Acts 15. What is meant by Fornication

by Steve J 5 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Steve J

  At Atcs 15 we find the familir decision of the Jerusalem Elders;

  Keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication.

  I have always thought that fornication, or sexual imorality was a strage thing for the Elders to come up with here, when they were obviously talking about issues surrounding worshiping "false gods."

  Could it be that the Greek word Porneiahas been misinterpreted here and actually refers to religious fornication in the same sense as found at Rev:14,8 17:2,4 18:3 and 19:2, where the Great Harlot commits fornication?
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  Leolaia

  Idolatry is already implicit in "food sacrificed to idols"; rather, this list (or rather the one in the Western Text) corresponds in part to the three major Noachide laws for Gentile converts mentioned in the rabbinics (cf. t. Aboda Zara 8:4, t. Shabbat 16:17, b. Pesahim 25a) and by the early church fathers (including Tertullian, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Ambrosiaster, Augustine, etc.): no idolatry, no bloodshed, and no fornication. However fornication and food sacrified to idols are combined in Revelation 2:14, 20, and there is an exegetical basis for the linkage in Numbers 25:1-3 LXX, which is alluded to here ("who hold the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel'), and which combines porneia with the eating of idol sacrifices, BOTH were being committed at the same time. While the Baal-Peor incident of Numbers 25 is not necessarily latent in Acts 15, there is another allusion to it in Didache 6:3, which refers to food sacrificed to idols as "the worship of dead gods" (cf. Psalm 106:28, "they attached themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices of the dead").
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  Narkissos

  Rather than "spiritual fornication" (which might better suit the Western reading with its negative form of the Golden Rule, implying possibly a trend toward spiritualisation), a better interpretative move for the present text (and its present context about the ritual implications of Jewish-Gentile coexistence, e.g. circumcision and food-sharing) might be to narrow down the scope of porneia to the specific issue of legally forbidden unions by Leviticus 18 for instance. -- This might also suit the famous "exception" to the prohibition of repudiation in Matthew 5,32: here porneia would actually make marriage impossible by the Torah. Then the "exception" would be far from a "permission" to repudiate, it would rather be a case of repudiation "forbidden unless mandatory". (Cf. "righteous" Joseph's initial intent to repudiate Mary in chapter 1.)

  Back to Acts, it is worth noting, though, that porneia is absent from a number of textual witnesses (including P45 in 5,20). Iow, there are clearly several versions of "Acts" circulating as early as the 2nd century with different texts and different points.
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  WTWizard

  Fornication is simply sex before marriage. And it isn't really all that bad.

  An example: You are going to buy a car. Would you just buy the one that you first saw, without test-driving it? Or, would you just look at the numbers and not test it out? I don't think so. And, yet a car will wear out or be in an accident eventually, forcing you to get another (I hope the accident wasn't because you have been drinking and driving!). If one would not buy a car without a test drive, why then would anyone commit to a spouse without giving it a trial run beforehand, where there is no recourse if it turns out to be a lemon or is unsuitable for your needs? That makes absolutely no sense.
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  JCanon

  If one would not buy a car without a test drive, why then would anyone commit to a spouse without giving it a trial run beforehand, where there is no recourse if it turns out to be a lemon or is unsuitable for your needs? That makes absolutely no sense.

  Interesting, but I see a flaw in your reasoning. This might work out well for men, but not for women? Why? Because a woman is only a virgin once. Secondly, let's say you're on your test drive with a virgin and turns out she's not the one for you. She's no longer a virgin now plus she's now pregnant with your twins...

  So the way it is supposed to work is that you date that person for a while first, find out if you're compatible emotionally, socially, financially, whatever. And then hope for the best in the sack when YOU TWO VIRGINS experience sex unique to yourselves since neither of you have ever had sex before so wouldn't know what you were missing or getting extra anyway. Of course, you two could include as part of the chaperoned dating a visit to the local "art house" where you can check out a flick on sex instruction just to see what other couples haven't thought of yet.

  JCanon
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  Bible_Student777

  Anything done for Nick.