Definition of Pornography
The church, like the culture, uses the term pornography to refer to erotica, but erotica is a thin slice of the whole pie that is porn.
As I describe in Napping in Delilah’s Lap – the Pandemic of Pornography in the Pew & the Pulpit, the word pornography (Greek, ‘porneia’) is derived from ‘pernao’ which mean’s to “sell oneself off” or surrender. It refers to sexual promiscuity of any and every type.
Several Hebrew and Greek words are used in the Bible to refer to sexual sin, including naaph, zanah, taznuth, and moicheuo. All these words carry an idiomatic double-meaning! They also refer to idolatry – holding anything or any person in higher esteem than God, and prostrating ourselves to it. Thayer’s Definition of Bible Words adds that porneia is “metaphorically the worship of idols.”
At the heart of porn is what I call the Spirit of Samson – a spirit of indulgence and self-absorption.
“Porneia” is metaphorically the worship of idols. We can use the words ‘porn’ and ‘idolatry’ interchangeably.“
Hannah TK