Protestant Christian, Reformed Catholic, Line Cook, Lay Theologian, Online Debater. America First.
'He was numbered with the transgressors.' -Isaiah 53:12
@man_of_options The prohibition against sex before marriage is tied to not allying oneself with a strange woman. Whereas incest would be the opposite, as in "too close."
@man_of_options I'm not contradicting what others have said so much as going for a deeper understanding. Proverbs 5 does a good job of distinguishing the "strange woman" and "your own cistern." I think without this important distinction, the necessity of marriage for sex doesn't make sense.
@man_of_options St. Paul seems actually to expand the accepted definition of porneia in 1 Corinthians 5 to include incestuous relationships forbidden by Leviticus 18. "Porneia such as is not found among the Gentiles." In other words, porneia normally has the connotation of the stranger.
@man_of_options A big chunk of Christians are in disconnected nondenominational churches that don't teach their people the basics so plenty of Christians think sex before marriage is just fine.