Sexual Health Vocabulary in order of appearance:

Porneia, participation in the sacred sex trade

Incestuous Sexual Intercourse

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality (porneia) among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. (1 Corinthians 5:1)

Pornoi, male sex trade workers

Malakoi, finely dressed

Arsenkoitai, men in bed

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral (male sex trade workers) nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men (malakoi, men in fine apparel) who have sex with men (arsenkoitai), men in bed). (1 Corinthians 6:9)

Revelry, group sex (possible) 

Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” (1 Corinthians 10:7)

Sexual Touch

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” (1 Corinthians 7:1)

Come together for sexual intimacy

Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (1 Corinthians 7:5)

Summary

Paul the Apostle wrote 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament. The first sexual health term he uses in Corinthians is porneia, the sacred sex trade. 

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality (porneia) among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. (1 Corinthians 5:1)

The next term translates, “sleeping with his father’s wife.” The literal translation is:

It is heard that sex trafficking is practiced among you, and this kind of the sex trade  is not practiced among the gentiles, a certain man has the wife of his father.

The phrase “has the wife” is similarly used in Matthew 14:4 and Mark 6:18.

John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.” (Matthew 14:4)

For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” (Mark 6:18)

The exact words in the Greek of 1 Corinthians 5:1 for “have” or sexual intercourse are used in the Gospel accounts of Matthew 14:4 and Mark 6:18. Matthew and Mark reflect on the motive for John the Baptizer’s execution. John challenged Herod’s incestuous relationship with his brother’s wife. For this reason, John was arrested and eventually executed. To have a wife in the Gospel accounts means incest.  Paul uses the same phrase in 1 Corinthians 7:2. Some Corinthians appear to be advocating abstinence to counter the proliferation of sex trafficking in their community. Paul responds,

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

But since sexual immorality (porneia, sex trafficking) is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.

The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.

Do not deprive each other (from sexual intimacy) except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (1 Corinthians 7:1-5)

Respectfully, the majority of translations mistakenly edited the word porneia, sex trafficking, to read a generalized sexual immorality. The King James Version and Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition use the word “fornication.” Fornication may not be accurate because this specific sexual behavior occurs between two people who are not married. It seems reasonable the female was married to the certain man’s father.  Paul and the Greek language are much more specific. The term is porneia, the trafficking of humans in the sacred sex trade for profit. Apparently, Paul heard a convert was engaged in the sacred sex trade. This “certain man” was perhaps having intercourse with his step mother or he may have been trafficking her for financial gain? The pagans did not have clear incest boundaries as did Judaism and Christianity, but the idea someone might traffic a family member like a step mother for economic gain is noteworthy to Paul.

Malakoi has a wide range of meaning in classic literature from finely dressed, effeminate, to the partner of a same sex relation which might be called the bottom. The bottom is a term used in a same sex relationship for the one receiving penetration.  The “top” is the one who does the penile penetrating.  In the New Testament malakos is the singular of the plural malakoi, meaning finely dressed. Malakoi appears three times in the Bible.

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral (male sacred sex trade workers) nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men (malakoi, men in fine apparel). (1 Corinthians 6:9)

If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes (malakoi)? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. (Matthew 11:8)

If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes (malakoi)? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. (Luke 7:25)

The simplest translation is usually the most accurate. Since two thirds of the references are “fine clothes” it makes sense to translate malakoi as finely dressed males. In context of the list in 1 Corinthians 5:1 Paul places malakoi in a word group which may relate to those engaged in the sacred sex trade (porneia), idol worship of the sex trade, intercourse with married people within the sacred sex trade, and finally the term arsenkoitai, literally, “men in bed.” The Matthew and Luke references to malakoi connect to John the Baptist. Most likely Jesus did not mean John the Baptist participated in the sex trade but meant, “finely dressed” like those who wear expensive palace attire as opposed to John who dressed in humble clothing. If malakoi relates to the sex trade, then it seems appropriate to translate it in context. This may mean Paul references the fine apparel of those in the sex trade, perhaps the “bottom” of a same sex relationship who is penetrated by the “top” sex trafficker.

Arsenkoitai pronounced ar-sen-KOY-tai is composed of two Greek words, arsen meaning male, and koites meaning bed.  When Paul uses this term in 1 Corinthians 6:9, he cites arsenkoitai at the end of a list of unhealthy sexual behaviors not permitted in the kingdom of God. 

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral (pornoi, male sex trade workers) nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men (arsenkoitai). (1 Corinthians 6:9) 

Arsenkoitai  connects word for word to the sexual health terms of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.

καὶ μετὰ ἄρσενος (arsen, male) οὐ κοιμηθήσῃ κοίτην (koite, bed)γυναικός βδέλυγμα γάρ ἐστιν. (Leviticus 18:22)

Do not have sexual relations (κοίτην, koite, bed) with a man (arsen, male) as one does with a woman; that is detestable. (Leviticus 18:22)

 καὶ ὃς ἂν κοιμηθῇ μετὰ ἄρσενος (arsen, male) κοίτην (koite, bed) γυναικός βδέλυγμα ἐποίησαν ἀμφότεροι θανατούσθωσαν ἔνοχοί εἰσιν. (Leviticus 20:13)

If a man  has sexual relations (κοίτην, koite, bed) with a man (ἄρσενοςarsen, male) as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. (Leviticus 20:13)

Some scholars suggest Paul invents a new word, arsenkoitai. This is not the case. Paul uses exact wording from Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. In addition, an entry in Liddel and Scott reads arsenokoites, pronounced ar-sen-ko-EE-tase, meaning unnatural sexual offenses. Same sex relationships were not unnatural offenses in Greek culture in fact male on male intercourse was normalized.  Most likely this refers to pederasty or the Greek custom of sexual intercourse with children. (Liddel and Scott, p. 104)  

Paul makes direct connection word for word with the Leviticus passages to the 1 Corinthians 6:9 citation of arsenkoitai. The understanding of these passages in Leviticus can be assisted by looking at the Hebrew text.  

Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. (Leviticus 18:22)

If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. (Leviticus 20:13)

With Biblical Hebrew terms:

Do not have SCB (unhealthy sexual relations)with a ZCR (male child) as one does with an ISSHAH (woman); that is detestable. (Leviticus 18:22)

If an ISH (adult male) has SCB (unhealthy sexual relations) with a ZCR (male child) as one does with an ISSHAH (woman), both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. (Leviticus 20:13)

ZCR, pronounced zaw-CAR,can mean prepubescent XY male child as well as an adult male. ZCR appears 82 times in 80 verses of OT. Within the Pentateuch 18 times ZCR means prepubescent child. 16 times in the Pentateuch ZCR means sexually mature male. The majority use of ZCR connects to prepubescent male children. The direct context of Leviticus 18 and 20 mandates against incest. The term arsenkoitai most likely means sex with children as the Hebrew of Leviticus 18 and 20 suggest. If incest is the stream of thinking, then the concern of the apostle may be to protect children from sexual violence and trafficking perpetrated by family members. 

Revelry is the Greek term παίζω, pronounced pie-ID-zo, to make sport like a child at play. (Strong, G3816)

Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” (1 Corinthians 10:7)

Revelry is included in sexual health vocabulary because of its connection to Exodus 32:6.

So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. 

The LXX Greek Old Testament uses the term paizo exactly as 1 Corinthians 10:7. The Hebrew word is the root for Issac meaning “to laugh”. In Genesis 26:8; and 39:14, 17 the term clearly connects to sexual foreplay, or adultery. Each of the bold italic terms is the root word for Isaac, or laugh. In this case, most likely meaning foreplay for intercourse or adultery.

When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. (Genesis 26:8)

She called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. (Genesis 39:14)

Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. (Genesis 39:17)

So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. (Exodus 32:6)

In 1 Corinthians chapter 7 Paul responds to a query about sexual touch and abstinence from genital sexual intercourse in marriage.

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to (touch) have sexual ` relations with a woman.” (1 Corinthians 7:1)

The Greek word is literally “to touch”, pronounced HOP-toe. (Strong, G681) To touch appears 40 times in 38 verses of the Greek New Testament. The range of meaning includes 14 times for Jesus appropriately touching the sick and blessing children, the diseased touching Christ for healing, and once for sexual touch in 1 Corinthians 7:1.  Paul then gives the Corinthians sexual health positive encouragement “to be” sexual intimate after short periods of abstinence from intercourse. Finally he admonishes the Corinthians to re-connect after a focus on spirituality with genital sexual intimacy.

Do not deprive each other (from sexual intimacy) except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (1 Corinthians 7:1-5)

The phrase, come together sexually, uses the word “to be”, εἰμί, pronounced ey as in they, ey-ME. (Strong, G1510) This term may connect to the Greek word geneithen, “to become”, first appearing in Romans. (Strong, G1096)

So then, if she has sexual relations (geneithen)with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. (Romans 7:3)

Translation Concerns

The word for male sex trade workers is never translated accurately in the New Testament. The term pornoi, pronounced PAR-noy, means plural male sex trade workers. The word for female sex trade workers, pornai, pronounced PAR-nai, is always translated as prostitute.  The term for male sacred sex trade worker appears 10 times and is never translated accurately. The edit reads sexually immoral, or immoral. This glaring error cannot be an accident. Clearly the translators edited pornoi to be the sexually immoral rather than male sex trafficker and at the same time translated the feminine pornai as prostitutes.

The 7 Intimacies of Genesis 1-4

Genesis pictures seven kinds of intimacy in chapters 1-4.  The Spirit hovers over the waters like a mother bird nurtures her young. (Genesis 1:2) Nature reflects the stunning beauty of God’s creative mind. (Genesis 1:3-25) After six days of creation, God sets the stage for humankind to regulate neural pathways with rest. (Genesis 2:3) The creation forms in a framework of pleasure, the phrase Garden of Eden means “pleasure paradise”. (Genesis 2:8) Humankind is not intended to live isolated, but rather in community of compassionate presence. (Genesis 2:18) Reconciliation precedes the final intimacy of genital sexual intercourse with the word, YDA, to know spirituality, emotionally, and physically. (Genesis 3:21-4:1)

Since the Genesis 1-4  sexual health positive big picture connects spiritual intimacy with sexual intercourse, so do the writings of Paul. After Paul’s prohibitions for trafficking humans for profit and sexual violence, he connects to the seven intimacies of Genesis. 

Spiritual Intimacy

But whoever loves God is known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:3)

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:4-13)

Do everything in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. (2 Corinthians 5:14)

…to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:6)

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children

and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”(Galatians 5:13-14)

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.

God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. (Philippians 1:7-10)

In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. (Colossians 1:6-9)

Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8)

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers,

because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.

I pray that your partnership (intimacy) with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people, yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus—that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.

Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. (Philemon 1:4-12)

Intimacy of Beauty

Grace (beauty) and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I always thank my God for you because of his grace (beauty) given you in Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 1:3-4)

By the grace (beauty) God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. (1 Corinthians 3:10)

But by the grace (beauty) of God I am what I am, and his grace (beauty) to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace (beauty) of God that was with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

The grace (beauty) of the Lord Jesus be with you. (1 Corinthians 16:23)

Grace (beauty) and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.(2 Corinthians 1:2)

Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace (beauty). (2 Corinthians 1:12)

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace (beauty) that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 4:15)

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace (beauty) in vain. (2 Corinthians 6:1)

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace (beauty) that God has given the Macedonian churches. (2 Corinthians 8:1)

I have fought the good (beautiful) fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)

In everything set them an example by doing what is good (beautiful). In your teaching show integrity, seriousness. (Titus 2:7)

…who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good (beautiful). (Titus 2:14)

This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good (beautiful). These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. (Titus 3:8)

Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good (beautiful), in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives. (Titus 3:14)

Regulation of Neural Pathways through Rest

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:18-24)

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)

Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. (Titus 1:8)

Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. (Titus 2:2)

…to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. (Titus 2:5-6)

It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. (Titus 2:12)

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:16-17)

May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. (1 Thessalonians 3:13)

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

…who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4)

Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach. (1 Timothy 3:2)

But godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6)

Intimacy of Pleasure

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,

he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ. (Ephesians 1:7-9)

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength. (Ephesians 1:18-19)

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9-10)

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. (Colossians 1:19)

But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. (1 Thessalonians 3:6)

How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? (1 Thessalonians 3:9)

Compassionate Presence

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. (Ephesians 3:16-20)

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32)

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. (Philippians 2:1-2)

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12)

Reconciliation

Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake. ((2 Corinthians 2:10)

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding. (Ephesians 1:7-8)

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,

and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.  For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household. (Ephesians 2:14-19)

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else. (Galatians 6:1-4)

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends! I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. (Philippians 4:1-3)

…and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:12-14)

…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:20)

But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. (Colossians 1:22)

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:3)

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:13-15)

Physical Intimacy of Genital Sexual Intercourse

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

But since sexual immorality (porneia, sacred sex trafficking) is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.

The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.

Do not deprive each other (from sexual intimacy) except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (1 Corinthians 7:1-5)

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.

For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word

and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church-for we are members of his body.

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:21-33)