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Tag: debauchery

Debauchery

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Terminology of Sin, What’s new?.

What is the meaning of debauchery?

Debauchery is the habitual and unrestrained indulgence of lust and sensuality. There are several places in Scripture where the word debauchery is used to indicate what we would today call “partying.” It encompasses several aspects of unholy living, including but not limited to sexual immorality, drunkenness, crude talk, and generally out-of-control behavior.

Examples of the use of debauchery in the Bible include:

  • Ephesians 5:18, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
  • 1 Peter 4:3, “For you have given time enough in the past to the doing of the things which the Gentiles delight in—pursuing, as you did, a course of habitual license, debauchery, hard drinking, noisy revelry, drunkenness and unholy image-worship.”
  • Luke 15:13, in reference to the lifestyle of the prodigal son, “No long time afterwards the younger son got all together and traveled to a distant country, where he wasted his money in debauchery and excess.”
  • Romans 13:13, “Living as we do in broad daylight, let us conduct ourselves becomingly, not indulging in revelry and drunkenness, nor in lust and debauchery, nor in quarreling and jealousy.”

Romans 13:14 goes on to contrast a debauched lifestyle with one that honors God: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” The idea of debauchery is always used in reference to the ungodly (Galatians 5:19). There is no support in Scripture for a Christian to engage in debauchery. “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness” (Ephesians 5:11). Those who are filled with the Spirit will not live in licentiousness.

Debauchery encompasses all that God hates (Romans 1:18), and it brings destruction in the end (Galatians 6:8). A Christian is one who has chosen to deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). The lifestyle of carnality and the lifestyle of spirituality are incompatible and therefore cannot coexist. First John 5:18 says, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin.” Galatians 5:23 says that those saved from debauchery exhibit self-control. “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (verse 24).

Debauchery is the polar opposite of godliness. It characterizes those who do not know Christ, those who are on the “broad way” that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13). No one who chooses a lifestyle of debauchery can also be a follower of Christ (Romans 6:1-2; 1 John 2:3; 3:10).

Whoremonger

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Sexual Sin, What’s new?.

What is a whoremonger in the Bible?

The word whoremonger in the Bible is a reference to those who associate with prostitutes or who, in general, exhibit wanton sexual behavior. Whoremonger is an old-fashioned word found mainly in the King James Version and the Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible. In modern language, we would say the person is a “fornicator” or “adulterer.” Broadly speaking, a whoremonger is anyone who engages in sexual intercourse outside of marriage.

An example of the word whoremonger is found in Ephesians 5:5 in the KJV: “For this ye know, that no whoremonger . . . hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Most other translations simply say “immoral person.” The Greek word in this verse is pornos, related to porneia, from which we get the English word pornography. Essentially, all sexual immorality falls into this category, but the word changes depending on the person committing the act and his or her gender. For example, a woman who engages in sexual immorality is called a “whore” (porne) in the KJV, but a man who does the same is called a “whoremonger” (pornos).

These Greek words are interesting because they draw no distinctions among a) sexual immorality for monetary gain, b) sexual immorality for the sake of lust, and c) sex outside of marriage between two loving partners. This is difficult for us to comprehend because our culture considers paying a stranger for sex to be quite different from a dating couple “going all the way.” We tend to categorize a man who uses a prostitute (and the prostitute herself) entirely differently from a boyfriend and girlfriend living together. But God classifies both as porneia. A man sleeping with his longtime girlfriend is just as much a “whoremonger” as the man picking up prostitutes, according to the Bible.

Unrepentant, continued sexual immorality is an indication that a person is not saved (Ephesians 5:5). The sexually immoral in the church—those who claim to be saved but who live as whoremongers—must face church discipline, biblically: “Now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral. . . . Do not even eat with such people” (1 Corinthians 5:11). Sexual sin brings serious consequences, and there should not even be a hint of immorality among God’s people (Ephesians 5:3).