What Does FORNICATION Mean?

"Fornication" is any kind of sex outside of marriage. Yes - if you are not married and "making love", you are fornicating.

Fornication refers to sexual actions outside of the confines of married IF you are single. Adultery, on the other hand, is having sex outside of your OWN marriage (or someone else's marriage if you are the "other woman" or the "other man"). The Samaritan Woman at the well in John 4 was likely not "shacking up" at all. Jesus never referred to anything like that actually. This is a HIGHLY misunderstood exchange.

First off, a Samaritan would be someone that is unclean to a Jew. Touching someone that is a Samaritan -- taking water from someone that is a Samaritan -- merely going through the land of Samaria -- made a Jew unclean. Secondly, the exchange never said anything pointing to the woman being immoral, wrong, in need of repentance, or anything of the sort. That wasn't anywhere near the focus of Christ. The focus was worship -- true worship. The contention between the Jews and the Samaritans had to do with the true spot of worship -- for the Jews it was Jerusalem .. for the Samaritans it was Mount Gerizim (See Deut. 11:26-30 and 27:1-13). This division about worship made Samaritans outcasts. Jesus then goes on to talk about how there will be a time when the place of worship will not matter - but that true worship is about worshipping in spirit and in truth and that God, who is spirit, is not going to be linked to any particular location. Third, to this whole thing about the many husbands she has had. There is a high, HIGH likelihood that Jesus was not pointing toward adultery or fornication at all. It was very likely he was alluded to her being caught up in a practice that is still popular in some areas of the whole called levirate marriage. Deuteronomy 25:5-6, "When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the decreased shall not be married outside of the family to a strange. Her husband's brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband's brother to her, and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel."

Levirate marriage was a way to preserve the family line when there was no children before a man died. The woman was literally passed down through the family like she was property (and she was at that time). The practice still exists in some areas. It wasn't something exclusive to the Jews. It was common at the time. There is a VERY high chance that the Samaritan woman was not shacking up with anyone -- she was a victim of the practice of Levirate marriage, which you see in the verses above was something the woman had no choice about. When Jesus was saying this about her, her response was that he knew everything about her and because of that he MUST be a prophet - and he could possibly be the Christ. She was the first evangelist. Jesus chose an outcast woman to be the first evangelist.

Now, to the last question -- if you love someone and are making love but not married, is it fornication -- yes. Now, if you follow Christianity, then my advice would be not to do that. That is something the Bible speaks against often -- we are told to "flee fornication". There are also completely practical reasons why you should wait until you are married. 1) No worries about pregnancy without a stable home first. 2) No possibility someone using you for sex because it is highly doubtful someone would go through marrying you and then bail after the honeymoon. 3) the relationship is more stable in a marriage than it would be as a single person. 4) The sex is better marriage rather than single as well (there have been studies done).

Hope that helps!

for·ni·ca·tion

   /ˌfɔrnɪˈkeɪʃən/ Show Spelled[fawr-ni-key-shuhn] Show IPA

–noun

1.

voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other.

2.

Bible . idolatry.

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Origin:

1300–50; ME fornicacioun < LL fornicātiōn- (s. of fornicātiō ). See fornicate1 , -ion

—Related forms

for·ni·ca·to·ry  /ˈfɔrnɪkəˌtɔri, -ˌtoʊri/ Show Spelled[fawr-ni-kuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] Show IPA, adjective

—Can be confused:  formication, fornication .

Dictionary.com Unabridged

Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011.

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Fornicate Definition

It's an old English word for sexual immorality. Modern translations don't use the word fornication they use sexual immorality instead.

Sexual immorality means what it says immoral sexual behaviour. As to what constitutes immoral sexual behaviour is a matter of biblical hermeneutics and it's best to follow the guidelines of the church you attend for an interpretation that best suits your particular faith.

As a guideline:

Many very liberal churches define sexual immorality to be what the society defines as immoral. For instance rape, paedophilia etc.

More conservative churches define sexual immorality to be any type of sexual relations that has been specifically excluded by biblical passages, like the list of unlawful sexual relations in Leviticus 18.

All the fundamentalist churches I have come into contact with define sexual immorality as any kind of sex (including masturbation) that is not between two consenting heterosexual adults within the blessing of holy matrimony.

Lastly there is the ultra conservative approach that says that the only legitimate form of sex is within heterosexual marriage and only for procreation not recreation, that is to say sex between a husband and wife that is done purely for bringing children into the world and not purely for pleasure. Any other form of sex (according to these churches) is immoral.

Hope this helps.

A "fornicate" is the arched entryway to a walled city. At the fornicate were many people, usually the Essenes running a hospice, the local healers didn't like it, also, travelling crafts people, non-unionized and disliked by the local crafts people, and the prostitutes not associated with the local brothels or the local churches (many religions used sex in their religious ceremonies), so a "fornicator" or one who fornicates was anyone using the services of anyone at the fornicate. Sex was only a minor aspect of a "fornicator".

Sexual relations between unmarried persons. If you love someone, and making love, but not legally married, Are you Fornicating??? YES!!!

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim - In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Well, I can only answer from the Muslim point of view. Any relationship outside of marriage is considered fornication. There are two types - non-married people who have sexual relations while dating or as one-night stands, and adultery, which is fornication when someone is married. Both are serious, and the only cure for it is to worship God, trust in Him, remain chaste - and this is for men as well as women - and marry young so you can have permissible sexual relations and not have to suffer. For those without the means to marry, they are advised to busy themselves and fast to lower their sexual desires.

I know it's terribly out of fashion to encourage abstinace outside of marriage and faith within it, but only by being a modest person can you avoid all the pitfalls of dating or "friends with benefits". In our society, it's hard to be modest and save yourself for marriage, but it's even more important because disease, out of wedlock births, and mental illnesses triggered by bad relationships and traumatic encounters is devastating generations. It's only if we can teach men and women to respect each other and themselves that we have a chance of turning the tide on this "anything goes" mentality.

Fi Aman Allah,

Nancy

The word in Greek that is translated as "fornication" meant patronizing a prostitute. Christianity has expanded the definition, enabling it to lay a guilt trip on any believer who expresses any sort of sexuality (everyone). Make someone feel perpetually guilty and they are dependent on the church for emotional fulfillment.

I thought the 4 letter F word was also fornicate