CHAPTER SIXTEEN

(Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness)

There is sometimes a blurring of the meaning of adultery and fornication in Scripture, but when the words appear together in the same sentence I think it's safe to assume they mean different things. Adultery occurs when a married person indulges in sexual activity with someone other than their spouse. Fornication occurs when unmarried people indulge in sex. All very straightforward.

I'm probably being too simplistic here for those who would debate shades of meaning, and argue about the role of context, and complain I'm not taking sufficient account of ancient Hebrew marital mores. So be it. The definitions I've opted for are not a million miles from the truth, even if they are not accurate in every possible circumstance. But it is certain that adultery and fornication as I've defined them—and which is how they are often intended in Scripture and how we understand the terms today—are sexual sins under the general heading of works of the flesh. So there will be no grievous harm done if I have ever so slightly misrepresented them!

Uncleaness

Adultery and fornication are among the most common abuses of sexuality. There are abuses which fall outside these two categories. But as we spent most of chapter fourteen discussing lustful thoughts and behaviour, there's no need to go into all that again here. Certainly what we dealt with in that chapter comes under the heading of uncleanness.

The word for uncleanness is akatharsia, and interestingly it's the word that occurs when unclean spirits are mentioned in the New Testament. Jesus met people with unclean spirits and he cured them. How curious it seems to us that someone mentally ill should be described as having an unclean spirit. But it's worth remembering that the word spirit in the New Testament, even as in our own day, can refer to an attitude of mind. We can speak of a spirit of optimism and we know it's an optimistic state of mind, not an optimistic demon of some kind. And when John tells us that Jesus "was troubled in spirit" (John 13:21) we know Jesus' mind was troubled. He was simply in a troubled state of mind.

So an unclean spirit need be nothing more sinister than an unclean or impure state of mind. As many a psychologist since Sigmund Freud has found, people with impure states of mind can become psychologically disturbed. If we allow the natural sensual side of our natures to get the upper hand, the result will be an impure state of mind. It's common knowledge to those who study the mind that sexual confusion, with its resultant anxiety and guilt, can lead to mental disorders. It is just possible that this is what lies behind the phrase 'unclean spirit': it may be an impure mind that has led to psychosis. Such danger is always present for those who lack temperance, who allow uncleanness to take over their thinking.

Lasciviousness

Lasciviousness is thankfully the last of this unwholesome foursome. Although there is a certain amount of overlap with all of them, lasciviousness differs from the other three in that it relates to homosexuality.

It's the Apostle Peter who makes the connection for us in his second letter (2 Pet.2:7). He writes of "the filthy conversation of the wicked" people of Sodom and Gomorrah. The word 'filthy' in that verse is aselgeia, the same word translated lasciviousness in the works of the flesh. And the term 'conversation' is used there in its old English sense of 'way of life'. So Peter actually wrote of "the lascivious way of life of the wicked" people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude also mentions lasciviousness and then proceeds to talk of Sodom and Gomorrah. We know that the nature of the sin of those cities of the plain was homosexuality. They were so shameless about it that God destroyed them.

These days homosexuality is becoming increasingly acceptable. Even the established church is ambivalent about it. Celebrities who die of AIDS are lauded as heroes rather than deplored or pitied as incorrigibly immoral.

The liberal Christian argument runs that it's no worse than any other sin and therefore shouldn't be treated as especially bad. There is some truth in that, but that doesn't mean we have to go soft on it—or any other sin. All sin, sexual or otherwise, needs to be regarded as wrong.

But it's not just that homosexuality is wrong; the reason why many homosexuals meet with particular censure from God is because they refuse to see it as wrong. One can (and should) be understanding towards those who feel trapped in this particular work of the flesh, as with any other besetting sin, but not towards the notion that there's really nothing wrong with it and no steps need be taken to overcome or resist the practice of it. That attitude of acceptance was the grosser sin of Sodom. In Isaiah 3:9 the Prophet relays God's anger towards some flesh-pleasers of his own day by comparing them to those of Sodom: "They parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them" (NIV). They had no shame, and that was their destruction. If you're doing wrong, at least accept it and in your shame agree with God that it is wrong. That way there is hope. Even if you absolutely can't overcome it, you can be honest with God about it, and trust to grace. But to parade your sin as if it were excusable and normal behaviour is to invite the anger of God.

If our present generation wants to parade its lasciviousness as Sodom, then it cannot expect the approval of God, or of the people who truly follow God.

However, there is a point made in Scripture in favour of the people of Sodom. And it was Christ himself who made it. While castigating the people of Capernaum for not listening to him, and for not being convinced of who he was by his miracles, Christ said, "For if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day" (Matt.11:23). So there was something to be said for the people of Sodom. They weren't as bad as some. And what Christ said about them raises a significant issue. If a prophet of the stature of Christ had been around in their day and had gone to Sodom, the city and its people would not have been destroyed. They would have listened. They would have taken note of the miracles and realised that here was somebody very special. The people of Sodom wouldn't have been so spiritually inept as Capernaum. They would, in fact, have repented!

The point being made is: what does that tell us about the supposed inability of homosexuals to be and do anything other than homosexuals? Christ considers homosexuality a sin for which repentance (meaning change) is possible. Are we so wrong—are we really expecting the impossible—to expect those with such tendencies to resist and overcome them (or at least try) if they would follow Christ?

The antidotes to sexual sins

The way to overcome all works of the flesh is through the fruit of the Spirit. Overcoming by force of will may work for a time, but it leaves a vacuum. You have pushed something out of your life and left a gap as a consequence.

You need to do two things if you really want to overcome effectively. And sometimes we have to admit that we are so attached to our sins that deep down we don't want to overcome them effectively, so we sabotage our own efforts. What is it that the Scriptures say about the heart of man?—"deceitful", "who can know it?" So perhaps I should say you have to do three things if you want to overcome effectively. First, you must really want to overcome your problem. Second and Third, you must resist the devil AND draw near to God (James 4:7,8).

When you banish something bad from your life you must replace it with something good. This is known not surprisingly as The Replacement Principle. Psychologists have discovered that it works—the Bible got there a few thousand years before them. If you force something bad out of your life and leave a vacuum, you are simply leaving yourself open for something bad to come back and fill the gap—probably something worse than you had before. (Which is what your deceitful heart might have wanted all along!) Christ illustrates it in a parable:

"When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worst than the first. So shall it be with this wicked generation" (Matt.12:43-45 RAV).

Christ said that "this wicked generation"—the people of Israel of his day, especially the religious leaders—had made the mistake of casting out one unclean spirit and letting in seven. As he said elsewhere of them, they "strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel" (Matt.23:24). They were so fastidious about the minor elements of the Law of Moses, even adding more minor ones of their own, that they missed the BIG point about loving one's neighbour as oneself. That's what it means to cast out one bad attitude (carelessness over details) and introduce an even greater one, seven times worse (carelessness over agape).

The parable also highlights the general truth that if you don't fill a gap with something good, sooner or later something bad, and in all probability something worse than you originally threw out, will crawl in to take up residence.

So if you're trying to overcome a particular sin, don't try just banishing it, use The Replacement Principle. Replace it with a good habit. Replace your negatives with positives, before the negatives bring home a few friends!

When trying to evict the works of the flesh, throwing them out is never enough on its own; you must also invite round the appropriate fruit of the Spirit to fill the vacancy and actively discourage the return of the old habit. When you replace a work of the flesh with an element of the fruit of the Spirit, you are applying the Scripturally effective psychology of not merely changing what you do, but changing what you are. If you change only what you do, you deal with the symptom, not the problem. When you introduce the fruit of the Spirit by delight and meditation in the Word of God, you change what you are—and that will change what you do far more effectively.

When it comes to combating the sexual works of the flesh with something good from the fruit of the Spirit, the obvious choice is temperance. This is the one to cultivate. It is specifically programmed to cancel out the lustful side of our nature, as we saw in chapter fourteen.

But as we have eight aspects of fruit of the Spirit and only four categories of works of the flesh, we can apply two aspects of fruit to each category. And it works out so well that I feel it must be more than a coincidence.

With temperance you'll see I've paired goodness. Goodness you may recall is that quality of character through which we talk to ourselves—or rather we allow the wisdom of God to talk to us. The voice is implanted not by super-natural means but by familiarity with the Word of God through reading and thinking on it. More than anything else (except temperance) we need a strong voice within us to argue us out of following what for many people is the strongest pull of the flesh: lustful thoughts and behaviour.

Lust is a voice. In the book of Proverbs the path of evil, as opposed to the spiritual path, is likened to a "strange woman which flattereth with her words" (Prov.2:16), "her mouth is smoother than oil" (Prov.5:3). And Proverbs 7:11 describes her well when it says "she is loud and stubborn"!

The lustful side of our nature is loud and stubborn. It needs the two-pronged attack of temperance and goodness to silence it. It's easy to see how the two work together. Temperance might even be said to be achieved through goodness. Self-control is achieved by listening to the voice of a louder and even more stubborn Spirit Word. But it will only be louder and more stubborn through continual delight and meditation in the Word. If the Spirit voice is weak, through inattention to the Word, you can be sure the voice of the flesh will be loud. So drown it out!

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