What does Porneia mean?

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Im interested to hear some explanations from Protestants who believe and teach that Jesus gave adultery (and abandonment) as a reason to divorce and remarry.

In all the New Testament Scriptures, there is an absolute prohibition of Christian remarriage while both spouses are living. Matthew contains the highly debated “exception clause” which has goven rise to many Christians believing and teaching that Jesus was telling the Pharisees that adultery is a valid reason to divorce and remarry.
 
The footnote to the relative passages in the New American Bible is something i would like to know what Protestants think about.

Btw, i understand that there are a small number of Protestants who dont believe Jesus gave adultery as a valid reason for Christian remarriage.

5:31–32 See Dt 24:1–5. The Old Testament commandment that a bill of divorce be given to the woman assumes the legitimacy of divorce itself. It is this that Jesus denies. (Unless the marriage is unlawful): this “exceptive clause,” as it is often called, occurs also in Mt 19:9, where the Greek is slightly different. There are other sayings of Jesus about divorce that prohibit it absolutely (see Mk 10:11–12; Lk 16:18; cf. 1 Cor 7:10, 11b), and most scholars agree that they represent the stand of Jesus. Matthew’s “exceptive clauses” are understood by some as a modification of the absolute prohibition. It seems, however, that the unlawfulness that Matthew gives as a reason why a marriage must be broken refers to a situation peculiar to his community: the violation of Mosaic law forbidding marriage between persons of certain blood and/or legal relationship (Lv 18:6–18). Marriages of that sort were regarded as incest (porneia), but some rabbis allowed Gentile converts to Judaism who had contracted such marriages to remain in them. Matthew’s “exceptive clause” is against such permissiveness for Gentile converts to Christianity; cf. the similar prohibition of porneia in Acts 15:20, 29. In this interpretation, the clause constitutes no exception to the absolute prohibition of divorce when the marriage is lawful.
 
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Depending on the context, porneia can mean either “unlawful [marriage]”, “sexual immortality or unchastity”, or just “immorality” in general.

It’s kind of like the English word “perverse”. Depending on context, it could mean “depraved sexual thing”, “not wholesome” in general, or “inappropriate”.
 
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You are Catholic, right? So u dont believe Jesus was saying adultery was reason for divorce and remarriage.

When the topic is studied, and the Matthew passages examined closely, it doesnt make sense that Jesus was giving an exception for divorce and remarriage for situations of adultery in a Christian marriage.

The fact is that it goes on at a large scale by Christians, and is even increasing!
 
Was that comment directed at me @rcwitness?

I clearly said depending on context the meaning changes.

In the context of Jesus speaking of marriage, the meaning is “unlawful marriages”.
 
rcwitness said:
Im interested to hear some explanations from Protestants who believe and teach that Jesus gave adultery (and abandonment) as a reason to divorce and remarry.

In all the New Testament Scriptures, there is an absolute prohibition of Christian remarriage while both spouses are living. Matthew contains the highly debated “exception clause” which has goven rise to many Christians believing and teaching that Jesus was telling the Pharisees that adultery is a valid reason to divorce and remarry.
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I am interested in seeing the response you get. I find it a little confusing the way you worded it though. Some may see adultery/abandonment as a reason for divorce without remarriage. They are two different things.
 
Yes, thank you.

I believe St Paul (to the Corinthians) answers your question.

1 Corinthians 7
To the married, however, I give this instruction (not I, but the Lord) A wife should not separate from her husband 11 —and if she does separate she must either remain single or become reconciled to her husband—and a husband should not divorce his wife.

It is not true divorce which is tolerated, but separation. And the Lord still says we should not do so. The Church recognizes some situations as having permissable reason to separate.

Canon law offers practicle guidelines for problems in a marriage. Proper effort should be made to reconcile with one another, but for the protection of an “innocent” spouse (and or children), who is making efforts to reconcile, there is sometimes legitimate reason for a civil dvorce and separation. This does not promote remarriage.
 
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Speaking as a person schooled in Greek, not in Biblical scholarship, I have difficulty imagining how “unlawful marriage” could translate “porneia”. Nor do I understand how it could mean, narrowly, “incest”. It includes incest, certainly. It means something like “gross sexual misconduct”, most of the time. I have never heard of any usage of it that refers to any sort of marriage, and I would be interested in other passages in Greek texts where it is used to refer to any sort of marriage.
 
Yes, but not accusational. I assumed you believe the context does not promote divorce or remarriage in a Christian marriage.

I am mainly interested in hearing Protestants (who adhere/support/promote dovorce and remarriage) offer what they believe is a compelling arguement for their position.
 
Okay,

No in the context in question it absolutely DOES mean “unlawful marriage”.

The NAB gets it right here.
 
The problem, is that when the matter is looked at with all the relative passages, interpreting the term as including adultery does not fit together. St Paul addresses the matter more specifically than any other Scripture, and yet he (along with Mark and Luke) does not offer adultery or abandonment as reasons for divorce.

Even consider that, in Matthew 5, Jesus first answers the Pharisees with no exception. Hegives a clear prohibition to divorce. Then it is only with their follow up question that He mentions porneia. Though He would not have used porneia since He spoke Aramaic.

Furthermore, if Jesus was giving clarity to what Pharisees debated over, a wide interpretation of porneia only perpetuates the ambiguity.
 
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rcwitness said:
Furthermore, if Jesus was giving clarity to what Pharisees debated over, a wide interpretation of porneia only perpetuates the ambiguity.
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This is a really good point, but again, I’m just narrowly looking at the word, not trying to square anything with Catholic teaching. (This is how scholarship works; it does not begin from a desired conclusion). I do want to look at the word in context, and that’s where your mention of the dialectic between Jesus and the Pharisees helps.

My point, however, is just this: if “porneia” never in recorded history has been used to mean “incest” or “unlawful marriage”, this is a very large obstacle to interpreting it to mean those things. I can do a cursory check in a lexicon, and I’ll get back to you. But a larger study is necessary to see if it even can be used in the sense you’re describing.
 
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The #1 lexicon meaning is “prostitution”, the second meaning is “unchastity”, and nothing about marriage is mentioned.
 
Clearly, porneia and adultery are referred to as separate sins too! Scripture does acknowledge that porneia doesnt necessarily mean adultery:

1 Corinthians 6

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.
 
Well, we just dont know what Jesus specifically said. We only know that porneia is what Matthew was inspired to use. But for what reason did only Matthew use it? Why not the others?
 
rcwitness said:
Clearly, porneia and adultery are referred to as separate sins too! Scripture does acknowledge that porneia doesnt necessarily mean adultery:

1 Corinthians 6

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.
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Yes, I think there is an excellent argument that Jesus wasn’t talking about adultery, narrowly. The dicier part is whether he was including adultery as one type of porneia.
 
And remember: if a woman committed adultery, she would be stoned to death. So no husband would ever divorce his wife for committing adultery in Jesus’s day – unless he covered up the fact that she was an adulterer.
 
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Well, if He was referring to sexual immorality within a marriage, wouldnt they all be considered adultery? Especially when He had just explained that even lookimg at a neighbor’s wife with lust is commiting adultery!

Rather, it isnt sexual immorality with a third party that He meant, but sexual immorality between the actual couple who were living as husbmd and wife.

St Paul even explains that when a man joins himself to a prostitute, he is becoming one flesh with her. This is another example of “fornication” which is not binding until death.

1 Corinthians 6

Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two shall become one.”
 
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