My question is what constitutes "inappropriate contenteya" and whether the definition changes with culture.
"Dave-W: As far as my own prayerful study got, it meant to include EVERYTHING that was sexually prohibited in the Law of Moses."
I agree with Dave-W above on the OT examples of fornication & also some NT ones. The definition doesn't change with culture OR time. Jesus went all the way back to the very beginning in Genesis 2. Jesus gave ONLY ONE exception to divorce: FORNICATION, referring back to the OT Law & examples of sexual immorality.
Matt 19:3-10 Then some Pharisees came & tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife FOR ANY REASON?”
4Jesus answered, “HAVE YOU NOT READ THAT FROM THE BEGINNING the Creator ‘made them male & female’ & said, ‘For THIS REASON a man will leave his father & mother & be united (literally glued) to his wife & the two will become one flesh’ ? So they are NO LONGER TWO, but one flesh. Therefore what GOD has joined (glued) together, LET NOT MAN SEPARATE.”
7“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses order a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce & send her away?”
8Jesus replied, “It was because of your HARDNESS OF HEART that Moses PERMITTED you to divorce your wives; BUT IT WAS NOT THIS WAY SINCE THE BEGINNING. NOW I TELL YOU that whoever divorces his wife, EXCEPT FOR THE CAUSE OF FORNICATION AND marries ANOTHER woman, COMMITS ADULTERY.”
10His disciples said to Him, “If THIS is the case between a man & his wife, it is BETTER not to marry.”
Matt 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, EXCEPT FOR THE CAUSE OF FORNICATION, causeth her to commit adultery & whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Please understand, though, that the exception clause is not a command for divorce and/or to remarry.
Mark 6:17,18 For Herod himself had ordered that John be arrested and bound and imprisoned, on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, whom Herod had married. For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife!”
I Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is FORNICATION among you & of a kind that is INTOLERABLE even among pagans: A man has his FATHER'S WIFE. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been stricken with grief & removed from your fellowship the man who did this?
Leviticus 18:6-9 None of you are to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD. You must not expose the nakedness of your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her.
8You must not have sexual relations with your FATHER'S WIFE; it would dishonor your father. You must not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
I Cor 6:12-20 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. Food is meant for the stomach & the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one & the other. The body is not meant for FORNICATION, but for the Lord & the Lord for the body.
14And God raised the Lord & will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ & make them members of a prostitute? Never!
16Or do you not know that he who is joined (cleaves) to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
18Flee from FORNICATION. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicating person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are NOT YOUR OWN, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Fornication includes all those sexual sins listed in the OT & some in NT, such as the son who had his father's wife. This was called fornication not adultery, which is another Greek word.
There were certain sins of fornication in the OT that would allow for divorce & remarriage with no charge of committing adultery. Those were the exceptions that Jesus pointed to, when the Pharisees asked if anyone could divorce a wife FOR ANY CAUSE OR REASON.
Eph 5:3-10 But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint (mention even once) of FORNICATION, or of any kind of uncleanness or of covetousness. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.
5For of this YOU CAN BE SURE: No FORNICATION or all uncleanness or a covetous person (that is, an idolater), has ANY inheritance in the kingdom of Christ & of God.
6LET NO ONE DECEIVE YOU WITH EMPTY WORDS, for BECAUSE OF SUCH THINGS God’s WRATH COMES ON THE SONS OF DISOBEDIENCE. Therefore do not be partakers with them.
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness & truth. Test & prove what PLEASES the Lord.
I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren & exhort you BY THE LORD JESUS, that as ye have received of us how you ought to walk & TO PLEASE GOD, so you would abound more & more. For you know what COMMANDMENTS WE GAVE BY THE LORD JESUS.
3FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, even your sanctification (holiness), that is, that you be separate from (abstain from) FORNICATION; that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification & honor; not in the lust of CONCUPISCENCE {desirous of unlawful pleasure; libidinous}, even as the Gentiles which know not God; that no man go beyond & defraud his brother in any matter.
Because the Lord is the avenger of ALL SUCH, as we also have forewarned you & testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
Hebrews 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all & the marriage bed kept UNDEFILED, for God will judge the adulterer & all the fornicators.
Leviticus 18:20 You must not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife & thus DEFILE yourself with her.
Heb 12:16 See to it that no one is FORNICATIOUS or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.
I Cor 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither FORNICATORS, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
I Cor 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a FORNICATOR, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one, no, not to eat.
Leviticus 18:10,12-16 You must not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, for that would shame your family. You must not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative. You must not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s close relative.
14You must not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations with her; she is your aunt. You must not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; you are not to have sexual relations with her. You must not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would shame your brother.
Lev 18:17,18 You must not have sexual relations with both a woman & her daughter. You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter & have sexual relations with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved. You must not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife & have sexual relations with her while your wife is still alive.
Lev 18:22-30 You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination. You must not have sexual relations with any animal, thus defiling yourself with it; a woman must not stand before an animal to mate with it; that is a perversion.
24Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves. Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.
26But you are to keep My statutes & ordinances & you must not commit any of these ABOMINATIONS—neither your native-born nor the foreigner who lives among you.
27For the men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations & the land has become DEFILED. So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.
See also Deuteronomy 22 for more examples.
The Exception Clause of Matthew 5:32 & 19:9 | Grace Bible Church
No matter what fornication entails or includes, it is an abomination before God & can be a defilement of body, soul & spirit & even the land that practices it & God will judge those who do so. No practicing fornicator will inherit the kingdom of God.
I hope that helps further clarify for you.
29Therefore anyone who commits any of these abominations must be cut off from among his people.
30You must keep My charge not to practice any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.”
