What scriptural proof is there that having sex with multiple women in a lifetime is sinful?

rocknrollchuck · 2024-06-11T02:22:00+00:00

Matthew 19:3-9

“The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.”

This passage is the clearest one regarding your question. From the beginning it was not so.

1 Corinthians 7:2

“Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”

In this verse, the apostle Paul describes any activity outside of marriage as “sexual immorality.” That means when we read of “sexual immorality,” it includes sex before marriage as one of many examples of sin.

Hebrews 13:4

“Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

What does an undefiled marriage bed look like? It looks like a bed that a husband and a wife share exclusively together. Any kind of sex that is before or outside or in addition to a married relationship of husband and wife is sinful according to the Bible.

Acts 15:19-20

“Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.”

After the Jerusalem council met, the earliest group of Christians decided that Gentiles (meaning anyone who was not a Jew) could be Christians, but that they should refrain from sexual immorality, among other sins. In the wider biblical context, as we noted earlier, sexual immorality includes sex before marriage.

1 Corinthians 5:1

“It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.” (See also Ephesians 5:3)

This one is interesting. A man was sleeping with his stepmom or mother-in-law outside of marriage. Paul is very clear that this is a grievous sin, one that not even non-Christians in the city of Corinth were guilty of doing!

Galatians 5:19-21

“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

In this long list of sins, the sexual sins that Paul includes are “sexual immorality,” “impurity,” “sensuality,” and even “orgies.” It would be very difficult to argue that Paul gives approval of sex outside of marriage, given these strong words against sexual intercourse of various types and kinds. If elsewhere, Paul gives permission of sex between a married man and woman, then all other forms of sex are sinful.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:”

Here, Paul contrasts a believer’s self-control over his own body with living out of control, burning in passionate lust. The former is living a life that is pleasing to God and is holy, while the other is living a life that clearly does not know God. In which group do you think a hook-up culture that uses apps like Tinder is? Is sleeping with someone you met a few minutes ago demonstrating control over one’s body, or is it done in the passion of lust?

1 Corinthians 7:8-9

“I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.”

Paul clearly spells out that for unmarried, single people, God desires abstinence from sex for them. If abstinence is not something they can live with, then they should seek to get married. It’s clear that sex within the context of marriage is not a sin, but outside of marriage it is sinful.

Genesis 2:24-25

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

From the very beginning, God’s design for sex has been between a man and a woman in the context of marriage. This is not held out as the ideal, but this is supposed to be the norm for all sexual intercourse according to the Bible.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

“Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”

Finally, the last few verses that speak to the question of sex before marriage mention the basis of this difficult claim on our lives. A Christian is to refrain from sexual intercourse with other people because Christians belong not to themselves, but to God. We have been given the great gift of God indwelling us—the Holy Spirit lives within us—so when we join ourselves to others through one-night stands we are violating both our own body and the Lord who has purchased us by pouring out his own body and blood for us.

Ragnardanneskjunior · 2024-06-11T02:30:51+00:00

Sex without marriage is the primary issue. There is no instance of God's approval of sex outside of the marital bond. Polygyny is another matter altogether however because there is at least one instance in the old testament of God commanding a man to marry his brother's wife if he were to die before having a son to carry his name (deutoronomy 25:5). There are other instances of God's approval of multiple wives but never of sex without marital bond.

Applehurst14 · 2024-06-12T21:43:52+00:00

Well, if you're not married to them and taking care of them, scripture is pretty straightforward. It is fornication.

fingerofaattention · 2024-06-12T10:53:28+00:00

scriptural evidence that sex with multiple women is sinful, presuming that they are neither married to other men nor your direct relatives? Abraham had two wives minimum, possibly three(Sarah, Hagar, and then Keturah). See also the other patriarchs. Samuel was born from polygyny, and his parents were in good standing in Israel. Solomon's sin of heaping up gold(600+talents per year), and multiplying horses and women(lotsa horses, 1k women) gives us an example of what might be termed 'excess', but God, when taking offense at the Uriah incident, took credit for giving David multiple wives and said if (8) wasn't enough He would have given David more(and David was declared to follow after God's heart in every matter but the Uriah incident), so that can't be taken as a ban on multiple wives either. There was also Moses with his two wives. So on and so forth.

There are no passages against having multiple women, and a comprehensive list of what falls under the umbrella of sexual immorality can be found in the Leviticus List of Sexual No-Nos(lev 18)

so then, don't go boinking other men's wives, or dogs, or your sister, or whores, and you are in the clear as far as Scripture is concerned. You can have as many wives as you want/can maintain.

steadfastkingdom · 2024-06-13T01:21:59+00:00

Sex is for pleasure (Song of Solomon) procreation (Adam and Eve) but most importantly, the renewal of your wedding vows. you have to be married to renew a vow/Covenant (Exodus 22:16–17).

Title	What scriptural proof is there that having sex with multiple women in a lifetime is sinful?
Author	heart_of_st0ne
Upvotes	6
Comments	27
Date	June 11, 2024 12:54 AM UTC (2 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/RPChristians
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/RPChristians/comments/1dd1mpg/what_scriptural_proof_is_there_that_having_sex/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/RPChristians/what-scriptural-proof-is-there-that-having-sex.1521180 https://theredarchive.com/post/1521180

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