Given on the Eve of All Saints' Day annually remembered as Reformation Day on 31 Oct. and / or in more recent times on a nearby Sunday if 31 Oct. is a weekday as Reformation Sunday. In this 3rd sermon on the 4th of 8 hate attacks on traditional marriage, namely, fornication, Gavin says he must walk the Eph. 5:11,12 "tight-rope" because on the one hand, verse 11 says to "reprove" the "works of darkness," and this requires he give some detail of the "works of darkness" so people know what is being reproved; but on the other hand, verse 12 says "it is a shame to speak of" these "things," & so he ought not to give out unnecessary detail or have an over focus on the detail. He considers the general fornication debasement into which the Western World has sunk, as accelerated in the post World War II era, with fornication becoming sadly widespread. Then he makes 3 big points: 1) In the New Testament, the words "fornication" or "fornicator" (Greek pornos or porneia) are used first & foremost as general words prohibiting any sexual relations outside of natural sexual relations in lawful marriage between a man & his wife (Eph. 5:3). But depending on context, they can have some further more subtle shades of meaning, for instance, sexual relations between two unmarried persons as opposed to adultery (Gal. 5:19); fornication in a heterosexual context as opposed to a homosexual context (I Cor. 6:9); miscegenation (Acts 15:20,29; 21:25); male heterosexual fornicators as opposed to homosexual sodomites (I Tim. 1:10). 2) People who use the words "fornication" or "unchastity" do not always know what these words actually mean. 3) Some cases on the bad effects of fornication are considered.
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Gavin McGrath (b. 1960) is a graduate of Sydney University, University of Western Sydney, and Moore Theological College (a Reformed Anglican College in Sydney) in New South Wales, Australia. From April 2020, he is a retired school teacher of both New South Wales, Australia, and...
