Flee Immorality!

More than one preacher has misspoken and said the word immorality when he meant to say immortality. The result: raised eyebrows, embarrassment, and undoubtedly, a few chuckles. Look at the difference between the two words and look at the title. The following is about the ugly sin of immorality.

Most Christians have been trained to think and react negatively toward immorality. It is immoral, that is, not moral. However, it has not always been considered a sin.

The Greek term translated immorality was not a negative word. It originally referred to a prostitute, usually a woman purchased as a slave. Over time, it was applied more generally to any sexual behavior outside of marriage. (Adultery had its own specific word because of civil/legal concerns.)

Attitudes differed in antiquity at different places and at different times. Even when immoral practices were frowned upon, allowances were made. It was believed by some that sexual appetites were no different than food appetites and should be satisfied. Among the Persians daughters might be given over in service to gods and goddesses as temple prostitutes. This was considered a noble gesture.

Only in the Bible do we find consistent prohibitions against sexual activity outside of marriage, i.e., immorality. If you were to present biblical teachings to non-Christian young adults of our day, they might respond with a puzzled look and wonder, “Why?” Many have adopted the attitudes of antiquity.

Using the human body as an illustration, the Apostle Paul wrote to saints reminding them that “your bodies are members of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 6:14) Physically speaking, your hands, nose, legs, tongue, liver, etc. are all members of your body. They are all attached. That is the imagery Paul used to tell us that ‘we’ are attached to Jesus Christ as members of His body.

In the next verse Paul asked, “Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?” It is quite an outlandish question. It is to ask if one’s body should be dismembered! But it is in reference to the body of Christ! Even more shocking is Paul’s suggestion that the member that is removed be joined to a prostitute (i.e., immoral person). And why?

Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” (vv. 16-17)

God created humans in such a way that sexual intimacy creates a literal bond. That is a good thing for a married couple, but disastrous outside of marriage. For that reason, Paul continued (v. 18):

Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.

If you steal from a store, you hurt the store owner. If you lie to your friend, you hurt your friend. If you beat someone up, you harm that person. However, if you unite yourself to another person through sexual intimacy (and you are not married to that person), you harm yourself. And why?

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (v. 19)

Sexual immorality makes your body (temple) unfit for the Holy Spirit. It is a desecration of something that has been made holy and is devoted to God.

Sexual sin destroys one’s relationship with God, not because a rule has been broken, but because it severs one’s union with Christ and makes a unifying bond with someone else. That’s why Paul’s used the strongest language he could in his warning against sexual immorality: 

Flee immorality. 

RUN!!


Mark Stinnett

October 12, 2025

Adultery: Why Is Sin Sinful?

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” 

That is the seventh of The Ten Commandments from the old King James Version. For many, that wording sounds holy. Forceful. Absolute!

Why is adultery sinful?

Our word adultery came into the English language from a Latin verb adulterare meaning literally, to alter, but also used to mean, to corrupt. (This Latin word is not connected to the English word adult; nor is it connected to the Greek term that it translates.)

The Greek term for adultery was very specific in its meaning. It referred to a sexual relationship between people who were married, but not to each other. Remember that while the New Testament was written in Greek, the Greek language was used hundreds of years before Christ and across multiple cultures. So, this meaning was not limited to the New Testament.

While every culture forbids adultery, the rules are different and may vary between men and women. For example, at one time ancient Greeks considered adultery to be a secret sexual relationship with a woman without the permission of her master. In many cultures men have been allowed to have sexual relationships with non-married women. Only if his relationship involved a married woman (not his wife) were there consequences.

In early times consequences were carried out by family members since adultery was considered a violation of the family. This was true in Roman society until laws were passed that made adultery a civil offense with consequences carried out by the legal establishment. Consequences varied from fines to revenge (by family members) to death.

Among some groups, cultural norms or laws required the husband whose wife was an adulteress to divorce her (or put her to death). In most cases cultural norms and laws were stricter regarding women since married women were often considered property. They were therefore bound to absolute fidelity in the marriage.

By the time of Christ infidelity among both husbands and wives was common in Roman society. So was divorce.

For the Jews, as with others, adultery involved sexual intimacy only, and divorce was allowed, though the acceptable reasons were debated. Recall that Jesus reminded the Jews that Moses demanded a certificate of divorce because of the hardness of their hearts (Matthew 19:7-8). In other words, husbands had mistreated their wives by discarding them. So, to protect women a legal certificate was required. Men had to have a legitimate reason for divorce and had to produce a certificate indicating that reason.

Jesus ended the debate by pointing back to creation: “But from the Beginning it has not been this way.” Jesus taught fidelity in marriage for both the husband and the wife.

Ideally marriage should reflect the very character of God. The words fidelity, loyalty, commitment, faithfulness and devotion describe God. That means that in His relationships God does not show partiality. He is not fickle in his commitment. He does not tire of love. He does not quickly grow impatient or angry. In order to preserve a relationship God is willing to forgive.

God does not quit a relationship. Even when His wife (Israel) was unfaithful, He was patient and tried to woo her back. (Hosea 2)

Why is adultery sin? Adultery violates faithfulness and commitment, the very character of God. Adultery is sin because it is a lie against the truth of God’s divine nature.

Mark Stinnett

March 5, 2023

Who Would Rage Against God?

Who in their right mind would be filled with rage against God?

After all, God is our creator. He gives life. He makes the sun shine and the rain fall on the earth for the benefit of all people. He sent His Son to redeem mankind. Yet, Solomon wrote:

The foolishness of man subverts his way,
And his heart rages against the LORD.
--Proverbs 19:3

Foolishness is a lack of understanding and discernment. A foolish person is one who does not consider the consequences of his choices. He just blunders along thinking everything will somehow work out.

Subvert means to twist, pervert or ruin.

His way refers to the actual ‘path of life’ along which a person walks. It involves the reasoning behind the choices, thought, speech and behavior. It also includes the thinking behind daily decision and long-term plans. It is descriptive of one’s direction in life and its outcome.

To subvert his way is to change course in life. It describes a generally good direction being twisted or perverted so that the person goes in a different direction and experiences a different outcome. His foolishness is behind it all.

Rage is a word that describes a constant ongoing anger that affects one’s overall disposition. It is not just a flash of anger from a hot temper.

The proverb describes people who desire to go along the path of life without opposition to their choices. They want to “live and let live” and enjoy tolerance. Yet, ultimately, their expectation is that everybody would tolerate their thinking, their behavior, their speech, their rights, their choices, their values. When they encounter any kind of opposition to their way, they cry out, “Don’t judge me!”

They are foolish because they blunder through life without a thought of the consequences of their choices. Then when things do not go well, they become angry...even angry at God.

In our day they include those who take marriage casually: Those who desire the sexual privileges of marriage, yet do not marry; who are unfaithful to their spouse; who swap spouses; who quit one marriage for another without thought; who engage in homosexuality.

Oddly, many who are sexually immoral claim faith in God while discrediting His word. Where their choices are condemned in the Bible they claim that it is outdated or wrong or misinterpreted. After all, God surely accepts them just the way they are…because God made them the way they are. They worship a god of tolerance.

Many churches and preachers stand under the banner of God and Christianity, yet do not hold to God’s teachings. In foolishness they ‘subvert the way’ for many who wish to find acceptance regardless of their attitudes and behaviors.

In truth, God will accept anyone who comes to Him in faith. Yet, He intends to transform people into the image of Christ, not tolerate their life of sin. God is holy and He demands holiness.

So, it should be no surprise that when confronted with the glaring reality of God’s unchangeable holiness, many lash out in rage. Do not take it personally when people who reject the Scriptures are corrected. Their rage is against God.

There is a battle. It is not about issues and arguments; it is about souls. There are many who can out-argue you; many who stubbornly refuse to listen. We must lift up Jesus in love.

Be on guard for yourself. Be wise.

Mark Stinnett

Playing with Fire

I remember childhood friends who could put out a lit match by pinching the flame with their thumb and forefinger. It looked rather daring to those of us who had never tried it and did not know the ‘trick.’

Everything was fun and games until one of my buddies accidentally pinched the head off a lit match and burned a blister on his thumb.

If you 'play with fire, sooner or later you are bound to get burned.'

'Playing with fire' is an expression that describes taking an unwarranted risk in a dangerous or questionable situation. A person who ‘plays with fire’ intentionally places himself in danger, usually with a sense of confidence. Due to inexperience in life, young people often ‘play with fire.’

Solomon wrote:
   Keep your way far from her,
   And do not go near the door of her house.
   --Proverbs 5:8

He was warning his son to stay far away from the house of the adulteress. It should be applied today as a general warning against sexual immorality.

We might have expected, “keep your feet” or “keep your eyes” or “keep your heart” far from her. Yet, Solomon said, “keep your way” far from her. The simple point is that YOU are the one who ultimately chooses your way. So, you should make your choice so that your path in life does not come near the house of the adulteress.

Applied to our day: Make your choice so that your path in life does not come near pornography, improper physical contact of your girlfriend, talking and joking about improper sexual behavior.

The closer a person gets to sexual impurity and the more they allow themselves to be teased by the imagined possibilities, then the more dangerous the circumstances. They invite temptation, paving the way to 'the door of her house.' How then will they keep from falling to the temptation.

Consider the next few verses from the same chapter to better understand the very real consequences of ‘playinng with the fire’ of sexual impurity.


   Lest you give your vigor to others, 
      And your years to the cruel one;
   Lest strangers be filled with your strength, 
      And your hard-earned goods go to the house of an alien;
   And you groan at your latter end, 
      When your flesh and your body are consumed;
   And you say, "How I have hated instruction! 
      And my heart spurned reproof!
   And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, 
      Nor inclined my ear to my instructors!
   --Proverbs 5:9-13


Sexual impurity robs you of your strength, your wealth, and the best years of your life by giving yourself to someone who does not care about you...all in exchange for a mere moment of pleasure.

Young men...choose now to keep you way pure.

A Spiritual Assassin

As far as I know, I have only seen assassins on TV and in movies. In general, they do not value human life; they have no conscience. (Hold that thought.)

One of the most prominent themes in the first nine chapters of the Book of Proverbs is the father’s admonition for his son to obtain wisdom. One of the primary purposes of wisdom is to keep the son from the strange or foreign woman. She is strange or foreign because she is not the woman he married, or more to the point, she does not belong in his bed. She is an adulteress.

Near the end of the book of Proverbs a simple but riveting statement is made about the adulterous woman:

     This is the way of an adulterous woman: 
     She eats and wipes her mouth, 
     And says, "I have done no wrong."
     --Proverbs 30:20

Men, the adulterous woman is not a myth. She is not an ancient peril limited to the day of Solomon. She is not inconsequential. She is alive and well today and will destroy you.

Our society is becoming less and less sensitive toward sexual sin. Immoral sexual relationships are paraded in the media as normal. The conscience of our nation has been deadened so that there is no real understanding of sexual sin.

The greatest danger of the adulterous woman is the absence of a conscience. Her ability to discern right and wrong does not exist. As a result she behaves more like an animal, doing whatever it is that she instinctively desires.

She will play the role of ‘true love’ only to destroy a man afterward. What a man thinks he is doing in secret, she will expose openly if it suits her. She may or may not benefit; she does not care.

She does not care for any man; she does not care for herself. She has reduced herself to animal behavior, perhaps even, an animal mind.

She commits sin.
She goes to dinner.
She wipes her mouth as if nothing has happened.
Sex without love,
         without affection,
            without feeling,
               without conscience;
       she calmly and coldly says, “I have done nothing wrong.”

Men, open your eyes to this spiritual assassin!
She does not love; she destroys.
She destroys lives!
She destroys souls!
Avoid her at all costs.

What Are You Chasing?

“The proverbs,” those wise, clever, pithy (and often unrelated) sayings really begin in chapter ten with an announcement:

          The proverbs of Solomon.

          A wise son makes a father glad,

          But a foolish son is a grief to his mother.

                                                                  --Proverbs 10:1

I won’t press the matter, but it is probably correct to think of the first nine chapters as a lengthy introduction. It is as if Solomon was careful to prepare the mind of his son so that he could listen to wisdom. How did he prepare him?

If I had to reduce the first nine chapters into  one statement...

Chase after the knowledge and discernment of the Lord; do not chase after women.

In chapters eight and nine wisdom is personified as a woman who is desirable, offering wisdom, discretion, and life. In stark contrast is the ‘strange’ woman (adulteress) who is ultimately portrayed as naive. She doesn’t even realize that she seduces men to their deaths.

How many young men have fallen prey to the lure of a girlfriend, the power of pornography, the seduction of another man’s wife? For a moment of pleasure a life is changed!

Changed forever!!!

How many young men have set their eyes on a good and lofty goal in life; high thoughts of service, generosity, and devotion to God, perhaps even entering into the ministry? But things changed. It was not the demands of career or changed interests; rather it was the momentary distraction of the sexual lure of a woman.

Foolish!

Even if he is careful/clever enough to escape public notice, the guilt in the heart changes him. The lofty goals smashed. Changed forever!

It is not that God’s forgiveness cannot heal. But the power of sin and its psychological entanglement are great and all too often defeating.

Watch his parents...

Filled with high hopes his father’s heart is deeply saddened; his mother weeps.

There are many ways to act foolishly, but sexual sin is among the most devastating.

Young men! Sexual purity is of greatest importance. Purity of he spirit is the pursuit of God's wisdom and knowledge and discernment. You will NEVER regret the sin you did not commit!

The 'first' proverb...

          A wise son makes a father glad,

          But a foolish son is a grief to his mother.

Chase wisely.