.”  Dishonoring a parent or grandparent is wrong.  Ge.38:8-10 Onán disobeyed his father Judah, and the Lord took Onan’s life.  Job’s trials included the deaths of his sons & daughters (Jb.1:18-19).  Job was stripped of his honor and dignity; his relatives and associates avoided him (Jb.19:9-19).  However, respect or honor for elders in general is seen in Job.  Jb.32:4-7 “Elihú had waited to speak to Job because they were years older than he.”  The younger man Elihu deferred to Job and Job’s three friends, allowing them to speak first.  JFB Commentary “In deference to the seniority of the friends who spoke.”

#6) Ex.20:13 “You shall not murder.”  Murder was committed in Ge.4:8. “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”  Consequently, God cursed Cain from the land (v.9-13).  God commanded Noah in Ge.9:5-6, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man”.  Murder is a capital crime; it was condemned from the beginning.  Jb.24:14a “The murderer arises at dawn; he kills the poor and the needy.”  The poor may be cruelly killed, because they have no more that can be taken from them.  Job asserted himself against any charge of hypocrisy in Jb.31:39. “If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or caused the owners to lose their life.”  Pulpit Commentary “Either by actual violence or by depriving them of the means of support.”  Job was a wealthy man of renown.  But he didn’t kill others to take possession of their land (cf. 1Ki.21:18-19).

#7) Ex.20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.”  Adultery occurs when a man has sexual relations with a woman who is married or betrothed to another man.  The ancients knew adultery was sin.  Ge.20:6-9 conversing with Abraham, Abimélech referred to adultery as a great sin.  Also ref Ge.26:10-11, where sleeping with Isaac’s wife Rebekah would’ve brought guilt upon anyone who did so.  Ge.39:7-9 “The master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘How could I do this great evil and sin against God?”  Joseph viewed adultery as a great evil!  Jb.24:15 “The eye of the adulterer waits for the dusk, thinking, ‘No one is watching us.’ He disguises his face.”  Also Jb.31:9-11 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or I have lurked at my neighbor’s door….it would be an iniquity.”  Having sex with a neighbor’s wife is iniquity.  Adultery was sin for gentiles/non-Jews too…long before Christ’s Decalogue was codified for Israel at Sinai.

#8) Ex.20:15 “You shall not steal.”  Regarding Jacob’s wages, Jacob said to Laban in Ge.30:33, “If I have any goats that aren’t speckled or spotted, or any lambs that aren’t black, it will be counted stolen by me”.  Joseph’s brothers asserted to his house steward in Ge.44:8, “How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? If any of us has it, let him die.”  Many ancient nations had severe (or excessive) punishment for theft.  Jb.24:14b “At night he is as a thief.”  The Sabeáns and Chaldéans raided & stole Job’s livestock in Jb.1:14-17.  Theft was a crime from the beginning.  Robert Flockhart The Street Preacher, p.16 “Eve stole the forbidden fruit, and Adam partook of it [Ge.2:16-17, 3:6].”

#9) Ex.20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”  The Lord God said man would surely die if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Ge.2:17).  But the serpent then spoke falsely to Eve about God’s declaration.  The serpent said in Ge.3:4, “You shall not surely die”.  In Ge.39:14-20, the wife of Joseph’s master falsely claimed that Joseph had tried to rape her.  Her false charge resulted in Joseph being sentenced to prison (perhaps for life).  False witness and lies can have grave consequences.  Job maintained his integrity, as seen in the following verses: Jb.6:28 “Please look at me, and see if I lie to your face.”  Jb.24:25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false and make my speech worthless?”  Jb.27:4 “My lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue utter deceit.”  Jb.31:5-6 “If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit, let God weigh me on just scales.”  Jb.36:4 “Be assured that my words are not false.”  False witness and lies were wrong…before Sinai.

#10) Ex.20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”  To covet wrongly is to (illicitly) desire something we can’t come to rightfully have or obtain someday.  Ge.3:6 “The woman [Eve] saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes, that it was desirable to make one wise.”  Eve coveted the fruit from the forbidden tree…and she ate from it.  Wrong coveting can lead to overt sins such as stealing, adultery, violence and murder.  Ge.6:5 “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great, and that every intent of the thought of his heart was evil continually.”  Coveting begins in the heart.  Laban coveted wealth and cheated Jacob (Ge.31:7), who worked for him.  Job said in Jb.31:7 ISV, “If my heart covets whatever my eyes see….”  Carteret Carey Theology in the Book of Job, p.27 “Covetousness is regarded in the light of idolatry (31:24-25).”  The apostle Paul tied coveting to idolatry in Col.3:5. “Covetousness [or greed], which is idolatry.”  Wrong covetousness was in Eden.  also see the topic “Coveting – Wrong and Right Desire”.

In the above paragraphs, we’ve found the Lord’s Ten Commandments (implied) in the books of Genesis and Job, for ancient gentiles/non-Jews.  Yes, God had moral laws in Genesis, from the beginning.  1Jn.3:8 “The devil sins from the beginning.”  Sin isn’t imputed when there is no law, according to Paul (Ro.5:13).  Barnes Notes Ro.5:13 “There must have been a law of some kind.”  God’s laws, which show how to love God and love our neighbor, existed from Creation…for all of mankind.

Bruckner op. cit., p.208-209 “Law is presented, in this first canonical book of scripture [Genesis], as part of the created order….The basis for all cultures and times. Thinking of Biblical law in the context of creation as prior to the Sinaitic covenant…establishes Biblical law as operative beyond the confines of a historical past or a single culture, and establishes it in the bone and flesh of created humanity.”

To relegate the Ten Commandments solely to the Old Covenant of Ex.20 for Israel, is short-sighted.  The principles of the Ten Commandments long predate both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant!  They are common to all mankind.

Between the lines of Genesis and Job are seen God’s righteous standards, including the Ten Commandments.  Re.22:14 KJV “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life.”  Gentiles and Jews who are obedient to God’s commandments, living forever with the Lord Jesus.  Praise God!

Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape – (2)

Foundational scriptures for this topic were addressed in “Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape – (1)”.  Part 1  laid the groundwork for (2).  Verses noted in (1), not restated here, are essential to better grasp Part 2!

In Part 1, the various types of sexual immorality were listed.  Two definitive passages are Le.20:10-22, 5-6 and Le.18:5-24.  Those scriptures tell us what sexual sin is, according to the Lord’s standard (not men’s standards).  Sexual sin includes: adultery, incest, beastiality, homosexuality/lesbianism, transvestism, menstrual sex, idolatrous prostitution.  Pornography is a form of wrong coveting, if the desired object is illicit or cannot be rightfully obtained.  Paul wrote in 1Co.6:9, “The unrighteous won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolators, adulterers, nor practicing homosexuals will inherit the kingdom.”  Sexual acts which the nations today deem as/not as sexual sin…may or may not be sin, based upon the true standard of God’s written word.

Children born from forbidden adulterous or incestuous relationships weren’t the guilty ones.  Yet they were excluded from eldership or government in Israel; see De.23:2 in Matthew Poole Commentary and Gill Exposition.

Jesus said, Mt.19:9-10 “Whoever puts away his wife, except it be for sexual immorality [pornéia], and marries another [wife], commits adultery”.  In the New Testament (NT), porneia (Strongs g4202, Greek) meant any type of sexual sin (Le.18 & Le.20).  Any type is just cause for divorce.  Pulpit Commentary “All illicit connection is described by this term, it cannot be limited to one particular kind of transgression.”  Christ in the NT didn’t contradict what the Lord Christ had instructed Moses/Israel (De.6:1) in De.24:1-4. “When a man marries a woman and she displeases him because he finds some indecency in her, he writes her a bill of divorce.”  But in Jesus’ day, many wrongly thought that wives could be divorced for any cause.

In Mt.19, Christ wasn’t giving a comprehensive sermon on marriage.  Jesus didn’t address desertion, serious neglect, or marriages where there is physical brutality…and the life of a spouse or child may be endangered.  In Jesus’ day among Jews, remarriage was assumed for the innocent spouse.  But Jesus indicated that remarriage with those not having just cause for divorce can be sin.  Remarriage (to a Christian, 2Co.6:14) is permissible in cases involving porneia, brutality, life endangerment, desertion.  1Co.7:15 after abandonment, the spouse needn’t remain in the bondage of that marriage…he/she is free to remarry and have children.  Christ didn’t disapprove of all remarriage (e.g. De.24:2).  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (He.13:8).

Although a lifestyle of harlotry can have grave consequences, lay prostitution wasn’t sin or iniquity that required strict penalty or even an expiating animal sacrifice.  That is, if it wasn’t religious harlotry (temple prostitution) and she wasn’t married or still living at home.  Part 1 examined Bible passages.

Jesus declared in Mt.21:31-32, “Truly I say to you that tax collectors and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you”.  Jesus said the harlots who believed John the Baptizer will go into the kingdom of God before those Jewish leaders who opposed Him!  (Must all harlots and tax collectors change jobs…did Zacchéus, Lk.19:1-10…must IRS agents?!)

The Greek term porneia (g4202) referred to idolatrous harlotry in the Septúagint/LXX, then to sexual sin in general in the NT.  In the LXX, it’s one of four Greek terms used for zanáh (h2181), which occurs 93 times in the Hebrew Bible, ‘be a harlot’.  (Also porneia is used for h2183 & h2184, meaning whoredoms.)  Porneúo (g4203), the verb form of porneia, meant to practice idolatrous prostitution.  Porné (g4204) usually referred to secular prostitutes.  The LXX ekporneúo (g1608, occurs 36 times) was one given over to idolatrous sex.  Also the NT pórnos (g4205, 10 occurrences: 1Co.5:9-11, 6:9, Ep.5:5, 1Ti.1:10, He.12:16, 13:4, Re.21:8, 22:15) comes from pernemi or pernáo, ‘to sell’.  It was used for a male prostitute, a sodomite or a catamite.  It is sin.  That’s five Greek Bible terms for harlotry.

The term “fornication” originated from two Latin words, “fornix” and “fornicare”.  A fornix was the vaulted archway of the cellar place where prostitutes sold their bodies, to marrieds & singles.  A man who visited a brothel was a fornicare.  Fornication pertained to sex for sale, not premarital sex!

Somewhere along the way, Christianity adapted or devised a different meaning for fornication.  That is, fornication became equated with premarital or unmarried sex!  Berean Bible Church “Fornication’, i.e. the Greek ‘porneia’, actually describes a much larger class of activities, however, than ‘intercourse between unmarried people.”  Various sex acts are porn.  Actually, in Bible times women married young, age 13-14, so any window after puberty for premarital sex was quite small.  Since the meaning of “fornication” has changed over the centuries, I rarely use the term, so as not to be ambiguous.

Religious prostitution was used in the worship of pagan gods.  Ac.15:29 the church is to avoid sacrificing to pagan gods with: blood, unslaughtered animals, prostitution.  (also see the topic “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)  Re.2:14 some in the Pérgamos church were engaging in cult prostitution as worship.  Sexual immorality figuratively relates to pagan gods.  Le.17:7 “They must no longer sacrifice to goat demons, to whom they play the harlot.”  Sacrificing to demon idols was a form of idolatry & whoredom.  In Nu.25:1-8, the Israelites played the harlot when the daughters of Moab invited them to offer sacrifices to the god Báal-Péor…this included religious sex.  Ex.19:15-17 sex was to be completely separate from worship of the true God, unlike sex rites for pagan gods.  Ex.20:26 Israelite priests were not to show any nakedness in performing their duties.

1Co.6:15-20 “He who is joined to a harlot is one body with her. For it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh’. Flee porneia! Your body is the temple of God.”  cf. Ge.2:24 & Mt 19:5.  Paul indicates that “one flesh” means more like general organic union than one husband & one wife.  Because…a harlot has many partners with whom she is “one flesh”, not just one man; and for that matter, a man could visit more than one harlot.  When Paul wrote to Corinth, idolatrous temple prostitution prevailed in the area.  There were 1,000 priestesses at the temple of Aphrodíte on Acro-Corinth!  Ancient heathens thought sex rites would cause the gods to become so moved to make the soil fertile.

Christ had warned ancient Israel in Ex.34:14-17, “You shall not worship any other god, and not cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods. You shall not make any molten gods.”  No more golden calf sensual revelry either! (see Pulpit Commentary Ex.32:6, Ellicott Commentary, Gill Exposition.)

Ho.8:9 “Ephráim has hired lovers.”  Israel was trusting in their allies rather than their God.  Ho.9:1 “You have gone whoring from your God.”  They made alliances with nations who worship pagan gods.  But Israel & Judah were metaphorically married to the Lord (Je.31:32, Is.54:5)!  They were His wives (Ezk.23).  Israel & Judah became Christ’s adulterous wives; so He sent away them both into captivity.

Married harlots are adulteresses.  Pr.7:10-11 “A woman dressed as a harlot. She is loud and defiant; her feet don’t abide at home.”  v.18-21 she says “Come, let us take our fill of love. My husband isn’t at home, he’s gone on a long journey.”  Since this prostitute is married, any sexual relationship she has with another man is adultery.  Ezk.23:2-5, 11, 45-47, Ezk.16:2, 8, 35-38 Israel/Samaria & Judah were as married prostitutes.  Ho.1:1-3 God even instructed the prophet Hosea to marry a harlot, to symbolize God’s own marriage to adulterous, idolatrous ancient Israel.

Re.17:1, 5 “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.”  She was the metaphorical epitome of (adulterous) religious sex.  Re.18:7 she boasted, “I sit as a queen and am not a widow”.  But Re.19:2 “God has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth [Land] with her immorality [porneia].” (see the topic “Babylon the Great’ in Revelation”.)

The ‘oldest profession’, public prostitution, wasn’t ‘sin’ that required an animal sacrifice.  In Ge.1:28, God’s first command to humanity was, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth”.  To enable humans to fulfill His command, God created sex hormones, testosterone and estrogen, etc.  God is responsible for placing sexual desire in humans!  However, misuse or perversion of sex through immorality and prostitution can result in harmful consequences such as STDs, AIDS, social stigma (e.g. 1Ki.22:38).

Harlotry was tolerated in ancient Israel, but harlots had a lower social status.  Jg.11:1-2 Jephtháh the judge was the son of a harlot (or perhaps a concubine, LXX), and his brothers wanted him disinherited.

Lk.15:30 the prodigal son, a single man, wasted the inheritance he’d demanded on harlots.  Pr.29:3 “He who consorts with harlots wastes his wealth.”  A man who frequents harlots squanders his money, and puts himself at risk of suffering a disease.  Pr.23:27-28 “A whore is a deep ditch, a loose woman is a narrow well.”  Ironically, a single man may view his circumstances or loneliness as an ox in the ditch.

The sexual crime of rape receives much media publicity these days.  2Sm.11:2-4, 12:4 King David seduced Uriáh’s wife Bathsheba.  Some view rape as a form of kidnapping, done against the victim’s will.  Kidnapping, including sex trafficking, is a serious crime (De.24:7).  De.22:28-29 the man who seized (h8610) or raped an unengaged virgin must marry her.  Benson Commentary “He wasn’t at liberty to refuse her, if her father consented to his marrying her, and he was deprived of the privilege of ever divorcing her.”  Also he must pay her father a substantial fine, 50 shekels of silver, plus perhaps the bride-price.

2Sm.13:1-2, 10-11 David’s son Amnón desired his half-sister Tamár, and got her alone in the bedroom.  v.12-18 she tried to talk him out of raping her, suggesting Amnon ask the king for her hand.  However, their union would be incest (Le.18:11).  Possibly she is unaware of God’s law…more likely, she’s grasping at straws to dissuade him from raping her, or is speaking impulsively.  Amnon rapes her.  But it was more lust than love.  He then despised her (he said ‘get out’).  2Sm.13:32 later Tamar’s full-brother Absalóm had Amnon killed in revenge.  De.27:22 “Cursed is he who has lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or his mother.”  Also Le.20:17, the incestuous brother shall bear his iniquity.

Bible readers view the tragic ‘love’ between Shechém and Jacob’s daughter Dinah as: seduction, or an ancient form of elopement, or rape.  Ge.34:1-8 “Shechem the Hivite took [h3947] her, lay with her and humbled her.”  Here the Hebrew term translated as “took” isn’t the term translated as “seized”/raped (h8610) in De.22:28.  (cf. Ge.11:29 Abram took [h3947] Sarai for a wife; Ge.24:67 Isaac took Rebekah and she became his wife.)  Shechem loved Dinah and wanted her for a wife.  Ge.34:25-30 therefore it was very wrong for Jacob’s sons Simeón & Levi to kill Shechem and all the males in that town!  Ge.49:5-7 before Jacob died, he cursed the cruelty and violent action done by Simeon & Levi!

Christ’s guidelines concerning war brides are in De.21:10-15. “When you see among the captives a beautiful woman and desire to take [h3947] her as a wife, she shall remain in your house a full month and mourn her father & mother. After that you may have relations with her and she shall be your wife.”  (also see “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes?”.)  Israelite soldiers weren’t to rape the enemy’s women!  In Nu.31:16-20, 35 Israelite soldiers didn’t rape the women; purification rites were also required.  But prophesied in Is.13:16-17, the wives of Babylon would be raped by the conquering Medes. “Their wives will be ravished.”

In the 1960s occurred the tragic affairs which resulted in Viet Nam war babies.  Smithsonian Magazine 2009 “They grew up as the leftovers of an unpopular war, straddling two worlds but belonging to neither. Most never knew their fathers. Many were abandoned by their mothers at the gates of orphanages. Some were discarded in garbage cans. Schoolmates taunted & pummeled them and mocked the features that gave them the face of the enemy – round blue eyes and light skin, or dark skin and tight curly hair if their soldier-dads were African-Americans. Their destiny was to become waifs & beggars, living in the streets and parks of South Vietnam’s cities, sustained by a single dream: to get to America and find their fathers.”  Very sad.  American laws & customs differ from those Christ gave to Moses/Israel.

Ge.19:5 the desire of the men of Sodóm to have relations with Lot’s guests was a form of homosexual, or beastial rape with a different kind of being.  Ge.19:31-35 two daughters conspired to rape their father on successive nights.  Jg.19:22-28 resembles Ge.19:5, but the Benjamite men in Gibeáh desired same-sex relations with a Levite guest passing through.  The men proceeded to rape and murder the Levite’s concubine.  The penalty for murder was death, Jg.20:13; v.46-48 the incident led to civil war in Israel.  The tribe of Benjamin was almost annihilated.  Jg.21:7, 12-23 to preserve the tribe, the remaining men “caught” virgins for wives.  Perhaps this unusual scheme to obtain a wife seemed like rape to some?

Ge.39:6-21 the wife of Potiphár, an Egyptian officer, tried to rape the patriarch Joseph.  But she failed.

Rape isn’t addressed in the NT.  In many of the Old Testament passages which relate to rape, there were other (serious) sins involved too.  It appears that God didn’t punish the heterosexual non-incestuous rape of a single woman or man, of and by itself…to the extent some nations punish today, according to man’s laws.  That is, unless it was clearly a kidnapping against the victim’s will.

The best preventative against Biblical porneia is sex within a godly marriage.  1Co.7:2-4 “To avoid immorality [porneia], let every man have his own wife and each one her own husband. The husband should give to the wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.” (cf. Ex.21:10)  It works both ways.  And not with somebody else’s wife!  He.13:4 “Let marriage be honored among all, and the bed undefiled. But the sexually immoral and adulterers God will judge.”  Sex should be pure.

Celibacy and total abstention from sex will also prevent porneia.  But that ignores God’s first command to humanity in Ge.1:28. “Be fruitful and multiply.”  Ti.4:1-3 Paul said liars were forbidding marriage.  Again, God created testosterone, and wants people to reproduce themselves…made in God’s image!

To conclude: Prostitution, even non-religious prostitution, certainly isn’t God’s ideal!  Heterosexual marriage and family is (He.13:4).  Ge.2:24 “A man shall leave father and mother and cling to his wife.”  Yet God isn’t a prude.  God, in His word, is surely more loving than the self-righteous.  I realize some of the verses quoted in this two-part topic seem odd to our western minds, maybe even shocking.

Verses from Part 1 indicated, by definition…it was impossible for a widow, or a woman rightfully divorced, or an otherwise single woman to commit adultery (unless she was betrothed).  And it was impossible for a man to commit adultery with an unmarried or unengaged woman.  Also, Roman Catholic Church (RCC) influence later contributed to changing the meaning of (the Latin) fornication.

If it was a ‘sin’ for a man to sleep with anyone other than his wife, the Lord could have simply said that in His Word.  But He didn’t.  1Th.4:3 “It is God’s will that you should avoid sexual immorality [porneia g4202].”  We’ve referenced many verses, to learn what sexual sin really is….using more verses from Christ’s theocracy than from NT conditions extant in heathen Greco-Roman society.  I haven’t used as a final authority the morality filtered through the RCC & Puritanism into the modern church, nor the morality of humanistic nations today.

God wants the best for us.  God’s will and His true morality are revealed through His word.  May His perfect will be done in our individual lives!

Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape – (1)

Sexual sins and crimes are big concerns in society and in the church.  Cultures of the world have differing standards of morality/immorality.  Here we’ll look at sexual immorality from God’s word.

At creation, the first command God gave to man/ánthropos (Greek LXX) was about reproduction.  Ge.1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”  Human reproduction was a creation mandate!  God subsequently set guidelines which are recorded in His word to identify moral versus immoral.

Types of immorality or lewdness and harlotry are identified in Le.20:10-22, 5-6.  A similar listing of sexual sins is found in Le.18:5-24.  Without understanding what actions constitute immorality based on Christ the Lord’s commands to Moses/Israel, a person wouldn’t know all that is sexual sin in God’s eyes!  Sexual sin includes: adultery, incest, homosexuality/lesbianism, transvestism, beastiality, menstrual sex, idolatrous prostitution.  Without learning these foundational scriptures, knowledge of sexual sin may just be based on or skewed by the customs & traditions of our nation or church.

From Le.20: Sexual immorality with a married or betrothed woman (v.10) is adultery…with a near relative (v.11) is incest; 1Co.5:1 “It is reported that there is immorality [pornéia] among you, someone has his father’s wife”.  Intercourse with a person of the same sex (Ro.1:26-27, Le.20:13, De.22:5) is homosexuality or lesbianism…with an animal (v.15-16) is beastiality…with a menstruating woman (v.18) is uncleanness…with a harlot/prostitute to a pagan god (v.5-6) for pay or barter is idolatry.  As we see from reading Le.20, Christ prescribed serious penalties for those who committed such acts!

From Le.18:  v.20 adultery “Do not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife.”  v.6–ff incest “None of you shall have sexual relations with a close blood relative.”  v.22 homosexual intercourse “You shall not lie with a male, as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”  v.23 beastiality “You shall not have intercourse with any animal, to be defiled with it; nor shall a woman offer herself to an animal.”  v.19 menstrual sex “Do not have intercourse with a woman during her menstrual impurity.”  Ex.34:16 religious prostitution “They will seduce your sons and daughters to whore after their gods.”

There are many other scriptures which add detail and amplify the above passages.  e.g. Re.18:2-4 of Babylon the religious harlot. “All nations have drunk of her immorality [pornéia Strongs g4202, Greek], and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her. Come out of her My people.”

In the LXX/Septúagint the Greek term for idolatrous (and adulterous) harlotry was “porneia” (g4202).  The term was rare in classical Greek, but occurs often in the LXX and the New Testament (NT) koiné Greek.  During the intertestamental period, the meaning of porneia expanded to include other sexual sins too.  In the NT, porneia had come to mean sexual sin in general.

Some rabbis also believed ‘unnatural forms of intercourse’ are immoral, anal & oral sex.  Humans are unclean to eat (cannibalism is wrong, even when there’s no killing.  cf. Ezk.4:12-15, Is.36:12, De.23:13.)

To avoid confusion, I’ll rarely use the word “fornication”, from older English translations.  There is no ancient Greek term for “fornication”.  It came into English from two Latin words associated with brothels.  Since the meaning of this word has changed over the centuries, the term is a misnomer.  Rev. Bill McGinnis “Fornication’ is not really a very good translation for the word ‘porneia.”

Testaments of the XII Patriarchs, Test. Benj.9:1 “You will commit porneia with the porneia of Sodom.”  Homosexual intercourse and sex with a different kind/“strange flesh” are also forms of porneia and sin.  Jude 7 “Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in gross immorality [ekporneúo, cf. Le.17:7 LXX], going after strange flesh.”  ref Ge.19:1-5 Sodom.  Transvestism too is wrong.  De.22:5 “A woman must not wear that which pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on women’s clothing; anyone doing these is an abomination to the Lord your God.”  Pulpit Commentary “The divinely instituted distinction between the sexes was to be sacredly observed.”

The meaning of adultery in Christ’s theocracy of ancient Israel, as well as in most of the ancient world, differed from the meaning of adultery in modern western nations today.  Christ was the God/Rock of Israel.  In ancient Israel, adultery is…sexual activity between a married (or betrothed) woman and a man not her husband.  The man’s marital status isn’t a factor.  So by definition, it was impossible for a widow, divorcee, or otherwise single woman to commit adultery (unless she was betrothed)!  And it was impossible for a man to commit adultery with an unmarried or unengaged woman!

Biblical Archaeology Society: Understanding Israel’s 10 Commandments “You will not commit adultery.’ In our world, adultery is defined as sexual relations with someone who is not your spouse.  The Biblical understanding of adultery, however, is gender-specific. In the ancient world, a married man could engage in sexual relations with [his] wives & concubines, and prostitutes; a married woman could only have sex with her husband. Thus, committing adultery for a man consisted of sleeping with a woman who was someone else’s wife; for a [married] woman, adultery was sex with someone other than her husband. The same law and definition is ubiquitous throughout the ancient world.”

Christ told Moses/Israel the adultery penalty was death.  (even Jn.8:7 “Let him throw the first stone.”)   De.22:22-27 shows that the adultery law applied to betrothed women too.  If the adultery was by mutual consent, both the man and woman were guilty.  If he’d raped her, only the man was guilty.

But God’s meaning of adultery was altered over the centuries.  It was altered in Greco-Roman society too, differing from Christ’s meaning in His older theocracy.  Jesus and Paul lived in the Roman Empire, where the laws of Christ’s theocracy weren’t enacted.  Yes, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (He.13:8).  He knew what adultery is and what it isn’t.  But Jesus wasn’t the Roman ruler.  Although the inferior laws of men/heathens don’t change God or God’s morality, it wasn’t wrong to avoid Roman legal action, while not disobeying God.  But some laws & customs of Rome became part of early Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church, etc., and filtered down into Christian belief today.

For example, Ge.29:30, Ge.30:4, 9, the man Jacob/Israel isn’t an adulterer (he had four wives simultaneously)!  Ex.21:10 “If a man takes another wife, he must not diminish the food, clothing, or conjugal dues of the first wife.”  De.21:15 “A man might have two wives and love one but not the other, and they have borne him sons.”  1Sm.1:1-2 is about Elkanáh the father of Samuel. “He had two wives, one named Hannáh and the other Peninnáh.”  1Sm.25:42-43 “Abigail followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. David had also taken Ahinóam, and they both became his wives.”  Those marriages weren’t adultery in Christ’s theocracy.  Pagan Greece & Rome enjoined serial monogamy on their societies long before Christianity began.  These scriptures seem so strange to our modern western minds!

Yet God’s word is authoritative!  Jesus and Paul both said several times, “It is written”.  However, also ref Is.4:1 (which relates to Ex.21:10), and Jg.8:30 & SSol.6:8 for exorbitance.  Although a few Israelites were excessive, overindulging in this matter of plural wives…that doesn’t mean Christ erred in the commands & guidelines He gave to Moses/Israel regarding this marital option.  Jesus Christ is Lord!

It would be too lengthy to examine details of: the marital excess of Solomon (e.g. De.17:16-17), examples of concubinage in the Bible, lévirate marriage, and marital defilement.  Those matters relate to morality/immorality, but are beyond the scope here.  (see the topic “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes?”.)  And based upon the marriage customs in most (western) nations, it seems that only rarely would it be advised for a man to have plural wives today.

In ancient Israel, a young daughter belonged to her father or protector prior to her marriage.

Her father would eventually be paid the bride-price from the bridegroom.  Le.19:29 “Don’t profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the Land may not fall into harlotry and lewdness.”  Many commentaries relate this command to the practice of heathens, whose custom was to fund the daughter’s dowry with earnings from idolatrous prostitution.  A father wasn’t to degrade his daughter by making her a common prostitute, lest secular harlotry become the norm in the Land instead of marriage/family.

De.23:17-18 “None of the daughters or sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord, both of these are an abomination.”  God wouldn’t accept the offerings of religious prostitutes.  A “dog” in this context was the sodomite whose position for homosexual intercourse resembled a dog’s.  ref Re.22:15.  (The label of ‘dog’ also became an epithet against gentiles.)  2Ki.23:7 King Josiah “broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes.”  It seems that quarters in the temple precinct even housed sodomites in those days!  Le.21:9 “The daughter of any priest who profanes herself by harlotry profanes her father.”  Her prostitution at the sanctuary reflected on her father.  Le.21:7, 14 also priests weren’t to marry a profane woman.  Ancient Israel’s worship of Christ the Lord wasn’t to be a fertility cult…no religious sex!

A virgin living under her father’s roof was to remain chaste, else De.22:13-21 could later apply (I won’t quote the passage here).  But people in love may not always follow the usual or customary channels.  Christ made allowances for them too.  Ex.22:16-17 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, has sexual relations with her, he must pay the bride-price and marry her. If her father refuses to give her to him, he still must pay the bride-price for virgins.”  The man was then to marry the girl.  This wasn’t casual sex, it was another way (not the usual way) of obtaining a wife.  But if her father refused to let them marry, this non-virgin daughter would bring her father a lower bride-price in the future.  So taking a daughter’s virginity could also be a form of theft from her father too.  (And possibly there could be serious De.22:13-21 repercussions, if deceit is subsequently involved.)

Yet scripture is mostly quiet in regards to sexual relations with the unmarried non-virgin (not a harlot) with no protector, who’s not living under her father’s roof.  In Christ’s theocracy, it appears that intimacy with divorcees, widows, orphan women (not priests’ daughters) generally isn’t barred by scripture.  For example, Ru.3:7 Ruth the goodly widow lay down secretly in Bóaz’ bed one night.  The text gives no indication that Ruth’s action was sin.  And after spending the night with Ruth, Boaz didn’t rest until he’d obtained her the next day (Ru.3:18–4:10)!

In some cultures, economic conditions are such that an unmarried woman (e.g. divorcee, widow) with no protector/provider…could become destitute!  God didn’t outlaw commercial prostitution in Israel.

Again, a virgin living under her father’s roof must be chaste, else De.22:13-21 could apply.  But for a single non-virgin (not a temple harlot), who solicited her favors to obtain income (perhaps to avoid starvation)…Christ didn’t require strict punishment for her or her clients, and not even a blood sacrifice for sin!  It seems that wasn’t ‘sin’ or iniquity in God’s theocracy.  This may seem strange to western society.  Fathers were forbidden to prostitute their daughters (Le.19:29), but otherwise single women away from home weren’t prohibited from prostituting themselves, selling their body possibly to survive.

Other than Jesus Christ, King Solomon is called the wisest man who ever lived.  1Ki.4:29-34 “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind.”  God said to Solomon in 1Ki.3:12, “I have given you a wise and discerning heart, there has been none like you”.  Four verses later is the famous story of the two harlots who as ‘plaintiffs’ came to Solomon to settle their dispute.  1Ki.3:16-28 the king received even harlots, and rendered his wise decision.  He didn’t have them arrested for prostitution!  There was no animal sacrifice offered for any ‘sin’.  (Yet ironically, Solomon himself acted unwisely when he was older; his heathen wives turned his heart to pagan gods, 1Ki.11:1-10.)

Samson was an Israelite judge in whom the Spirit of God worked mightily with superhuman strength!  Jg.16:1 “Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there.”  Samson, a single man, had relations with a harlot.  v.4 “After this he loved a woman in the valley of Sorék whose name was Deliláh.”  It is thought that Sorek was not far from Samson’s home town of Zoráh (in the tribe of Dan, Jg.13:2).  Samson loved Delilah.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 5:8:11 said Delilah was a harlot among the Philistines who Samson lived with.  Jg.16:12 “Delilah took new ropes and bound him. Then Delilah said, ‘The Philistines be upon you Samson.’ But he snapped the ropes from his arms like they were threads.”  God is still with Samson, even after he visited a harlot (v.1) and had relations with Delilah!  Those acts weren’t sin that separated Samson from God.  Sleeping with harlots didn’t violate Samson’s Nazarite vow!  Jg.16:19-20 God leaves Samson only after his hair is cut, in violation of the vow (Jg.13:5, Nu.6:1-5).  Perhaps we think Christ should have left Samson earlier when he had relations with those women?  But we’re not God.

In Jsh.2:1-3, the two faithful Israelite spies wanted to stay with the harlot Raháb!  v.13 she’s unmarried.  (A married harlot is an adulteress.)  God didn’t rebuke either the spies or Rahab.  In Ja.2:25, Jesus’ relative James indicated that this gentile harlot Rahab was justified by her works.  He.11:31 Rahab is in God’s Who’s Who!  Mt.1:5 and her descendant Boaz (cf. Ru.4:18-22) is an ancestor of Jesus Christ.

In Ge.38, Judah was a single man whose wife had died.  He was one of Jacob’s sons and patriarch of the Jewish people.  v.11-19 Judah had sex with a woman who looked like a prostitute.  He didn’t know she was his disguised daughter-in-law, whose betrothal to Sheláh his son should have already resulted in marriage.  So she tricked Judah for procrastinating.  v.24 death was the penalty for a betrothed woman who has sex with another man.  The narrative is involved.  The point here…God didn’t rebuke Judah for having sex with a supposed prostitute.  And the son she conceived by Judah is an ancestor of Jesus.

There are those who might say that Boaz, Samson (before his haircut), the two faithful spies, the patriarch Judah…have ‘fallen from grace’, so to speak…if their above behavior was done today.  But that’s not what the scriptures indicate.  In recent decades, many churchmen have been maligned and accused of sexual sin/miscues, when their behavior may not have been sin according to scripture (unlike our customary beliefs in most modern nations)!  In the NT, Christ didn’t change His morality for Rome.

There are men & women who love each other but don’t have a government-issued marriage license, for whatever reason.  (Whether marriage should be authorized by the state, the church, the families, private contract…is debatable.)

God didn’t forbid non-incestuous responsible sexual relations between a man and an (independent) unmarried/unbetrothed woman, with mutual consent.  It wasn’t punished.

A pastor and his wife had raised several successful grown children.  She’d done her part, and was tired from childbearing.  (As Greta Garbo said in the old movie, “I vant to be alone.”)  Pastor provides for her & respects her wishes to abstain.  But he is still a man (with testosterone God created within us).  Pastor then fell in love with a younger single woman.  He now loved two women.  Christians were stunned.  This is heartrending…but the church/society doesn’t follow the relevant guidelines Christ gave Moses/Israel!

Maybe we too have judged others rigidly or unjustly for their supposed sexual indiscretions, based upon traditional societal or church beliefs…not the word of God.  God isn’t a prude.  Or perhaps we’ve had difficulty forgiving ourselves for our having committed (years ago or recently) what we’d been taught to believe was sexual sin…and it wasn’t really ‘sin’ after all in God’s eyes!

Greco-Roman society and later tradition has altered what sexual immorality is/isn’t, and the meaning of “fornication”.  Religious sex, eroticism, homosexuality, pederásty was widespread in the Roman Empire.  Regardless…marriage is best, if possible (e.g. 1Co.7:2, 6 as Paul suggested).

Secular prostitution in ancient Israel wasn’t sin as we might think it, for a single woman not dependent on her father.  But there are often grave consequences to that lifestyle!

A harlot who doesn’t take needed precautions may end up destroying “the temple of God” (1Co.3:16-17) with disease…her own body and/or that of her clients.  That isn’t loving her neighbor or herself; opposing the will of God.

There’s more to this broad topic of sexual immorality.  “Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape – (2)” concludes it.

Sacrifices To Idols and Romans 14

This is about sacrifices to idols, and the apostle Paul’s related conscientious guidelines.  The pertinent chapters are 1Corinthians 8, 1Corinthians 10, Romans 14.  This issue has to do with respecting the consciences of others, so others aren’t mistakenly influenced to return to sin.

The society and religious beliefs of Nero’s Roman Empire (54-68 AD), a ‘beastly’ regime, were quite different from ours.  Times were much worse in the 1^st century world than in 21^st century America!

As background, let’s first reference scriptures about idolatrous practices which were extant in the ancient world.  Ex.20:1-6 Christ had commanded ancient Israel to not have any other gods besides Him, nor were they to make or worship physical representations of God.  But those Israelites disobeyed, and engaged in rites to the heathen gods of other peoples & nations.

Despite Christ’s commands, Israel ate and bowed down to the god Báal (Nu.25:1-3).  David wrote of idolaters in Ps.16:4. “The sorrows of those who run after another god will be multiplied; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor take their names on my lips.”  Drink offerings to pagan gods were often blood mixed with wine.  Ezk.33:25 “Thus says the Lord, ‘You eat with the blood, and lift your eyes to your idols.”  Israelites were eating ‘strangled’ meat with the blood, dedicated to idols.  The heathen ate the blood of sacrifices, or sat beside that blood in a vessel, to communicate with evil spirits (Benson Commentary).  The heart of their sacrificial animals was often extracted.  Ho.4:12-14 Israelites were sacrificing to idols at altars with temple prostitutes.

Ac.14:11-15 “The priest of Zeus, whose temple was outside the city, brought oxen to the gates to offer sacrifice.”  In 1^st century Lýstra of S. Galatia, the priest of Zeus wanted to honor Barnábas & Paul with animal sacrifice, as if they were gods!  Oxen are clean animals.  But not all pagan animal sacrifices were clean…in the 160s BC Antíochus Epíphanes offered swine’s flesh and polluted the Jerusalem temple.

From the Acts 15 Jerusalem council, four prohibitions were sent out in a decree to the church at large.  (see the topic “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)  Ac.15:28-29 “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols (Strongs g1494 eidolóthuton, Greek), from blood, from things strangled (dying of itself), and from sexual immorality.”  These four things were customarily practiced in the Roman Empire and impacted the early church, especially gentile believers.

Gentiles worshiped idols by drinking the blood of strangled animals and having sex with heathen temple prostitutes.  Many gentile idol-worshipers were now coming to Christ.  This was a big issue!

It was said…anciently the worship of pagan deities could be engaged in on almost ‘every street corner’!  1Th.1:9 Paul wrote, Christians at Thessaloníca had “turned from idols to serve the true God”.  1Co.12:2 when Christians at Corinth were pagans, they were “led astray to dumb idols”.  Ac.15:29 prohibited Christians from sacrificing to idols at pagan temples.  Yet years later some in the churches at Pérgamos (Re.2:14) & Thyátira (Re.2:20) still “eat things sacrificed to idols and commit immorality”…violating two Ac.15 prohibitions.  The worship of pagan gods & goddesses was a way of life in the ancient world.  A multitude of animals were often sacrificed; a ‘hécatomb’ was the Greek term for offering 100 oxen.

Here’s a hypothetical question…would the Holy Spirit have approved or disapproved of Christians eating roast beef sandwiches at the Aphrodíte Diner and wine shop (adjacent to her temple)?

Paul explained where/when questionable food should and shouldn’t be considered defiled by idols, idolatry.  He wrote 1 Corinthians around 55 AD.  Ancient Corinth, located 50 miles SW of Athens, had many idol temples; e.g. to Aphrodite, Poseidon, Apollo, Ísis, Deméter.

In verses of 1Corinthians 8, Paul addressed eating things sacrificed to idols.  Pagan idols represented pagan gods.  1Co.8:1 “Concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”  v.6-7 “We know there’s no God but only the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But not all believers know this. Some people are so accustomed to idolatry, that when they eat food offered to an idol, their weak conscience is defiled.”  Some believers ate it thinking that since the idol represents a (lesser) god, the sacrificial meat is holy.  Or, since the meat was offered to a heathen god, it thereby became polluted, unfit to eat anywhere.  Two extremes.  Paul continues in v.8, “We’re no worse if we don’t eat it, and no better if we do”.  Although fasting, dieting, or of course eating have benefit, these actions won’t affect our salvation standing with God.

1Co.8:9-12 “But be careful that your choice doesn’t become a hindrance to the weak. For if someone sees you dining in an idol’s temple [eidolíon g1493], won’t his conscience be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? And through your knowledge the weak for whom Christ died is ruined. Thus by wounding their conscience you sin against Christ.”  Don’t you cause others weak in the faith to violate their conscience.  Your bad example of eating in an idol temple area might cause a weak Christian to think it’s okay to worship the pagan god, and thereby defile his conscience.  Paul sarcastically refers to this as your “knowledge” (or your abuse of it), which he indicated can make one arrogant (from v.1).  Jesus said in Mt.25:40, “Whatever you did to the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me”.

Paul concludes this passage with 1Co.8:13. “Therefore if food causes my brother to offend, I would never eat flesh again.”  Paul considers eating food/flesh comparatively unimportant, if it would cause a weak brother to return to idolatry.  Of note, whether such meat is clean or unclean isn’t addressed.

Orthodox Bible Note 1Co.8:4-13 “Throughout the Roman Empire, animals were sacrificed to gods at feasts and public occasions. Part of each offering was used in a ceremonial meal or went to the donor; the remainder was often sold in public meat markets. A dilemma…should Christians eat meat that had been offered before idols? Jews had prohibitions.”  Pagan temples also served as restaurants and butcher shops.

In 1Corinthians 10, Paul returned to this issue.  v.14 “Beloved, flee from idolatry.”  v.19-21 is an idol itself a god? “No. The things which the nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.”  Don’t do both the Lord’s Supper and an idolatrous ceremony.

1Co.10:25 “Eat whatever is sold in the shambles without letting your conscience trouble you.”  Of course, “whatever is sold” in the public markets doesn’t mean rancid meat or meat having harmful parasites!  Community, Conflict, and the Eucharist in Roman Corinth “The quality of the meat was questionable.”  Paul was saying that the buyer shouldn’t worry his conscience about the source of the food/leftovers, possibly unknown.

1Co.10:27 “If an unbeliever invites you to dinner, eat what is served without asking questions of conscience.”  It was okay to eat meat at a dinner or banquet in someone’s home (but not in pagan temple eateries) if a place at the table isn’t set for a god; no need to ask the host about the source of the food.  v.28-29 “But if anyone says to you, ‘This was sacrificed to idols’, don’t eat it, for the sake of him that disclosed it and for the conscience of another.”  If anyone makes an issue about the source of the food, then don’t eat it out of respect for the conscientious scruples of the person who informed/‘warned’ you or a fellow-guest.

1Co.10:31-32 Paul concludes the passage with, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to Jews, Greeks, or to the church of God.”  So in 1Co.10, Paul elaborated on this matter of things sacrificed to idols, which he began in 1Co.8.

Eating leftovers from previous sacrifices to idols would also offend Jews & Jewish Christians.  Mishneh Avodat Kochavim 7:15 doesn’t allow eating leftover flesh, wine, or fruits from an idol temple.  Jews had an overly restrictive interpretation from Ex.34:15, originally regarding heathens in the Land. “They prostitute themselves after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods and invite you to eat of it.”  This verse related to ancient Israel worshiping pagan gods with Canaanites in pagan idol-feasts.  Ahavat Israel “This prohibition [for Jews] applies to anything served to an idol in a sacrificial manner.”

Close to two years after his 1Corinthians epistle, Paul wrote to the Romans around 57 AD.  Here Paul addressed the same issue.  Ancient Rome had approximately 400 idol temples…e.g. to Diana, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Juno, the Pantheon to the gods.  (also see the topic “Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers”.)  The sacrifice for Jupiter (Zeus) was a castrated white ox, for Juno it was a white heifer.

Generally meat in ancient Rome could be expensive and was rarely eaten.  Only very cold weather would allow it to stay fresh.  Roman scholar R.W. Davies said the soldiers were reluctant to eat meat, fearing they’d get sick from it.  Cereals and legumes made up the bulk of most diets.

Misapplying or misinterpreting Romans 14 has resulted in hard feelings and even a measure of division in the church.  Let’s now go through Ro.14, keeping in mind the verses of 1Co.8 and 1Co.10.

Ro.14:1-2 “Accept him whose faith is weak, without becoming divided over his scruples. One believes he may eat all things; another who is weak eats vegetables only.”  No leftover flesh.  By “all things”, Paul doesn’t mean harmful or fatal things!  David Stern Jewish New Testament Commentary “Paul isn’t proposing that the Jewish dietary laws have been abrogated.”  Paul had referred to the weak in 1Co.8:9.  The weak in Rome are thought to be Jewish Christians (the minority) who’d returned after their 49 AD exile by Claudius (ruled 41-54 AD), Ac.18:2.  Strict kosher slaughter places in Rome were now fewer.

Jews and some God-fearers wouldn’t eat leftovers from idol temples.  Barnes Notes Ro.14:2 “Another who is weak – there is reference here, doubtless, to the Jewish convert; whether it was lawful to eat the meat which was offered in sacrifice to idols. In those sacrifices a part only of the animal was offered, and the remainder was eaten by the worshipers, or offered for sale in the market like other meat.”  Life Application Bible Ro.14:2 “After a sacrifice was presented to a god in a pagan temple, only part of it was burned. The remainder was often sent to the market to be sold. Thus a Christian might easily, even unknowingly, buy such meat in the marketplace or eat it at the home of a friend.”  Amy Jill Levine Judaism and Jewishness “Many Jews refused to partake of meat distributed at civic festivals, what the Jews called ‘meat sacrificed to idols.”  It was safer for Jews (and Jewish Christians) in Rome to just renounce all meat sold at markets.  That’s what Ro.14 is dealing with.

Ro.14:3-6 “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains condemn the one who eats, for God has accepted him. One man regards one day above another, someone else regards them all alike. He who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; he who eats not does so to the Lord and gives God thanks.” (cf. 1Co.10:31)  Some abstain from food due to scruples of conscience.  The self-righteous Pharisees appointed Mondays & Thursdays as fast days to abstain from food.  The Pharisee declared in Lk.18:12, “I fast twice in the week”.  They chided Jesus in Mk.2:18-20. “The disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples don’t fast.’ Jesus replied, ‘They will fast in those days.”  There were Christians (Jews & gentiles) who chose to eat nothing at all on some (fast) days…we shouldn’t judge Christians for being selective about what food groups (meat, fruit, veggies, etc.) they’ll eat “to the Lord”, Ro.14:6, on (non-fast) days.

Ro.14:13 “Let us not judge each other, nor put an obstacle or stumbling block in a brother’s way.” (cf. 1Co.8:13)  Don’t offend or cause another (Jewish) Christian to doubt, backslide, or lose his faith.

Ro.14:14 “I am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is defiled/common [koinós g2839] of itself; but to him who thinks anything to be defiled/common [koinos g2839], to him it is defiled/common [koinos g2839].”  Paul is saying it’s a matter of conscience.  Barnes Notes “Greek ‘common.”  Vincent Word Studies “Lit. common. Compare Mk.7:2 ‘With defiled [koinos g2839], unwashed hands.”

In Ro.14:14, many Bibles mistranslate koinos as “unclean”.  But the Greek LXX and New Testament term for unclean is akáthartos g169, not koinos g2839.  (In the LXX, koinos never meant unclean!)  This distinction is evident in Ac.10:14 where Peter used both terms in the same verse. “I have never eaten anything defiled/common [koinos g2839] or unclean/impure [akathartos g169].”  The two Greek terms had different meanings!

Meat of a healthy clean animal is naturally undefiled.  But it became defiled or made common and unfit for holy use if the animal was lame, blind, or defective (e.g. De.15:21 & 17:1), or if eaten in idolatrous rites (Ex.34:15).  Pharisees racially considered clean meat defiled if it’s touched by gentile hands.

Ro.14:15 “For if because of food your brother is hurt, you aren’t walking according to love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.”  Don’t grieve or trouble his conscience.  This is similar to 1Co.8:11-13.  Ro.14:20 “Don’t tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things are indeed pure, but they are evil for the man who eats and causes stumbling.”  Everything God said is pure, is pure, and to those with a pure conscience.  Paul wrote in Ti.1:15, “To the pure, all things are pure; but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure, both their mind and conscience are corrupted”.

Ro.14:21 “It’s better not to eat meat or drink wine or anything by which your brother stumbles.”  (Paul said in Ro.9:31-32 that those stumbling were Jews.)  Don’t eat meat from the butcher shop or drink wine which might have been used in pagan libations, if eating would offend a brother or sister present.  Da.1:8, 16 in Babylon, the prophet Daniel had refused royal food and wine which was corrupted.  He lived on mostly vegetables and water.

Ro.14:22 “Blessed is he who doesn’t condemn himself in what he allows.”  Stay free from a doubting conscience.  v.23 “But whoever has doubts, yet still eats, is condemned, because his eating isn’t from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.”  Don’t eat it, if we can’t eat it with a clear conscience.  Have an assured belief that what we do is right.  This is a general maxim of the Christian faith.  Matthew Poole Commentary “By faith here is meant knowledge or full persuasion, not a wavering mind.”  It’s dangerous to ignore one’s conscience, and possibly fall back into old ways of sin.

Ro.15:1 “We who are strong ought to bear with the weaknesses of the weak, and not just please ourselves.”  Paul began this passage about dealing with “the weak” in Ro.14:1 (also it’s in 1Co.8:11).  Don’t let one’s choice of action offend or hinder the weak, regarding the source of food sold in markets.  We’d want others to bear with us in matters where we may be weak!  Ro.15:2 “Let each of us please his neighbor for what is good to build him up.” (as 1Co.10:24 “Let no one be forever seeking his own good, but that of others.”)  Accommodate ourselves to others (for good, not for evil).  Speak and act so as to build-up our brothers/sisters in the faith, whether they be strong or weak.

In reading through 1Co.8, 1Co.10, Ro.14, similarities are noted.  The center column cross-refs in many Bibles tie several Ro.14 verses to 1Co.8, and 1Co.10 too.  Paul’s overall subject is the same.  In Rome there were 400 pagan temples…it’s possible much of the meat sold in the marketplace had come from a temple sacrifice somewhere!  So for a weak Christian or Jewish Christian to avoid thinking of an idol when eating meat, a form of ‘second-hand’ idolatry to him…he’d just quit eating meat altogether!

Ro.14 doesn’t address the eating of clean or unclean creatures, about which Christ commanded in Le.11.  (see “Unclean versus Clean Food”.)

Nazarite vows were anciently taken (Nu.6), and occasional fasting is a good Biblical principle (e.g. Mk.2:20).  But the Ro.14 avoidance of possible leftovers isn’t asceticism.  Abstaining from okay wine-drinking, ref Jg.9:13 (in moderation), could be due to asceticism with some people.  In the Ro.14:6 “he who eats not does so to the Lord”, its doubtful Paul was referring to Pythágorean vegetarians among the gentile majority…since the abstaining in the church at Rome was “to the Lord” (cf. 1Ti.4:1-3 “doctrines of demons”).  JFB Commentary Ro.14:2 “Restricting himself probably to a vegetable diet for fear of eating what might have been offered to idols.”

The main issue in Ro.14, 1Co.8, 1Co.10 was…whether or not Christians should eat meat (and drink wine) thought to have been previously sacrificed to idols.

Conclusion: It would’ve been unacceptable to eat a sandwich at the Aphrodite Diner (1Co.8:10).  1Co.6:9 idolaters won’t inherit the Kingdom of God.  But it’s okay to eat at home or church or at a friend’s home…food purchased in the marketplace/shambles.  Such meat or leftovers might have come from Diana’s Deli adjacent to her temple, or from Aphrodite’s Diner.  The source is unknown.  That is, it’s okay to eat the food/leftovers at home…if doing so didn’t bother someone’s conscience.  But, Paul says that if there’s a conscience problem (because a gentile Christian had worshiped idols before conversion, or a Jewish Christian was overly concerned about a possible idol temple source of leftovers prior to their sale in the shambles)…don’t eat it.  That’s the gist of Paul’s guidelines.

Idolatry is still practiced in today’s world.  This principle of not inadvertently hurting a Christian’s conscience or resolve is applicable to other matters besides idolatry…e.g. certain holidays so-called (such as Halloween), avoiding wine in the presence of a recovering alcoholic, etc.

The Holy Spirit with the written word of God will educate and guide our consciences rightly.  And while we ourselves are engaged in this education process as part of our sanctification, we should be considerate of others’ consciences.  So we won’t cause unnecessary offense which might result in a brother or sister backsliding into a past sinful practice or losing faith in God.