1 Thess. 4:3; Lev. 18:6-23, Sexual Immorality

When we read the Law of Moses we see that God is not only concerned about the physical act of sex.  He warns us concerning the whole issue of our vile passions as well as the actions by which we carry them out.  Thus Leviticus speaks of uncovering nakedness as well as mating and lying carnally.  Sexual immorality from Lev. 18:7-23 includes a sexual relationship with:

·        18:7-8: your mother or step-mother.

·        18:9ff: your sister or step-sister, grand-daughter or step-grand-daughter, half-sister.

·        18:12-15: your aunt, daughter-in-law or sister-in-law.

·        18:17: a woman and her daughter or grand-daughter.

·        18:16,18: your sister-in-law from either side.

·        18:20-23: your neighbor’s wife, a religious prostitute, a person of the same sex or an animal.

Other passages give further insight:

·        Ex. 22:16-17: seduction (sexual relations before marriage).

·        Dt. 22:23-27: rape.

·        Prov. 23:26-28: prostitution.

·        Matt. 5:27-28: lust.  Jesus made this clear in the Sermon on the Mount.  Sexual immorality is a sin that can be committed in the mind and heart.

Our society uses terms such as cohabitation, recreational sex, consensual sex or sexual affair.  These are not, according to the word of God, acceptable forms of sex.  They are different words for sexual immorality.


Let us recognize that you may think of some other relationship that is not covered by the Law of Moses.  That is the nature of the Law; it cannot cover all the details.  But for Christians we have the Spirit of God to lead us through the Word of God.  What that means is that we do not need a memorized list of immoral relationships; we need to walk in the Spirit.


In the end the rule of life is simple.  There is only one relationship in which sex is appropriate and that is the relationship of a man and a woman who have made a covenant of marriage with each other.  It is critical that we count God’s word to be true in our lives.  What He calls sin is sin; we must agree with Him.  We must also count ourselves to be dead to sin and alive in Christ to righteousness.


1 Thess. 4:3-8 gives us truth in three areas which we will begin to study in our next post: abstain from sexual immorality, acquire your own vessel properly, and recognize that God will avenge the sin of sexual immorality.