Although Greek is not the language spoken by Jesus to his disciples, it is nevertheless the language in which God has preserved the teaching of his Son. It will therefore be helpful to see just how the Holy Spirit uses the word "fornication" in the New Testament .

THE GREEK WORDS The Greek words used for "fornication" and "adultery" mean virtually the same as the Hebrew equivalents already discussed in chapter 6.

Fornication " is the Greek word "porneia".
It means primarily "prostitution", "whoredom".

It is said to be used occasionally in Classical Greek writings as a rather general word encompassing all sorts of sexual sin, including adultery. However, in the New Testament it does not appear to be used in this way at all. In fact, it is regularly used alongside "adultery In a way which shows that there is a very clear distinction between the two. (Liddell and Scott Greek Lexicon supports this view.) In a secondary sense "porneia" is used in the same way as its Hebrew equivalent to describe the spiritual harlotry of the apostate church of the book of Revelation.

"Adultery" is the Greek word "moicheia" It means the same as our English word "adultery".

THE CLEAR DISTINCTION
The two words are not the same. They are intended to convey different meanings. This difference in meaning is clearly shown in such passages as :-
(a) Spoken by Jesus - Matt. 5:32, Matt. 15:19, Matt. 19:9, Mark 7,21.
(b) In Paul's writings - 1 Cor. 6:9, Heb. 13:4.

It is clear from the way in which Jesus and Paul use these words that "fornication" does not include "adultery".

The Greek word "porneia" is the nearest equivalent to the Hebrew word which must have been used by Jesus, and it must be understood in that light.

When used by Jesus, in the context of divorce, it applies to a situation where the nature of the sin means that the union has not been joined by God. Even if a looser use of the word might sometimes include "adultery" In other Greek literature, it could not do so here, because to dissolve a union on the ground of adultery would be to separate what God had already joined.

Thus "fornication" as a ground for divorce can only carry the narrow meaning of "playing the harlot by engaging in premarital sex".

Only when it is understood in this way can a divorce on this ground meet the requirement of separating a union not joined by God.

This is discussed further in the next chapter.