Sexual Immorality
Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. -Act 15:19-20
"For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." -Act 15:28-29
After a recent conversation about sexual immorality, I thought these passages from my morning devotion were very appropriate. The comment was made "Christians put too much emphasis on sex." It wasn't terribly surprising for him to say that, as he is currently engaging in sexual immorality, so clearly he doesn't think it's wrong. But the fact of the matter is that Scripture does have a special place for sexual sin. When the Jewish believers were trying to decide whether Gentiles needed to obey the Mosaic Law, they concluded that avoiding sexual immorality (any sex outside of marriage) is more important than circumcision, tithing, fasting, etc. Surprisingly, "Do not murder" didn't make their list.
1 comment:
I think scripture is clear in its condemnation of sexual immorality. But the passages that you list are somewhat confusing in light of Paul's teachings on food sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 8. In those he teaches that the eating of food sacrificed to idols is not a sin, but perhaps should be avoided in deference to those with weaker consciences. If the teaching in Acts is in keeping with the 1 Corinthians teaching, it would SEEM to imply that the leaders of the early church were encouraging the keeping of these facets of the law in deference to their Jewish brethren. In other words, it seems to lump sexual immorality in as a lesser offense on par with eating strangled or sacrificed food. Just an observation - not drawing any wild conclusions from this.
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