FORNICATION.See Crimes and Punishments, § 3.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Used for adultery (Mat_5:32). Also spiritual unfaithfulness to the Lord, Israel's and the church's husband (Ezekiel 16; Jeremiah 2; Hosea 1; Rev_17:4).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
whoredom, or the act of incontinency between single persons; for if either of the parties be married, the sin is adultery.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
Fornication usually refers to sexual immorality by unmarried people, whereas adultery refers to sexual immorality by married people. Sometimes the Bible speaks of fornication to denote sexual immorality in general. It regards as immoral any sexual relations outside marriage or with any person other than ones marriage partner (Mat_5:32; 1Co_5:1; 1Co_6:13; 1Co_6:18; 1Co_7:2; 1Th_4:3-4). The union of a man and a woman to become one means, by definition, that it excludes all others (Gen_2:24; Mat_19:5-6).
Sexual relations without marriage
In ancient Israel it was of greatest importance to maintain ones virginity up till the time of marriage (Deu_22:13-21). Fornication by a person engaged to be married was treated as adultery (Deu_22:22-27; see ADULTERY). Unengaged people who had sexual relations were to marry, unless the girls parents objected (Exo_22:16-17; Deu_22:28-29).
These laws impressed upon people that sexual intercourse is not merely a physical activity that people may engage in for their own pleasure, regardless of other considerations. It is part of a total commitment of a man and a woman to each other in a lifelong relationship (Rom_7:2). Those who treat sexual intercourse as no more than a physical function reduce themselves to the level of animals. They deny the dignity that God has given them as human beings designed for full inter-personal relations (Rom_1:24-27; 1Co_6:13; 1Co_6:18; 2Pe_2:12).
Wrong desires produce wrong behaviour
Often fornication occurs because people, instead of trying to avoid sexual temptation, encourage it. They do not control their thoughts and feelings, and soon they find that they cannot control their behaviour (Pro_6:23-27; Pro_7:6-23; Mat_5:28; Col_3:5; 2Ti_2:22; 1Pe_2:11; cf. Gen_39:7-10; see TEMPTATION).
Human sexuality is one of Gods gifts (Gen_2:18; 1Ti_4:1-4) but, as with all Gods gifts, people can properly enjoy it or shamefully abuse it. No matter how strong a persons sexual urges may be, the only satisfaction God allows for those urges is within the exclusive commitment of one person to another in lifelong marriage (1Co_7:2; 1Co_7:9; 1Th_4:3-4; Heb_13:4; see MARRIAGE). As for prostitution, bestiality, incest and homosexual practices, God condemns them as perversions (Lev_18:6-18; Lev_18:22-23; Lev_19:29; Lev_20:10-21; Rom_1:26-27; 1Co_6:9-10; 1Co_6:13-18; 1Ti_1:9-10; Rev_21:8).
Some people may feel no shame concerning their sexual misbehaviour and may not even see it as sinful (Eph_4:19; 1Pe_4:3-4; 2Pe_2:12-14). This may be common among people who do not know God (Eph_4:17-19; 1Th_4:5), but should not be tolerated among those who call themselves Christians. The church should remove from its fellowship those who openly reject Gods standards by persisting in shameful sexual misconduct (1Co_5:1-5; 1Co_5:11).
There will always be people, both from outside the church and from within, who, being genuinely sorry for their sexual misconduct, turn from it and ask Gods forgiveness. They can be assured that God will forgive, but they must also be assured that the church will forgive. Christians must be compassionate and understanding in giving support to those who have fallen into wrongdoing and need help (Mat_9:12-13; Joh_8:10-11; 1Co_6:9-11; 2Co_2:7; Gal_6:1-2; Heb_8:12).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.
fôr-ni-kā?shun. See CRIMES.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
In Scripture this word occurs more frequently in its symbolical than in its ordinary sense.
In the Prophets woman is often made the symbol of the church or nation of the Jews, which is regarded as affianced to Jehovah by the covenant on Mount Sinai. Therefore when the Israelites acted contrary to that covenant, by forsaking God and following idols, they were very properly represented by the symbol of a harlot or adulteress, offering herself to all comers (Isa_1:21; Jer_2:20; Ezekiel 16; Hos_1:2; Hos_2:2). And thus fornication, or adultery (which is fornication in a married state), became, and is used as, the symbol of idolatry itself (Jer_3:8-9; Eze_16:26; Eze_16:29; Eze_23:37).
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
2Ch_21:11 (a) The word is used to describe the wickedness of a people who forsake the true GOD, and the blessings which He gives in order to follow the attractions of the ungodly world, and of false gods. (See also Isa_23:17; Eze_16:15, Eze_16:29; Jud_1:7; Rev_2:21).
Rev_17:2-4 (a) GOD thus describes the wickedness of that which claims to be the Church of GOD as it supports and invites wicked men of the world to join with them, and to partake of their religious exercises. (See Rev_18:3; Rev_19:2).
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Fornication
תִּזְנוּת, taznuth' πορνεία, illicit sexual intercourse, especially of a married woman). SEE ADULTERY. From the Scriptures we learn that long before the time of Moses, morals had become very much corrupted, and not only the prostitution of females, but of boys, was very common among many nations, and even made a part of the divine worship, as may be inferred from the Hebrew words kadesh, a prostitute boy, and kedeshah, the feminine of it, which words properly, and originally mean a person religiously set apart and consecrated to the flagitious vice in question (Deu_23:18; 1Ki_14:24; Job_36:14; Gen_38:21-22; Num_21:1; Deu_23:18; Hom. 4:14). How great the corruption of manners with reference to the marriage relation was among the Egyptians appears from Herodotus (2:11.1) as well as the Bible. The wife of one of the oldest kings was untrue to him. It was a long time before a woman could be found who was faithful to her husband and when one was at last found, the king took her without hesitation for himself. With impudent shamelessness Potiphar's wife seeks to seduce Joseph (Gen_39:7). The evidence of the monuments is also not very favorable to the Egyptian women. Thus they are represented as addicted to excess in drinking wine, as even becoming so much intoxicated as to be unable to stand or walk alone, or to carry their liquor discreetly (Wilkinson's Egypt 2, 167). To prevent those evils to which the Greeks and Roman philosophers refused to oppose any decided resistance. Moses made the following regulations:
1. That among the Hebrews no prostitute, either male nor female, should be tolerated; and that if the daughter of a priest especially were guilty of fornication, she should be stoned and her body burnt (Lev_21:9); because these things, as Moses observes in Lev_19:29; Deu_23:17-18, were a great abomination in the sight of God. Further, in order that priests of avaricious minds should not, in. imitation of other nations, make crimes of this kind a part of the divine worship, he enacted,
2. That the price of prostitution, though presented in return for a vow, should not be received at the sanctuary (Deu_23:18). This law, it seems, was sometimes violated in the times of the kings (2Ki_23:7). He also enacted,
3. That the man who had seduced female should marry her, and in case the father would not consent, should pay the customary dowry, viz; thirty shekels: in case violence had been offered, fifty shekels (Exo_22:16; Deu_22:23-29), This law appears to have originated in an ancient custom alluded to in Gen_34:1-12. Finally, to secure the great object, he enacted,
4. That any one who, when married was not found to be a virgin, as she professed before marriage, should be stoned before her father's house (Deu_22:20-21). These laws, it must be admitted, were severe; but prostitutes of both sexes, notwithstanding their severity, were set apart in the time of the kings for the service of idols (Pro_2:16-19 : A, Pro_2:3-6; Pro_7:5-27; Kings 14:24; 15:12; Amo_2:7; Amo_7:17; Jer_3:2; Jer_5:7; Joh_8:3-11). Among the Greeks and Romans of the apostles' day licentiousness was fearfully prevalent. SEE HARLOT.
In Scripture this word occurs more frequently in its symbolical than in its ordinary sense. In the Prophets woman is often made the symbol of the church or nation of the Jews, which is regarded as affianced to Jehovah by the covenant on Mount Sinai. In Ezekiel 16 there is a long description of that people under the symbol of a female child, growing up to the stature of a woman, and then wedded to Jehovah by entering into covenant with him. Therefore, when the Israelites acted contrary to that covenant by forsaking God and following idols, they were very properly represented by the symbol of a harlot or adulteress offering herself to all comers (Isa_1:2; Jer_2:20; Ezekiel 16; Hosea 1:2; 3:11). Thus fornication, or adultery (which is fornication in a married state), became, and is used as the symbol of idolatry itself (Jer_3:8-9; Eze_16:26; Eze_16:29; Eze_23:37). SEE IDOLATRY.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.